CalDigit TS4 vs Kensington SD5700T comes down to one question: does your desk need a DisplayPort output and card readers, or a third Thunderbolt port and a longer warranty? This comparison of two Thunderbolt 4 docks sits alongside our USB-C docking station roundup.
If your Thunderbolt 4 dock shortlist has narrowed to the CalDigit TS4 and the Kensington SD5700T, you have done the hard part. These two keep showing up at the top of hybrid-work setup threads, and they are genuinely different machines underneath, not one box with two logos. I haven’t owned either dock, so this is built from the manufacturers’ published figures, the hands-on reviews that spent weeks or months with each unit, and the patterns in owner feedback. Where the evidence is uneven, I say so.
TS4 for a busy desk. SD5700T for a managed office.
The TS4 is the dock you buy when your desk has a lot on it: 18 ports, two card readers that work at once, a DisplayPort output and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet. The SD5700T is the dock you buy when the desk is simple but IT is not: three spare Thunderbolt 4 ports, a three-year warranty, two lock slots and mounting holes. Pick by which description matches your desk, not by which spec sheet is longer.
Check the CalDigit TS4 on Amazon →If you want the wider dock category before you commit, our USB-C docking station roundup covers the cheaper tiers, and the MacBook hub guide explains the display limits that catch Mac owners out.
CalDigit TS4 vs Kensington SD5700T at a Glance
| CalDigit TS4 | Kensington SD5700T | |
|---|---|---|
| Total ports | 18 | 10 plus the host port |
| Thunderbolt 4 ports | 3 (1 host, 2 downstream at 15W) | 4 (1 host on the front, 3 downstream on the rear) |
| Dedicated video output | DisplayPort 1.4 | None, video goes out over Thunderbolt |
| Display support | Dual 4K at 60Hz on Windows; dual 6K on M1 Pro and M1 Max Macs (CalDigit’s claim); one display on base M1 | Dual 4K at 60Hz, or a single 8K at 30Hz |
| Power to the laptop | Up to 98W | Up to 90W |
| USB-A ports | 5 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 10Gb/s | 3 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 plus 1 front USB-A 2.0 for charging |
| Other USB-C ports | 3 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2; front port does 20W | None |
| Ethernet | 2.5 Gigabit | Gigabit |
| Card readers | SD and microSD, both UHS-II, usable at the same time | One UHS-II SD reader |
| Audio | Front combo jack plus rear line in and line out | Front 3.5mm jack |
| Security and mounting | Kensington lock slot; sits flat or on its edge | Standard and Nano lock slots; pre-drilled mounting holes |
| Host cable | Detachable | Detachable, 0.8m |
| Warranty | 2 years | 3 years |
| Owner rating (October 2026) | 4.1 stars, about 1,700 ratings | 3.8 stars, about 440 ratings |
Dimensions and weight are missing from the table on purpose: neither set of reviews we trust published them, and an empty cell beats a guess.
Where These Two Actually Differ
Three differences matter in practice. Everything else is noise.
One: whether a plain monitor needs a dongle. The TS4 has a DisplayPort 1.4 output. The SD5700T has no DisplayPort and no HDMI at all, so every display hangs off a Thunderbolt port and a monitor with only HDMI or DisplayPort inputs needs an adapter. Reviewers flag this as the SD5700T’s most annoying omission. If both your monitors are USB-C, it is a non-issue. If either one is not, the TS4 saves you a dongle, and our USB-C monitor guide covers the other route, a monitor that takes the laptop signal directly.
Two: port variety versus Thunderbolt count. The TS4 spreads its 18 ports across five USB-A, three USB-C, DisplayPort, 2.5GbE and two card readers, but it has only two spare Thunderbolt ports because the DisplayPort took the slot a third would have used. The SD5700T goes the other way: three spare Thunderbolt 4 ports and far less of everything else. If you chain Thunderbolt storage or audio interfaces, that third port is worth more than another USB-A.
Three: who it was designed for. The SD5700T’s two lock slots, mounting holes and three-year warranty are office-procurement features. The TS4’s card readers, line in and line out, and 20W front charging port are creator-desk features. Neither is better. They are aimed at different desks.
