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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

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
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.
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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Jan 1, 2025
1,446 Posts
Joined Jan 2006
Jan 1, 2025
whodiini
Jan 1, 2025
1,446 Posts
Quote from santy83 :
If I don't care about ports would this OWC be better for higher speeds with heat sink - https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Portab...r=8-1&th=1

Folks have reported great speeds in the reviews like 3200MB/s Write, 3145MB/s Read (Blackmagic benchmark).

I have both. Different animals, different purposes. For pure speed to a device that has a USB 4 /thunderbolt 4 port, the OWC is faster, about 10% faster if you have something like a SN850X. Depends what you need. I doubt 10% faster you will see a difference unless you are doing lots of file transfers. And if you really need the speed, get 2 D50, 2 SN850X and run raid 0 and you will double your speed for the price of one OWC enclosure.
Original Poster
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Jan 1, 2025
4,257 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Jan 1, 2025
turns2stone
Jan 1, 2025
Original Poster
Pro
4,257 Posts
Quote from whodiini :
see this support article:

https://support-en.sandisk.com/ap...UyMQ%3D%3D [sandisk.com]
I'm familiar with that. The WD50 shows up in the dashboard but doesn't show a firmware or update option.
Jan 1, 2025
3,200 Posts
Joined Mar 2006
Jan 1, 2025
eduardmc
Jan 1, 2025
3,200 Posts
Quote from FabulousCaribou551 :
Just picked this up from Micro Center. Mine has a burnt electronics smell out of the box. It works though. Anyone had a similar problem?
Picked up one today. The 1tb version, first time boot and ssd went dead. Stuck on readmode only.
Jan 1, 2025
3,283 Posts
Joined Oct 2003
Jan 1, 2025
DJ_SAMMY_D
Jan 1, 2025
3,283 Posts
You guys think this would work for it??

https://vivo-us.com/products/mount-ds01
Original Poster
Pro
Jan 1, 2025
4,257 Posts
Joined Feb 2010
Jan 1, 2025
turns2stone
Jan 1, 2025
Original Poster
Pro
4,257 Posts
Quote from DJ_SAMMY_D :
You guys think this would work for it??https://vivo-us.com/products/mount-ds01
It should work fine with that VESA adapter. Not sure about that velcro... feels like a job for someone with some 3D print/design skills.
Jan 1, 2025
3,283 Posts
Joined Oct 2003
Jan 1, 2025
DJ_SAMMY_D
Jan 1, 2025
3,283 Posts
Quote from turns2stone :
It should work fine with that VESA adapter. Not sure about that velcro... feels like a job for someone with some 3D print/design skills.
Surprisingly nothing on thingyverse for it
Jan 1, 2025
1,446 Posts
Joined Jan 2006
Jan 1, 2025
whodiini
Jan 1, 2025
1,446 Posts
Quote from turns2stone :
I'm familiar with that. The WD50 shows up in the dashboard but doesn't show a firmware or update option.
Thanks. I guess that means there is no firmware update or it is no longer supported.

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Pro
Jan 1, 2025
959 Posts
Joined Dec 2014
Jan 1, 2025
1gokart
Pro
Jan 1, 2025
959 Posts
price went up to $59, the 1TB is still $99
Pro
Jan 1, 2025
111 Posts
Joined Jun 2005
Jan 1, 2025
bzo
Pro
Jan 1, 2025
111 Posts
Quote from eduardmc :
Picked up one today. The 1tb version, first time boot and ssd went dead. Stuck on readmode only.
same thing happened to me - I think I'll exchange for the non-ssd version
Jan 3, 2025
136 Posts
Joined Mar 2019
Jan 3, 2025
SkillfulRailway607
Jan 3, 2025
136 Posts
Quote from eduardmc :
Picked up one today. The 1tb version, first time boot and ssd went dead. Stuck on readmode only.
I installed an old P600 SSD in mine, works well so far. The electronics smell is still there.
Jan 4, 2025
3,283 Posts
Joined Oct 2003
Jan 4, 2025
DJ_SAMMY_D
Jan 4, 2025
3,283 Posts
this thing worked better than I thought ( once I had a metal spudger to open it )

Bought evo plus 2tb ( 4tb is just too much right now, maybe in another year)

plugged to mac mini 512gb - created partition for 1.5TB for time machine backups
created 2nd partition for dumping random files at .5TB ( iphone backup files) - found good link on creating symbolic link to ensure backups go to this partition - https://www.techbout.com/change-i...mac-18069/
plugged my USBC thumbdrive in front
iphone plugs into usbc in back

just works...

