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2018 Macbook Pro 15 accessories

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DaveMike11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 26, 2014
142
10
Hello ,

i'm a new owner of Macbook Pro 15" & first time owning a macbook. Now that i made the purchase i need to buy some of the required accessories which is required for daily use of the macbook. I looked at Amazon and confused with the choices.

I need the following items . Pls recommend me some good ones.

1. Macbook Pro Sleeve.

2. USB-C Hub - I need the following ports:
SDcard ,
USB 3.1,
Thunderbolt,
HDMI (60Hz) video output to 4k monitor.
Ethernet port

3. External SSD Drive

4. Hard shell case - Not sure if this is recommended due to all heating issues with it. ?

Thanks in advance,
Rajan
 
I have a 13" but I have had a 15" 2016 before. I have an ElGato TB3 dock and it has been flawless. I have my Lan, Speakers, a 4K monitor and a 34" 3440x1440 monitor connected to it. It charges the 13" (and the 15" before it).

You have to be careful with what TB3 cable you use as many of them are either power or data limited. I have the 3ft Belkin active cable on my office dock.

I also have the OWC TB3 dock on my iMac Pro at home, but I am only using it to connect my Pegasus R6 (via a TB3 to 2 adapter, and some USB 3 devices, and another OWC TB2 dock downstream from the Peagasus.
 
External SSD: Samsung T5! They come in various capacities: 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB...... Fast, speedy and have both kinds of USB cables for convenience in connecting either to the new machine's USB-C ports or to an older machine with USB-A. Available online at Amazon and other sites, also available in B&M retail stores such as Microcenter and I think Best Buy.

G-Technology (G-Drive) also makes an external SSD but I am not as familiar with it as I am the Samsung T1, T3 and T5 series, which I've been using since the T1 came out a few years ago. T5 is the most recent. Available at the Apple store online and also in the retail stores.
 
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Clix Pix said:
External SSD: Samsung T5! They come in various capacities: 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB...... Fast, speedy and have both kinds of USB cables for convenience in connecting either to the new machine's USB-C ports or to an older machine with USB-A. Available online at Amazon and other sites, also available in B&M retail stores such as Microcenter and I think Best Buy.

G-Technology (G-Drive) also makes an external SSD but I am not as familiar with it as I am the Samsung T1, T3 and T5 series, which I've been using since the T1 came out a few years ago. T5 is the most recent. Available at the Apple store online and also in the retail stores.
Click to expand...

I’ve got a 512gb T3, a 512gb Sandisk 510, and a 1tb Gdrive. Thet are all very solid drives I like the gdrive a little better than the Samsung, but they are basically interchangeable.
 
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BayouTiger said:
I’ve got a 512gb T3, a 512gb Sandisk 510, and a 1tb Gdrive. Thet are all very solid drives I like the gdrive a little better than the Samsung, but they are basically interchangeable.
Click to expand...

I think the G-Drive is supposed to be more "rugged," impervious to drops, weather and other situations? I can see where it would be great to take along in a situation where one might encounter some dicey weather or a likelihood of dropping the thing, etc. Looks sturdier and more robust than the Samsung T3 and T5, from what I've seen. For me that is not a big consideration as my external SSDs usually remain at home or I might take one or two along on a trip with me, but most of my journeys away from home involve nice, safe hotel rooms or other safe environments and no venturing out into the wilderness!
 
 
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I use a CalDigit TS3 Plus with my i9/32/512. Pretty sure it has all you want in a hub and more. It drives a pair of 4k Samsung monitors just fine.

Edit - Oops, you would need an HDMI to DisplayPort adapter for your needs. I use a TB3 to mini-DP for one of mine, and DisplayPort for the other. You can get similar dongles for HDMI off both interfaces. It's really nice having one cable to unplug and go.
 
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ksj1 said:
I use a CalDigit TS3 Plus with my i9/32/512. Pretty sure it has all you want in a hub and more. It drives a pair of 4k Samsung monitors just fine.

Edit - Oops, you would need an HDMI to DisplayPort adapter for your needs. I use a TB3 to mini-DP for one of mine, and DisplayPort for the other. You can get similar dongles for HDMI off both interfaces. It's really nice having one cable to unplug and go.
Click to expand...
That is a very nice hub. More like a “command center”. Neither portable nor inexpensive. If you want something similar for less, Pluggable has one that supports one screen for $129 and up to 3 screens for $199. A bit less than the Caldigit models.

