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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
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The WikiPost has been updated to say the UDZ model only provides 60W; apparently as a new forum user I can't edit it. Can someone update it? (I check this post periodically to see if any options have become available to actually properly charge this now nearly year-old laptop I bought...)

Post as a reply EXACTLY what you want this to say, will update the WIKI.
 

hajime

macrumors 604
Jul 23, 2007
7,927
1,312
It is the end of September but the new pluggable TB3 dock that we have been waiting for for months is still not available yet?
 
Last edited:

rickeames

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2008
389
71
I see that most of the docks out there assume DisplayPort or HDMI. What if you have two LG Ultrafines to drive? I have a 5K and a 4K. I realize no dock will do both, but do the docks handle the 5K with some kind of adapter (which means you lose the camera and speakers?).
 

IceStormNG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2020
517
676
I see that most of the docks out there assume DisplayPort or HDMI. What if you have two LG Ultrafines to drive? I have a 5K and a 4K. I realize no dock will do both, but do the docks handle the 5K with some kind of adapter (which means you lose the camera and speakers?).
Most TB3 docks have a downstream thunderbolt port for daisy-chaining. The G2 and the TS3+ both have one for example. So you should be able to connect the monitor using TB3 to the Dock. If the monitor is USB-C, the G2 dock also has one USB-C port that supports display output. The TS3+ doesn't have that, but the downstream thunderbolt port usually supports that, too.
I don't know about the other docks, though.
 

alopecoid

macrumors newbie
Jan 30, 2016
3
0
Hi,

I have a 2019 16" MacBook Pro (with the Apple 96W USB-C Power Adapter) and a non-Apple monitor. I connect wired keyboard/mouse via USB-A ports on the monitor and the MacBook to the USB-C port on the monitor for video (4K @ 60 Hz), sound, and 65W of power delivery. This works great as a "one cable solution"; keyboard/mouse/video/sound/power are all connected to the MacBook via a single USB-C cable. However, the 65W PD provided by the monitor is not enough to keep the MacBook charged during use.

Given the above, what I am looking for is an adapter that just has 3 USB-C connections (one for the MacBook, one for a 96W+ power adapter, and one for the monitor). The idea being that this would act exactly like my current single-cable setup, but I would be providing my own pass-through power to the adapter so that it can provide more than 65W to the MacBook.

The closet things I can find are:
  • Cable Matters 201046 [Amazon]. However, this [1] requires connecting the keyboard/mouse to the adapter instead of the monitor [2] requires connecting video to the monitor via DisplayPort instead of USB-C, and [3] only provides 60W of power. I could deal with #1 and #2, but #3 is a deal-breaker; it needs to provide 96W+ instead of 60W.
  • Cable Matters 201026 [Amazon]. This provides 100W of pass-through, however, this [1] requires connecting video to the monitor via DisplayPort instead of USB-C [2] doesn't provide a way to keep the keyboard/mouse connection.
In fact, everything I find is wrong in at least one required dimension. It's frustrating because I would think that what I'm looking for is actually one of the more simplistic use cases, and yet the relevant product doesn't seem to exist.

I very much appreciate any help on this...

Thank you!
 

IceStormNG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2020
517
676
This won't work. USB-C PD Passthrough loses about 15W (or even more) on the Hub. So your 96W will become up to 80W and the hub would get extremely hot. Passthrough PD is questionable at best and I would stay away from it.

What you want is a Dock with its own power supply. Connect the monitor via DisplayPort or USB-C to the Dock and your Keyboard either to the dock or the Monitor's integrated hub.

The TS3+ doesn't support USB-C display, but DisplayPort (so you couldn't use the integrated hub of your monitor). But the HP G2 dock does. There are also other docks that support it, but I have no experience with them.
 

alopecoid

macrumors newbie
Jan 30, 2016
3
0
This won't work. USB-C PD Passthrough loses about 15W (or even more) on the Hub. So your 96W will become up to 80W and the hub would get extremely hot. Passthrough PD is questionable at best and I would stay away from it.

