Dock for 2015 & 2019 MPB

[coach_ditka]

Looking for a dock that will work with my 2015 Macbook Pro and my SO's 2019 Macbook Pro. Thinking a TB3 dock, and use an adapter for my 2015. We are driving 2 1080P monitors and a couple of USB ports for phone and minimal other accessories. I would be happy to use a direct plug to one of the monitors + the dock if I have to. I understand I won't get charging on the 2015. Has anyone used a dock on this way? Any recommendations?

 

[pshufd]

Looking for a dock that will work with my 2015 Macbook Pro and my SO's 2019 Macbook Pro. Thinking a TB3 dock, and use an adapter for my 2015. We are driving 2 1080P monitors and a couple of USB ports for phone and minimal other accessories. I would be happy to use a direct plug to one of the monitors + the dock if I have to. I understand I won't get charging on the 2015. Has anyone used a dock on this way? Any recommendations?

I looked for them a year ago and wanted a configuration guaranteed to work and nobody could provide that assurance. My current approach is to use the TB2 ports to the QHD monitors and one of the USB 3 ports connected to a hub. It's a couple of plugs but it works. If you find something that works, please post it.

 

[coach_ditka]

Will do - I have seen these links:

Is my CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 device compatible with Apple Thunderbolt 1 and 2 computers? – CalDigit

The CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 devices, such as TS3 Plus, TS3, TS3 Lite, T4 Thunderbolt 3 RAID are backward compatible with legacy Thunderbolt 1 and 2 computers.

www.caldigit.com

Can I use CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Docks with the legacy Thunderbolt 2 Macs? – CalDigit

In order for a legacy Thunderbolt 1/2 Mac to use the bus-powered CalDigit Mini Docks, you can use the Apple adapter.

www.caldigit.com

But was hoping for someone else who tried it first before I spend $300 on a dock and some cables.

 

[pshufd]

Will do - I have seen these links:

Is my CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 device compatible with Apple Thunderbolt 1 and 2 computers? – CalDigit

The CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 devices, such as TS3 Plus, TS3, TS3 Lite, T4 Thunderbolt 3 RAID are backward compatible with legacy Thunderbolt 1 and 2 computers.

www.caldigit.com

Can I use CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Docks with the legacy Thunderbolt 2 Macs? – CalDigit

In order for a legacy Thunderbolt 1/2 Mac to use the bus-powered CalDigit Mini Docks, you can use the Apple adapter.

www.caldigit.com

But was hoping for someone else who tried it first before I spend $300 on a dock and some cables.

I know. Just plugging in without a TB2 dock isn't that bad. I saw a lot of TB2 docks a few years ago and the reviews on Amazon made it seem like they all had problems. I'd guess that there's no motivation to update drivers after TB3 came out for new versions of macOS.

You can also use the HDMI. I use the HDMI at the office on my 2014 to drive a 4K display.

 

[coach_ditka]

A Belkin TB2 dock + HDMI is my current setup on the 2015. The dock works fine, except wake from sleep - it needs to be unplugged, or I have to use an external mouse/keyboard.

If I went dockless, I guess the only other thing would be a USB plug to the USB hub. Would be nice to just have power and one other plug, but I'm not sure that's possible with TB2.