Dongletopia and the 2016 macbook pro

[therealseebs]

So, no HDMI port, no DisplayPort. On my existing MBP, there are ports which are either Thunderbolt or displayport, but not both at once. (Apparently they use different cables.)

So, one of the gizmos Apple offers for the 2016 MBP is a Thunderbolt 2 adapter. Will that work with a minidisplayport adapter to drive a display? There's no mention of any displayport adapters or the like. (The monitor I have is old, and it has dual-link DVI and DisplayPort as options. It can't do HDMI.)

Also, if I have a thunderbolt dock for things like USB and Ethernet, will that be able to drive a thunderbolt/displayport display from its daisy-chain port, or will I need a separate port for the display and for the thunderbolt goodies?

I'm trying to figure out whether or not these machines are physically capable of being hooked up to the other hardware I already have. I'd rather use my thunderbolt dock (several USB ports, ethernet, etc.) than have separate dongles for USB and such, but I also need a way to drive a large monitor which doesn't have USB-C connectors.

... More generally, for the people getting these, how many things do you end up needing dongles for, and how much can you combine those? My 2015 is basically okay with a displayport->minidisplayport adapter in one thunderbolt port, and a thunderbolt dock in the other. So, everything I want to plug into it plugs in, although I guess strictly speaking the minidisplayport->displayport connector is a dongle.

But I've got nothing right now that uses USB-C, so no way to do any tests to find out which of these things I'll end up needing adapters or something for.

 

[AdonisSMU]

So, no HDMI port, no DisplayPort. On my existing MBP, there are ports which are either Thunderbolt or displayport, but not both at once. (Apparently they use different cables.)

So, one of the gizmos Apple offers for the 2016 MBP is a Thunderbolt 2 adapter. Will that work with a minidisplayport adapter to drive a display? There's no mention of any displayport adapters or the like. (The monitor I have is old, and it has dual-link DVI and DisplayPort as options. It can't do HDMI.)

Also, if I have a thunderbolt dock for things like USB and Ethernet, will that be able to drive a thunderbolt/displayport display from its daisy-chain port, or will I need a separate port for the display and for the thunderbolt goodies?

I'm trying to figure out whether or not these machines are physically capable of being hooked up to the other hardware I already have. I'd rather use my thunderbolt dock (several USB ports, ethernet, etc.) than have separate dongles for USB and such, but I also need a way to drive a large monitor which doesn't have USB-C connectors.

... More generally, for the people getting these, how many things do you end up needing dongles for, and how much can you combine those? My 2015 is basically okay with a displayport->minidisplayport adapter in one thunderbolt port, and a thunderbolt dock in the other. So, everything I want to plug into it plugs in, although I guess strictly speaking the minidisplayport->displayport connector is a dongle.

But I've got nothing right now that uses USB-C, so no way to do any tests to find out which of these things I'll end up needing adapters or something for.

Sorry but I'd rather have the USB-C ports. I can plug one mega dongle directly into it for charging usba, hdmi, sd card etc.. rather than having to plug all those things one by one directly into my computer at once then disconnect all that stuff one by one when I decide I want to be portable.

 

[jjlannoo]

I need one USB-A adaptor. Thats it.

 

[therealseebs]

Of course, after I posted this I found:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dongle-thread-for-the-new-macbook-pros.2010457/page-4

I actually really like, in theory, the option of using a single port for "everything". After reading through the other thread, and other sources, I think the CalDigit TB3 docks look like they might actually cover what I want, although it's very strange that they require a separate Ethernet driver.

Of course, that's a dock with a power supply. It looks like I'm looking for something like the monoprice dongle for other usage (which gives USB 3 ports, and an ethernet port, and has power pass-through).

 

[leman]

Well, I need less dongles than before. For my office desk, I'll use a single hub. I'll also need to get a couple of USB-c to micro-USB cables for backup drives, but thise are cables and not dongles. Finally, video output adapters, just as with any mac before 2016.

 

[therealseebs]

I have older macs which had DVI ports (no adapter needed), once. That was awesome. And my current one has HDMI, and if my monitor were newer and supported HDMI, I could use that without an adapter; as is, I have a mindisplayport->displayport adapter.

I think the single hub looks like a good plan for the desk. Theoretically, it should now be possible to get everything on one cable, which would be actually sorta cool. Downside, way over $100 for the hardware.

 

[carestudio]

Of course, after I posted this I found:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dongle-thread-for-the-new-macbook-pros.2010457/page-4

I actually really like, in theory, the option of using a single port for "everything". After reading through the other thread, and other sources, I think the CalDigit TB3 docks look like they might actually cover what I want, although it's very strange that they require a separate Ethernet driver.

Of course, that's a dock with a power supply. It looks like I'm looking for something like the monoprice dongle for other usage (which gives USB 3 ports, and an ethernet port, and has power pass-through).

I think you were talking about CalDigit's USB-C Dock. It does work with MacBook Pro late 2016, but it is not PCIe Thunderbolt 3, it's USB through Thunderbot 3. You can not say which one is better. Both serves different purposes.

I have heard from the support that they are working on 40G Thunderbolt 3 dock. For the light user, USB-C dock is enough for charging, ethernet, usb data, audio, HDMI or DisplayPort. You can only do one discrete monitor, Apple does not support dual discrete monitors through USB-C.