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milhous

macrumors member
May 17, 2007
67
20
Yes the CalDigit TS3 Plus is on sale now for $238.99 with coupon code BFRIDAY on their website. At this price, I’ll be returning my USB-C Pro Dock and getting this instead.
 

Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
Yes the CalDigit TS3 Plus is on sale now for $238.99 with coupon code BFRIDAY on their website. At this price, I’ll be returning my USB-C Pro Dock and getting this instead.
But USB-C Pro Dock has 2 display ports and TS3 Plus has only one. Do you think that Pro is better for those who want to use 2 4K monitors?

Here is one of the reviews I just found on Amazon:

If I could I would give this dock 4 and 3/4 stars, but it's whole stars only... I docked the rating one star because it's mildly inconvenient if you're wanting to use two external monitors but are forced to use two different types of connections to achieve this; i.e., DP for one and then you have to use the USB C port for the other. REALLY?! Give us two of the same ports!... (2) DP or (2) miniDP or (2) USB-C... whatever!

Another reason for the lack of 5th star is I had a USB-C to miniDP dongle connected to the TB3 port and it would cause my monitor to go black for 3-5 seconds every minute or so. I might say this is somewhat the dongle's issue as well, but when I moved the dongle to a TB3 port on my laptop, it performed fine. Something was awry with the TS3+ and dongle combo.
 
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Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,442
6,876
From what I've read the USB-C Pro from them is one of the few docks able to do 2 x 4K output from a MacBook Pro running macOS. Some of the others can only do 4K @ 30Hz and use the USB-C display standard for it. It's one of the main reasons I bought this dock, it's quite new out I believe October 2019 etc
 
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UglyCowboy

macrumors member
Sep 12, 2017
37
86
In clamshell mode it also seems that there is better clearance for the exhaust ports. When the display is open the exhaust ports seem to be partially blocked. It may not seem like a big difference but it helps. In fact the difference in air resistance from clamshell to open is probably bigger than from the larger exhaust holes that Apple tauts for the 16. Consider SFF chassis like the DA2 vs Ghost S1 which is much smaller with better thermals. Sure, the DA2 has relatively poor thermals due to air filter. However, even removed, the cosmetic aluminum piece in front of the exhaust hurts thermals quite a bit.
 

milhous

macrumors member
May 17, 2007
67
20
But USB-C Pro Dock has 2 display ports and TS3 Plus has only one. Do you think that Pro is better for those who want to use 2 4K monitors?

Here is one of the reviews I just found on Amazon:

If I could I would give this dock 4 and 3/4 stars, but it's whole stars only... I docked the rating one star because it's mildly inconvenient if you're wanting to use two external monitors but are forced to use two different types of connections to achieve this; i.e., DP for one and then you have to use the USB C port for the other. REALLY?! Give us two of the same ports!... (2) DP or (2) miniDP or (2) USB-C... whatever!

Another reason for the lack of 5th star is I had a USB-C to miniDP dongle connected to the TB3 port and it would cause my monitor to go black for 3-5 seconds every minute or so. I might say this is somewhat the dongle's issue as well, but when I moved the dongle to a TB3 port on my laptop, it performed fine. Something was awry with the TS3+ and dongle combo.
Gosh, you're right. I kept thinking the TS3+ also had dual DisplayPort, but it doesn't. So yes, the TS3+ would need a Thunderbolt to DisplayPort adapter to power a second display.

Now I'll just stick to the Pro Dock. The TS3+ won't benefit me much.
 

ugahairydawgs

macrumors 68030
Jun 10, 2010
2,966
2,473
Gosh, you're right. I kept thinking the TS3+ also had dual DisplayPort, but it doesn't. So yes, the TS3+ would need a Thunderbolt to DisplayPort adapter to power a second display.

Now I'll just stick to the Pro Dock. The TS3+ won't benefit me much.

I just use a DP > USB C cable. Cost about $15 on Amazon. Works great.
 

milhous

macrumors member
May 17, 2007
67
20
I just use a DP > USB C cable. Cost about $15 on Amazon. Works great.
Yeah, this would be the most economical way for OP to test if things are better than before. But I'm really enjoying the one-cable solution. It's a dream come true.
 

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Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
Yeah, this would be the most economical way for OP to test if things are better than before. But I'm really enjoying the one-cable solution. It's a dream come true.
OP has tried that things are better.
However, I think that the things also improved with the latest OS update, which contained some 16" optimizations.
[automerge]1574831578[/automerge]
Gosh, you're right. I kept thinking the TS3+ also had dual DisplayPort, but it doesn't. So yes, the TS3+ would need a Thunderbolt to DisplayPort adapter to power a second display.