CalDigit TS4: The Dock That Replaces the Adapter Drawer
The port count is the argument. Reviewers who lived with the TS4 for months describe it as the one dock they stopped thinking about, and the solid aluminium shell works lying flat or standing on its edge, which matters on a narrow desk. 98W to the laptop is enough for most 14-inch class machines to charge while working, and both UHS-II card readers work at the same time, rated up to 312MB/s.
- The port count genuinely replaces a pile of adapters.
- Solid aluminium build that stands upright or lies flat.
- Two UHS-II card readers that work simultaneously.
- A detachable host cable, so a chewed cable does not mean a new dock.
- No HDMI. Reviewers who otherwise love it wish CalDigit had added HDMI next to DisplayPort.
- Only two spare Thunderbolt ports, a real limit if you planned to daisy-chain.
- A two-year warranty, shorter than some rivals in the same tier.
- Top-tier pricing. Reviewers say so without hedging.
- Laptop-side quirks. Early owners hit problems with one Dell XPS 13 and an XPG Xenia 14 that needed a BIOS update, which reviewers blamed on the laptops, but check your own model.
Kensington SD5700T: Built for the Managed Office
The SD5700T trades port count for office features. It has three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, Standard and Nano lock slots, pre-drilled mounting holes and bracket options so it can live under the desk, and the longest warranty in this comparison. Windows Central’s hands-on review reported no trouble in day-to-day use, and the DockWorks management software is optional rather than required.
- Three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, more spare Thunderbolt than the TS4.
- A three-year warranty, which reviewers say beats several rivals.
- Two lock slots and mounting holes for shared or hot-desk offices.
- A UHS-II SD reader that kept pace with reviewers’ cards.
- No DisplayPort and no HDMI, so non-USB-C monitors need dongles. This is the recurring complaint.
- The host port is on the front, which makes a tidy cable run harder than it should be.
- Plastic faceplates on an otherwise metal body.
- Gigabit Ethernet, not 2.5 Gigabit, and one card reader with no microSD slot.
- Modest secondary charging. One reviewer measured roughly 7.5W on the front USB-A and about 4.5W on the rear ports.
Which One Should You Get?
Get the CalDigit TS4 if
Your desk has a monitor that is not USB-C, you move memory cards around, you want 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, or you want the dock that ends the adapter problem for good. The DisplayPort output and the dual card readers are the two things the SD5700T cannot answer.
Get the Kensington SD5700T if
Both displays are USB-C or Thunderbolt, you want a third spare Thunderbolt port for storage, you need the dock locked down or mounted out of sight, or the extra year of warranty matters more than a longer port list.
Get neither if
You run a single 1080p or 1440p monitor and a keyboard. Both are top-of-category Thunderbolt 4 docks, and a mid-tier USB-C dock does that job for much less. Start with the dual-monitor dock guide, and check where to buy a USB-C dock before you commit.
How We Compared These Two
We don’t own either dock, so nothing here is a first-hand impression. Port counts, power figures and display claims come from the manufacturers’ published specifications. The criticisms and the measured charging figures come from hands-on reviews by AppleInsider, XDA Developers and Windows Central, which had the units for weeks or months. Both products have real independent coverage, which is unusual. What is missing is a single review that put both docks on the same desk with the same laptop, so this comparison is assembled from separate accounts, not one head-to-head test.
One caveat: the TS4’s dual 6K support on M1 Pro and M1 Max Macs is CalDigit’s claim, repeated by reviewers, and at least one reader has publicly questioned whether any Thunderbolt 4 dock can really do it. We report it as a manufacturer claim, not something anyone measured for us.
FAQ
If I had to pick one dock to sit on a desk and solve every connection problem at once, I’d go with the TS4: the DisplayPort output and the two card readers do real work every week, and the port count is the whole reason the category exists. The SD5700T wins on the things you only notice later: a third spare Thunderbolt port, an extra year of warranty, and the ability to bolt it out of sight and lock it down. Check that your laptop has a true Thunderbolt 4 port before you order either one.
Get the CalDigit TS4 on Amazon →