Review: Minisopuru MD813A Thunderbolt 4 laptop dock

Review unit provided by Minisopuru

Minisopuru MD813A is a vertical laptop dock that the company says is designed for the Macbook, but it also can be used with laptops from other brands too. The price is USD 109 at the time of review.

This is one of two vertical laptop docks from Minisopuru. The other is the USD 119 Minisopuru DS801-CC which has a different feature set, and that model only works with the Macbook due to the double USB-C connector.

Here are the difference between the two products:

If you want dual HDMI display support, get Minisopuru DS801-CC (only compatible with Macbook).

If you want more ports for data transfer and NVMe storage expansion, get Minisopuru MD813A. It's possible to connect to two external displays as well, using the HDMI from the dock and the USB-C or HDMI from the laptop.

Things included

• Dock
• Screwdriver
• Two extra screws
• Thermal pad for NVMe SSD
• One extra rubber stoper for NVMe SSD
• User guide

The ports in front are:

• Micro SD card
• SD card
• 2x USB 3.2 gen 2 type-C

The USB transfer speed is fast enough for 4K video editing.

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

It's very stable on the table. This doesn't take up much space on the table.

By the way, to use the Macbook in clamshell mode, the Macbook has to be connected to power.

Ports on the back are

• USB-C for power input
• Full-sized HDMI 2.0 (supports 4K @60Hz)
• 1000 Mbps Ethernet
• 2x USB 3.2 gen 1 type-A

There's a knob that can adjust the width of the clamp.

The cable attached to one USB-C port on the Macbook.

The USB-A ports did not work with the external Thunderbolt 4 enclosure that I had.

The NVMe SSD storage expansion is definitely one key feature of this dock.

NVMe SSD transfer speed is fast enough for 4K 60FPS video editing. Having a built-in NVMe SSD enclosure is very convenient.

I prefer this dock over the Minisopuru DS801-CC because the design looks better, works better, and there are fast USB-A and USB-C ports, and there's internal NVMe SSD storage. One limitation to this dock is there's only one HDMI port. Since the Macbook is closed while in the dock, to connect two displays, you'll have to use that HDMI port and one Thunderbolt 4 port from the Macbook.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Design looks good
+ Solid build quality
+ Compatible with Windows and MacOS
+ USB-C and USB-A ports are fast enough for 4K video editing
+ Clamp is adjustable to fit laptops with different thickness
+ Can provide 85W charging to laptop
+ NVMe storage expansion
- Only one HDMI port
- No 3.5mm audio jack
- Cable is not detachable from the dock
- USB-A ports did not work with my Thunderbolt 4 enclosure

Availability

The Minisopuru MD813A is available from Minisopuru online store.