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Cha...ng+station&dpPl=1&dpID=41I-uh0BuVL&ref=plSrch
 
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I got this sleeve : Tomtoc 360° Protective Sleeve for 15... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0TOQEO?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

It is top loaded so it can double as additional protection in a regular laptop bag, and you can pull the laptop out without removing the whole sleeve. Fits like a glove.

Avoid hubs that use displaylink for monitor out, doesn’t work on High Sierra 10.13.4 and above. Supposedly later Mojave builds support it, but still it uses too much CPU. I have first gen Plugable usb-c hub but it works like crap, power delivery constantly goes on and off, monitor doesn’t wake up after sleep etc. I’m sure later hubs work fine, I’m looking for one also. But I have Razor Core X that solves both power and monitor issues and for now allows me to use other ports on the old Plugable without issues.

For the external ssd you can just get a cheap usb-c 3.1 gen 2 enclosure and recycle any 2.5 inch ssd. Let’s say Jmicron 2TB that’s on sale often on Rakuten for about $250 + $30 enclosure vs $600+ for 2TB T5.

Don’t use shells, those MacBooks are already starving of cooling capacity.
 
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Thysanoptera said:
I got this sleeve : Tomtoc 360° Protective Sleeve for 15... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0TOQEO?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

It is top loaded so it can double as additional protection in a regular laptop bag, and you can pull the laptop out without removing the whole sleeve. Fits like a glove.

Avoid hubs that use displaylink for monitor out, doesn’t work on High Sierra 10.13.4 and above. Supposedly later Mojave builds support it, but still it uses too much CPU. I have first gen Plugable usb-c hub but it works like crap, power delivery constantly goes on and off, monitor doesn’t wake up after sleep etc. I’m sure later hubs work fine, I’m looking for one also. But I have Razor Core X that solves both power and monitor issues and for now allows me to use other ports on the old Plugable without issues.

For the external ssd you can just get a cheap usb-c 3.1 gen 2 enclosure and recycle any 2.5 inch ssd. Let’s say Jmicron 2TB that’s on sale often on Rakuten for about $250 + $30 enclosure vs $600+ for 2TB T5.

Don’t use shells, those MacBooks are already starving of cooling capacity.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your nice suggestions. Do you have any recommendations for the hub. I got the Apple adapter but it has only 3 ports but it does not have a sdcard slot which I use most. I planned to buy a lg 4k monitor & connect then for my photo editing work. Reading in this group people suggests getting a hub which supports 4k @ 60 hz ?.
Also do you suggest using skins / screen protectors for the screen , keyboard & touchpad ? I’m a first time MacBook owner & read about the dust issues with the previous model keyboards so I wanted to avoid any dust getting inside of my MBP.

Thanks in advance .
 
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BayouTiger said:
Just keep in mind that these hubs will not work if you have a hard shell. I am one that always has my MBP's in a shell because I work in some tough places. My laptop spends a good amount of time in places like electrical rooms and IT closets. The shell takes a beating, but the Mac remains like new inside.
Click to expand...
They may have a corded version of that. Most of their hubs also come on a version with a short cord rather than attaching to the side of the machine. Regardless it only supports one display. The Pluggable hub is corded as well and comes in single and triple display variants.
 
DaveMike11 said:
Thanks for your nice suggestions. Do you have any recommendations for the hub. I got the Apple adapter but it has only 3 ports but it does not have a sdcard slot which I use most. I planned to buy a lg 4k monitor & connect then for my photo editing work. Reading in this group people suggests getting a hub which supports 4k @ 60 hz ?.
Also do you suggest using skins / screen protectors for the screen , keyboard & touchpad ? I’m a first time MacBook owner & read about the dust issues with the previous model keyboards so I wanted to avoid any dust getting inside of my MBP.

Thanks in advance .
Click to expand...

I can't recommend any dock yet, don't have a recent one. There are quite a few TB3 docks that would satisfy your criteria, just look at amazon or so, just select one that has 85W+ of power delivery. If you want 4k@60Hz it has to be TB3 dock. The CalDigit one looks pretty neat:

https://www.amazon.com/CalDigit-TS3...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=656V6YNE2XSYYFVVHTX5

I will probably wait until there is a monitor stand that doubles as a dock, something like that, but with ethernet port and SD card reader and just use what I have for now:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759BHZXN/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

EDIT: the thread got moved to accessories forum, look at the sticky post at the top, lots of good information about the docs/hubs.