Now I'll just stick to the Pro Dock. The TS3+ won't benefit me much.
I am wondering whether the TS+ is more capable/stable/etc? If yes, maybe it's worth the extra expense of buying the adapter?
 
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impulse462

macrumors 68020
Jun 3, 2009
2,097
2,879
Been using my 16" (2.4ghz i9/32gb/5500M 8gb) for around 3-4 days. so far i have no problems connected to external monitors in clamshell mode. Connected to LG 5k ultrafine and at idle with matlab/intellij running, CPU core temperatures are at 46-50c. extremely cool temps. definitely lower than the previous 2017 15" with the 555.

strangely enough, when i connect this to an LG 4k, (also in clamshell mode) the temperatures rise to 51-55c at idle. i think this probably has to do with scaling on the 4k monitor. the 5k monitor perfectly scales to an effective resolution of 2560x1440. While the 4k also displays that effective resolution it is not perfectly scaled. but this is just a guess.

havent tried much with both the retina display and external display, but i suspect that temperatures would rise given the added total number of pixels the GPU has to push
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,155
14,579
New Hampshire
Been using my 16" (2.4ghz i9/32gb/5500M 8gb) for around 3-4 days. so far i have no problems connected to external monitors in clamshell mode. Connected to LG 5k ultrafine and at idle with matlab/intellij running, CPU core temperatures are at 46-50c. extremely cool temps. definitely lower than the previous 2017 15" with the 555.

strangely enough, when i connect this to an LG 4k, (also in clamshell mode) the temperatures rise to 51-55c at idle. i think this probably has to do with scaling on the 4k monitor. the 5k monitor perfectly scales to an effective resolution of 2560x1440. While the 4k also displays that effective resolution it is not perfectly scaled. but this is just a guess.

havent tried much with both the retina display and external display, but i suspect that temperatures would rise given the added total number of pixels the GPU has to push

You could try running unscaled if the display is big enough. I run 4K off my 2014 MBP unscaled and no heat issues - I don't have a dGPU though.
 

ugahairydawgs

macrumors 68030
Jun 10, 2010
2,966
2,473
Yeah, this would be the most economical way for OP to test if things are better than before. But I'm really enjoying the one-cable solution. It's a dream come true.

The USB-C end would just plug into the dock. Same setup I have. Single cable connected to the laptop.
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,442
6,876
Just to confirm, people are not having issues when waking from sleep, etc. with the Caldigit USB Pro Dock?

Working fine here. Just make sure you've not enabled File Vault as I found out when that's enabled and you're at the lock screen the system won't load a lot of drivers including:

1. Toucbar Drivers​
2. Anything to do with Thunderbolt/USB devices​
3. Bluetooth Drivers​

So if you dimmed your screen on the laptop while connected to an external screen then shut it off or lock it while File Vault is engaged guess what happens? - You can't bring the screen brightness up on the display, have to hard reset the machine and clear the PRAM to get it back. The Touch Bar stays completely blank until you login.

Happened to me twice before I found this out, macOS prompted me to enable File Vault when I first set the machine up and I thought what the hell lets do it. Big mistake.
 

mightyjabba

macrumors 68000
Sep 25, 2014
1,586
328
Tatooine
Working fine here. Just make sure you've not enabled File Vault as I found out when that's enabled and you're at the lock screen the system won't load a lot of drivers including:

1. Toucbar Drivers​
2. Anything to do with Thunderbolt/USB devices​
3. Bluetooth Drivers​

So if you dimmed your screen on the laptop while connected to an external screen then shut it off or lock it while File Vault is engaged guess what happens? - You can't bring the screen brightness up on the display, have to hard reset the machine and clear the PRAM to get it back. The Touch Bar stays completely blank until you login.

Happened to me twice before I found this out, macOS prompted me to enable File Vault when I first set the machine up and I thought what the hell lets do it. Big mistake.
Hmm. So you're running with the screen open but dimmed?
 
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Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,442
6,876
But you that dimming it out doesn't unload GPU, right? The GPU is still dealing with it...

There's an freeware somewhere that completely turns the display off. But it is odd, because the GPU still computes for that.

Yes I'm aware of that. But it doesn't bother me, the laptop still runs cool and quiet and I notice no diminished performance on my external display.
 
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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,530
19,709
So, I've been working with my 16" with an external 4K Dell display and it's cool and quiet. Works very well.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,110
777
I'm really confused that closing the MacBook changed pretty much everything. The fans still go wild of course when I push the machine, but in regular use it's quiet now.
It gets pretty warm though, and I'm not sure if I like that. This just can't be good for the LCD. Well, what can you do.
 
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