I bought a cheap USB

During a recent Amazon sale I saw quite a few cheap docking stations. I thought I would try one out, especially since it said it was a Thunderbolt dock. Turns out it wasn't.

During a recent Amazon All Access sale, I bought a cheap cheap USB-C docking station so you don't have to. So what made me spend $87.99 on such a thing when I knew better?

The other day, my old, reliable, rock-solid Other World Computing Thunderbolt 2 dock finally gave up the ghost and would no longer work. This happened during the big Amazon sale, and as I was browsing the various products, I came across this:

For $88 (that was a special Amazon sale price) $110 you can get tons of connectivity, an SSD drive and dual monitor support for a fraction of the price of an OWC or a Cal-Digit dock? Count me in!

Here were the bullet point specs from the Amazon page (the hearts are theirs):

Strangely, I can't find this particular dock when I go to the MOKiN Amazon store but the direct link to it is still there. You have to love their header image which is a MacBook Pro showing some kind of video or imaging app with a color correction tool on the monitor while that monitor doesn't seem to be connected to the dock that is shown in the image. And there's no video or imaging app running in the Mac's dock.

I’m not sure why they called it a "Dtation" … but hey, typos happen.

The first thing I noticed was that the specs on the side and the back of the box didn't include Thunderbolt which was mentioned in the product name. USB-C is there, but no Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is very important to Mac users, which this thing supposedly supports.

I think I knew that when I ordered this thing, it did not include an actual Thunderbolt port. So I thought I’d ask for support about this and here is the exchange.

🤦‍♂️

After that exchange, I unboxed the MOKiN and plugged it into my iMac Pro running MacOS 11.7 Big Sur. To my surprise, it seemed to connect just fine.

There is a good smattering of ports on the dock and while I didn't test all of them I did test the ones I use most often. And the Mokin dock was able to connect to four different Macs without issue (I did not try this dock with a PC).

I don't mean to get hung up on the Thunderbolt vs USB-C thing but they do have important differences, especially with video editing where you might have Thunderbolt specific devices like RAIDs or video hardware.

One interesting aspect of this hub/dock is that it is also an SSD enclosure; you can bring your own internal SSD stick and shove it inside the thing. I don't know much about buying a raw SSD stick but the manual told me I need to get a B Key or B&M Key connector type. I was skeptical it would work, so I tried this $15 128 GB stick of … where else … Amazon!

It worked. Plugging the hub back in, I was asked to initialize the new disk. Doing that and presto, I have a new SSD mounted on the desktop.

Overall the dock is okay for simple use, and I am using it on a home editing system. I have speakers plugged into it, but I could just as easily plug them into my Mac.

It sits under my iMac Pro, providing easy access to the USB-A ports for a few peripherals like a Loupedeck and a dongle. I keep the one USB-C port on the front connected to a cable to I can quickly connect a USB-C drive.

When connected, the USB-C drive speeds are not as fast as a direct connection to the Mac.

My favorite thing about this dock is the built-in SSD. Having a fast SSD connected through a hub for things like your NLE scratch disk or a LucidLink cache is quite smart. That would let you get that cache and lots of connectivity all on one Thunderbolt / USB-C port without taking up another port on your Mac.

II don't see any of the more name-brand docks that offer a built-in SSD option, but if you know of one, please comment below.

With connectivity mostly working, I can't fault this cheap dock since it was just that … cheap.

A few things it seems to do just fine:

A few issues I encountered:

But then I must ask myself: do I really trust this cheap dock in mission-critical situations?

And that's where this cheap dock falls down. I do not trust this dock like an OWC dock or a Cal-Digit dock. Those manufacturers have proven themselves to our industry time and time again. While their docks are more expensive, they stand behind them with quality and support. They also offer a wide variety of docks and hubs.

And they don't sell a USB-C dock as Thunderbolt. I still can't get over that one.

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I just feel it is important to note that this is not a "cheap" dock.in accessories and adapters etc, the word cheap applies to things under $50. that other dock makers significantly markup for their $5 parts/labor devices does not make a $100+ dock "cheap".This dock might be cheaply made but its price is still expensive.the reality is that OWC gets the same cheap components, tests them well for compatibility, then packages them for an audience that is easily taken by sleek packaging. sure there is more attention to details but in the end almost all of these types electronics use the same components.A different but related point. USB/Thunderbolt distinctions are currently a mess right now due to Intel and the industry as a whole overlapping the two standards in the current generation. USB4 & TB4 are interchangeable but not exclusive which has really exacerbated the confusion created by the USBC port style being used for both.(not saying this is the case here but in general this is has been an issue that seems to be lost in translation)…

Thanks for that reply. All good points. I do think it's accurate to call this dock "cheap," especially for the audience reading this article. We do use and buy higher end docks from OWC and CalDigit. Maybe that's partly because they are marketed to us but mainly because they are very solid, well constructed and have great support. Yes there is confusion in the market but they don't advertise a dock with Thunderbolt and then not include it. We have a lot of true Thunderbolt devices that need a true Thunderbolt connection.