As far as skins/protectors on keyboard/screen - Apple has (had?) issues with screen coating (stain gate), they have a repair program now, apparently screen rubbing on keyboard + dirt and skin oily residue causes the coating to peel off. People usually get it replaced for free but some reported they were told 'they were holding it wrong'. So I'm not going to apply any screen protector (the adhesive may make it worse), silicon keyboard protectors will most likely rub even more against the screen. But I did buy this microfiber cloth from RadTech: https://www.radtech.com/products/screensavrz-macbook-pro-keyboard-cover and just put it on keyboard when I put the laptop in a bag, to prevent the keys from damaging the screen. Don't worry about the dirt on 3rd gen butterfly, they have membranes now to keep the dirt out of the key mechanism (it will still accumulate between the keys but shouldn't prevent them from moving). Of course Apple never admitted there was a systemic problem at all and claims the membranes are there to make them quiet.
[doublepost=1533751292][/doublepost]
roland.g said:
The Pluggable hub is corded as well and comes in single and triple display variants.
Click to expand...

The triple display one uses DisplayLink, doesn't work in 10.13.4 and above. It supposedly works again in last Mojave beta.
 
Last edited:
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Thysanoptera said:
I can't recommend any dock yet, don't have a recent one. There are quite a few TB3 docks that would satisfy your criteria, just look at amazon or so, just select one that has 85W+ of power delivery. If you want 4k@60Hz it has to be TB3 dock. The CalDigit one looks pretty neat:

https://www.amazon.com/CalDigit-TS3...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=656V6YNE2XSYYFVVHTX5

I will probably wait until there is a monitor stand that doubles as a dock, something like that, but with ethernet port and SD card reader and just use what I have for now:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759BHZXN/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

EDIT: the thread got moved to accessories forum, look at the sticky post at the top, lots of good information about the docs/hubs.

As far as skins/protectors on keyboard/screen - Apple has (had?) issues with screen coating (stain gate), they have a repair program now, apparently screen rubbing on keyboard + dirt and skin oily residue causes the coating to peel off. People usually get it replaced for free but some reported they were told 'they were holding it wrong'. So I'm not going to apply any screen protector (the adhesive may make it worse), silicon keyboard protectors will most likely rub even more against the screen. But I did buy this microfiber cloth from RadTech: https://www.radtech.com/products/screensavrz-macbook-pro-keyboard-cover and just put it on keyboard when I put the laptop in a bag, to prevent the keys from damaging the screen. Don't worry about the dirt on 3rd gen butterfly, they have membranes now to keep the dirt out of the key mechanism (it will still accumulate between the keys but shouldn't prevent them from moving). Of course Apple never admitted there was a systemic problem at all and claims the membranes are there to make them quiet.
[doublepost=1533751292][/doublepost]

The triple display one uses DisplayLink, doesn't work in 10.13.4 and above. It supposedly works again in last Mojave beta.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
For now i got this adapter. But i need an hub with a SDcard slot.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb--slid--product-MJ1K2AM/A
 
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Hi, I'm a mbp user, still have a 15" 2008 and 2012 working fine. I want to give my 2012 to my son who's off to college soon. I'm buying a 2018 15.4" mbp 2.6 32 gb ram 1 tb ssd.
So now to decide on accessories. I'm looking to buy a Dell U3818DW 38" curved monitor. I do alot of interior architectural drawing, plus video and pooh editing and I'm leaning towards that one.
Now to areas I have no idea about; the side attachments to run usb, ethernet etc. Cables etc.
Maybe this could be a good thread for us to share our thoughts and recommendations etc.
By the way, I'm buying from B+H. Excellent price, service and no sales tax as of yet!?

John
 
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B&H is fine, also check Adorama. See Apple Insider website for their deals pages.

Also - if your college is in a different state see if they'll let you order the back-to-school promo as an alumni. It can be a way to get both the edu pricing (incl great AC+ pricing) and the back to school bonus Beats (use or resell for cash) *and* avoid sales tax if out of state.

As for ports and such - need to decide your usage model and budget. Do you want to just "dock" at your desk with one cable and don't need to take all those connections elsewhere? do you *really* need hardwired ethernet? USBA is simple, plenty of small dongles you can just attach to your USBA accessory (card reader) and leave there.

As to docks, the Caldigit TS3+ looks solid. There's also a Lenovo TB3 dock with two displayport outputs. I need to research that one some.

There is a huge USBC accessory thread over in the Accessories forum too that's worth perusing.
 
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