ThunderBolt 4 Dock (WD22TB4)

[ygohome]

Does anyone know if the DELL WD22TB4 dock is backward compatible to work with a 7710 which is tb3?

 

I'm looking to move away from the E Port Plus Dock and try a thunderbolt dock instead. I'm hoping to free up some desk space by docking my laptop on it's side edge rather than flat (i didn't open it often when using external displays at my desk).

 

I need it to be able to push button startup and shutdown (handshake power state) the laptop 7710 without having to open laptop lid. 

 

Needs enough usb-C ports:

 

One to connect from laptop tb3 usb-c port to dock

 

One usb-c to support up to 1GBps writes to external crucial X9 pro 4TB nvme SSD (for daily backups).

 

One to connect from dock to dell monitor p3223qe.  The monitor could connect by display port connection, but if i use the USB-C connection then i can also use the monitor built in network RJ45 and also its usb hub for accessories.

 

What do you think, will wd22tb4 work with my 7710 which has tb3?  Or should i go for older WD19TB (TB3 dock).  Or do i need to go way back to the 2016 tb16 dock, i heard bad stories about the original tb docks.

 

If wd22tb4 and the wd19tb both can with a 7710, then which is more reliable?

 

Thanks!

[Chalybion]

The Precision 7710 is not officially on the compatibility list, but the WD22TB4 should work because TB4 is backwards compatible with TB3:

https://www.delltechnologies.com/asset/en-us/products/electronics-and-accessories/technical-support/dell_docking_compatibility_guide.pdf

 

I've used the WD19 with Precision 751X/771X, and it will work without issues.  Both the WD19 and WD22 output 130W, which is adequate unless you are heavily loading the CPU and GPU.  Plugging a 180W power adapter to the computer (while still docked) will give it full power if you need it.

 

I don't have experience with the WD22TB4, but have anecdotally heard that the thunderbolt docks are less reliable than USB-C (i.e. WD19).

 

However, the WD19 has only one USB-C port (front connection), so you would not be able to connect your both your monitor and external SSD to the dock.  I'm not sure (haven't checked the numbers) if high refresh-rate 4K video would bottleneck your SSD on the WD19.  So the WD22TB4 is your best bet, unless you have heard any horror stories about it, in which case WD19 would still be workable, but perhaps limiting.

 

[Chalybion]

I've done a bit more digging:  It sounds like the issues were specific to the TB16 dock.  The "guts" of the WD19 and the WD22TB4 are essentially the same, so they should be equally compatible and reliable.  If I were in your situation, I would definitely choose the WD22TB4 all the way.

[ygohome]

Thanks for the feedback

 

Earlier today i ordered a wd22tb4 on ebay for a fair low price.  I updated my 7710 BIOS to it's latest stable release 1.31.3 from April 2023, which adds a few new BIOS control settings for USB-C and thunderbolt, including power management settings.  That should help with compatibility.

 

These WD docks are pretty interesting.  It seems possible to take a wd19 (non thunderbolt), swap out the removable module with a TB3 or even TB4 module (having 2xtb4 ports on module) and BOOM, basically upgrade wd19 to a wd19tb or wd22tb4.  I may experiment with that wd19 upgrade idea on another  7710 laptop here that needs a dock

 

 

I'll update here after i play around with the wd22tb4 dock when it gets here 

Appreciate the notes and feedback.  Thank you.

[Chalybion]

Before I swapped from the E Port dock, I was (overly) concerned about reliability of the connector, but felt better knowing the cable can be changed, and (on the 7710) the port can be replaced.  But really, no issues with USB-C reliability over the past six or so years.  Only thing is that Dell docks don't prevent you from exceeding the display/resolution limits, which can lead to some really weird behavior