iVanky FusionDock Extremely assessment: 26-port Thunderbolt 5 dock for critical Mac setups

At a look

Professional’s Ranking

Professionals

• 26 top-end ports, together with 4 Thunderbolt 5
• Helps 4 shows with out daisy-chaining
• 10Gb Ethernet
• Energetic cooling

Cons

• Premium worth
• Takes two Mac ports for optimum benefit
• Fan might produce noise in exacting studio environments

Our Verdict

If 16 USB ports is much more than you assume you want, the Extremely could also be overkill, and at that premium worth it’ll actually make you double-count what number of ports and high-resolution shows you really want. For Mac professionals working on the highest degree, the iVanky FusionDock goes to be the go-to docking station.

Worth When Reviewed

This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined

Greatest Pricing As we speak

Worth When Reviewed

$649.99

Greatest Costs As we speak: iVanky FusionDock Extremely

$649.99

$749.99

In 2025 when iVanky launched its 23-port iVanky FusionDock Max 2 it threw down the gauntlet for the title of “Final Mac Dock” to defending champion, the enduring 20-port CalDigit TS5 Plus.

The TS5 Plus was (simply) victorious on absolutely the top-end—the TS5 Plus has 10GbE networking in comparison with the Max 2’s 2.5GbE and all its USB ports are 10Gbps. Solely the FusionDock Max 2 might provide three native shows, with out requiring additional software program, and whereas the TS5 Plus has loads of USB ports, the iVanky Max 2 supplied an excellent abundance.

iVanky has now returned with the FusionDock Extremely, which hosts 26 ports together with 10GbE and 12 USB ports rated at 10Gbps along with the 2 upstream and 4 downstream 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 ports. It might deal with as much as 4 6K shows at 60Hz, and twin 8K/60Hz shows.

CalDigit actually has a struggle on its fingers.

We’ll examine the 2 later in better element additional down however first let’s have a look at the whole lot the FusionDock Extremely affords to the Mac skilled who calls for probably the most and the most effective.

Simon Jary

First, it should be famous how effectively iVanky packages its new top-end docking station. It appears nice in its field earlier than you even get your fingers on it.

How is the FusionDock Extremely completely different from different docks?

The benefit this dock has over different Thunderbolt 5 docks is its twin Thunderbolt 5 chips, making it successfully two docks in a single case—in essence, it’s two unbiased dock printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) built-in collectively.

The unique FusionDock Max 1 has two Thunderbolt 4 chips, and the Max 2 combines a Thunderbolt 5 controller with a further DP-Alt chip.

These dual-chip docks can natively ship as much as 4 exterior shows—a feat that often takes a docking station that requires third-party DisplayLink compression software program to be put in on the Mac.

The discharge of MacBooks with M5 Professional and M5 Max chips has modified the taking part in area. These top-end Macs are now not restricted to 2 exterior screens over a single Thunderbolt cable, with the M5 Professional supporting as much as three and the M5 Max as much as 4.

Which means a dock akin to CalDigit’s TS5 can run 4 shows when linked to a kind of MacBooks. Nonetheless, the fourth show should be daisy-chained off the third because the dock has solely three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports. The Extremely is free from this daisy-chaining requirement.

Simon Jary

The iVanky Extremely has 4 downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports, plus devoted DisplayPort and HDMI ports, so can deal with all 4 shows with no need to hyperlink the final to one of many different screens.

Utilizing two upstream Thunderbolt connections additionally gives considerably extra bandwidth, avoiding the bottlenecks that always happen with single-port docks.

The draw back is that you have to use two of your Mac’s Thunderbolt ports to make use of the FusionDock Extremely. If just one cable is linked, some ports on the dock is not going to perform.

Simon Jary

What ports and options do you truly get?

We thought the mighty CalDigit TS5 Plus was exceptional packing 20 ports, together with ten USB, then the FusionDock Max 2 fitted 23 ports right into a equally sized case. Now we’ve obtained a loopy 26 ports to play with.

As there are such a lot of ports, iVanky has clearly labelled all of them.

