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expired Posted by turns2stone • Dec 25, 2024
expired Posted by turns2stone • Dec 25, 2024

Select Stores: Western Digital WD Black D50 RGB Game Dock (Thunderbolt 3)

& More In-Store Purchase Only

$50

$80

37% off
Micro Center
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Deal Details
Micro Center has select Western Digital WD Black Game Docks (Thunderbolt 3 Connectivity) for the prices listed. In-store purchase only.

Note: Availability for pickup may vary by location.

Thanks to Community Member turns2stone and SD Moderator Mbilo for finding this deal.

Available:Features (D50):
  • Multi-Port Gaming Connectivity
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
  • 1 x DisplayPort 1.4
  • 2 x 10 Gb/s USB Type-C
  • 3 x 10 Gb/s USB Type-A
  • 1 x 3.5mm Audio Input/Output
  • 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
  • Up to 87W of Passthrough Charging
  • Customizable RGB Lighting

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This price is $30 lower (37% savings) than the list price of $79.99
  • About this product:
    • 5-Years Limited Warranty

Original Post

Written by turns2stone
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Micro Center has select Western Digital WD Black Game Docks (Thunderbolt 3 Connectivity) for the prices listed. In-store purchase only.

Note: Availability for pickup may vary by location.

Thanks to Community Member turns2stone and SD Moderator Mbilo for finding this deal.

Available:Features (D50):
  • Multi-Port Gaming Connectivity
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
  • 1 x DisplayPort 1.4
  • 2 x 10 Gb/s USB Type-C
  • 3 x 10 Gb/s USB Type-A
  • 1 x 3.5mm Audio Input/Output
  • 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
  • Up to 87W of Passthrough Charging
  • Customizable RGB Lighting

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This price is $30 lower (37% savings) than the list price of $79.99
  • About this product:
    • 5-Years Limited Warranty

Original Post

Written by turns2stone

Community Voting

Deal Score
+51
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Top Comments

turns2stone
4258 Posts
708 Reputation
Every port on a Thunderbolt 4 device that isn't Thunderbolt (i.e. a path to support internal SSD) must share a single 10GBps slice of USB bandwidth.

https://www.owc.com/blog/whats-th...nderbolt-4
sr27
337 Posts
26 Reputation
This is not common knowledge. But leave it to Intel to invent something and cripple it. Not the first time they have done it thinking it will win them market share.

We also have to thank Intel for HDCP whose sole purpose was to prevent some niche pirating that was not a huge problem. A shitty evil
Corp all around.
turns2stone
4258 Posts
708 Reputation
Whoa there cowboy! All of those (save for the Kensington) are standard USB hubs, not Thunderbolt!

Thunderbolt 3 docks inherently have 40Gbps of combined throughput for the ports, whereas those USB-C dock have 10Gbps of bandwidth shared among all of the peripherals, including display. If you're really pushing the limits with simultaneous heavy use of a 4K display, 1Gbps LAN and and attached USB device, you're going to run out of bandwidth.

Even more importantly, those hubs either don't come with a charger, and/or don't support pass-through charging. A Thunderbolt dock does both. And the Kensington supports 60w vs. 87w on this Western Digital.

In summary, you're not comparing apples-to-apples for those (cheaper) USB-C docks. If you're using this D50 dock with a MacBook (or even Mac mini), you'll get two independent video outputs.

I realize you're probably on Windows, but if you bought any of those for use with a Mac, that 'dual HDMI' would literally get you two identical monitor outputs, mirrored to each other.
EDIT - clarifying extended monitor support/mirroring.
EDIT #2 - the other nice thing about the D50 (compared to the cheaper docks linked) is the ability to add/change to a longer cable to your laptop/PC. Most of the hubs have permanently-attached cables, and they're typically short to reduce the chance of signal degradation.

