Which USB-C dock for an M1 MacBook Pro?

[superamit]

The issue is that new M1 MacBook Pros only have two USB-C ports, but three obvious needs.

1. Power
2. Monitor
3. Peripherals

Two of those have to be combined in any desk setup... and we already know that plain USB-C hubs can't handle peripherals AND an HDMI output that's worth using.

I'm leaning towards splashing the cashing on a Thunderbolt Hub.

Although... I'll need one in each apartment. Or to carry one everywhere I go?

However, I've recently heard unpleasant things about Power Delivery hubs killing M1 MacBooks!

As I noted in my setup, 1 & 2 can be easily combined. You can then use a garden-variety USB-C hub for #3.

This solution is low-cost and relatively compact.

Thunderbolt hub will get you down to one port instead of two, but usually at higher cost and weight.

 

[alexjholland]

Citation for this claim?

As a Caldigit TS3+ owner, I'm gonna call BS.

Sure, here's the Reddit thread.

And here's a second thread which it referenced.

 

[alexjholland]

I've looked for a few hours, I can only find references to this thread and a reddit post by a single person with extremely negative karma.

Think it's fairly safe to say it's complete and utter BS.

OK. Well, here's the Reddit thread.

And here's a second thread which it referenced.

 

[alexjholland]

As I noted in my setup, 1 & 2 can be easily combined. You can then use a garden-variety USB-C hub for #3.

This solution is low-cost and relatively compact.

Thunderbolt hub will get you down to one port instead of two, but usually at higher cost and weight.

I'm now thinking of combining power and peripherals.

I just ordered a powered 16-port USB 3 hub.

I can plug this into the USB 3 input on the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.

In theory, I could have power/monitor/peripherals all on one port.

However, I'm thinking of a USB-C to DisplayPort cable as DP unlocks 4K/60hz on my PixelBook and seems all-round to be superior to HDMI?

 

[alexjholland]

OP - If you can find it in stock, this works for M1. 4K60 works etc.

It's basically as good as it gets before you need to resort to one with an external power supply.

Caldigit USB-C SOHO Dock review

The Caldigit SOHO Dock features the fastest possible USB ports, includes both HDMI and DisplayPorts, and can run 4K displays at 60Hz

www.techadvisor.co.uk

Also be warned, a lot of the cheap PD capable ones on Amazon have a cheeky requirement not listed on any spec sheet, they often require a minimum of a 65W power adapter to even work.

Thanks, Caldigit Soho might be the one!

I just ordered a powered 16-port USB 3 hub with solid reviews.

If it can handle my four hard drives, sound card, and various peripherals then a single USB-A port is all I need.

I can then stick one of these £50 USB hubs in each apartment and buy just one Caldigit Soho.

Then, I just plug into one USB A all my accessories and one HDMI for 4K/60Hz monitor, in each location.

Presumably as it's USB-C it'll also work with my Chromebook?

Also... I'm happy to see it does NOT have a built-in USB-C cable so I can choose my length and hide the dock.

 

[alexjholland]

Hi Alex,

That sounds rubbish.

Can you supply the sources for this please ?

It would be a really helpful thing to put on this forum for us all to look at and criteque our own H/W setups etc.

For me:
I have a Dell USB-C hub from work, that I have been happily plugging into the M1 MBA. Monitor, keyboard and Mouse works fine, same as my work Laptop, so have not thought anymore about it for the last week or so.


Regards
Martin

Sure, I shared the links to the Reddit post above! ^

 

[abhi182]

So... the solution is anywhere I have a big, fancy 4K monitor... to also buy a Thunderbolt dock?

A Thunderbolt dock can handle 4k/60Hz/Chrome 4 4 4 from one USB-C port?

I can then use my second USB-C port for the power

Why not a simple C to hdmi cable - they are cheap at least where I am (1000-1200 INR ie 12-15 USD) and they support 4k60

The second port can then be used with a vanilla USB C PD hub for supplying power and connecting others peripherals

 

[deeddawg]

Sure, here's the Reddit thread.

And here's a second thread which it referenced.

Since the thread references this occurring to some folks with 2018, 2019, and 2020 Intel models it’s clearly not an M1 specific matter. Also not entirely clear the peripheral is causing it outside of one cited model.

IMHO stick to proven name brand models and you should be fine.

 

[alexjholland]

Since the thread references this occurring to some folks with 2018, 2019, and 2020 Intel models it’s clearly not an M1 specific matter. Also not entirely clear the peripheral is causing it outside of one cited model.

