Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

When plugged into the Dell TB16, a small white indicator on the front lights up.

Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

Connecting the Dell TB16 to my Razer Blade had Windows 10 immediately start to round up drivers; as it turned out, this wasn’t a good thing.

Using the default Windows 10 drivers, the Gigabit Ethernet and audio were glitchy at best. A trip to the Dell website (here) to download drivers for the Realtek Ethernet, Realtek audio and the internal ASMedia USB3.0 controller sorted this out.

Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

The Dell TB16 is capable of running up to four displays with the right configuration, as shown in this table from the user guide.

Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

Shown in these photos is my setup with an LG 29-inch Ultrawide at 2560×1080, though I have since replaced it with an LG 38-inch Ultrawide at 3840×1600. This is in addition to the Blade’s internal display at 1920×1080.

Update 16/4/17: I should have pointed this out earlier, but the late-2016 Blade is limited to one display from the Thunderbolt port. While the TB16 dock supports multiple displays, connected to the Blade it does not. You need to connect an additional display via HDMI directly to the Blade.

The inclusion of VGA may seem odd on such a modern dock, though I’m sure there are plenty of older LCDs out in corporate land serving up spreadsheets and Outlook PST files. Still, swapping this for a second HDMI connector makes more sense in my head in 2017.

Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

I’ve also connected an external USB 2.0 DVD burner to the Dell TB16, which fits perfectly on top. Should you also use a USB keyboard and mouse, the USB 2.0 ports will prove their use too.

Unlike the new Apple MacBook Pro’s, most Windows notebooks only offer a single Thunderbolt 3 port (if any), which makes the extra Thunderbolt 3 port on the Dell TB16 especially useful. You can daisy chain additional Thunderbolt 3 devices, or connect USB-C peripherals.

Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable

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About the Author

Mitchell Oke
Mitchell is a video producer and director working with Australia's leading motoring news sites and car companies. He's always on the go with a camera in hand. With a Bachelor of Creative Technology (Digital Video Production), Mitchell's worked for News Limited, CarAdvice.com and as a freelancer for many years.

4 Comments on "Dell Thunderbolt Dock TB16 Review: Connect Your Whole Setup with One Cable"

  1. are u able to connect with more than one monitor using dell dock without using other port on your razer?

    • Mitchell Oke | February 7, 2019 at 3:45 pm |

      Unfortunately not, I was never able to get that to work with the Blade bet fore I sold it.

  2. Hi,

    Were you able to update the firmware of the dock or charge the razer blade from the dock?

    • Mitchell Oke | February 7, 2019 at 3:41 pm |

      No, and I don’t believe you ever would.

      My 2016 Blade 14 (long sold) came with a 165W power brick, which is well outside the 100W of USB-C, and even whatever hack Dell did to provide 130W charging for the XPS.

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