• Two upstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (80Gbps, 140W)
• 4 downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (80Gbps, 15W)
• One USB-C port (10Gbps, 45W)
• Seven USB-C ports (10Gbps, 7.5W)
• 4 USB-A ports (10Gbps)
• One DisplayPort (2.1)
• One HDMI (2.0)
• Ethernet (10Gb)
• UHS-II SD card reader (312MBps)
• UHS-II microSD card reader (312MBps)
• One 3.5mm combo audio In/Out jack (entrance)
• One 3.5mm Audio Out audio jack (again)
• One 3.5mm Audio In audio jack (again)
• One optical audio (again)
• 240W energy provide

Most Thunderbolt docks have one upstream Thunderbolt port to connect with the pc and as much as three downstream ports to connect screens, storage drives and different high-bandwidth gadgets.

With its dual-chip structure, the FusionDock Extremely sports activities six Thunderbolt 5 ports: two upstream and 4 downstream.

Simon Jary

The 2 upstream hook up with the Mac with the included dual-cable connectors. When linked to a MacBook (pictured above), the 2 connectors magnetically match collectively within the appropriate place to neatly connect to the laptop computer’s side-by-side Thunderbolt ports. On the dock finish the connectors are positioned on prime of one another within the devoted upstream ports. The FusionDock Extremely additionally ships with a spare downstream Thunderbolt 5 cable.

iVanky

If you’re utilizing the dock with a desktop Mac akin to a Mac mini or Mac Studio, the upstream cables may be separated to suit that pc’s port format however you have to nonetheless join the dock to 2 Thunderbolt ports.

The dock will work finest with Macs that host Thunderbolt 5, with its 80Gbps data-transfer bandwidth that doubles that of 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4. With a function known as Bandwidth Increase, a Thunderbolt port can change to a unidirectional 120Gbps for probably the most demanding video wants.

If you’ll want to join excessive efficiency SSDs or RAID gadgets Thunderbolt 5 rewards you with a PCIe efficiency that’s doubled (from Thunderbolt 4) to 64Gbps PCIe 4.0, and the dock helps (theoretical) switch speeds as much as 6,200MBps.

The upstream PD 3.1 TB5 ports can provide as much as 140W to the linked MacBook, which is highly effective sufficient to fast-charge the top-end 16-inch mannequin. Every of the downstream TB5 ports can ship 15W.

On the TS5 Plus CalDigit sacrificed the chance for a 3rd downstream Thunderbolt port for a top-end DisplayPort 2.1 video connection. iVanky’s FusionDock offers 4 downstream Thunderbolt 5 plus a DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.0 port. Native Thunderbolt and DisplayPort output helps as much as 4K at 240Hz, which isn’t attainable by way of an HDMI port.

Not together with the backwards-compatible Thunderbolt ports, the FusionDock Extremely carries a mind-boggling 12 plainer USB ports: all at 10Gbps. The Max 2 additionally has 12 USB however three at 5Gbps and one other three on the weedy USB 2.0 velocity of 480Mbps. Seven of those are USB-C (keep in mind that that the three downstream Thunderbolt can even function as Sort C when you want) and 4 are old-school USB-A. The Max 2 had these numbers the opposite approach round, with seven USB-A, which is definitely extra legacy ports than anybody with a top-end system ought to want. High marks to iVanky for shifting to extra USB-C than USB-A.

4 USB-A must be a lot for older flash drives and reminiscence sticks, and even a wired keyboard and mouse for individuals who shun wi-fi enter—possibly for these involved concerning the potential instability of Bluetooth sign interference.

iVanky

What number of shows can it actually help (and on which Macs)?

A key goal of a docking station is to attach a number of exterior shows with out utilizing up all of the MacBook’s personal ports. The twin-chip FusionDock Extremely is the chief of the pack in terms of natively supporting as much as 4 shows, though the current M5 Professional/Max advances in Apple’s processor design have blunted that benefit just a little.

To attain native four-display help you’ll want to use these two upstream ports. You’ll be able to’t use the plain USB-C ports for connecting to exterior shows; for that goal, you’ll want to use the DisplayPort and/or HDMI ports or the Thunderbolt.

