Accessory maker Hyper announced at CES on Sunday a new Thunderbolt 5 dock that looks good to a photographer like me.
First, it’s got three Thunderbolt 5 ports, the new, faster version of the data-transfer standard — good for plugging in big external monitors or external storage systems. Second, it’s got a built-in CFexpress Type B memory card slot for offloading photos or videos from newer Canon and Nikon cameras. Third, it’s got a slot for an NVMe SSD for its own built-in storage.
CFexpress memory cards are newer higher-speed alternatives to SD Cards, though many cameras support both. New mirrorless cameras from Canon and Nikon use CFexpress Type B, though Sony uses smaller Type A. Hyper’s dock means you won’t need a separate CFexpress reader, typically an expensive accessory since CFexpress readers aren’t built into laptops the way SD card readers are.
The Hyper dock, due to ship in the third quarter for $399, also lets you plug in three Thunderbolt 5 devices, which is solid expandability if you’re trying to get a lot of use out of a limited number of laptop ports. Thunderbolt 5 doubles data transfer speeds to 80Gbps, but the Hyper dock also supports a faster one-way 120Gbps mode useful for big monitors.
Other ports are three 10Gbps old-style USB-A ports, a 5Gbps Ethernet network jack and an SD card slot. It’ll also pass up to 140 watts of power along to your laptop. The SSD slot supports PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD cards, which aren’t included.
Video buffs should take note of another potentially useful accessory — a Hyper snap-on SSD enclosure that attaches to iPhones for much more capacity when storing high-quality ProRes video. It’ll be able to house M.2 SSDs, either SATA or NVMe 2280 and has an input port for USB-C power too, though you’ll have to supply that power with another accessory. It’s due to ship in the second quarter for $40.
