We tested this (the 280 Watt version) last week and it scored very well with 96% on thunderbolt 4 compliance , 93 % on USB and 100% on video over Thunderbolt/USBC.
For reference the last HP dock we tested has scores in the mid to low 70’s. The only TB dock we’ve tested to date that scores better is the OWC TB dock
PS: One thing that some will observe if they “fully load it” is that it can get quite warm. Still within spec, but much more so than most are likely used to.
Spoiler alert, it costs $360. For the longest time I’ve had this sneaking suspicion that all TB3 and TB4 docks are spectacularly overpriced. Do we have any idea of the bill of materials and licensing fees for these?
So one thing to take in consideration is that Intel is building TB support in to their core I chips, so essentially that cost is “baked in” for laptops and desktops.
For a dock, there are licensing charges both for the chips themselves and the ports. And then you have to factor all the supporting chips and hardware.
With that as preamble , when we’ve built TB docks for our custom devices which are significantly more single purpose than this HP or the OWC, our cost of goods was well over $200 so from my perspective that’s not an unreasonable delta. Not to mention that the OEMs typically bundle/discount the docks for their corporate buyers when they are making a larger purchase of systems.
One last thing, making a dock that actually gets reasonably close to spec is a lot harder than most realize, requiring for example ,very high quality power supplies and related hardware as well as shielding (which is where the vast majority of docks stumble).
So TLDR It might come across as making execuses, but truly this is one peripheral where you get what you pay for IMHO
That is about four times what I would have guessed. I’m amazed a dock like this sells for more than the base level 10.2" iPad.