124 Comments

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Dec 25, 2024
706 Posts
Joined Oct 2022
Dec 25, 2024
HappyDome8591
Dec 25, 2024
706 Posts
The Santa Clara store can't come soon enough. I want one of these.
1
Dec 25, 2024
308 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Dec 25, 2024
tomrit
Dec 25, 2024
308 Posts
It gets a lan port, can it run like a nas?
2
Dec 25, 2024
857 Posts
Joined Feb 2011
Dec 25, 2024
youngbilly
Dec 25, 2024
857 Posts
Quote from SomethingAzn2 :
Other way to look at it is 1TB ssd for $50 more which is not a bad price / TB
Can you take the SSD out?
1
Dec 25, 2024
39 Posts
Joined Jan 2011
Dec 25, 2024
ChrisTX12
Dec 25, 2024
39 Posts
Maybe I'm not fully awake yet but what would be the use case here? Extra ports and the additional drive but with the ability to share the drive by swapping cords between computers?
1
Dec 25, 2024
228 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
Dec 25, 2024
veeshan28
Dec 25, 2024
228 Posts
Forgive my ignorance but I'm used to Thunderbolt being Mac, and maybe Audio application specific. Is this designed with Macs in mind or all gaming laptops? What about the handled gaming PCs like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go etc?
1
Dec 25, 2024
7,399 Posts
Joined Jul 2016
Dec 25, 2024
Frank_Nitty
Dec 25, 2024
7,399 Posts
What in the dock is this, lol? It looks more like an external HDD w/ extra I/O and a RGB light strip on the side, lol...
3
Dec 25, 2024
414 Posts
Joined Sep 2013
Dec 25, 2024
HiFi21
Dec 25, 2024
414 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank HiFi21

Quote from ChrisTX12 :
Maybe I'm not fully awake yet but what would be the use case here? Extra ports and the additional drive but with the ability to share the drive by swapping cords between computers?
Typically for desktop setup of a laptop, this gives extra ports and allows you to set it up with peripherals and have a single plug to your laptop when you dock it.
My concern is no hdmi and only one diplayport.
3
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Dec 25, 2024
5,430 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
Dec 25, 2024
HY-SD
Dec 25, 2024
5,430 Posts
Quote from Frank_Nitty :
What in the dock is this, lol? It looks more like an external HDD w/ extra I/O and a RGB light strip on the side, lol...
terms hub and dock are rather interchangeable these days.
1
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Dec 25, 2024
turns2stone
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Quote from tomrit :
It gets a lan port, can it run like a nas?
No.
..
1
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Dec 25, 2024
turns2stone
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Quote from youngbilly :
Can you take the SSD out?
Yes..
1
Pro
Dec 25, 2024
959 Posts
Joined Dec 2014
Dec 25, 2024
1gokart
Pro
Dec 25, 2024
959 Posts
This might be the perfect companion to the new Mac Mini M4.. Has anyone pair them together?

Mac Mini 127mm x127mm
WD Black D50 120mm x 120mm

The only thing mising is the SD card reader

This would be a no brainer for Mac Mini M4 buyers as most Mac Mini docks are USB-C connection, not thunderbolt.
Last edited by 1gokart December 25, 2024 at 10:41 AM.
1
Dec 25, 2024
89 Posts
Joined May 2015
Dec 25, 2024
Christophorus
Dec 25, 2024
89 Posts
Quote from 1gokart :
This might be the perfect companion to the new Mac Mini M4.. Has anyone pair them together?
I'm using it with new Mac mini. It's perfect except the hot ssd.
1
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Dec 25, 2024
turns2stone
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Quote from veeshan28 :
Forgive my ignorance but I'm used to Thunderbolt being Mac, and maybe Audio application specific. Is this designed with Macs in mind or all gaming laptops? What about the handled gaming PCs like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go etc?
This won't work with those handheld/portables. Need a Windows or macOS laptop to best utilize this dock.
You plug one Thunderbolt cable into your laptop (like keep this dock permanently at your desk) and now your monitor works, you LAN, your laptop is powered and you have plenty of spare ports for hardwired keyboard, etc. Plus this acts as a storage device.
EDIT - my mistake, does work with the ROG and Legion Go, but not Steamdeck.
2
Dec 25, 2024
69 Posts
Joined Feb 2014
Dec 25, 2024
black_coffee_777
Dec 25, 2024
69 Posts
I use this as a dock for my t580 thinkpad. Works very well as extra storage and charging.
1

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Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Dec 25, 2024
turns2stone
Original Poster
Dec 25, 2024
4,258 Posts
Quote from 1gokart :
This might be the perfect companion to the new Mac Mini M4.. Has anyone pair them together?Mac Mini 127mm x127mmWD Black D50 120mm x 120mmThe only thing mising is the SD card readerThis would be a no brainer for Mac Mini M4 buyers as most Mac Mini docks are USB-C connection, not thunderbolt.
Depending on your SSD, only the top (where the writing/logo is) would get warm, so you could stack the D50 dock on top of the M4 Mac mini without any worry.
This dock can fit a huge SSD heatsink inside, so you could always add one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYaRDl1pJY (not my video)
1

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