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Prodo123

macrumors 68020
Nov 18, 2010
2,326
10
Neither, get a Thunderbolt dock instead. Dual-link DVI at 2560x1440 at 8 bit/channel and 60 Hz needs a minimum of 5.0625 Gbps which is over the theoretical maximum throughput of USB 3.0. Needless to say, 2560x1600 as well as dual 1080p is out of the question with a USB 3.0 dock.

Or even consider a single 1080p monitor, 8 bit/channel at 60 Hz: 2.848 Gbps. Add a Gigabit Ethernet on top and you're looking at a measly 1.1Gbps to be shared across three USB 3.0 ports, bringing each one lower than the speed of USB 2.0 due to how bandwidth is shared on a USB hub.

If you must go with a USB 3.0 dock or do not use a monitor, I'd go for the second one since it doubles as a stand.
 

Sheza

macrumors 68020
Aug 14, 2010
2,083
1,802
A less expensive solution in my opinion is to get a Twelve South book arc stand, and then run a display port and power cable under it which you plugin manually each time, and a single USB cable that connects to a powered USB hub that you plug the rest of your USB peripherals into. Boom, everything you need.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,246
12,388
Agree with a couple of other posters above.

Get a thunderbolt docking station instead.
 

BlendedFrog

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 9, 2010
312
231
A less expensive solution in my opinion is to get a Twelve South book arc stand, and then run a display port and power cable under it which you plugin manually each time, and a single USB cable that connects to a powered USB hub that you plug the rest of your USB peripherals into. Boom, everything you need.

Neither, get a Thunderbolt dock instead. Dual-link DVI at 2560x1440 at 8 bit/channel and 60 Hz needs a minimum of 5.0625 Gbps which is over the theoretical maximum throughput of USB 3.0. Needless to say, 2560x1600 as well as dual 1080p is out of the question with a USB 3.0 dock.

Or even consider a single 1080p monitor, 8 bit/channel at 60 Hz: 2.848 Gbps. Add a Gigabit Ethernet on top and you're looking at a measly 1.1Gbps to be shared across three USB 3.0 ports, bringing each one lower than the speed of USB 2.0 due to how bandwidth is shared on a USB hub.

If you must go with a USB 3.0 dock or do not use a monitor, I'd go for the second one since it doubles as a stand.

I didn't want to go with one of the arc stands/clam shell stands because I still want to use the MBP when it is connected...the monitor would be a 2nd display.

I really do want a thunderbolt dock but they are still so damn expensive.
 

Sheza

macrumors 68020
Aug 14, 2010
2,083
1,802
I didn't want to go with one of the arc stands/clam shell stands because I still want to use the MBP when it is connected...the monitor would be a 2nd display.

I really do want a thunderbolt dock but they are still so damn expensive.

If you can get a different stand that lets you use the Mac open, or just cable-tie the cables to the appropriate length, you can do what I do pretty much anyway.
 
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