Early Black Friday deals on laptop docking stations and Thunderbolt docks have begun, and I’m on the hunt for the best docking station sales for the 2025 holiday season.
I’ve tracked the best laptop docking-station sales for the past several years. For 2025, I’d expect to see predominantly Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 (the generic equivalent) docks to be on sale this holiday season, since Thunderbolt 5 docks are generally aligned with gaming PCs.
I’ve listed each dock deal below, together with an explanation of why I picked them. Although I check multiple retailers and e-tailers, most of the top deals in years past have been on Amazon. Feel free to review the deals below, or else review my list of the best Thunderbolt docks and check to see how those prices have been affected for early Black Friday sales. I’ve attached a FAQ at the end of this page with additional buying advice.
Best early Black Friday Thunderbolt dock deals
- Ugreen Thunderbolt 4 Dock 8-in-1, Thunderbolt 4, 85W charging, $169.00 (32% off at Amazon)
- Targus USB-C Docking Station, DisplayLink, 65W charging, $103.99 (58% off at Amazon)
- OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 90W charging, $199.99 (20% off at Amazon)
- Kensington SD5000T5, Thunderbolt 5, 140W charging, $250.00 (36% off at Amazon)
- CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 98W charging, $379.99 (16% off at Amazon)
- Microsoft Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock, Thunderbolt 4, 96W charging, $239.99 (20% off at Amazon)
- OWC Thunderbolt Hub, Thunderbolt 4, 60W charging, , $86 (33% off at Amazon)
I made the decision this year to phase out the older Thunderbolt 3 docks, as the functionally equivalent Thunderbolt 4 provides a better experience.
Our sister site TechAdvisor reviewed the Ugreen 8-in-1 dock we recommend, and assigned it four out of five stars. I reviewed the slightly larger Ugreen Revodok Max 213 myself. It was our best Prime Day dock deal at $160.
Targus offers a DisplayLink dock, which uses software compression to provide the equivalent of a Thunderbolt experience. It’s just a simpler, cheaper solution, so it’s natural that a discounted dock would fall into our deals list.
I’ve reviewed OWC’s Thunderbolt Go dock, and it earned four out of five stars. It’s $100 off MSRP.
Kensington’s SD5000T5 suffered a bit as the first Thunderbolt 5 dock I looked at, though it’s reasonably priced for premium hardware. I’ve included it as one of the first good Thunderbolt 5 docking station sales I’ve seen for Black Friday. CalDigit’s TS4 is also pretty pricy, but it earned top marks from our sister site, TechAdvisor. OWC’s Thunderbolt 4 also performed quite well in TA’s review, too.
Weirdly, Microsoft’s Surface Thunderbolt 4 dock doesn’t really, er, surface except for the holidays, but it’s reliably on sale.
We’ve also reviewed quite a few Thunderbolt docking stations in our list of the best Thunderbolt docks.
Black Friday: The best PC deals around
Check out our roundups for the best PC-related deals in a wide variety of categories!
FAQ
When is Black Friday?
Officially, this year’s Black Friday takes place on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. Cyber Monday is the following Monday, or Dec. 1, 2025.
When do early Black Friday deals on Thunderbolt docks begin?
Early Black Friday sales have already begun at several retailers, though sales should ramp up as Black Friday nears. Retailers haven’t been shy about using early sales to unload inventory before the Black Friday craziness begins.
Over the years, I’ve found that certain retailers simply outdo others in specific product categories. I routinely search sites like Newegg, B&H, Target, and Walmart, but Amazon typically has the best collection of deals on docking stations of all stripes, including Thunderbolt docks.
What should you pay for a Black Friday deal on a Thunderbolt dock?
Premium Thunderbolt docks usually retail for about $220 to $270 or so, depending upon the features. I usually hope for $200 or less, but we’ll see.
Though Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 (and USB3 and USB4) docks all include the same basic feature set, it’s likely that retailers and e-tailers have sold through their old Thunderbolt 3 hardware. (If this confuses you, please see our list of the best Thunderbolt docks and the explanation for the different features.) This probably leaves Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 as the default choice.
I may recommend one or two deals on Thunderbolt 5 docking stations, but Thunderbolt 5 is a premium platform with little need for you to buy it right now. None of the 2026 mobile processor platforms will integrate Thunderbolt 5 directly, favoring Thunderbolt 4 instead.
I have a USB-C port on my laptop. How do I know what to use with it?
Consult your laptop’s manual. A Thunderbolt port may be labeled with a small lightning-bolt logo, but that icon can sometimes be used to signal that the port can be used for charging, too. If nothing else, a USB-C dongle/hub will always work with a USB-C port.
I still don’t understand the difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt. How does it all work?
USB ports have been around for years. USB-C (the oval-shaped port) replaced USB-A (the rectangular port) because USB-C was more versatile, with higher speeds and a reversible port connector. USB-C ports can be rated for either 5Gbps or 10Gbps, just like a normal USB-A port. But some USB-C ports connect to a Thunderbolt chip inside your laptop, and this allows the port to run at a higher 40Gbps speed. Physically, the connector looks exactly the same. It’s just what it can do that’s different.
Thunderbolt 5 is slowly entering the market, but with a few docks and even fewer models of laptops that can support it.
What’s the difference between a USB-C hub and a Thunderbolt dock?
Speed and features. A USB-C hub connects to a single 4K (or 1080p) display and provides a mix of ports: USB-A, SD card slots, and so on. You can usually plug your laptop’s USB-C power cable (if it uses one) right into it.
A Thunderbolt dock supplies even more bandwidth for more ports. There are two key differences: It has enough bandwidth to drive a pair of 4K displays, and many docks come with their own power supply that can charge your laptop as well as your phone. All that occurs via the Thunderbolt cable that connects your laptop to the dock.
My laptop has USB4, not Thunderbolt. Can I use a Thunderbolt dock?
It’s easiest to think of it as a branding issue. Laptops with Intel chips inside include Thunderbolt — in this case, most likely Thunderbolt 4. But Intel won’t certify laptops that don’t have one of its chips inside, so that means a laptop with an AMD Ryzen chip inside includes the generic equivalent, or USB4. Yes, it’s kind of dumb.
There’s a small catch. Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 all run at 40Gbps across the same connector. USB4 is identical to Thunderbolt 4. But if your laptop runs USB4, it won’t “understand” Thunderbolt 3 protocols. But since Thunderbolt 4 has largely exited the market, it’s not really something to worry about.
Is Thunderbolt 4 better than Thunderbolt 3?
Slightly. Physically, they use the same USB-C cable. Functionally, they’re almost the same, and run at the same 40Gbps throughput. However, Thunderbolt 4 was released almost as a patch to Thunderbolt 3, ensuring that everything worked properly.
If your laptop has Thunderbolt, you should be able to buy either a Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 dock without any problems. (For all the gory details, see my roundup of the best Thunderbolt docks and the explanation.)
I own a desktop PC. Do I need a Thunderbolt dock?
Possibly. Historically, the back of a desktop has been chock-full of I/O ports, especially DIY models that you build yourself. Desktops usually have extra room for internal SSDs, SD cards, and so on. However, if your desktop lacks these things, and if it includes an external Thunderbolt port, you can always add these additional components externally via Thunderbolt.
Some of these docks have bad reviews on shopping sites. What gives?
Read the user reviews closely. While Macs adopted Thunderbolt first, some of the Apple M1 silicon couldn’t keep up with Intel Thunderbolt controllers used by Windows PCs, and the Apple macOS experience suffered as a result. If a Windows user complains, pay attention; otherwise, you can dismiss them.
