As more laptops come with Thunderbolt 3 ports built in, there’s a new generation of docks that promise to charge your system, exchange data with peripherals and output to dual 4K monitors (or one 5K screen) over a single cable. With prices ranging from $249 to $349, Thunderbolt 3 docking stations don’t come cheap, but they offer the opportunity to connect with high-speed peripherals and newfangled Thunderbolt displays, without installing any software.

To help you pick the Thunderbolt 3 dock that’s right for you, we tested seven leading products by attaching them to both a Dell XPS 15 with Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics. We found that, despite having very similar sets of ports, not all of the docks worked as advertised, with many failing to charge the Dell laptop, even though all charged a MacBook Pro we attached.

In addition to the Thunderbolt 3 docks we rated below, we also have a list of best docking stations overall, which contains many USB docks. Though they require you to install extra software, USB docks are cheaper, are compatible with more computers and aren’t limited to the maximum resolution that your video card supports like Thunderbolt 3.
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