Connected windows PC with WD app to see if upgrade needed, so far none, shows up to date with latest firmware ( wish WD had mac app, but no big deal)
Jan 9, 2025
162 Posts
Joined Jul 2011
Jan 9, 2025
wimpytx93
Jan 9, 2025
162 Posts
I have been using this (1TB) with my Mac Mini M4 as well as my work Windows laptop for about 2 weeks now.

It has replaced the docking station I was previously utilizing which supported DisplayPort/ LAN and had various usb connections connected to a dual monitor setup. I was a little weary because my setup is a little funky (1 monitor is DisplayPort, the other is hdmi only) but everything is working perfectly. As someone mentioned there is only one DisplayPort connection. However I was also utilizing a cheap usb c hub(non powered) that has hdmi connection to expand ports. This coupled with the DisplayPort are currently driving both my monitors with full extended desktop support in Mac OS as well as Windows.

One thing to note I also have an M1 MacBook Air that previously worked in a dual monitor setup in extended display via my previous dock and using the display link driver. This does not appear to be working with the new dock. However I purchased the Mac Mini so I would not have to keep unplugging/replugging the MacBook. Not a huge issue but would be nice if it worked.
Jan 9, 2025
3,283 Posts
Joined Oct 2003
Jan 9, 2025
DJ_SAMMY_D
Jan 9, 2025
3,283 Posts
Quote from wimpytx93 :
I have been using this (1TB) with my Mac Mini M4 as well as my work Windows laptop for about 2 weeks now.

It has replaced the docking station I was previously utilizing which supported DisplayPort/ LAN and had various usb connections connected to a dual monitor setup. I was a little weary because my setup is a little funky (1 monitor is DisplayPort, the other is hdmi only) but everything is working perfectly. As someone mentioned there is only one DisplayPort connection. However I was also utilizing a cheap usb c hub(non powered) that has hdmi connection to expand ports. This coupled with the DisplayPort are currently driving both my monitors with full extended desktop support in Mac OS as well as Windows.

One thing to note I also have an M1 MacBook Air that previously worked in a dual monitor setup in extended display via my previous dock and using the display link driver. This does not appear to be working with the new dock. However I purchased the Mac Mini so I would not have to keep unplugging/replugging the MacBook. Not a huge issue but would be nice if it worked.
Try using a thunderbolt to DisplayPort/hdmi adaptor instead of usbc …

Like this brand - https://www.ebay.com/itm/18569123...media=COPY
Jan 10, 2025
411 Posts
Joined Nov 2015
Jan 10, 2025
Riddle.Me.This
Jan 10, 2025
411 Posts
Quote from DJ_SAMMY_D :
Try using a thunderbolt to DisplayPort/hdmi adaptor instead of usbc …

Like this brand - https://www.ebay.com/itm/18569123...media=COPY
That will not work as the M1 GPU only supports a single external display. The reason why his old docking station was able to drive two displays is because it was using Display Link, which the D50 does not support. (Display Link does not use the integrated GPU but a proprietary protocol over USB to the dock)

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Jan 10, 2025
3,283 Posts
Joined Oct 2003
Jan 10, 2025
DJ_SAMMY_D
Jan 10, 2025
3,283 Posts
Quote from Riddle.Me.This :
That will not work as the M1 GPU only supports a single external display. The reason why his old docking station was able to drive two displays is because it was using Display Link, which the D50 does not support. (Display Link does not use the integrated GPU but a proprietary protocol over USB to the dock)
Jeez I hope not… I tried wavlink displaylink dock, and was the worst experience ever… like the software that is needed made the machine function like garbage… M1 Max

I was like wtf is this.. felt like the 2nd screen was a bad rdp connection and constant stalling/glitching

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