Microsoft has launched a new accessory for its Surface devices – Surface Dock, Surface ThunderboltTM 4 Dock, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to safety, sustainability and accessibility. The new dock offers ultra-fast and versatile connectivity and data transfer for connecting peripherals through eight different ports and is compatible with USB4/Thunderbolt 4 devices such as Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Laptop Studio, maximizing workspace.
Accessible and sustainable design that keeps users safe and secure
Improved sustainability is one of the premises taken into account for the design of the new Surface family accessory, whose covers and power supply unit are made of 20% recycled plastic from the sea, as well as lighter materials than previous ones. The product packaging itself uses 99% recyclable plastics. In addition, the new dock is more energy efficient, including features such as firmware update via Windows Update, LAN power-on from Modern Standby mode and MAC Address Passthrough.
In addition, Microsoft has made available to its users a tool that allows them to calculate the carbon footprint of Surface devices. This carbon footprint estimate is available here.
It is also a product that improves accessibility, designed to facilitate its use for people with disabilities. It includes not only front ports, but also rear ports, with raised tactile indicators so that people with low vision or blind people can easily identify them.
Security is another of the new accessory’s most prominent features, with Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM) giving the ability to lock and close dock ports in mission-critical environments and restrict their functionality to specific devices. Physically it also includes a security lock slot. All this makes it ideal for use in an enterprise environment.
Speed and versatility for a must-have Surface accessory
Beyond these details, the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a USB4/Thunderbolt 4 port that helps enhance the workspace, providing ultra-high-speed data transfer and the versatility to connect and charge your most important peripherals. It can easily connect to two 4K monitors at up to 60 HZ, achieving data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps and you can recharge the device with up to 96 w, plus extra power for charging accessories.
It offers instant connectivity to three USB-C ports, three other USB-A ports, a 3.5 mm jack audio input and a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port. Thanks to Windows 11, the configuration of connected devices is preserved, so if the same port is used for different peripherals, each will retain its own configuration and can be used immediately.
The new Surface family accessory, Surface ThunderboltTM 4 Dock, is now available for purchase at Microsoft.com.