The Wokyis M5 dock is an accessory with incredible cachet... and undeniable technical advantages.
You probably don't know the Wokyis brand. They've just made a name for themselves in the Apple community with an accessory that's not all that useless and, above all, a must-have for anyone with a Mac Mini... and a little more. Indeed, the Wokyis M5 is what is known in computer jargon as a dock. It's a way of adding more connectors and options to a computer that isn't necessarily very well equipped: as a general rule, it's because of the computer's compactness that its manufacturer has been obliged to cut back a little on connectivity, and that's exactly what happens with the Mac Mini.
Taking the form of a Macinstosh Classic - and that's what makes it so absolutely adorable - the Wokyis M5 Dock is placed on top of the Mac Mini. All you have to do is connect a USB cable between the Wokyis M5's host port and the Mac Mini's Thunderbolt Type-C connector. Once this has been done, the Mac Mini takes on a host of new features, including 3 USB 10 Gbps ports on the front (2x Type-A, 1x Type-C). On the rear, two additional USB-A 10 Gbps ports, a USB host connector, a USB-C power connector and a 3.5 mm audio jack complete the picture.
But the Wokyis M5 goes one step further, with a front-mounted SD card reader (SD4.0 UHS-ll 312MB/s) and an M.2 port for NVMe SSDs (formats 2230/2242/2260/2280, up to 8TB and 10Gbps). Finally, and this is the icing on the cake, the display, which completes the resemblance with the Macintosh Classic, is fully functional. Admittedly, it's small (5" diagonal, 1280 x 720 pixels) and not touch-sensitive, but its IPS slab ensures a beautiful image, and alongside more accessory functions (clock, photo "frame"), it can act perfectly as a second screen for keeping an eye on certain information, such as hardware monitoring tools.
So as not to spoil a frankly clever product, Wokyis isn't too greedy with the M5, which is priced at €149.99 in France at a retailer like Amazon. Note that there's another version at 339.99 euros for users who want more power: the link between the Mac Mini (or any other computer for that matter) and the dock is via a Thunderbolt 5 Type-C port and guarantees a data rate of 80 Gbps: this allows you to enjoy DisplayPort 8K@60 Hz on the rear of the dock and, perhaps most importantly, unbridles the M.2 port for NVMe SSDs, which can then reach up to 80 Gbps.
