To be fair, this accessory is better than their laptops.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Releases $49 Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter Alongside New MacBook Pro
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The USB-C to USB-A (old style) adaptors like this are pretty cheap. This one is $7.99 for a two-pack and you can just leave it on the end of your existing USB cables.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Kanex has there's priced at $99 (at least of late). I am shocked at apples price TBH.
Is is probably the biggest Wow for me. I am a fan of thunderbolt and apple says it's bi-directional to both legacy thunderbolt, or use thunderbolt 3 with existing equipment with the giant disclaimer that you won't get thunderbolt 3 speeds with older equipment (for those with less tag common sense).
It at least keeps thunderbolt equipment from being completely outdated today. It will of course not drive a 5k with a 2012 rMBP, but as far as drives and other stuff heck yeah!!!
[doublepost=1477608792][/doublepost]It extends the life of my thunderbolt ecosystem so I am happy
So Apple raised the price a couple hundred dollars, and then requires you to spend an extra $100+ on dongles. The MBP just got a whole lot less affordable.
Also, it's less the cost I hate about dongles. It's the fact that it is one more thing that I have to drag around with my laptop at all times. So I have to go to a meeting and I only take my laptop, and all of the sudden, BOOM I forgot my USB 3 adapter for someone's flash drive, I forgot my DVI adapter for putting up the PowerPoint... you get the idea.
I know this is probablyt the only way to force the industry to upgrade the ancient and inferior ports on everything, but not having a single legacy port on there is extremely frustrating. A USB and an HDMI port would have been great—screw the thinness of the laptop.
Also, it's less the cost I hate about dongles. It's the fact that it is one more thing that I have to drag around with my laptop at all times. So I have to go to a meeting and I only take my laptop, and all of the sudden, BOOM I forgot my USB 3 adapter for someone's flash drive, I forgot my DVI adapter for putting up the PowerPoint... you get the idea.
I know this is probablyt the only way to force the industry to upgrade the ancient and inferior ports on everything, but not having a single legacy port on there is extremely frustrating. A USB and an HDMI port would have been great—screw the thinness of the laptop.
$50 to keep my Thunderbolt display from becoming obsolete? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Plus, the display has USB-A, Thunderbolt, and firewire ports. The TB3 port seems like an awesome solution. Yeah, adapters for a while, but in the long run, this is what happens with "standards". $8 for a couple of UBS-A adapters that I can throw in my laptop bag, and it seems like I'm good to go for a while. Or hey, maybe we can just complain that Apple has not kept serial ports, VGA, firewire, and any other kinda port wrapped around the machine. At least there is still a 3.5 audio jack.
You forgot VAT. So £250 it is after Apple's usual rounding up.
Four good points. Thank you for directing me away from this option. I have had no issues with StarTech's cables for years, but good to know about this adapter.
I wasn't complaining. I was commenting on their market shift.
No, say you buy a new rMBP and want to hook it up to your old Thunderbolt Display. How does the laptop charge now since there's no MagSafe. Does that mean you have to pull your charging brick out of your bag and plug it in every time you hook the computer up to the display? Or can the Thunderbolt Display charge a new rMBP through the display's Thunderbolt 2 cable connected to the laptop via this Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter?
Last edited:
I would really love to know the answer to this as well. If not, then I wonder if there's someway for Apple to release an adapter to convert the magsafe on the Thunderbolt Display to USB for exclusively for charging? Very interested in all of this. I would really hate to have to buy an extra charger and fool with another wire just to connect my laptop to the display, but if that has to be the solution then so be it.
No, it shouldn't. How many people actually use Thunderbolt? (Me.) But a vast majority of users still don't.
And Apple's is oddly cheap: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1222837&gclid=CPWF49yQ_M8CFU5qfgodO5EFLg&Q=&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876,92051677682,&is=REG&A=details
Probably not, this adapter only works one way. TB3 can use TB2 but not vice-versa so far as I know.
Probably with this adapter you won't be able to charge the new rMBP, using the Apple thunderbolt 2 Display, because it does not have the 100W of TB3 for laptop charging.
Magsafe -> type-c adapter, should be possible. Apple will have to introduce lots of adapters.
Similar adapters from other parties are $70-$100. Nothing about Thunderbolt has ever been cheap, which is probably why it didn't take off on the PC side until Thunderbolt 3.
...
From what I can find-you can use it to connect a legacy thunderbolt device (1 or 2) to a USB-c display but not to a thunderbolt 3 display. Example the lg 4K could run with a thunderbolt 1 or 2 connection with the adapter. The 5k requires the bandwidth of thunderbolt 3.
(USB-c is 10gbps as is thunderbolt 1; thunderbolt 2 20gbps, and thunderbolt 3 at 40gbps.)
We should have real world experience in the coming weeks.
Thunderbolt 2 only supplies up to 9.9 watts of power. Not enough for a laptop. If Thunderbolt 2 could have supplied enough power to charge a laptop Apple would have eliminated the dedicated MagSafe port long ago. Plugging Thunderbolt 2 into a Thunderbolt 3 adapter isn't going to increase how much power a Thunderbolt 2 port supplies and in fact might reduce it if the adapter has active components that consume power.
Those are micro-USB adapters. The USB-A type are considerably larger. But still manageable, and about the same price.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
This is one of many reasons why I'll stay as far away from this "update" as possible. At the prices they're charging, they should include adapters for USB, HDMI, and thunderbolt in the box. I won't play your game, Cook. I'm done.
And watch the apologists start attacking in 3, 2, 1...
[doublepost=1477620936][/doublepost]
Nobody asked for your opinion, Jony.