At a glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• 23 top-end ports, including four Thunderbolt 5





• Only Mac dock to natively support three displays





• 2.5Gb Ethernet





• Active cooling





• 240W Power Delivery

Cons

• Takes two Mac ports for maximum advantage





• Fan may produce noise in exacting studio environments

Our Verdict

Actively cooled, the 23-port iVanky FusionDock Max 2 is built for long editing sessions and heavy workflows, has an unmatched number of connections, stands alone in its native support for three external displays.

Price When Reviewed

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Best Prices Today: iVanky FusionDock Max 2

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Price

$399.99

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$499.99

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Only one dock has ever really competed directly with the iconic CalDigit Thunderbolt Stations: the 21-port iVanky FusionDock Max outgunned the 18-port CalDigit TS4 and with two Thunderbolt chips supported up to four external displays.

Thunderbolt 5 brought us the 20-port CalDigit TS5 Plus, and now throwing down the “Ultimate Dock” gauntlet is the 23-port iVanky FusionDock Max 2.

We’ll compare the two later in this review, but first let’s look at everything the FusionDock Max 2 offers to the highest echelon of Mac professionals.

If you own an Intel Mac or any Windows/Chrome laptop, you must look elsewhere as the FusionDock Max 2 works only with Apple Silicon M-series Macs, including not just the MacBook Pro but Mac Studio and Mac mini as well.

The extra-special advantage this dock has over other Thunderbolt 5 docks is its combination of a Thunderbolt 5 controller with an additional DP-Alt chip to natively deliver up to three external displays—a feat that usually takes two docks or a docking station that requires third-party DisplayLink compression software installation on the Mac.

In terms of raw power and number of ports, this dock may be overkill for many but even mere Mac mortals with deep pockets might have their heads turned by everything on offer here. And there’s a lot on offer: in some cases, maybe too much!

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Simon Jary

Specs and features

We thought the mighty CalDigit TS5 Plus was remarkable packing 20 ports, including ten USB, but the FusionDock Max 2 fits 23 ports into a similarly sized case. All 23 function simultaneously.

All the ports are clearly labeled, which is helpful as there are so many!

• One upstream Thunderbolt 5 port (80Gbps, 140W)





• Three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports (80Gbps, 15W)





• One USB-C port (10Gbps, 30W)





• Four USB-C ports (10Gbps, 7.5W)





• One USB-A port (10Gbps, 7.5W)





• Three USB-A ports (5Gbps, 7.5W)





• Three USB-A ports (480Mbps, 2.5W)





• One HDMI 2.0





• Ethernet (2.5Gb)





• UHS-II SD card reader (312MBps)





• UHS-II microSD card reader (312MBps)





• One 3.5mm combo audio In/Out jack (front)





• One 3.5mm Audio Out audio jack (back)





• One optical audio





• 330W power supply

With a port deck armed like a cross between a nineteenth century multi-cannon Man Of War and a big-gun steam dreadnought, the FusionDock Max 2 should first be judged on its firepower. This top-of-the-range Thunderbolt 5 dock has two more ports than the FusionDock Max 1 and three more ports than the CalDigit TS5.

In terms of the big guns, there are three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports; with one TB5 port reserved for connecting to the Mac (upstream).

Thunderbolt 5 blows the old guard out of the water with its 80Gbps data-transfer bandwidth doubling that of 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4. With Bandwidth Boost, this port can switch to a unidirectional 120Gbps for the most demanding video needs.

For the Mac, Thunderbolt 4 was not much of a boost from Thunderbolt 3, but the latest standard is a giant leap in comparison.

For example, if you need to connect high performance SSDs or RAID devices Thunderbolt 5 rewards you with a PCIe performance that is doubled to 64Gbps PCIe 4.0, and the dock supports (theoretical) transfer speeds up to 6,200MBps.

The upstream PD 3.1 TB5 port can supply up to 140W to the connected MacBook, which is powerful enough to fast-charge the top-end 16-inch model. Each of the downstream ports can deliver 15W.

Not including the backwards-compatible Thunderbolt ports, the FusionDock carries an incredible 12 plainer USB ports: six at 10Gbps, three at 5Gbps, and the remaining at the pu