Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dongle thread for the new Macbook Pro's

Again, this is a thread to discuss dongle options, not for complaining about the new MBPs. There are plenty of threads for complaining.

therealseebs said:
If Apple sold OS X licenses, I would be quite happy paying $hundreds for an OS X license, and running it on significantly nicer hardware. But they don't, so I can't buy "something else" if I need the OS.

... which is why I have been gradually getting habituated to Windows systems, because I think Apple no longer wants the users that the MBP line was originally aimed at.



If Apple offered, for the same price, a machine that was twice the thickness and weight of the current 15" MBP, and it was identical except that it had Ethernet and Firewire ports, I'd have bought it, and I'd be happier. And I mean identical, no extra battery life or anything. If it had the increased battery life and better cooling and thus lower fan noise that would logically result from the extra space, I would be willing to pay more for it, because it would be a much better machine. Thickness and weight are not issues for me; performance and functionality are.

Ethernet has not gone away, and I don't expect it to. 100Mbps ethernet is, in practice, significantly faster than the real-world performance of "150Mbps" wireless. 1Gbps ethernet is incredibly fast by comparison, and if you actually need the network, gosh is it nice having the performance.

And I still have uses for Firewire, even if it's not as mainstream as it used to be.

And someone else already pointed it out, but Apple's why ADB was ever a thing in the first place, it's their own port that I don't think anyone else ever used.

Apple could absolutely have done what they did in previous generations, providing new ports and old ports both, especially in their top-of-the-line machines.
[doublepost=1478063519][/doublepost]So, long ago, for reasons, I ended up wanting to do some writing about Linux running on the Cell processor in the PS3, and as a result, I ended up on a forum full of rabid Sony fans.

And when the PS3 came out, it had no rumble feature in its controllers, because of a lawsuit that was ongoing at the time. And the forumgoers were essentially unanimous; this was an advantage. It made the system better. Rumble was a "last-gen" feature that no one wanted, and having it would detract from the elegance of the system's design.

Later, once the lawsuit got resolved, Sony introduced a new "dualshock" controller for the PS3. And there was immediately a thread full of people posting screen shots of their receipts for mail-ordering imports from Japan, because this was the best thing ever, it was a great feature that really made games better.

And many years ago, MacAddict had an article on how a new Mac had made the very wise choice to not have an AGP slot, but rather, to go with a 66MHz PCI slot, because that improved compatibility with other PCI cards you might want to put in, instead of the video card, and so on and so forth. And when the next model had an AGP slot, they praised it for having gone with the industry standard and making it easier to find and buy video cards.

And I'm seeing a lot of that here. I'm seeing people tell me that lacking a feature is a big advantage and shows "vision". No, it's not an advantage. And it doesn't show "vision" unless that vision is "we want the software developers to go develop for someone else". I know lots of developers, and by and large, they're all pretty annoyed by the loss of functionality they cared about, and would be fine with slightly thicker laptops that had more functionality and more ports for compatibility with stuff.

And this creates a lot of frustration on this forum, because there's a constant tension between people who want to be happy about anything Apple does, no matter what it is, and people who love some of the things Apple hardware and software do, and want to try to identify and resolve problems they might have. So I look at the new machine and think about what it's going to cost (both in dollars and complexity and packing of gizmos) to have the functionality I want if I get one of these machines. And I want to talk to people about that, because there's lots of other people facing the same issues.

And then our conversations get swamped by people telling us that Apple's fine and we need to stop wasting everyone's time implying that we might know how we like to use our computers.

Meanwhile, their conversations about how cool this stuff is and how happy they are with it keep getting interrupted by people who aren't that happy.

Maybe the forums need an "advocacy" group so the people who want to talk about how everything's perfect and there are zero problems with every new release can do that, and the people who want to talk about how to get their real-world tasks done with the machines that Apple chooses to ship can do that, and we won't keep stepping on each other.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Weaselboy and dexterie
therealseebs said:
If Apple sold OS X licenses, I would be quite happy paying $hundreds for an OS X license, and running it on significantly nicer hardware. But they don't, so I can't buy "something else" if I need the OS.

... which is why I have been gradually getting habituated to Windows systems, because I think Apple no longer wants the users that the MBP line was originally aimed at.



