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

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carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
671
174
BeatCrazy said:
Which will add $100+ to the price, when their ThunderBolt Station 3 comes out in a few months. I can certainly see the appeal of a single cord for everything, but some folks appreciate saving the $100 and using the cable/charger they already have. Which qualifies it as "useful", for many ;)
Click to expand...

Agree. A single cable is a very neat setup but costs you more :)
 
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dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
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BeatCrazy said:
Which will add $100+ to the price, when their ThunderBolt Station 3 comes out in a few months. I can certainly see the appeal of a single cord for everything, but some folks appreciate saving the $100 and using the cable/charger they already have. Which qualifies it as "useful", for many ;)
Click to expand...
You only get that saving when you use the supplied MBP charger everywhere. When you want one at home and one in your bag the price difference between the Lite and Thunderbolt Station is only $2 (87W charger + cable is $98). In that case the Thunderbolt Station might actually be cheaper because that $100 gets you 2 additional eSATA ports and it will only use 1 power connection (the other will use 2 or more if it blocks one of the other power connections on the outlet). It is also a neater solution because it only uses 1 connection instead of 2 (applies to both Thunderbolt and power).

Another thing is the form factor. The Thunderbolt Station is a bit shorter and thicker but can be used horizontally and vertically (lite only vertically). In my case that means it is a much better fit in the bracket that I use between display and monitor arm. That and the fact that it is not any more expensive than the lite + charger (because I do need 2 chargers) is what made me chose the Thunderbolt Station instead.
 
tofagerl

tofagerl

macrumors 6502a
May 16, 2006
983
428
Yeah, I'm looking for a dock for work, and I don't want to have to buy an extra charger OR have to plug in two cables every day. It's literally twice the work!
 
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dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
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Not everybody plugs it in when they come in and unplug it when they go back home. There are quite a lot of people who do just that many times during the day (they have meetings and discussions with colleagues where they bring their notebook and/or when they go to a customer). It's about having to do this every hour, not every day.

Being able to quickly dock and undock means that you'll be doing that more often which means that quickly meeting with others/have a discussion where you can show/change things gets far more attractive to do. I would not underestimate the effect these small things have.
 
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anson42

macrumors 65816
Mar 13, 2014
1,068
985
Oakland, CA
On the flip side, I have been unplugging and plugging in a power cable and the TB3 adapter into my MBP multiple times a day at the office for similar reasons and it really is not an issue. To each his own :) Now, if we want to shift the discussion to wear and tear on the USB-C ports... which I hope is not going to be an issue in the long run.
 
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dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
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They did increase the amount of insertions you can do so that probably isn't going to be much of an issue. And you can alternate since you have multiple TB3 ports (well, the 13" Touch Bar version has a minor difference: the ports on the right are a bit slower than the ones on the left; not that it is going to make a difference with docks).
 
maximit

maximit

macrumors member
Apr 20, 2009
70
21
Has anyone got working any of the female to male USB-C extension cables from amazon or eBay to hide the apple multipart adapter? Most of them say they will not do video on the MacBook, just charging and data.
 
navaira

navaira

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,933
5,161
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Question – sorry if it's been asked, I don't know where to look for the answer or what to even search for :/

I would like to connect a 2560x1440 screen via HDMI. Most (if not all) hubs seem to use 30Hz for that resolution. However, according to 9to5Mac this is actually a limitation of the rMB itself and there is a patch to make it work at 60Hz. Does anybody know 1) whether the hub is going to limit that back to 30Hz, or 2) a hub that doesn't do that?

All I need is one regular USB, power-through USB-C and HDMI.

Thanks a lot for any responses and apologies if this has already been asked 200 times...

Edit: Oh.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...k-monitors-cables-adapters-that-work.1974167/
 
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C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
671
174
tofagerl said:
I'd prefer TB3 since I need two external displays. Hopefuily this market will grow a bit.
Click to expand...

yes. CalDigit TS3 will give you single cable to charge and to do two external displays. The TS3 Lite can do two displays too but lack of 85W charging, it could only do 15W. They are shipping TS3 Lite now if you cant wait for TS3. No one is shipping any Mac's Thunderbolt 3 docks, only caldigit.
 
bartvk

bartvk

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2016
386
149
The Netherlands
elektrobug said:
Has anyone got working any of the female to male USB-C extension cables from amazon or eBay to hide the apple multipart adapter? Most of them say they will not do video on the MacBook, just charging and data.
Click to expand...

If possible, I'd avoid these extension cables. From what I've read, the USB-C standard explicitly mentions that these shouldn't exist. I don't know the reasons for that, but I'd be wary if I were you.
 
navaira

navaira

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May 28, 2015
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navaira said:
I am thinking of getting Acer H277HU http://www.pcmag.com/review/343961/acer-h277hu – apparently it's got USB-C connectivity with charging and built in hub with two USB-A 3.1 ports. It's not 4K but I don't mind, I've got my Big Hac for that and I'm using a different Acer 2560x1440 display for the rMBP.

Does anybody have experience with this monitor + rMB?
Click to expand...
Responding to myself. I paid €349. It's gorgeous (microscopic bezels). Sound is okay for a monitor. USB-C powers the laptop, transfers sound and image with 60Hz refresh rate, very good calibration out of the box, hub works perfectly (well, I connected one thing to it, but it works ;) ) I was quite worried about the fact that rMB has only one port, but with wireless backup, bluetooth Magic Mouse and now a regular USB dongle for my Sculpt keyboard everything works fine.

