Quick Answer
For Adobe Premiere Pro, buy in this order: first a dock with enough power delivery (100W) and dual display output, then fast external storage connectivity (Thunderbolt 4 at 40Gbps if you edit 4K off SSDs), then extra niceties like card readers. The core dock for Premiere sits around R1,800 to R3,500 for USB-C or R4,000 to R8,000 for Thunderbolt 4.
Must-have first: power and displays
Premiere editing leans on screen space and a charged laptop, so the must-have is a dock with 100W power delivery and dual display output, around R1,800 to R3,500 in USB-C form. That gives you a timeline-and-preview two-monitor layout and keeps a powerful laptop topped up through renders. Don't buy any extras until this base is right, because a dock that can't keep your laptop charged or drive two screens fails the core job of a Premiere workstation.
Nice-to-have and skip: storage bandwidth and trimmings
Nice-to-have next is fast external storage bandwidth: if you edit 4K off external NVMe SSDs, a Thunderbolt 4 dock's 40Gbps stops the drive bottlenecking scrubs and exports, whereas a 10Gbps USB-C dock caps that throughput. For 1080p on internal media you can skip Thunderbolt entirely. Skip, for now, the card-reader-laden multi-port docks unless you ingest from SD or CFexpress daily. Buy power and displays first, add Thunderbolt bandwidth only if your footage demands it, and leave the gimmick ports until you actually need them.
FAQ
What's the first dock feature to prioritise for Premiere?
Power delivery and dual display output. A 100W dock keeps a powerful editing laptop charged while driving a two-monitor timeline layout, which is the foundation of a Premiere workstation.
When is Thunderbolt's 40Gbps actually needed?
For editing 4K footage off external NVMe SSDs. At 10Gbps a USB-C dock bottlenecks a fast external drive during 4K work, while Thunderbolt's 40Gbps keeps scrubbing and exports responsive.
Should I buy a card-reader dock for Premiere?
Only if you ingest from SD or CFexpress cards regularly. Otherwise prioritise power and display first; an integrated card reader is a convenience, not a core editing need.
100W dual-display dock working first, then add Thunderbolt 4 only if you edit 4K off external SSDs, so each purchase removes a real bottleneck in your Premiere workflow.