PC - > MAC Transplant: Few Questions

[naughtybehavior86]

I have a XDR Pro Display and an M1 Air in route. I was using a CalDigit TS3+ dock with my ThinkPad and was curious if I am now out of luck with the dock? I say this because I know I am unable to drive the XDR through the dock, however I am curious on how XDR Pro owners are managing their ports. I like my ethernet, so I will be staying wired. If you are utilizing a dock, how are you doing so? Just accepting the fact you will have (2) cords hooked to your M1 at all times (XDR + dock) ?

Also in general any feedback on how your experience has been using an m1 laptop with the XDR would be appreciated. I am going to check out the couple owners threads over in the accessories forum but figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone had real-time feedback updates on this combo. Any recommendations with this setup, always welcome.

Feels good to step away from PC's. I began with Apple in 2007 when the iPhone first hit. I converted over to PC once I got my mechanical engineering degree just to keep work+personal life simple and under one roof. However with the M1 I am going to now live under two roofs...one work and one personal. Trade off is I will no longer have the luxury of using my engineering software unless I want to use my work laptop, which I have to remote into software and is less than ideal. I was able to run everything local on my PC but I will be offloading that to offset my recent purchase a bit.

Yes, before anyone comments. My use case is way under par for an XDR, but I have been through every monitor from here to the moon and I always end up returning them for either a horrible screen or a build quality that looks like it was assembled in the absolute cheapest and shortest amount of time possible. So here I am caving in to a slab of beautiful aluminum and a sheet of glass that is par to none in this price point.

Hope everyone is well, stay frosty out there.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

New imac is not an option? It's screen surely isn't as nice as the XDR, but certainly much more than nice enough.

 

[deeddawg]

Did you already try the LG Ultrafine 5K and found it lacking?

I ask mostly because the TS3+ does claim support for 5K which would give you single-cable docking vs dual-cable.

 

[naughtybehavior86]

New imac is not an option? It's screen surely isn't as nice as the XDR, but certainly much more than nice enough.

I require the portability.

 

[naughtybehavior86]

Did you already try the LG Ultrafine 5K and found it lacking?

I ask mostly because the TS3+ does claim support for 5K which would give you single-cable docking vs dual-cable.

I tried the LG. Was not ok spending the cash on such an old display that wobbled as bad as it did once you start to raise its height.

 

[naughtybehavior86]

So the more I dig into this, it looks like the TS3+ will drive an XDR at 6K as long as you utilize the 1m cable. So essentially you are using the XDR Pro Display cable (2m) and now using that to run your MAC -> TS3+ and you are now using the shorter 1m cable that came with the TS3+ to run from XDR -> TS3+. You lose some freedom for where you can place the dock but it covers the distance needed and even clears the length needed to use the XDR Pro in portrait orientation. The math also checks out as TB3 is 40gb/s bandwidth ceiling and the 6k resolution of the XDR Pro is 36.64 gb/s.

This would render the rear ports of the XDR useless as their would only be a few gb/s overhead to spare however moot point if you are running a TS3+ anyway.

If anyone could confirm this or let me know if the calculations check out and I am not missing anything that would be awesome!

Source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/daisy-chain-pro-display-xdr.2217787/page-2

edit**: I take that back, looks like you do not swap the cables. You just can't try to use a longer cable into the XDR. Have to stay within 2m cord supplied by Apple.

 

[deeddawg]

This would render the rear ports of the XDR useless as their would only be a few gb/s overhead to spare however moot point if you are running a TS3+ anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the XDR display specs say the rear ports are USB2 - so data rates aren't going to be much.

 

[naughtybehavior86]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the XRD display specs say the rear ports are USB2 - so data rates aren't going to be much.

I know, I just worry about being that close to the ceiling of the TB3 port. No idea if when you are that close things can get wonky or not.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

I require the portability.

I was more thinking about having both (MacBook Air + iMac) and keeping them synced over iCloud or whatever.

 

[naughtybehavior86]

I was more thinking about having both (MacBook Air + iMac) and keeping them synced over iCloud or whatever.

Oh I hear you now. To be honest I gave it some thought after the new iMac release. Just not really thrilled and was rooting for the next generation M chip in it. Also was really looking for a one device system and with the potential of the M1 air it was hard not to bite.

I am benching on no new Air this year. Which means I don't have to worry about being leap frogged as quick as the releases we suspect are coming this fall if my assumption proves correct.

I am a Best Buy elite plus member. Which honors me 45 days of a return window for the XDR. Option is always there.

 

[deeddawg]

really looking for a one device system and with the potential of the M1 air it was hard not to bite.

Having done the two-device dance with syncing via NAS, just docking one portable is a lot simpler.

I don't think any of the current M1 systems will be "leapfrogged" this year - I expect Apple will first focus on the four-port MBP and higher-port-count mini, as well larger iMac.