I would say this display is 100% worth the price. Much better picture quality than rMBP with HDMI (which sort of pisses me off) and the built-in hub – I could theoretically do backups over USB cable now, but with a router that supports Time Machine I don't need to. It's not 4K but USB-C display quality is awesome. It's like getting a hub with a display at amazing price. USB-C cable is included – no idea about quality, I don't have a tester, but I'd assume if it comes with a display it should be good? From what I know USB-A speeds aren't amazing, but with what I am going to connect – keyboard and possibly USB sticks – it's really not important at all.

(Also, it comes in rose gold. LOL)
 
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bartvk

bartvk

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2016
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The Netherlands
navaira said:
Responding to myself. I paid €349. It's gorgeous (microscopic bezels). Sound is okay for a monitor. USB-C powers the laptop, transfers sound and image with 60Hz refresh rate, very good calibration out of the box, hub works perfectly (well, I connected one thing to it, but it works ;) ) I was quite worried about the fact that rMB has only one port, but with wireless backup, bluetooth Magic Mouse and now a regular USB dongle for my Sculpt keyboard everything works fine.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for the review! And it's true, most people don't have anything speed-demanding hanging on the monitor's internal USB hub. Should you want to connect things like a fast USB thumb drive, well, hook it up to the laptop!
 
C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
671
174
navaira said:
Responding to myself. I paid €349. It's gorgeous (microscopic bezels). Sound is okay for a monitor. USB-C powers the laptop, transfers sound and image with 60Hz refresh rate, very good calibration out of the box, hub works perfectly (well, I connected one thing to it, but it works ;) ) I was quite worried about the fact that rMB has only one port, but with wireless backup, bluetooth Magic Mouse and now a regular USB dongle for my Sculpt keyboard everything works fine.

(Also, it comes in rose gold. LOL)
Click to expand...

Good review. Looks like it's a great monitor hub. I think it's more for the people who want to buy a brand new monitor. But for those people who already got decent monitor can simply just spend less than 150 dollars to get a USB-C dock that has HDMI / DP outputs as well as USB 3.1 and Ethernet. Thing likes caldigit's usb-c dock, read this review
http://crazydiamondstar.blogspot.com/2016/08/usb-c-dock-best-baymax-for-macbook.html
it can do 2K@60Hz too and up to 4K@30Hz.
 
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dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
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It is officially addressed by CalDigit in this video...:


...to some extend because they don't try the second USB-C port in this. Their FAQ is more clear (see #7) on this:

7. Can the USB-C Dock charge the new 2016 MacBook Pro?
Yes, the USB-C Dock can charge the new 2016 MacBook Pro. The USB-C Dock includes a 90W power supply and will allocate 60W of power to the host computer for charging. 30W of the remaining power is allocated to the USB-C Dock itself. CalDigit has implemented dynamic power switching which will alter the amount of power sent to the host computer when extra devices are added to the USB ports of the USB-C Dock. In that case, the power supplied to the host computer will decrease to 36W, as the extra power needs to be allocated to the other ports. If USB devices are connected to the two rear USB-A ports, the power supplied to the USB-C Dock will stay at 60W. If a USB device is plugged into the front USB-A port, the power supplied to the computer will drop to 36W. 36W is still an ample amount of power to charge the 2016 MacBook Pro, but we recommend removing any USB devices from the front USB port for users who need faster charging. Alternatively, you can use an Apple charger instead.
Click to expand...

Not very strange if you take the 90W power adapter the docks comes with into consideration (take off 30W for the dock itself and you can see that the remaining 60W has to be shared with everything else you connect to it).
 
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C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
671
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Good information, dyn and bartvk! I think it makes sense since Acer monitor only has 2x USB 3 ports v.s. Caldigit's dock has 4x USB 3 ports including one type-c port plus Ethernet and audio, just all the USB ports would eat up lots of power to the external devices. To stay in 60W charging, must use two USB ports on the back only or plug in the Apple charger ;)
 
D

dukeOfPrunes

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2015
47
26
USB-C to HDMI adapter recommendation: Dell USB-C to HDMI 2.0 (part number 470-ABQL)

Its slim, looks good, has a flexible flat cable and is HDMI 2.0 compatible (4K@60Hz)

470-ABQL_MV1.jpg


Other 3rd party adapters look cheap and get inconsistent reviews, and Apples adapter apparently only supports 4K@30Hz and is bigger due to the integrated USB-A and USB-C power pass through.
 
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C

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
671
174
there are type-c to hdmi dongle supporting 4K60Hz. but yes, DisplayPort is always nicer since it can convert easily to any other outputs, vga, mdp, hdmi, dvi.
 
V

va1984

macrumors regular
Jan 27, 2011
240
398
So I searched this post pretty thoroughly but I can't find a conclusive answer to this:
I would like to connect a 12" 2016 MacBook to a 27" Cinema Display (the mDP version, not TB). Is there a USB-C dock with mDP that actually works?

From my research, it seems that there are only three reputable options:
1) pre-order the Henge Tethered Dock (which I have done, but they won't ship until July 2017)
2) the CalDigit USB-C dock with a mDP-DP adaptor or
3) the Dell WD15 (but what's the deal with the firmware?)

I am wondering if anybody has managed this setup with either the Dell or the Caldigit, and if so, can you report on whether little conveniences like waking up in clamshell mode and display brightness via a Magic Keyboard in clamshell mode work...?
Thanks!
 
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