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Sonnet recently expanded its lineup of Thunderbolt 3 products with the Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt Dock. As its name suggests, this Thunderbolt 3 dock has two built-in NVMe slots, so it doubles up as an external drive with a maximum capacity of 16TB at speeds up to 3000MB/s. Plus, the dock will give you four additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. So let’s take a closer look at this impressive compact dock!
American computer accessories manufacturer Sonnet is well-known for its high-quality peripherals and docks, like the Echo 11 Thunderbolt 3 dock or their recent Sonnet Echo 5 Thunderbolt 4 hub.
The company is back with an innovative Thunderbolt 3 dock: the Sonnet Echo Dual NVMe, an intelligent combination between a blazing fast external drive and a traditional dock.
Sonnet Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt Dock features
The Sonnet Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt dock is a compact and lightweight studio solution with dimensions of only 6.8 x 3.4 x 1.8in/7.3 x 8.6 x 4.44cm for a weight of 1kg with the power adapter. Indeed, this Thunderbolt 3 dock requires 96W of external power.
The dock is compatible with all Thunderbolt 3 Intel Mac computers, Apple M1 series Mac computers, Intel Windows Thunderbolt 3/4 computers, and even the Apple M1 iPad Pro!
It connects to your computer via an included Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable. In addition, it comes with a ThunderLok 3 Thunderbolt connector retainer clip, so your connection cable won’t disconnect by accident.
This Thunderbolt 3 connection port – also compatible with Thunderbolt 4 – provides laptop charging at up to 15W only, which means you’ll need an extra laptop charger to keep you up and running for hours.
You’ll find the 12V DC power input, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and a Kensington lock slot at the back of the unit.
At the front of the Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt dock, you’ll find two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, one USB Type-A port, and a Thunderbolt 3 port.
The Thunderbolt 3 port supports up to five daisy-chained devices. Furthermore, it supports Thunderbolt 3/USB-C/DisplayPort/HDMI monitors with a maximum display resolution of 5K at 60Hz. In short, you can connect an Apple Pro Display XDR to the dock with ease.
This Sonnet Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt dock gives you several extra connection ports, but most of the magic is inside.
NVMe built-in drives
If you unscrew the top cover of the Sonnet Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt dock, you’ll find two M.2 NVMe SSD slots. The dock supports NVMe SSDs with a maximum storage capacity of 16TB. Each SSD can reach speeds of up to 1.500 MB/s. With two SSDs configured as a RAID 0 set, data transfers can reach 3.000 MB/s transfer speeds.
Cooling
Nothing in the world is perfect, and M.2 NVMe SSDs are notorious for getting hot. So Sonnet had to put a small fan inside the dock to cool the built-in SSD drives.
According to Sonnet, the “temperature-controlled, variable-speed fan with whisper-quiet operation keeps SSDs cool even during peak performance.” I’m usually not a massive fan of devices that sit on my desk and have a built-in fan, but I hope it’s really quiet.
Price and availability
The Echo Dual NVMe Thunderbolt Dock is available now for $349.99/€426. You’ll find the dock, a power brick, a 50cm Thunderbolt 3 cable with a ThunderLok 3, as well as the documentation in the box.
Note: The NVMe drives are of course not included, so you will have to calculate the cost, depending on your storage needs.
For more information, please visit Sonnet’s website here.
What do you think about this two-in-one Thunderbolt 3 dock? Do you think the built-in NVMe drives could be helpful as a laptop backup or scratch drives? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments down below!
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