Docks was once restricted by the macOS’s lack of help for one thing known as Multi Stream Transport (MST), which restricted Macs from with the ability to join greater than two exterior shows over a single cable. That’s one motive why Mac docks may very well be used for 2 screens max.

The iVanky FusionDock Max 2 obtained spherical this with its personal dual-chip/two-upstream cable connection, and the Extremely follows swimsuit.

Nonetheless, as talked about earlier, Apple has revealed that its newest MacBooks with M5 Professional can now help three shows over one cable (it should be Thunderbolt 5), and with M5 Max as much as 4.

The iVanky dock nonetheless affords as much as 4 shows for customers of M1//M2/M3/M4 Max-chip Mac, however you probably have an M5 Max Mac now you can join as much as 4 shows from different Thunderbolt 5 docks, such because the CalDigit TS5, though the fourth should be daisy-chained from the third monitor attributable to lack of ports on the dock.

The FusionDocks don’t have any such issues with their 4 Thunderbolt ports and different devoted video ports: it’s the one Thunderbolt port that natively helps 4 shows with none daisy-chaining required.

Simon Jary

Quad show: Native vs DisplayLink

When you don’t thoughts putting in third-party compression software program akin to DisplayLink there are docks—such because the Plugable TBT-UDT3—that help as much as 5 shows by way of a single connection. The catch is that DisplayLink might introduce noticeable latency in some conditions or on sure screens, so high-end studios and professionals will all the time desire a local resolution.

Native (with out assist from third-party software program) video gives smoother, full-resolution lag-free video with larger refresh charges (4K at 240Hz), which makes it perfect for video enhancing and gaming. DisplayLink’s max is 60Hz—fantastic for many of us however nowhere close to sufficient for video professionals and players. Natively, the Mac’s GPU may be utilized for processing, so lowering CPU system useful resource load utilization.

Third-party DisplayLink in a devoted dock or adapter sends compressed video information over USB connection, and bypasses Apple’s native show output limitations, so permitting you to attach a number of exterior shows to Mac fashions that formally help just one or two (for instance, the bottom single-display M1 and M2 fashions, in addition to the brand new MacBook Neo).

DisplayLink additionally suffers from restrictions to DRM (Digital Rights Administration) protected content material as utilized by streamers akin to Netflix and Apple TV.

The Extremely’s twin Thunderbolt 5 connections to the Mac imply no additional software program is required for the purest multi-display help.

iVanky

Monitor matrix

Sadly, even this dock can’t override the built-in show limits of your Mac. The utmost variety of exterior shows remains to be decided by your Mac’s processor and Apple’s personal show engine limits. To test your Mac’s show potential, see Apple’s “What number of shows may be linked to MacBook Professional”.

For 3 shows, you’ll want a Mac with at the very least an M5 Professional or a Max M-series processor: so M1/M2/M3/M4 Max. Even M4 Professional Macs are restricted to twin 4K/60Hz help (see MST rationalization above).

The three shows may be 3x 6K/60Hz. In case your Mac boasts a Max M-series processor, you possibly can join 4 6K shows at 60Hz.

For twin 8K/60Hz shows an M4 Max or M5 Max chip is required. A single 8K display screen is feasible even on a plain M4 or M5 chip, or an M4 Professional.

iVanky

To indicate the show potentialities it’s best to take a look at this grid of potentialities for every kind of Mac.

Energy station

Thunderbolt 5 has larger energy supply (PD) than Thunderbolt 4: to the linked laptop computer at the very least 140W with help for as much as 240W; up from TB4’s minimal 100W and max 140W.

The FusionDock Extremely can energy a linked laptop computer at as much as 140W, sufficient to fast-charge a top-end 16-inch MacBook Professional.

The 45W USB-C port on the entrance of the dock (up from the Max 2’s 30W) is useful if you wish to fast-charge your iPhone or iPad. The TS5 Plus has a 35W entrance port, and the Sonnet Echo 13 has certainly one of its TB5 ports with a 60W ranking. 30W must be sufficient for these gadgets, and 45W is sufficient to (slowly) recharge one other MacBook if you wish to.

