iMac Pro Thunderbolt 3 doc for iMac pro?

[echo44]

i just got my iMac Pro 10 core 64 video it is absolutely awesome!!

Looking for a thunderbolt 3 doc? I was thinking about OWC but a lot of bad reviews on Amazon?
Anyone have any suggestions? Reason I am getting it is need some access to the ports on back without always having to turn computer around to plug things in and out that I swap frequently.
Love the idea of built in sd card reader on the mac but placing it in the back makes it almost useless

any recommendations for the best thunderbolt 3 doc?

 

[theitsage]

What type of expansion ports and devices are you looking to use through this dock? If they are not bandwidth-heavy, you can go with a USB-C dock.

 

[danielwsmithee]

I'd just get a compact USB-C expansion device, something like this. There are lots of them on the market.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076J8JTC...Ye&pd_rd_r=3QN7A5R2PNSFZSZKQD2E&pd_rd_w=raJYr

With a USB-C extension cable if needed to locate or mount it wherever you want it.

 

[theluggage]

any recommendations for the best thunderbolt 3 doc?

Couple of questions:

1. Do you need to connect a 4k or 5k external display via the dock?
2. Do you need the front ports for high-bandwidth devices (e.g. fast hard drives in constant use that affect the performance of the system) or just as a convenience for memory sticks, USB 2 devices etc. that can happily share a single 5Gbps of bandwidth?
3. Are you going to be running multiple spinning-rust HDs from it.
4. Will you use it for charging phones when the Mac is off, etc.?

If those are all "no" (which is likely, especially on a pro with 4 TB3s on the back for displays and high-performance stuff) then all you need is a plain old USB3.0 hub rather than an expensive Thunderbolt device - which you then have the flexibility of plugging in to either a USB3 or - via an adapter - USB-C port depending on what you have free.

Yes to any of those and you need Thunderbolt (or for 3 and 4 a powered USB or USB-C hub).

I quite the look of this: https://satechi.net/collections/hub...um-type-c-clamp-hub-pro?variant=1465750585353 - but thats not a personal recommendation. They don't say if it actually takes advantage of USB-C power delivery (which would address (3) above) - otherwise you might be better off with a plain USB3 device and have that flexibility of having it occupy either a USB-C or USB-A port on the Mac.

Not a lot else designed for iMac use - lots of short captive cables, things like Ethernet and HDMI which you might not need on a desktop (in short - docks are mainly for laptops).

What I've actually got at the moment - that I already had before I got the (non-pro) iMac - is this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KWPKMHS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (That one's not available now but there are others).

...which is handy if you've got a cupboard full of old, bare HDs with backups/archives on - plus its got front USB3 and SD. It'll do until something better comes along...

 

[powerslave65]

That Satechi a nice looking piece. First thing I would wonder is if it is blocking any ventilation. The next thing on my mind is will it work better than the first product I tried of theirs which frankly stunk. It randomly disconnected drives and was slower than the Apple dongles. If they have improved I would be interested.

 

[bxs]

That Satechi a nice looking piece. First thing I would wonder is if it is blocking any ventilation. The next thing on my mind is will it work better than the first product I tried of theirs which frankly stunk. It randomly disconnected drives and was slower than the Apple dongles. If they have improved I would be interested.

The SATECHI blocks around 3% of the vent slots and from my use over past week or so has no affect of causing cooling issues.

I've tested the USB-C port on the SATECHI vs. the USB-C port on backside of the iMP using my Samsung T5 USB3 with a USB-C to USB-C cable and find the SATECHI lowers the performance some.

The attached AJA screen shots show the higher i/o rates when the T5 is connected to the iMP's backside USB-C port.

 

[mossback]

The SATECHI blocks around 3% of the vent slots and from my use over past week or so has no affect of causing cooling issues.

I've tested the USB-C port on the SATECHI vs. the USB-C port on backside of the iMP using my Samsung T5 USB3 with a USB-C to USB-C cable and find the SATECHI lowers the performance some.

The attached AJA screen shots show the higher i/o rates when the T5 is connected to the iMP's backside USB-C port.

Nice to see those numbers. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[powerslave65]

The SATECHI blocks around 3% of the vent slots and from my use over past week or so has no affect of causing cooling issues.

I've tested the USB-C port on the SATECHI vs. the USB-C port on backside of the iMP using my Samsung T5 USB3 with a USB-C to USB-C cable and find the SATECHI lowers the performance some.

The attached AJA screen shots show the higher i/o rates when the T5 is connected to the iMP's backside USB-C port.

Thanks for the info!

 

[FredT2]

i
any recommendations for the best thunderbolt 3 doc?

http://shop.caldigit.com/us/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=152
http://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-3-dock/thunderbolt-station-3-plus/

 

[theluggage]

I've tested the USB-C port on the SATECHI vs. the USB-C port on backside of the iMP using my Samsung T5 USB3 with a USB-C to USB-C cable and find the SATECHI lowers the performance some.

Well, yes, aside from the overhead of going via a hub, the T5 is one of the few devices that can actually take advantage of 10Gbps USB 3.1gen2 - which very few USB-C or even TB3 hubs/docks support on downstream ports (I think the new Caldigit TS3+ is one of the few that does). So even with most TB3 docks, you'd be better off connecting it directly to the Mac.

Also, the CaDigit has a high-speed UHS-II SD card reader (if that's important to @echo44) to match the one in the iMac Pro - other SD readers will be a minor downgrade.

However, the CalDigit is again primarily designed for laptop docking - the 10Gbps port and 4 of the USB-A ports are on the back, and you're paying for 85W charging (and the corresponding huge power brick) that is irrelevant to iMac - and its quite likely that iMac users won't need the ethernet port and/or the DisplayPort. So it wins in terms of number of ports and performance, loses on front-accessible convenience (and price).

I think, for my regular iMac with only 2 TB3s, I'd get a garden variety USB 3 hub (maybe with a card reader) for front-accessible ports so I wasn't committed to using one of my two TB3/USB-C/DisplayPort ports just to connect thumb drives and other USB2 devices - and save my money in case someone produces a desktop-oriented TB3 product. The Caldigit if I was seriously running out of ports for performance-critical devices. The Satechi if I had an iMac pro with 4 TB3 ports.