USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 Dock recommendations

[yippy]

I have a new 2016 15" MBP on the way and am looking for the cheapest, and hopefully available, dock + charger so I can easily plug in my latptop both at home and work with a single cable. It seems that all of the docks out there have some kind of issue, either not the ports I need, require I buy another Apple charger, and/or only provide 60W of power (15" takes 87w).

My needs:

Home:
- Laptop charging
- 1+ USB-A ports
- HDMI
- Gigabit Eithernet

Work:
- Laptop charging
- 1+ USB-A ports
- Displayport

Any suggestions on good docks that meet these needs? If it just has power pass-through I will need to factor in the $100 (charger + cable) cost for the Apple charger.

 

[pshifrin]

Sorry for repeating this post from other threads but I'm testing a 2016 13 MBP until my CTO arrives in Dec. I've had it connected to the OWC USB-C dock all day and it's been perfect ... unless you run Chrome! If you run Chrome it will cause a kernel panic as soon as you click anything and KP again on reboot if you choose to reopen apps.

The OWC dock supplies power, usb, ethernet, sd card and HDMI. Note however, that i'm not using HDMI, i have a second cable going to the display port of a Dell 4k screen in order to get 4k @ 60hz.

 

[chunology]

It looks like the Thunderbolt USB-C docks that are worth it aren't coming out until later this year. This from Belkin looks interesting:

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U095/

However, I would want two dedicated video out ports. I'd have to use a dongle to plug in two monitors into that thing.

 

[yippy]

Sorry for repeating this post from other threads but I'm testing a 2016 13 MBP until my CTO arrives in Dec. I've had it connected to the OWC USB-C dock all day and it's been perfect ... unless you run Chrome! If you run Chrome it will cause a kernel panic as soon as you click anything and KP again on reboot if you choose to reopen apps.

The OWC dock supplies power, usb, ethernet, sd card and HDMI. Note however, that i'm not using HDMI, i have a second cable going to the display port of a Dell 4k screen in order to get 4k @ 60hz.

Are you using a second cable from the dock or from your Mac to the Dell? I do need a solution with displayport and even though that signal is natively provided by the Thunderbolt 3 ports, no one is including it as an output option on docks.

I am very tempted by the OWC one...except for hearing that Chrome causes kernel panics multiple times (not sure if you multiple times or multiple people though)

 

[JTToft]

It looks like the Thunderbolt USB-C docks that are worth it aren't coming out until later this year. This from Belkin looks interesting:

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U095/

However, I would want two dedicated video out ports. I'd have to use a dongle to plug in two monitors into that thing.

- Or just a direct USB-C to whatever cable. Doesn't have to be dongle + cable.

 

[pshifrin]

Are you using a second cable from the dock or from your Mac to the Dell? I do need a solution with displayport and even though that signal is natively provided by the Thunderbolt 3 ports, no one is including it as an output option on docks.

I am very tempted by the OWC one...except for hearing that Chrome causes kernel panics multiple times (not sure if you multiple times or multiple people though)

Right, since docks don't have DP (for now), I don't see the big deal about plugging in a 2nd cable for display. Since port 1 is the dock and it supplies power, even on the base 13 where both ports are in use, i can't think of needing to plug in anything that can't already be plugged into the dock. When I get the touchbar version (this laptop is going to a new employee starting Jan 1) it will be even less of an issue.

The kernel panics were crazy, nonstop while trying to use chrome. Shut it down and stayed on safari all day and it's been fine ever since.

 

[chunology]

- Or just a direct USB-C to whatever cable. Doesn't have to be dongle + cable.

You're right.. I didn't notice that the two USB-C ports in the back were also thunderbolt. Good looking out!

 

[dyn]

The two ports on the dock are Thunderbolt 3. TB3 uses the USB-C connector and cables. Thunderbolt 3 now supports 2 DisplayPort streams instead of 1 so you can connect 2 displays (with a max of 4k@60Hz each) or 1 5k display. If you want to use it you need to connect a display that uses USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 should be good, dunno if a USB version would be fine, it might due to the USB-C alternate mode) or use an adapter (USB-C to a normal DisplayPort connector for example). The following is from the official Thunderbolt FAQ:

How is Thunderbolt 3 able to connect to every display?
Thunderbolt 3 provides DisplayPort, which can natively connect to all displays with DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort, and via adapters can connect to all other modern display interfaces, including HDMI, DVI, and VGA.

 

[propower]

Right, since docks don't have DP (for now), I don't see the big deal about plugging in a 2nd cable for display. Since port 1 is the dock and it supplies power, even on the base 13 where both ports are in use, i can't think of needing to plug in anything that can't already be plugged into the dock. When I get the touchbar version (this laptop is going to a new employee starting Jan 1) it will be even less of an issue.

The kernel panics were crazy, nonstop while trying to use chrome. Shut it down and stayed on safari all day and it's been fine ever since.

OWC dock worked great for me on base model 2016 MBP until the computer went to sleep. If it was asleep for a few minutes no worries but when I would leave my office for a little while - could not get the dock or the HDMI monitor to come back on. Did it three times and i gave up. The cheap little HooToo 3USB, cardreader and HDMI dock works fine but is missing things i need.