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Super Sticky Thread for USB-C Docks, Cables and Accessories [MERGED]

C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
673
176
Cougarcat said:
I hope Apple releases a dock themselves with the new rMBP. It'll be overpriced, but at least it'll work reliably and look nice. I want something that'll drive a dual display setup, with one 4K monitor. Reading reviews of some of these docks are pretrifying me. I'm reading horror stories of fried rMBs.
Click to expand...

yes, hope it was the case. Apple's USB-C dongle is 79 dollars, if they were to do a full size dock, it could be 300 dollars, lol.
Versus, Caldidigit one is only 120 dollars
https://www.amazon.com/CalDigit-USB...sp_asin_til?tag=crazydiamon00-20&linkCode=w00

and OWC one is 150 dollars
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013J7ZRPI/ref=as_li_tl?tag=crazydiamon00-20

both are very good branding and high quality of products.

If you want to drive dual display, MacBook does not support unfortunately.
 
C

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
carestudio said:
If you want to drive dual display, MacBook does not support unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Yes, this would be for a theoretical rMBP with USB C / Thunderbolt 3.

Looks like only the Caldigit one supports 4k @ 60. And I am unclear if it would support a 1080p monitor in addition to that.

This stuff is all needlessly confusing and expensive. It shouldn't cost over $100 to get a dual setup working. Granted, these are full-fledged docks, but still...growing pains, I guess.
 
G

gdsingh

macrumors newbie
Jul 15, 2007
16
0
Mike Boreham said:
I need to modify my earlier enthusiasm, which was based on attaching two spinning HDDs to the HooToo and moving data. All seemed pretty good. I have just been trying two Samsung T1 which had partitions on. Problems! With only one attached everything seemed good, but when I attached the second the first unmounted improperly. After several attempts I realised I would have to treat the devices as not hot pluggable. However in the process of this testing I discovered one partition had been wiped.

I am afraid I don't trust the Hootoo with these Samsung T1s which I have had for a while and have behaved impeccably with my rMBP.
Click to expand...

Same for me, tried transfering data between two hard drives on the Hootoo and it wiped a partion on one of the drives. Just FYI if you are looking to do data transfer on a hub - it seems you need something with an external power source (not just an adapter charger).
 
C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
673
176
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,909
Has anyone installed a USB 3.1 USB-C card into a Mac Pro and successfully used it at faster than 3.0 speeds and/or successfully seen 3.1 charging rates (5V/3A)?

Over in the Mac Pro forums some people have installed these cards but won't answer my questions about whether or not they are actually getting 3.1 benefits.
 
P

Plinga

macrumors newbie
Mar 11, 2012
28
28
Is there a similar substitute to the discontinued Proporta USB 3.0 Type C Charging Adapter?

35815_usb_type-c_charging_adaptor_06_thumb800.jpg
 
Gasu E.

Gasu E.

macrumors 603
Mar 20, 2004
5,087
3,205
Not far from Boston, MA.
I'm planning to buy a new Mac when they come out, but I need to hook up some old Firewire 800 drives, in theory to USB-C ports. Trying to understand all the new cable/connector schemes is making me tear my hair out. Apple has the old Thunderbolt to FW adapter of course; but I don't understand how to get from the new USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 connectors to Thunderbolt to plug in the old adapter. I found one Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter for $80 but the manufacturer states "WINDOWS ONLY", strangely enough.

Any suggestions as to how to hook FW drives up to one of the new USB-C ports would be greatly appreciated. Please, "throw out your old drives" and get new ones is not a solution to this particular problem. I will get new drives, but I need access to the 2GB of data on the old ones. Time, effort, and continuity is more important to me than saving a few bucks.
 
Clix Pix

Clix Pix

macrumors Core
Oct 9, 2005
21,612
48,693
8 miles from the Apple Store at Tysons (VA)
A few months ago I realized that a lot of my older external drives were firewire only, while my current Macs do not have FW ports at all. I was able to buy a FW-to-USB3 adapter from Apple and used that to take care of my problem and rescue my files before they became totally unavailable to me. Since I now have a 12" rMB, I also have the appropriate adapter for USB-C to USB-A situaiions. I seriously cannot imagine that Apple would release new rMBPs with only USB-C ports -- surely they will include at least one Thunderbolt or one USB-A port in order to ease people through the transition?
 
nathan_393

nathan_393

macrumors member
Oct 20, 2016
37
23
This may have already been answered, but I can't find it anywhere. Does anybody know of a USB-C hub that has passthrough charging and a couple extra USB-C ports? Ideally there'd be one or two USB A ports too, but I'm not picky.
 