The exterior energy provide can ship a most of 240W, which is identical because the FusionDock Max 2 however noticeably decrease than the 330W of the CalDigit TS5 Plus that offers that rival dock sufficient to deal with a full energy demand, so the wattage going into the laptop computer wants by no means fluctuate to accommodate different hungry gadgets.

When you have been to make use of all of the FusionDock’s ports at full energy, it could require 297.5W so you could hit the dock’s energy adapter restrict. The dock’s active-cooling followers may also burn up a few of that 240 of energy.

Whereas it’s unlikely all of the ports could be in use at one time anyway, it’s actually one facet the place the TS5 beats the FusionDock Extremely.

Not like the Max 2 the Extremely has no energy button on the entrance. I’m a fan of an influence button on a dock because it makes it simpler to show off energy to the linked laptop computer if you wish to higher protect its battery life, however the Extremely is in good firm with the CalDigit docks in not having one.

Simon Jary

Community speeds

Professional studios (and an growing variety of workplaces) are turning to networks a lot sooner than the long-traditional Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE), with 2.5GbE, 5GbE and even 10GbE speeds.

Current professional docks embrace a 2.5 gigabit Ethernet (2.5GbE) port as customary, together with the FusionDock Max 2’s LAN port. The FusionDock Extremely—just like the CalDigit TS5 Plus—goes proper to the highest with 10GbE, which is able to attraction to these with networks at that velocity or planning a future improve. It’s an awesome future-proof resolution and is backwards suitable with slower networks.

Storage

Some current Thunderbolt docking stations—such because the Sonnet Echo 13—embrace built-in SSD storage in order that the dock itself operates like a speedy exterior disk drive.

Neither the FusionDock Extremely nor the TS5 have this function however each provide quick 312MBps UHS-II SD and microSD card readers on the entrance so that you can slip out and in your individual transportable and cheap storage playing cards. That’s sooner than the 250MBps SDXC card slot constructed into Apple’s present MacBook Professional.

Simon Jary

Design

Whereas the CalDigit docks are cased within the iconic vertical or horizontal aluminum shell, the iVanky docks take a horizontal-only method but in addition in a fine-looking darkish design that has a intelligent floating aluminum chassis with built-in twin followers for lively thermal administration engineered to dissipate warmth.

The gold-trimmed copper-alloy midframe is subsequently cooler. The floor temperature of the Extremely stays comparatively low, usually round 40–45°C throughout regular use, because of the suspended-chassis airflow and cooling fan that creates additional thermal headroom and may guarantee fewer drops and throttling, even beneath excessive demand.

The built-in rubber ft elevate the dock from the desk additional permitting for air to move beneath it.

Simon Jary

CalDigit’s docks don’t embrace followers as some can add noise, which isn’t perfect in music or video studio environments the place professional customers want absolute silence. iVanky claims that its followers keep quiet throughout lighter duties and solely ramp up beneath strain. With so many ports, it’s fairly attainable that the followers can be required if loads of them are in use on the similar time.

The Extremely is just a little bigger than the Max 2 however in any other case fairly related in design. It measures 8.3 inches (210mm) lengthy, 4.9 inches (125mm) huge, and a couple of.4 inches (60mm) deep. It weighs in at 3.6lbs (1.65kg).

The ports are effectively positioned. The upstream Thunderbolt 5 ports that hook up with your laptop computer are labelled on the again, avoiding possible cable mess from the entrance. The 2 card readers and 9 USB ports together with the 45W USB-C for charging different gadgets, in addition to the Audio In/Out jack are additionally entrance dealing with.

On the again is the whole lot else: separate 3.5mm audio Out and in ports and the optical audio port; the 4 downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports; DisplayPort; HDMI; one 10Gbps USB-C and two USB-A; plus Ethernet.

Simon Jary

Worth

High-of-the-range Thunderbolt 5 docking stations come at a premium worth level however you do get lots in your cash with the iVanky FusionDock Extremely.

