Are you drowning in a sea of cables, dongles, and power bricks all connected to your Mac? The quest for a single, powerful dock to rule them all is real for many of us. Tech enthusiast (and one of our favorite YouTubers) Alex Ziskind recently got his hands on a promising new contender from Anker: the Anker Prime TB5 Thunderbolt 5 dock. In a video on his channel (below), Alex shares his initial excitement and puts this 14-in-1 8K Thunderbolt 5 dock through its paces, hinting that it might just be “the one” he’s been searching for.
One of the most striking features that immediately impressed Alex is the internal power supply. Unlike countless docks that come with bulky external power bricks, this Anker dock uses GaN technology to integrate the power adapter directly inside. This means all you need is the dock itself and a single power cable plugged into the wall, significantly simplifying desk clutter and making it much more portable than docks requiring massive bricks. Personally, this is one of our biggest pet peeves with both of our Anker and OWC Thunderbolt docks that have massive power bricks.
Beyond the built-in power, the Anker Prime TB5 is packed with ports, living up to its 14-in-1 designation. It leverages Thunderbolt 5, offering a default speed of 80 GB per second – twice as fast as Thunderbolt 4 – with burst capabilities up to 120 GB per second in one direction. This kind of bandwidth is crucial for demanding setups, like running 8K displays.
Connectivity options are plentiful, both front and back. The rear features two downstream Thunderbolt connections (supporting both Thunderbolt 5 and 4), DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1 ports, and two 10 gig USBA ports. On the front, you’ll find a headphone jack, another 10 gig USBA port, and two 10 gig USBC ports capable of 45 watts total power delivery for charging devices. For content creators like Alex, the convenient front-facing Micro SD and regular SD card readers are a welcome addition for tasks like uploading videos. Alex also noted the inclusion of a 2.5 GB Ethernet port, a speed he prefers, while mentioning that 10 GB could potentially be achieved via an adapter connected to a Thunderbolt port if needed. The dock is also designed with practical touches like rubber feet and a subtle beveled edge on the Micro SD slot.
During his testing, Alex connected displays, including his Apple Studio Display. He discovered a point about Apple’s limitation of two displays per Thunderbolt connection, meaning connecting more than two monitors via the dock might require plugging additional displays directly into the computer. He also highlighted that the dock has a built-in fan to help with cooling, something he’s appreciated given issues with other docks he’s tested, and noted how quiet it is.
Alex ran several performance tests to demonstrate the dock’s capabilities. Using a Thunderbolt 4 drive, he saw speeds around 3,500 MB/s write and 2,800 MB/s read in Blackmagic tests, with script tests showing writes around 2 GB/s. The 2.5 GB Ethernet port delivered 2.35 Gbit per second in Iperf 3 tests, reinforcing Alex’s point that you “can’t go back to 1 GB” once you’ve experienced faster speeds.
Switching to a Thunderbolt 5 drive, speeds jumped significantly, with Blackmagic showing approximately 3,700 MB/s write and 5,000 MB/s read. His script tests showed peaks over 4,000 MB/s write and reads reaching 5,000–5,700 MB/s. Alex noted that the speeds were limited by the Thunderbolt interface rather than the high-performance SSD used. He also tested power delivery, successfully powering both a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air, drawing about 67 watts with the Air. Perhaps most impressively, a real-world test of transferring a massive 82 GB file took a mere 10 seconds, a speed Alex described as “unbelievable” and a huge time saver for large data tasks like video editing or working with large language model files.
Alex points out that while not everyone might need the full power of Thunderbolt 5, if you frequently handle large data transfers, the speed advantage of this dock is incredibly valuable. The video also features Alex unboxing a “mystery box” sent by Anker, which customers can potentially win when purchasing the dock, revealing a variety of other useful Anker accessories. To see the full tests, the mystery box contents, and get all the details, you’ll have to watch the video!