What you want is a Dock with its own power supply. Connect the monitor via DisplayPort or USB-C to the Dock and your Keyboard either to the dock or the Monitor's integrated hub.

The TS3+ doesn't support USB-C display, but DisplayPort (so you couldn't use the integrated hub of your monitor). But the HP G2 dock does. There are also other docks that support it, but I have no experience with them.

Thanks for the reply!

I've been reading that the Cable Matters 201026 doesn't get too hot, and that has 100W (yes, some is lost on powering the hub). The thing that irks me about these docking stations are that they can cost more than a semi-decent 4K 27" monitor itself. I don't need all the extra functionality of the dock, and so the price just seems disproportional with the required functionality. For example, a 120W power adapter (that plugs into the wall) is ~$15 and the Cable Matters 201026 is ~$20. Someone just needs to combine these things; something that passes a USB-C signal through (two USB-C connections) and redirects the power from the wall to the USB-C ports as PD.
 

IceStormNG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2020
517
676
I just came across this dock: Corsair TBT100. While it can "only" supply 85W of power, it has full dual display support (2x HDMI 2.0) for Macs and some Windows PCs. No MST. Just regular Thunderbolt. It's a bit pricy though at 299€ MSRP.


BTW: Is there any reason why the HP G2 120W dock is not listed in the Wiki post? It supplies 100W over Thunderbolt.
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
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BTW: Is there any reason why the HP G2 120W dock is not listed in the Wiki post? It supplies 100W over Thunderbolt.

Last I knew, it was NOT macOS compatible or compatible with MBP16,1. If you can confirm compatibility, add to the list.
 

IceStormNG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2020
517
676
Last I knew, it was NOT macOS compatible or compatible with MBP16,1. If you can confirm compatibility, add to the list.

I have it running here on my 16" since some months. The only thing that doesn't work is connecting two displays to both DisplayPort ports at the same time. They are mirrored like on every other MST dock/hub.
Everything else (PowerDelivery, USB, Ethernet, Audio, using a single DisplayPort, downstream thunderbolt 3 for daisy chain) works fine right out of the box. The only thing I haven't tested is the VGA port...I don't have any VGA device anymore.
If you add it to the list, please add a note, that you need Windows for updating the firmware. Might be an issue for some people.

The 120W works perfectly fine with and without the optional audio module. The 230W will also work, but the additional power connector is of no use and therefore it would be a waste to buy the 230W version for a Mac.
 

hajime

macrumors 604
Jul 23, 2007
7,927
1,312
Why was the Plugable UDZ strike-throughed ? It's not even out yet

Yes, very strange. As far as I know many people were waiting for it to be released in September. Then, it got crossed out and people don't talk about it anymore.
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
Because that was the report and/or publicly available information at the time it was released. My understanding is they are fully redesigning the product, which SHOULD mean a new product number when they have a 96W model available for purchase. They mismanaged this product release from the start. Deal with their customer service if you have questions. I'm not their rep.

First post is a WIKI, edit accordingly with citation including publicly available information.
 

glyph.

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2020
18
2
here
Because that was the report and/or publicly available information at the time it was released. My understanding is they are fully redesigning the product, which SHOULD mean a new product number when they have a 96W model available for purchase. They mismanaged this product release from the start
They do have a new product number. The TBT3-UD*Z* is the one with 96W. The TBT3-UDV is the older, existing 60W one.
 
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jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,887
4,896
Have you tried putting a power meter between the Apple PS and the MBP to see how much it draws when your using it with your current setup? That would give you an indication of how much you really need.
 

mcaswell

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2013
390
228
Have you tried putting a power meter between the Apple PS and the MBP to see how much it draws when your using it with your current setup? That would give you an indication of how much you really need.
Actually iStat Menus works great for this... one of the bits of information it provides is "system total" power, which indicates how much power the computer is consuming (regardless of source). If I have a Handbrake encode running, it will be 90-100W. Normal use (for me at least) is typically in the 15-50W range.
 
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