This Flashy Thunderbolt 5 Dock Has a Screen, Memory Card Slots, and Expandable Storage

Lexar’s sub-brand, Pexar, first made its name in 2024 by making digital picture frames. While frames are still Pexar’s primary product, the company is expanding into Thunderbolt 5 docks with the PexarBolt Ultra. While it may seem like a strange departure, a Thunderbolt 5 dock aligns with its parent company’s product portfolio.

The PexarBolt Ultra Thunderbolt 5 dock, “powered by Lexar,” is arriving soon on Kickstarter and offers some interesting features. Most notably, the PexarBolt has a built-in five-inch touchscreen and a metal dial to monitor connected devices and adjust settings. Thunderbolt 5 docks are becoming more common, but the PexarBolt is still an especially unusual product.

At its core, it is still a dock, though. It is designed to serve the same expected functions and expand connectivity for a connected computer.

In the PexarBolt Ultra’s case, it has many ports on the back. There are two Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports (80Gbps, 15W), a Thunderbolt 5 host port (80Gbps, 140W), three USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps, 7.5W) ports, DisplayPort 2.1 or HDMI 2.1 (they are both there but only one can be used at a time), a USB-A 3.2 Gen2 port (10Gbps, 7.5W), two USB 2.0 ports, 3.5mm audio out, 3.5mm audio in, and a 10GbE Ethernet port, which is useful for connecting directly to a NAS.

Moving to the front, there’s a CFexpress Type B (10Gbps) card slot, a UHS-II SD card slot, a UHS-II microSD slot, two USB-C 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps, 45W shared) ports, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a single USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps, 7.5W) port.

The 5-inch screen and metal control dial are on top of the device, and the screen tilts down so users can easily see it while the dock is on their desk.

The PexarBolt Ultra also features an integrated NVMe SSD slot, allowing users to add their own M.2 NVMe SSD to turn the dock into external storage.

The PexarBolt Ultra includes a built-in cooling fan, plenty of metal for heat dissipation, and smart thermal control, all of which Pexar says help keep the device performing well in intense workflows. The screen lets users monitor the device’s thermals at all times.

Pricing and Availability

The PexarBolt Ultra will be launching on Kickstarter soon. It will cost $479 for “super early bird” backers. Pexar says the eventual retail price will be $649. There is no word yet on availability.

Image creditsPexar