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Review: Minisopuru DS801-CC Macbook vertical dock

Review unit provided by Minisopuru

Minisopuru DS801-CC is a vertical dock designed for the Apple Macbook. The price is USD 119 at the time of review.

This is one of two vertical Macbook docks from Minisopuru. The other is the USD 109 Minisopuru MD813A which has a different feature set.

Here are the difference between the two products:

MD813A DS801-CC
HDMI 1x 2x
SD card slot 1x 1x
Micro SD card slot 1x 1x
USB type A 2x USB 3.2 gen 1 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
USB type C 2x USB 3.2 gen 2 No
Headphone jack None 1x
Ethernet 1000 Mbps 1000 Mbps
Storage expansion NVMe SSD None
Power delivery 85W 87W

If you want dual HDMI display support, get Minisopuru DS801-CC. The connector will use two USB-C ports on the Macbook.

If you want more ports for data transfer and NVMe storage expansion, get Minisopuru MD813A. This can be used with two external displays too since there's a HDMI port, and there's an available USB-C port on the Macbook.

Things included


The only things included in the box are the user guide and the dock.

Design


This is a good looking Macbook vertical dock. The ports in front are for:

  • SD card
  • Micro SD card
  • Two USB 3.0 type A
  • USB 2.0 type A
  • 3.5mm audio jack

Build quality is solid and has a nice weight to it. Colour matches well with the silver or dark gray Macbooks.

The USB-A ports only have USB 3 transfer speed which is around 5Gbps (625MB/s). There are no other USB ports with higher transfer speeds. The USB-A ports did not work with the external Thunderbolt 4 enclosure that I had.


The two vertical holders are designed to hold various Macbook models. Shown above is the Macbook Pro 14 (2023) and the two holders don't actually clamp hard onto the Macbook, and as such the Macbook will tilt to one side. The base is stable so the laptop will not topple over. The thicker Macbook Pro 16 should fit better and the thinner Macbook Air will have looser fit.


On the back, there are

  • Two full-sized HDMI 2.0 ports that support 4K 60Hz
  • 1000 Mbps Ethernet port
  • USB-C input for power

The dock is powered and can power external spinning hard drives and external NVMe SSD enclosures that need more power. There's one USB-C port that can accept 100W input but the maximum output for charging the laptop is 87W.

One downside of the dock is it uses two USB-C ports on the Macbook. If you use this together with a Macbook Air, it means you won't have any USB-C ports leftover.

The main selling point here are the two HDMI ports and additional USB-A ports. The downside is there should be at least one more USB-C port.

I personally prefer the Minisopuru MD813A since I want more USB ports with faster transfer speeds, and that dock also has a NVMe SSD enclosure.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Design looks good
+ Solid build quality
+ Can provide 87W charging to laptop
+ Clamp can Macbooks with different thickness
+ Has two HDMI for dual display setup
- Compatible only with Macbook
- Connector uses two USB-C ports on the Macbook
- Cable is not detachable from the dock
- Does not have USB-C ports for data transfer
- USB type-A ports only have USB 3.0 transfer speed
- USB-A ports did not work with my Thunderbolt 4 enclosure

Availability

If you're interested to get the Minisopuru DS801-CC, you can buy it from the Minisopuru online store.

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