It’s priced at $749.99 within the U.S. – both direct or from Amazon, £749.99 within the U.Ok, and €749,99 within the E.U. Nonetheless, on the time of the launch iVanjy was providing a 13% low cost all the way down to $649.99, £649.99 and €649,99.

The CalDigit TS5 Plus prices $499 so is considerably cheaper however lacks the dual-chip structure that enables for the abundance of ports—to not dismiss the TS5 Plus’s 20 ports.

iVanky’s different Thunderbolt 5 dock, the FusionDock Max 2, prices $449. It has related show powers however fewer ports and a unique chip structure.

The $479 Sonnet Echo 13 that features an built-in 1TB SSD is cheaper, as is the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock ($329) and finest worth of all of the $299 Plugable TBT-UDT3 Dock and Wavlink Thunderbolt 5 Dock. Both might make extra sense when you don’t want the native tremendous show help or so many USB ports. Check out all of the finest Thunderbolt 5 docks in our roundup that additionally contains Thunderbolt 4 hubs and docks.

If a number of screens are the massive draw, then additionally think about DisplayLink docks that may help as much as 5 however require third-party compression software program that the top-end professionals might keep away from in case any latency is concerned however is ok for many customers.

The FusionDock Extremely contains the 1.2m twin Thunderbolt 5 cable and the same-length particular person TB5 cable.

Simon Jary

iVanky vs CalDigit: Battle of the super-pro docks

The closest rival to the Extremely is the CalDigit TS5 Plus, which is a considerably cheaper ($499) than the FusionDock Extremely ($649). Learn our full CalDigit TS5 Plus assessment. We additionally embrace the FusionDock Max 2 ($449) and CalDigit TS5 ($399).

Supported shows

• FusionDock Extremely: As much as 4
• FusionDock Max 2: As much as 4
• TS5 Plus: As much as 4 (requires daisy chaining)
• TS5: As much as 4 (requires daisy chaining)

Variety of ports:

• FusionDock Extremely: 26
• FusionDock Max 2: 23
• TS5 Plus: 20
• TS5: 15

Thunderbolt port energy:

• FusionDock Extremely: 15W
• FusionDock Max 2: 15W
• TS5 Plus: 36W
• TS5: 15W

Entrance USB-C port energy:

• FusionDock Extremely: 45W
• FusionDock Max 2: 30W
• TS5 Plus: 35W
• TS5: 20W

Complete energy:

• FusionDock: 240W
• FusionDock Max 2: 240W
• TS5 Plus: 330W
• TS5: 240W

Ethernet velocity:

• FusionDock Extremely: 10Gb
• FusionDock Max 2: 2.5Gb
• TS5 Plus: 10Gb
• TS5: 2.5Gb

Simon Jary

The place the TS5 Plus beat the FusionDock Max 2 on the absolute top-end in some circumstances, the FusionDock Extremely at the very least matches it all over the place aside from its most energy provide (240W vs 330W).

When you want probably the most shows on the highest refresh charges the FusionDock Extremely is a simple winner with its native help for 4 (for any Max-chip Mac) and sufficient ports to attach from the dock. The TS5 Plus does natively help 4 when matched with the very top-end M5 Max Mac however requires the fourth show to be daisy-chained off the third. The Extremely can join every of its 4 shows on the dock itself.

The compromise is that you have to use two of the Mac’s personal three Thunderbolt ports to connect with the Extremely (as was additionally the case with the Max 2, and certainly the Max 1), which considerably defeats the magnificence of getting a single cable linked to your Mac to attach all of your gadgets however it’s obligatory for these 4 linked native shows.

Must you purchase the iVanky FusionDock Extremely?

With an unmatched variety of top-end ports and dual-chip structure, the iVanky FusionDock Extremely is a really critical contender to take the final word Mac dock crown.

If 16 USB ports is much more than you assume you want, the Extremely could also be overkill, and at that premium worth it’ll actually make you double-count what number of ports and high-resolution shows you really want.

For Mac professionals working on the highest degree, the iVanky FusionDock goes to be the go-to docking station.