Review on WD_Black Game Thunderbolt Connectivity WDBA3U0000NBK NESN by David Burns

This Western Digital gaming dock is really powerful and is great for storing your games from Steam or the Microsoft Store if you have a Gamepass for PC like mine have. Of course, you need a computer that supports Thunderbolt 3/4 speeds of 40Gb/s to take full advantage of this product. I like that it's external because it can work with laptops or even Macs unlike the ones sold that need to be tower mounted. The dock is small, about the size of a mini PC. The build quality is great, it's made of metal, there's a small strip of RGB lighting on the bottom that you can customize in Windows using the app. The bottom of the dock is covered in rubber to keep it non-slip and to protect anything it rests on. There is a fan to cool the internal NVMe drive, as well as a large heatsink on top of the drive. I/O on the board is pretty good, you get 3 USB A ports and 3 USB C ports (two of them TB3 and one USB 3.2 Gen 2), you also get 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x Gigabit Ethernet and 1x headphone/mic jack. If you're using this with a laptop, you'll be pleased to know that the Thunderbolt port you plug into the drive delivers 87W of power to keep your laptop charged. All USB A ports support 7.5W and USB C ports support 15W. I don't know what happens when multiple devices draw power at the same time. The website and accompanying manual don't go into enough detail to explain whether 7.5W x3 ports plus 15W x2 ports can be supported. I think there is a limitation (especially when a laptop consumes 87W. Front USB port. The ports work all the time, even if the docking station is not connected to the computer or if the computer is in hibernation charging PD for Your laptop Although this is designed for PC I have used it with Mac mini and works well with Mac OS The drive inside This dock is as fast as the internal flash of my M1 Mac Min. I would caution against using this with the MacBook M1 to use as known issues with USB C Power Delivery capable docking stations can damage Air and Pro. This is not an issue with the Mini as it cannot draw power from the Thunderbolt 4 port. Built in to the SSD is Western Digital SN730, it's really fast. In testing I got read speeds up to 2500MB/s and write speeds up to 1900MB/s on a computer. But on a Mac I got I got a read speed of 2750 MB/s and a write speed of 2043 MB/s with the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test. In any case, this drive is fast enough to be used for storing and running games. I have never had any problems with this product, it worked like a charm the entire time I used it. I've had trouble disconnecting external drives when my Mac mini goes to sleep because this d50 keeps all my drives connected, including the SN730 in the dock. I've connected them all to the d50 and they work better than using the Mac's native ports. The price is high, but since you get a fast TB3 external SSD and a TB3 docking station, I honestly think the price is justified. Benefits + Ultra-fast SN730 WD storage built into this dock 87W powers the laptop you connect to this DisplayPort 1.4 port at up to 5K/60Hz. Rugged metal-aluminum chassis. Cons: Only one port for video output with no HDMI. Expensive RGB can only be configured in Windows 10.