IMHO stick to proven name brand models and you should be fine.

I hope so. My concern is Apple palming off blame to the peripheral manufacturer.

This would seem unfair, given two facts:

• Using a hub is non-optional, thanks to the two USB-C ports.
• Apple don't make or market their own solution.

 

[alexjholland]

Why not a simple C to hdmi cable - they are cheap at least where I am (1000-1200 INR ie 12-15 USD) and they support 4k60

The second port can then be used with a vanilla USB C PD hub for supplying power and connecting others peripherals

Exactly. Or even USB-C to Displayport.

I'm now thinking of combining power and peripherals with one port.

And my second port is free for any monitor cable.

 

[deeddawg]

I hope so. My concern is Apple palming off blame to the peripheral manufacturer.

This would seem unfair, given two facts:

• Using a hub is non-optional, thanks to the two USB-C ports.
• Apple don't make or market their own solution.

Remember that the four-port MacBook Pro models haven't yet transitioned to Apple Silicon. So there's that option in the future (presumably) if two ports are limiting.

Vendors such as Caldigit and OWC have been supplying USB3 and Thunderbolt docks for years, which many people use with great success.

Sure, it's entirely possible some folks have had a problem caused by the peripheral vs it being an internal fault happening coincidentally -- but reports are so few that I'd have no concern with known/proven models from well respected makers.

 

[alexjholland]

Remember that the four-port MacBook Pro models haven't yet transitioned to Apple Silicon. So there's that option in the future (presumably) if two ports are limiting.

Vendors such as Caldigit and OWC have been supplying USB3 and Thunderbolt docks for years, which many people use with great success.

Sure, it's entirely possible some folks have had a problem caused by the peripheral vs it being an internal fault happening coincidentally -- but reports are so few that I'd have no concern with known/proven models from well respected makers.

Yeah I planned to wait for a 16-inch M2(?) model.

However, my trusty 2011 MBP had other ideas and decided to perform seppuku.

I couldn't bring myself to buy an Intel after all the M1 hype and I use an external monitor 99% of the time, so can live with 13" on my main machine.

But I'm stuck on a two-port MacBook until I decide to trade-in for a Silicon 16", so I need a hub.

Caldigit seem to have a premium reputation, which is reassuring.

My concern is the idea of blowing a port and a Mac store saying, 'Sorry, not our fault' and me being left trying to try and reason with a company in another country for compensation.

All of which might be highly unlikely.

 

[deeddawg]

Yeah I planned to wait for a 16-inch M2(?) model.

However, my trusty 2011 MBP had other ideas and decided to perform seppuku.

I couldn't bring myself to buy an Intel after all the M1 hype and I use an external monitor 99% of the time, so can live with 13" on my main machine.

But I'm stuck on a two-port MacBook until I decide to trade-in for a Silicon 16", so I need a hub.

Caldigit seem to have a premium reputation, which is reassuring.

My concern is the idea of blowing a port and a Mac store saying, 'Sorry, not our fault' and me being left trying to try and reason with a company in another country for compensation.

All of which might be highly unlikely.

Caldigit isn’t cheap, but they’re good and that’s what counts.

Don’t know where you are, but here in the US I’d consider it highly unlikely that there’d be any chance of Apple refusing warranty service *if* you did have a problem.

And with as many folks using Caldigit TS3+ as there are, I’d say the chances of a problem being due to the TS3+ are exceptionally small. There’s also the chance of any new computer having “infant mortality” but that’d be unrelated to any dock being used except as a coincidence.

 

[alexjholland]

Caldigit isn’t cheap, but they’re good and that’s what counts.

Don’t know where you are, but here in the US I’d consider it higher unlikely that there’d be any chance of Apple refusing warranty service *if* you did have a problem.

And with as many folks using Caldigit TS3+ as there are, I’d say the chances of a problem being due to the TS3+ are exceptionally small. There’s also the chance of any new computer having “infant mortality” but that’d be unrelated to any dock being used except as a coincidence.

Yeah a dock for an M1 MacBook seems like something worth spending good money on.

Reliability, performance, uptime, and - likely - reduced chance of wasting business hours trying to make it work.

Ultimately, I need a dock. No way around that.

Caldigit it is.

 

[alexjholland]

Oh - I'm British and my business is in the UK, but I spend a lot of time in Lisbon and Bali.

