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

P

polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,583
Wales
IAC89 said:
Howdy all,
The USB-C port broke off on my 61watt charger for my 2020 13" MBP.
I've been sharing my wife's 30watt charger meant for her MacBook Air, and it's been awfully slow.
Looking at getting the Aukey 90 watt charger with 2 USB-C ports/2USB-A ports

Was also considering going with a 150 watt charger off Amazon - any advice?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
A few months ago, I bought a 65W Wotobe charger - and use it with MBP 16", MBP 14", IPP 11" and Surface Pro 7. Usually just one thing plugged in, but it has two USB-C and one UAB-A.

There might be many better, cheaper, or whatever, but it seems to be doing what I need. Charging times have been fine - I really have no need for fast charging. I got it with a two metre cable. Less than twenty UK pounds, delivered.
 
J

jonk1984

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2022
4
5
Anyone have experience with the Kensington SD5600T Thunderbolt 3 dock?

I have a MBP 16" 2019 with an Intel i9 and a Dell Windows Intel i7 laptop I'll be swapping in an out with. My primary concerns are:

  • Rated at least Thunderbolt 3 for bandwidth issues
  • Connected devices "work" without a hassle when I swap laptops
  • at least 96W of power delivery (the MBP 16" needs 96W under full load)
  • SD reader/microSD reader a bonus (but not required)
  • I plan on having the following devices connected:
    • 1 external 4K display connected via USB-C/Displayport (would be nice to expand to 2)
    • a wireless mouse, wireless keyboard via a USB-A dongle
    • MM1 Speakers connected via USB-A
    • 1GB Ethernet Cable
Lots of complainers on the online reviews about swapping issues and I was wondering if anyone had experience w/ this dock or another recommendation. Thanks!
 
N

netdudeuk

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2012
387
278
Hi

I've got a Dell P3421W which is connected to either a Lenovo T14 and a 2017 MBP using the supplied 1.8M USB-C cable. The setup is very unreliable. The MBP usually displays the native resolution image ok but the keyboard and the mouse plugged into the monitor USB ports rarely work. When I plug in the cable into the T14, sometimes it doesn't recognise anything on the port but eventually picks up the keyboard and mouse.

I replaced the cable with a 1M ALOGIC / HYPERTEC cable (U3-TCC01-MM) -


So far, both computers have worked perfectly with this cable but it's not quite long enough.

Is it obvious what's going off with the Dell cable ? Is it the wrong spec or could it be faulty ?

Is there a decent 1.8M / 2M equivalent version of the ALOGIC cable available in the UK that's guaranteed to work in my situation ?

Thanks
 
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adib

adib

macrumors 6502a
Jun 11, 2010
743
579
Singapore
Corsair TBT100 Thunderbolt dock (~ $281) has dual display, but no downstream Thunderbolt dock.

  • 85 watt power delivery
  • 2 HDMI 4K@60
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • 2 USB-C downstream ports
  • 2 USB-A downstream ports
  • SD Card
  • Headphone jack
  • Kensington lock
I'd say pretty decent compromise than the TS3 / TS4.
 
C

cfm56d7b

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2020
140
51
jonk1984 said:
CalDigit just came out with a great new Thunderbolt4 hub. I ordered it right away. It's expensive, but it is the only hub that checks all the boxes I want + CalDigit has a good reputation with Mac compatibility.

Thunderbolt 4 Dock | TS4 | CalDigit – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com www.caldigit.com
Click to expand...

CalDigit confirmed that the new TS4 dock uses Intel I225 PCLe base controller.

"The TS4 is using the PCLe base controller from Intel by the designation Intel I225. The PCIe base controller can provide better performance and works more solidly on macOS"

Other docks use RealTek 8153 chipset and absence of DriverKit compatible driver from Realtek causes default macOS Big Sur driver to be used. This is the root cause of many reported issues.

https://overengineer.dev/blog/2021/04/25/usb-c-hub-madness.html; see Page 9.
 
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MrGunnyPT

MrGunnyPT

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2017
1,313
804
cfm56d7b said:
CalDigit confirmed that the new TS4 dock uses Intel I225 PCLe base controller.

"The TS4 is using the PCLe base controller from Intel by the designation Intel I225. The PCIe base controller can provide better performance and works more solidly on macOS"

Other docks use RealTek 8153 chipset and absence of DriverKit compatible driver from Realtek causes default macOS Big Sur driver to be used. This is the root cause of many reported issues.

https://overengineer.dev/blog/2021/04/25/usb-c-hub-madness.html; see Page 9.
Click to expand...
Any idea where I can get this in the EU?
 
J

jonk1984

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2022
4
5
My CalDigit TS4 just arrived today. Build quality is excellent. Nice machined aluminum exterior. Worked with my Core i9 2019 MacBook Pro and 4K monitor right out of the box. Can verify it's pushing 98W of power. 1 cable into my MBPro and everything works just like advertised. Didn't really do a rigorous test with all the ports, but will report in a few days.
 
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kings79

kings79

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2015
227
105
This is a great thread guys! Really helpful.

