review – Have you ever made a phone call from your desk at home or at work? Seems like I’ve been fiddling with my two. Sometimes it’s because there’s something new to review, but usually it’s just an attempt to improve the layout of how I’m working at a given time. A key factor since the introduction of the Thunderbolt MacBook has been a solid base for connecting monitors and accessories. Brydge updated their Stone Pro models to support dual monitors with Thunderbolt 4. Could this be the solution?
What is it?
The Brydge Stone Pro TB4 Dual Monitor Dock is a multi-port dock that charges your laptop (up to 90W) while adding support for dual monitors, additional USB-A and C ports, and SD card reader and Ethernet ports . All of them feature a sloping design that doubles as a laptop riser.
What’s in the box?
- 1 Stone Pro TB4 Docking Station
- 1 vertical stand
- 1 x User Manual and Information Card
- 1 x Thunderbolt 4 cable
- 1 x Power Adapter + US and International Type I Cables
Hardware Specifications
compatibility:
MacOS: 11.0 or later | 2020 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro single monitor only
Windows: Versions 10 and 11
Surface Pro: Surface Pro 7 – single monitor via USB-C | Surface Pro 8 – dual monitor via USB4
Chromium OS:
show support: Via Thunderbolt 4 – Single @ 8K/30 Hz or Dual @ 4K/60 Hz
strength: 135w power | 90w power by charging connected computer
port:
3 Thunderbolt™ 4
1 USB-A (2.0 5V/1.5A)
3x USB-A (3.3 Gen 2 10 Gb/s)
1 Thunderbolt™ 4 PD 3.0 90W
1 x SD Card (SD4.0UHS-II)
1 Ethernet (Gigabit)
1 Audio/Microphone
1 x Base Power Supply
aspect: 198 x 75 x 131 mm | 338 g
Design and Features
Who says docks have to be ugly or boxy? Bridge certainly doesn’t think so.
The Stone Pro TB4 has a sloping top surface along with a card reader, USB-A and audio ports, a Thunderbolt connection to a laptop, and a front-facing power button.
On the back are connections for AC power, 3 Thunderbolt 4 devices, Ethernet, and 3 more USB-A devices.
The Brydge Stone Pro TB4 Dual Monitor Base has a full footrest on the bottom to provide traction for your desktop.
They also include a vertical stand to minimize the footprint if you don’t have a ton of desk space.
set up
Making connections is easy. Decide whether you want the Stone Pro to be flat or vertical (with stand), and then make sure all of your cables can connect to your device. Next connect the power adapter to the dock and connect the appropriate wall plug cable to the power adapter and then to wall power.
Next we’ll deal with an external monitor (or both). It’s worth noting that all monitor connections on the dock are Thunderbolt, so you’ll have to get some new cables (Thunderbolt to DisplayPort, or Thunderbolt to HDMI) or Thunderbolt adapters to use the ones you have. You can plug them into any of the three Thunderbolt ports on the back of the dock.
Now you can connect the ethernet cable to wired data and connect any USB-A devices you have to the rest of the ports.
Finally, connect your computer to the port on the front of the Stone Pro Dock via a Thunderbolt 4 cable. Press the button to power on the dock and you should be up and running.
Given that your computer is now connected to the monitor with the new device, you may want to take a moment to change any display settings and/or extend the desktop layout.
Performance
I had the 2020 M1 MacBook as my work computer, and then realized it only supports one external monitor. It ended up being a good thing for me, but caused some annoying issues bouncing between it and my personal 2017 Intel-based MacBook Pro, which supports dual external monitors. I’ll dive into that later.
Once you’ve got the dock all set up and the cables connected, you’ll notice a few things. One, depending on the size of your cable and connector housings, the footprint of the docking station will increase. It’s not just backwards because the connection to your laptop is at the front. The image on the front of the box shows a lot. It can also affect stability, as heavy cables can start to lift the front of the dock off your desk. The vertical stand provided a solution in this case, but I found that the dock’s fit with the stand was loose, and the cables looked messy when the dock was turned vertically.
After trying a few different setups, I finally settled on keeping the base flat and centered under my monitor. Most of the time I put the laptop on a sloping surface with the lid closed like this.
The only concession I had to make was to wrap the front TB4 cable around the right side of the dock, the rear and left side of the laptop so it wouldn’t interfere with where the laptop’s front edge would sit on the table. When I need extra display space, I can raise the monitor and open the monitor on the laptop below. If you’re running the computer on the left side of the monitor and only have left ports, you may need to buy a longer TB4 cable because it’s placed on the docking station.
I connect a lot of things to my laptop. Typically about 6 USB devices are connected; keyboard, microphone, webcam, speaker, Stream Deck and Lightning cable. If I choose to connect a single monitor and move the webcam and lightning cables to a USB-C connection, the Stone Pro can handle all of that. Otherwise, I’ve daisy-chained to a USB-A hub in the monitor, which isn’t the best solution, but it hasn’t caused problems yet.
Overall, the Stone Pro has worked and continues to work well, and as far as I’m concerned, it looks on the table. I only have one problem. My 2017 MacBook Pro works fine with two monitors connected. I can use the built-in LCD and two external monitors. However, when I connect my 2020 M1 MacBook Pro, it doesn’t know what to do. Both external monitors stayed black and I had to physically remove a cable from the back of the Stone Pro in order for my MacBook to boot up and show on the remaining connected monitors. As far as I can tell, this isn’t a docking issue, as the MacBook seems like it should be able to ignore the second connected monitor. Instead, it was like it had stage fright, just locked up.
Brydge says the Stone Pro TB4 has 12 ports. I have a problem with this count. As you’d expect, it’s a powered docking station, and it has to be connected to a computer to work, so I’m going to claim the computer’s power connector and Thunderbolt 4 don’t count. I also think the card reader, while very useful, isn’t a port by itself. In any case, this doesn’t reduce the functionality of the dock, it’s just not as fully connected as you might encounter when you see the number 12. More like 9.
One last thing is the 2020 M1 compatibility issue. It’s fully compatible because the dock works as expected, it just doesn’t support 2 external monitors, it’s a limitation of the computer, not the dock. Brydge does state this in two areas on the product page, but not on the packaging I’ve seen. Not all MacBook users are aware of the limitations of their machine, so I thought this could be made more clear.
what do I like
- Rugged construction with relatively small footprint
- Angled design doubles as a laptop riser
- The included stand allows the base to be vertical
what would i change
- Move the TB4 computer port location. Centers are weird.
- The packaging clearly states that the 2020 M1 MacBook does not support dual monitors.
final thoughts
The Brydge Stone Pro TB4 is the killer docking station for modern laptops. I’m happy to be able to keep the dock on my desk, but hide it under my laptop in case I need to connect something new, or unplug/replug it to fix a problem I made myself. This is a great option if you’re not already using a TB4 dock. It should go on sale soon.
price: $349.99
where to buy: Bridge and B&H Photos
source: Samples of this product are provided by Brydge.
