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SirLio

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2016
2
1
Hi Guys,

I am an audio guy and as many other audio guys out there, i currently own a firewire interface.

Honestly, the future of Mac is giving me rather bad anxiety about the future port compatibility with our interfaces.

Is there anyone out there with knowledge on how Thunderbolt & FireWire compatibility works? I would love to learn more about it.

My question is, if i do invest in a new macbook pro, would buying Thunderbolt 3 > Thunderbolt 2 dongle & then the Thunderbolt 2 > Firewire work as if its directly connected to a Firewire port? or would there be complications?

Is anyone else out there worried about this?
 
Last edited:

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
My question is, if i do invest in a new macbook pro, would buying Thunderbolt 3 > Thunderbolt 2 dongle & then the Thunderbolt 2 > Firewire work as if its directly to a Firewire port? or would there be complications?
- Should work perfectly fine.

This connected to this connected to your FireWire device(s). Or wait until someone releases a direct Thunderbolt 3 to FireWire adaptor.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,973
TB3->TB2 adapter + Akitio dock should work

It is not clear that another adapter can be powered from the Apple TB3->TB2 adapter. From the Startech it seems it can't (I tried an HDMI converter).
 

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
It is not clear that another adapter can be powered from the Apple TB3->TB2 adapter. From the Startech it seems it can't (I tried an HDMI converter).
- That's a different limitation. The StarTech one doesn't support DisplayPort connections, which is why your Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor didn't work.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,973
- That's a different limitation. The StarTech one doesn't support DisplayPort connections, which is why your Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor didn't work.
It seems they clarified that it does provides power now.

It seems I did not pay attention to the video limitation because I was not buying it for that.

But if I remember well it does pass DisplayPort through to a dock.
 

JTToft

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2010
3,447
796
Aarhus, Denmark
It seems they clarified that it does provides power now.

It seems I did not pay attention to the video limitation because I was not buying it for that.

But if I remember well it does pass DisplayPort through to a dock.
- Yeah, it's a pretty strange adaptor really. I also wonder if they're serious about the "Windows only" part, or if it's just because no Macs with TB3 existed when it was introduced.

I trust the Apple one supports everything. And it's half the price, too.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,973
- Yeah, it's a pretty strange adaptor really. I also wonder if they're serious about the "Windows only" part, or if it's just because no Macs with TB3 existed when it was introduced.
Someone said it is a reference design. A lame one I would say.
 
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