If Apple offered, for the same price, a machine that was twice the thickness and weight of the current 15" MBP, and it was identical except that it had Ethernet and Firewire ports, I'd have bought it, and I'd be happier. And I mean identical, no extra battery life or anything. If it had the increased battery life and better cooling and thus lower fan noise that would logically result from the extra space, I would be willing to pay more for it, because it would be a much better machine. Thickness and weight are not issues for me; performance and functionality are.

Ethernet has not gone away, and I don't expect it to. 100Mbps ethernet is, in practice, significantly faster than the real-world performance of "150Mbps" wireless. 1Gbps ethernet is incredibly fast by comparison, and if you actually need the network, gosh is it nice having the performance.

And I still have uses for Firewire, even if it's not as mainstream as it used to be.

And someone else already pointed it out, but Apple's why ADB was ever a thing in the first place, it's their own port that I don't think anyone else ever used.

Apple could absolutely have done what they did in previous generations, providing new ports and old ports both, especially in their top-of-the-line machines.
[doublepost=1478063519][/doublepost]So, long ago, for reasons, I ended up wanting to do some writing about Linux running on the Cell processor in the PS3, and as a result, I ended up on a forum full of rabid Sony fans.

And when the PS3 came out, it had no rumble feature in its controllers, because of a lawsuit that was ongoing at the time. And the forumgoers were essentially unanimous; this was an advantage. It made the system better. Rumble was a "last-gen" feature that no one wanted, and having it would detract from the elegance of the system's design.

Later, once the lawsuit got resolved, Sony introduced a new "dualshock" controller for the PS3. And there was immediately a thread full of people posting screen shots of their receipts for mail-ordering imports from Japan, because this was the best thing ever, it was a great feature that really made games better.

And many years ago, MacAddict had an article on how a new Mac had made the very wise choice to not have an AGP slot, but rather, to go with a 66MHz PCI slot, because that improved compatibility with other PCI cards you might want to put in, instead of the video card, and so on and so forth. And when the next model had an AGP slot, they praised it for having gone with the industry standard and making it easier to find and buy video cards.

And I'm seeing a lot of that here. I'm seeing people tell me that lacking a feature is a big advantage and shows "vision". No, it's not an advantage. And it doesn't show "vision" unless that vision is "we want the software developers to go develop for someone else". I know lots of developers, and by and large, they're all pretty annoyed by the loss of functionality they cared about, and would be fine with slightly thicker laptops that had more functionality and more ports for compatibility with stuff.

And this creates a lot of frustration on this forum, because there's a constant tension between people who want to be happy about anything Apple does, no matter what it is, and people who love some of the things Apple hardware and software do, and want to try to identify and resolve problems they might have. So I look at the new machine and think about what it's going to cost (both in dollars and complexity and packing of gizmos) to have the functionality I want if I get one of these machines. And I want to talk to people about that, because there's lots of other people facing the same issues.

And then our conversations get swamped by people telling us that Apple's fine and we need to stop wasting everyone's time implying that we might know how we like to use our computers.

Meanwhile, their conversations about how cool this stuff is and how happy they are with it keep getting interrupted by people who aren't that happy.

Maybe the forums need an "advocacy" group so the people who want to talk about how everything's perfect and there are zero problems with every new release can do that, and the people who want to talk about how to get their real-world tasks done with the machines that Apple chooses to ship can do that, and we won't keep stepping on each other.
Click to expand...


So much truth to this post! Thank you for that. It really does seem (especially post Steve Jobs era) that Apple does care about it's pro customers. I personally am not one myself but it still matters to me. In my view the pre-retina MBP was thin enough. Do people understand how much power and expandability could be put into that MBP case now?? It could be made so expandable and user upgradeable (something Apple used to tout highly for the pro market) it's amazing. You could literally have a Mac Pro on the go. 8 Core processor, 32 or even 64GB ram, multiple SSD slots, super high end graphics, all the I/O you could ever want, retina display. And all those things except maybe the I/O could be made user upgradeable and replaceable. All in a 1 inch thin unibody case. That would be a beast and I know full well the pro users and plenty of gamers (Windows runs on Mac) would absolutely love it.

Apple could then still make a thinner Macbook for the consumer level. But even then still make it user upgradeable (ram and SSD) like they used to. Forcing people to upgrade at the time of purchase is just a money grab for Apple cause they know the user could get the ram and SSD cheaper somewhere else. I did that with my old 2011 MBP.
 