Portugal has no official Apple Stores, but there are resellers.

Bali has nowhere for Mac repairs that I'd trust with a 30 foot bargepole.

We usually fly to Singapore to buy/get Macs repaired.

I won't be back in Bali for a while though, for obvious reasons.

 

[prealpha]

I'm now thinking of combining power and peripherals.

I just ordered a powered 16-port USB 3 hub.

I can plug this into the USB 3 input on the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.

In theory, I could have power/monitor/peripherals all on one port.

However, I'm thinking of a USB-C to DisplayPort cable as DP unlocks 4K/60hz on my PixelBook and seems all-round to be superior to HDMI?

If you've already received the mentioned hub, is it working well? Have you experienced any of the problems you've linked before?

 

[alexjholland]

If you've already received the mentioned hub, is it working well? Have you experienced any of the problems you've linked before?

The 16-port Hub arrives tomorrow.

In the meantime, Apple screwed up and forgot to send the official dongle, so refunded me and asked me to order again.

Should I just order the Caldigit Soho?

IE. Is the Caldigit Soho simply superior to the official Apple HDMI/AV adapter in every possible way?

Any reason I'd want both?

 

[GiantKiwi]

Any reason I'd want both?

Nope. Apple AV Adapters are always horribly overpriced, and contrary to popular belief, don't "just work". I would only buy one as an absolute last resort if nothing else was available to do the job. As a wonderful example, Apple makes a thunderbolt 3 (male) to mini displayport (female) that doesn't work with video signals...

 

[alexjholland]

Nope. Apple AV Adapters are always horribly overpriced, and contrary to popular belief, don't "just work". I would only buy one as an absolute last resort if nothing else was available to do the job. As a wonderful example, Apple makes a thunderbolt 3 (male) to mini displayport (female) that doesn't work with video signals...

Thanks! The Caldigit Soho is £99 on their EU store (although out of stock) - so just another £25 more expensive than Apple's AV/HDMI dongle.

Maybe I was lucky that delivery never arrived!

 

[jdb8167]

Nope. Apple AV Adapters are always horribly overpriced, and contrary to popular belief, don't "just work". I would only buy one as an absolute last resort if nothing else was available to do the job. As a wonderful example, Apple makes a thunderbolt 3 (male) to mini displayport (female) that doesn't work with video signals...

Not exactly. Apple makes a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. Just because it has the same connector as mini-display port doesn't mean it is the same thing. It works for the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

 

[gank41]

I’ve had pretty good luck with the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro. I’ve also got an Aukey 10 port USB dock just for storage/time machine stuff. And then I’ve got a Satechi Type-C Aluminum Multi-Port Adapter for when I’m on the go. I’ve had no power delivery or charging issues, mostly just running in my office with the bigger setup. I use a bunch of Blue Yeti mics at a buddy’s house and connect to his TV to use as a monitor when we record. I’m happy.

 

[jdb8167]

Thanks! The Caldigit Soho is £99 on their EU store (although out of stock) - so just another £25 more expensive than Apple's AV/HDMI dongle.

Maybe I was lucky that delivery never arrived!

I just ordered the Soho. It has the feature that I really like that it is powered by USB-C Power Delivery. Much better than a clunky power adapter with a barrel connector. Unfortunately, it doesn't have ethernet but I have an external USB ethernet adapter that I can use if needed.

 

[alexjholland]

I just ordered the Soho. It has the feature that I really like that it is powered by USB-C Power Delivery. Much better than a clunky power adapter with a barrel connector. Unfortunately, it doesn't have ethernet but I have an external USB ethernet adapter that I can use if needed.

Agreed on both counts.

Barrel connectors just feel 'ugh'.

No ethernet was a slight disappointment... But I just ordered a USB 3 ethernet dongle.

I'm happy it has NO built-in USB-C cable.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone thinks a built-in USB-C cable is a 'feature'.

It's an obvious point of failure and totally restricts your freedom to use a longer cable and tuck the dock away.

 

[alexjholland]

And yes, after weeks of research, I am almost certain on the Caldigit Soho, too.

 

[jdb8167]

I'm happy it has NO built-in USB-C cable.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone thinks a built-in USB-C cable is a 'feature'.

It's an obvious point of failure and totally restricts your freedom to use a longer cable and tuck the dock away.

I think companies do it because it makes it clear what cable you are supposed to plug into your Mac. Probably keeps down the support calls.