I've reviewed plenty of docks in my time, and plenty of great ones at that. But the OWC Thunderbolt Go is the first one I reviewed from the company, and it's a very special one at that. I'd argue it's my favorite docking station ever, despite some limitations.

The big thing that makes this special is that it has a built-in power supply. Every other dock has a bulky adapter that's sometimes as big as the dock itself, and while you can manage that, this is the most compact and convenient docking station I've seen. Plus, it has excellent build quality and it comes with a solid supply of vast connectivity, albeit not the most varied.

Pricing and availability

The OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock has been available for about a year, having launched at CES 2023. It costs $299.99, which puts in the more premium range of docking stations, but in line with most other Thunderbolt docks. There are some pricier models, too.

You can find it on both Amazon and B&H, as well as OWC's own website. It's fairly easy to find, though it's not at retailers like Best Buy or Newegg.

What I like

Premium design with an integrated power supply

The best thing about the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock to me is definitely the design. I love a clean setup, to the point where my main computer is a mini PC. Whenever I have to use a laptop with a docking station, I hate how busy my desk gets with the laptop, dock, and the dock's power supply. The OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock builds the power supply right into the main chassis, and that makes my setup feel a lot cleaner.

Of course, this adds to the size of the docking station itself, but the overall size is still smaller than having these two separate pieces. Plus, the Thunderbolt Go Dock looks great, which is definitely thanks to both the integrated power supply and the premium metal chassis. I've reviewed many docks with metal parts to the chassis, but the entire body of this one is made of metal, and it feels like more premium metal than other docks I've tested. It's just a great-feeling piece of hardware.

In a way, the built-in power supply contributes to that, too. Having all that heft inside the chassis makes the dock feel more substantial. I'd say that's a plus, though, as it makes it harder for the dock to get dragged or moved around by accident.

A good supply of high-speed connections

OWC could probably have coasted a bit on the fact that it has such a unique form factor, but the Thunderbolt Go Dock offers pretty solid connectivity as well. Outside of the host connection, there are 10 ports here, including two Thunderbolt downstream ports on the back, along with two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one HDMI port, and a super-fast 2.5Gbps Ethernet connection.

On the front, there's a standard USB Type-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 2), one USB 2.0 Type-A port, a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. That's a pretty good supply of connectivity, and it's frankly been perfect for my setup. It can accommodate my monitor and all my peripherals, with enough extra space to plug in my headset for my weekly meetings or my camera when I need to import photos.

It's not perfect, but I'll get into that in a bit.

What I don't like

I'd like a bit more variety in ports

While the port selection on the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock includes some very fast ports, including two Thunderbolt connections, I do prefer when docks have a bit more variety in ports. Specifically, I would have liked to see at least a DisplayPort output, just for the sake of covering more ground. I have a monitor that supports USB-C input, but that's a recent change in my setup. A few months ago, this dock wouldn't fit into my setup at all. That's why a dock like the Plugable TBT-UDZ is one of my favorites.

If I were to be picky, more USB Type-A ports would be nice, too, but there's a good mix of modern and legacy ports here, so it's hard to complain.

No power button

It's a minor complaint, but I always love seeing a power button in my docking stations, and that's something I wish OWC had included here. More often than not I've found myself wishing I could just power off the dock, especially because my keyboard, which has RGB lighting, tends to stay powered on when I leave my computer behind. It would help me save some energy if I could power off the dock without having to unplug the cable. That's another reason I love docks like the Plugable TBT4-UD5 or the TBT-UDZ mentioned above.

Should you buy the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock?

All things considered, the OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock offers great value. At $300, you can find some docks with more ports, but you can also find ones that are on par with it in terms of connectivity, and they don't have the benefit of having a built-in power supply. OWC priced this dock very fairly, and to me, that makes this an obvious choice over most of its many competitors. It's certainly better value than something like the Ugreen Revodok Max, which costs $100 more and isn't much better in terms of versatility.

If I were looking at docks in this price range, this would certainly be my pick. If you need DisplayPort output or more HDMI ports, however, you'll need some adapters, which may take away from some of that convenience.