Anker has come up with an interesting dock: instead of taking the usual form factor of a simple rectangle, the entire dock is integrated into a monitor stand.
It does two jobs at once: raise the monitor to the desired height and at the same time elegantly hide the dock with its many ports. Let’s start with the most practical function: a Qi charger is installed on the right, so you can always put your iPhone there and it will be charged. One less separate device on the desk.
On the left side you will find two USB-C and one USB-A port (each with 10 Gbit/s speed) as well as an SD card slot and audio output. Ethernet port, HDMI output, power supply and USB-C uplink to the Mac are hidden on the underside.
Anker states that the USB ports all support 10Gbps and the HDMI port can output 4K 60Hz. However, Anker does not state that the uplink port supports Thunderbolt. We are therefore simply assuming USB-C, with the display alternate mode being used for video transmission. So it would be an ideal combination to use a monitor that supports DisplayPort 1.4. Then the display signals would occupy two out of four available lines, so fast USB transfer speeds are still possible with a single cable. We’re assuming that’s the case.