I've just ordered the new Mac Studio (Max) for my Pro Tools studio. My maxed out cMP 5,1 has served me well!...

I've been doing a little research for some needed accessories:
  • A quiet PCIe case with at least 2 slots. At lease TB3
  • A HDD case with at lease 4 bays. At least TB3
- I've found the Sonnet Echo III 3-Slot & Magma ExpressBox 3T-V3 - 3 PCIe Slot for my Blackmagic Video card and my M.2/NVME Drive/s
- And the OWC ThunderBay 4 0TB 4-Drive for HDD cases.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated all! :)
 
C

canyonblue737

macrumors 68020
Jan 10, 2005
2,227
2,785
I’ve been staring at USB-C hubs and Thunderbolt 3/4 docks for days I’m more confused than ever what I should get…

My new desktop setup will be M1 MacBook Air -> Apple Studio Display.

I need:

1. Gigabit Ethernet
2. One USB-C port for 2TB SSD
3. At least 2, preferably 3 USB-A 3.X ports. I think they need power for my backup external spinning platter HDDs. I also occasionally plug in a normally wireless scanner and printer for updates.
4. SD card slot and preferably also a Micro SD card slot.

I assume my most cost effective way to do this is a USB-C hub that connects to one of the 3 USB-C ports on the back of the Studio Display? Not sure if that supplies power to the hub, I know the thunderbolt 4 port on the display does but that’s going to be connected to one of the thunderbolt 3 ports on my M1 Air? Do these hubs allow me to plug a dedicated power brick into the hub to power its ports even if it is plugged into the display?

The other option is a much more expensive Thunderbolt 3/4 hubs but it seems overkill since I am only going to powering a single display, and directly with a dock, and I read a ton of reports saying they can be flaky and the best CalDigit TS4 isn’t available for months and has its own complaints. I assume I would also have to plug it into the second thunderbolt port on the M1 as the display only has one, making the setup slightly more complicated.

Bottom line I have a M1 Air to a new Apple Studio Display and mainly want a bunch of USB-A 3.0 powered ports, ethernet, and an SD slot. Any help and I’d be super grateful…

Thanks!
 
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enricoclaudio

enricoclaudio

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2017
869
1,344
Got the last Satechi TB4 Dock available at Best Buy yesterday and it's on the way. Also got a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub. Only need the dock to plug external SSD and some USB A devices but most likely I'm going to keep the Satechi in case I want to use it with my 14" MBP M1 Pro. I got the dock to use with my Mac Studio. Any of you guys have any experience with these 2 docks? I read lot of positives things about the Satechi but not too much about the CalDigit.
 
C

canyonblue737

macrumors 68020
Jan 10, 2005
2,227
2,785
alexqndr said:
Thanks for the tip. My table is focused on Thunderbolt 4 docks. Is either of those docks a 4th gen. Thunderbolt?
Click to expand...

I bought Anker's Thunderbolt 777 Thunderbolt 4 dock. It's overkill as I don't use the screen functionality but everything else I've tried and is working great. I would likely have gotten the Caldigit TS4 but it wasn't available / apparently has been having bugs and issues with ports stopping work / and ran hot. So far the Anker runs cool and all the ports have been rock solid (although again I didn't test the video out functionality.)
 
enricoclaudio

enricoclaudio

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2017
869
1,344
alexqndr

alexqndr

macrumors regular
Mar 18, 2018
211
179
London
enricoclaudio said:
Yep, same board for the OWC, Satechi, Razer, Startech and a few others but the firmware is totally different. The Satechi is only compatible with macOS and the others are Windows/macOS.
Click to expand...
That's good to know, although the PD port at the front makes it a no go for me...
Main point of a hub, among others, is cable management for me.
 
N9JIG

N9JIG

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2019
215
107
SW USA
I have both the CalDigit TS4 dock on an OWC Thunderbolt Dock, both purchased this year.

Since I needed many devices connected I had been using the TS4 on my MBP-14 M1Max, connected to 2 2560/1440-60Hz 32 monitors, Ethernet, speakers, a 4K webcam, USB mic and an external HDD. For the most part it has worked well although once or twice I seem to have lost connection to a device such as the speakers or mic. While I cannot pin that on the dock, unplugging and replugging in the affected device fixed it right away.

Last week however I had some video flickering during a live stream. Again, I cannot pin it on the dock yet. After the stream that evening I swapped out to the OWC dock. Since it has less ports I had to use a USB C to A adapter for the mic and swap one of the monitors from the DP to a USB-1 to HDMI cable. Since the next livestream is Wednesday I will see if the flickering continues.

Things I prefer on the TS4 over the OWC is the extra ports, especially the DP port. That frees up a USB-C/TB port for other stuff. I also don't line that the power and upstream ports on the OWC are on the front panel, the lack of a USB-2 port on the front and no SD-Micro port. I also like that it allows vertical or horizontal positioning on the desk. I also think the build quality appears better on the TS4.

I wish they would have included an NVME port in the dock, it would allow a seamless TimeMachine solution.
 
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