C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
673
176
nathan_393 said:
This is more than I'm comfortable paying at the moment, but wow. Looks like it'd do the trick! Thanks!
Click to expand...

I know, after all the tests and researches, looks like caldigit one is the cheapest and best USB-C hub or dock for MacBook type-c users. the main key point is the self powered and stable laptop charging, others are completely wrong design from the getgo. check this out http://crazydiamondstar.blogspot.com/2016/02/intermittent-drop-out-usb-thunderbolt.html
 
nathan_393

nathan_393

macrumors member
Oct 20, 2016
37
23
E

evie0110

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2016
12
4
Does anyone know of a cable that will plug in to a usb3 portable external hard drive to usb c at the macbook side? Thinking I can just replace some cables and bypass the hub issue...
 
3

3JL

macrumors regular
Mar 29, 2016
109
98
Hi all, just ordered a new 15 inch 2016 macbook pro. I need to work with some legacy peripherals for now as the MBP was a crazy money drain :s

What would you advice? I am looking for a single dock/dongle to attach some old-fashioned stuff: USB keyboard, USB mouse and HDMI monitor (1080p).
Nice to have: integrated charging, LAN and audio.

Thanks!

EDIT: added LAN to nice to haves
 
Last edited:
satcomer

satcomer

Suspended
Feb 19, 2008
9,115
1,977
The Finger Lakes Region
Clix Pix said:
A few months ago I realized that a lot of my older external drives were firewire only, while my current Macs do not have FW ports at all. I was able to buy a FW-to-USB3 adapter from Apple and used that to take care of my problem and rescue my files before they became totally unavailable to me. Since I now have a 12" rMB, I also have the appropriate adapter for USB-C to USB-A situaiions. I seriously cannot imagine that Apple would release new rMBPs with only USB-C ports -- surely they will include at least one Thunderbolt or one USB-A port in order to ease people through the transition?
Click to expand...

This is why you should go to modern NAS!
 
M

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,904
1,894
UK
Anyone know a source for really short (circa 6ins) USB-C cables?

I have some 18 inch ones but would really like shorter, USB-C/USB-C and USB-C/USB-A.

Thanks
 
3

3JL

macrumors regular
Mar 29, 2016
109
98
3JL said:
Hi all, just ordered a new 15 inch 2016 macbook pro. I need to work with some legacy peripherals for now as the MBP was a crazy money drain :s

What would you advice? I am looking for a single dock/dongle to attach some old-fashioned stuff: USB keyboard, USB mouse and HDMI monitor (1080p).
Nice to have: integrated charging, LAN and audio.

Thanks!

EDIT: added LAN to nice to haves
Click to expand...

This is all I found until now.. any experiences with this brand?

http://sandberg.it/nl-nl/productid/136-11
 
M

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,904
1,894
UK
3JL said:
This is all I found until now.. any experiences with this brand?

http://sandberg.it/nl-nl/productid/136-11
Click to expand...

There are lots of similar products to that Sandberg. I have tried Hootoo, Anker and Minix, and had problems with all three when using more than one USB port simultaneously. These products tend to get good reviews from people who have not used more than one USB at the same time.

I believe Caldigit and OWC make larger hubs which seem to work better from reviews.

My impression is that the USB-C hub technology is still immature and prone to problems.
 
Romf

Romf

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2011
264
70
Paris, France
carestudio said:
I know, after all the tests and researches, looks like caldigit one is the cheapest and best USB-C hub or dock for MacBook type-c users. the main key point is the self powered and stable laptop charging, others are completely wrong design from the getgo. check this out http://crazydiamondstar.blogspot.com/2016/02/intermittent-drop-out-usb-thunderbolt.html
Click to expand...
This looks great, what a shame they didn't include a card reader! :(
Might go with this one if I buy the new macbook pros, currently using a macbook pro with elgato TB1 station, works perfectly.
 
M

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,904
1,894
UK
Mike Boreham said:
Anyone know a source for really short (circa 6ins) USB-C cables?

I have some 18 inch ones but would really like shorter, USB-C/USB-C and USB-C/USB-A.

Thanks
Click to expand...

For anyone in the UK I have just got three of these 15cm USB-C to USB-A which combined with these tiny adapters make a very short USB-C to USB-C. Since I need both types of lead this is a good solution for me.

I have speed tested a Samsung T3 with the combo against a pure USB-C to USB-C and got identical result.
 
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