Startech TB32DP2 (1x thunderbolt 3 usb-c type to 2x displayport) does not work under macOS Sierra (Unsupported). Installed bootcamp to see if it is a hardware issue, but the adapter works fine under bootcamp with a dell 5k screen. (2x displayport needed). So its the thunderbolt 3 driver/software in macOS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTToft
GubbyMan said:
This is the guy that convinced me not to buy anything. He doesn't have a review of either USB-C hubs or USB-C to USB-A female adapters and looking at the number of faulty USB-C cables on Amazon it looks like everything is garbage that could fry the MBP.

I'll go with Apple's own USB adapter for now and look for a 4K60P HDMI adapter later.
Click to expand...

A shame there's not many reviews for the hubs themselves.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Ok guys I made my peace. Decided to go with this hub as I definitely need ethernet and the occasional HDMI to TV (non 4k) along with at least one USB A slot and this fit the bill:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01EYEKCDW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For my 4k monitor, I decided not to chance it on a hub and went with a display port to USB C cable. 2 USB ports for cables, one for power and one currently free. Yes Apple, it's a mess.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
JTToft said:
- Yeah, it's the total power delivered to the dock from its power supply, not the power delivered to the computer over USB-C.
Click to expand...

Huh. They don't list a separate spec for that. I wonder whether that means it can do 90W to the computer if it's not also fully loading the charger ports, or what.
 
So, is there any dock currently known to support HDMI, USB A, and the 85w necessary to charge the 15"? If not, can someone tell me if the usb-c port on the Apple Digital AV Adapter is only usable as a charging port, or if it can be used as a data port as well?
 
archimon said:
So, is there any dock currently known to support HDMI, USB A, and the 85w necessary to charge the 15"? If not, can someone tell me if the usb-c port on the Apple Digital AV Adapter is only usable as a charging port, or if it can be used as a data port as well?
Click to expand...
- Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock when it's out.

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U095/

The USB-C port on the Apple Multiport adaptor is strictly for power. No data. And only 60 W of power.
 
JTToft said:
- Definitely. Their Thunderbolt 2 dock is $300. Rumour has it this one will be north of $400 initially.
Click to expand...
Any ideas for a more economical solution? Will I just have to live with something imperfect, like the apple AV adapter? That would get me 2 of the ports I need, and allow me to plug the power cord into the second USB-C slot. This is rather frustrating.
 
TheBacklash said:
After going through the entire thread and looking at most of the options people put up....

Going with buying a few cheap dongles and a cheap USB c hub with USB a ports.
And in 3+ months look at the options for a single hub to replace all the dongles.

All the current hub options either have something missing or cost way too much.

Almost bought a hub posted in here yesterday, it didn't have Ethernet, which at the time I didn't care. Until I remembered that I *do* use Ethernet on my current 13" MBP sometimes. Granted 99% of the time it's outside the house.. and I doubt I'd haul the hub with me. My old wireless laser printer is much easier to setup over direct Ethernet connection than trying to do it any other way.
Click to expand...

Same here. I originally ordered an Apple USB-c to USB adapter and yesterday I exchanged it for an power supply extension. Then went on amazon to order an Aukey two pack of those USB-c to USB adapters.
 
archimon said:
Any ideas for a more economical solution? Will I just have to live with something imperfect, like the apple AV adapter? That would get me 2 of the ports I need, and allow me to plug the power cord into the second USB-C slot. This is rather frustrating.
Click to expand...
- The best idea is to wait a while and see what the accessory manufacturers come up with, I think. You won't have your 15" for at least another few weeks, so you do have at least a little time to see what happens.
Or go with individual cables and adaptors that are available now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xmonkey
The Dell WD15 appears to be a winner!

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...l.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=que&cs=caque1&sku=450-AFGM

Powered, dual monitor ports, Ethernet, audio and USB-Ports, and a USB-C cable to connect to Mac. A one box solution!

Pricey direct at nearly £300 but can be had off eBay for around £100.

Two models, 130w and 180w.

Since Dell use these on their own laptops then at least we don't need to worry about them being fire prone or whatever the cheap Chinese ones are like. Dell are reputable in the business sector.
 
Last edited:
The Belkin Dock features 1 DisplayPort and 2 TB3.
It should be possible to connect a 5K display using the one DP + a TB3-to-DP-adapter for the second cable, or am I wrong there?
 
Thanks :)
I just found an article about the new dock, where they mentioned the possibility to do this - guess it should be fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back