The report highlights that and there’s a fundamental problem: They take up a lot of space. The fresh Baseus Spacemate RD1 Pro USB-C dock solves this two ways: with a vertical, skyscraper-ish approach, plus a key addition few others have: 25W wireless charging. I’ve reviewed dozens of USB-C, Thunderbolt, and DisplayLink docks.
According to the latest update, that space is often taken up by the dock’s chunky metallic chassis, which serves as a heatsink and cools the dock without the need for a noisy fan. But you can’t help but wonder: Could that space be better used in some other way? A USB-C dock like the Spacemate saves space at the cost of some throughput, but the tradeoff can be worth it. Most of my recommended Thunderbolt docks stretch six inches or more on your desk, and that’s okay.
As part of the ongoing story, this clearly caters to the Apple iPhone crowd, as it feels like a replacement for the Apple MagSafe charger that can be used with many iPhones in the 16th and 17th generations. However, Qi2 technology was powerful enough to penetrate the Spigen case attached to my Samsung Galaxy phone, allowing it to fast-charge wirelessly. The back of the case became quite warm, though. The Baseus SpaceMate RD1 Pro puts a 25W Qi2 wireless charger on the top of the dock, which can be rotated and even extended to allow your phone to be viewable in either landscape or portrait mode.
Industry observers note that some offer 10Gbps USB-C ports that can push power, and Thunderbolt connections from a dock must provide at least 15W to a peripheral. (Powered Thunderbolt 4 docks supply up to 100W back to the laptop.) However, most dock makers simply assume you’ll know to connect a USB-C cable to the dock and power your phone. It’s a smart addition to a technology that most docks simply ignore.
According to the latest update, baseus seems to have solved this problem by isolating the charger at the top of the dock.). (Technically, there’s another reason, dock makers have told me: Adding the wireless charging capability can introduced too much electrical interference.
As part of the ongoing story, don’t get me wrong — this is my kink, too. The Baseus Spacemate RD1 falls into the fresh class of charging docks that almost fetishize the amount of power and data each port produces, displaying it all on a glowing LCD screen.
According to the latest update, those include a pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports with up to a whopping 100W each. Combined, all of the ports can put out 160W of power, split between the host, wireless charger, and the USB-C ports. If you disconnect the dock from its USB-C cable to your laptop, it slips into charging mode, simply telling you how much power is being supplied by each port.
The report highlights that (I couldn’t push the host power much past 80W, though it’s rated for 100W of charging power to the laptop.). How much power each wired port puts out depends on the power consumed by the others, and what the device itself demands.
As part of the ongoing story, with a touch of a button, the screen changes from charging mode to hybrid mode, where the dock will patch you with what’s in use. On this dock you’ll find ports galore.
In a fresh development, on the rear, there are two more 10Gbps USB-C ports, two 480Mbps USB-A ports, a V3.0 SD/TF card slot, gigabith Ethernet, plus two HDMI video ports. On the front of the RD1 are the two USB-C charging ports, plus a pair of 5Gbps USB-A ports without charging capabilities.
Industry observers note that newer laptops, including those with a Thunderbolt port, will have no problems; the dock can output to a single HDMI video port at 4K, and up to 120Hz. Split across both ports, the display output is 4K, 60Hz apiece. All that is dependent upon a newer laptop with DisplayPort and Direct Stream Compression, a capability most laptops don’t advertise. Without them you might see output drop to 4K30 or even 1080p. Since this is a USB-C dock, you’ll run into the same trap as other USB-C docks: The RD1’s capabilities are governed by your devices.
In a fresh development, though installation is literally plug and play, don’t be surprised if you need to reboot and tweak your display resolution just to get the second display to light up. Remember, all of those ports are pushing data across a single 10Gbps connection, too — including the two 10Gbps USB-C ports on the dock. DSC uses compression to smooth things over. It’s effective. Still, too much data will cause things to hitch and stutter, making the 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 or (up to) 12Gbps Thunderbolt 5 connections better choices, at least on paper. I’ve used the RD1 for a few days.
Industry observers note that and if you act fast, you’ll get a discount; Baseus is knocking a chunk off the price on Amazon until June 30, bringing the $299.99 MSRP price down to $199.99 for the promotional period. It’s a novel dock at a decent price. Still, true innovation seems to happen more with 10Gbps docks than anywhere else, and the Baseus Spacemate is worth a look because of the wireless charging capability alone.
The report highlights that he has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Highly adopted Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room. Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology.