Don't Miss Out on OWC's 14-Port Mac Thunderbolt Dock at $99.99 ($180 Off), Ending This Weekend

[OWC Larry]

I'm always of the philosophy not to buy an item (even if on sale currently) unless that I know I will need it in the near future.

Couldn't agree more. Zero purpose for anything to sit collecting dust - and technology always moving forward.

 

[OWC Larry]

Thanks for the quick response! Do you guys have any docks that do have Display Link for that purpose that support two 4K displays?

I’ve seen the OWC Display Link Adapter that has a USB-C port and two HDMI ports that supports 4K so if there was a dock that had something like that plus some additional USB-C ports or a Thunderbolt port to make up for whatever port the dock uses plus a USB 3 port for a printer and an Ethernet port or something close to those ports configuration that it would be perfect for my use case.

Thanks in advance!!!

At present our Dual-HDMI solution with Displaylink is our sole offering. It does work connected to a Thunderbolt Dock or Hub - but I understand the desire to have a dock with it integrated. Thanks for asking!


And... FWIW - as in a conversational place today... all Intel based Mac models with Thunderbolt USB-C do support two displays natively, even before Intel made it a 'requirement' for Thunderbolt 4 (which in Thunderbolt aspects, is the full implementation with all features Thunderbolt 3 offers enabled... something Apple always did and well ahead of the curve. Apple's full implementation is a big reason why 'Thunderbolt 4' so named devices due to the chipsets within can work on the prior gen systems, something not the case with pre-TB4 PCs)s. Anyway - it's interesting that the base Apple silicon didn't maintain the hardware driven, native dual external display support... it's also why you see those systems either listed as Thunderbolt / USB4 or Thunderbolt 3 / USB4... and then the Pros and up with the singular Thunderbolt 4.

Hard to complain with the incredible capabilities in all these systems today and various options to take them further. I hope the next M base in Mac does away with the single display limitation. Till then, displaylink is a great option to go beyond just the +1 display via USB-C.

 

[gco212]

There's a substantial difference between a USB-C hub and a Thunderbolt dock especially when you're connecting multiple monitors or NVMe drives. The OWC docks are actually a really good deal whether they are regularly $114.99 on Amzon or $99 on sale.

Not sure I would want that massive RayCue hub with just 5 ports when I could get 14 ports, 4x the bandwidth with Thunderbolt, ethernet, and multiple monitor support from a dock that is 1/2 the size of the RayCue, for $20 more.

This is a garbage deal trying to sell overstocked hardware. The product is three years old, has Thunderbolt 3 (not 4), and 1 gbps Ethernet (it doesn't need to be 10 gbps, but at least 2.5 would be nice). Just because macrumors gets paid to advertise it, doesn't make it a good deal.

 

[RumorConsumer]

At present our Dual-HDMI solution with Displaylink is our sole offering. It does work connected to a Thunderbolt Dock or Hub - but I understand the desire to have a dock with it integrated. Thanks for asking!


And... FWIW - as in a conversational place today... all Intel based Mac models with Thunderbolt USB-C do support two displays natively, even before Intel made it a 'requirement' for Thunderbolt 4 (which in Thunderbolt aspects, is the full implementation with all features Thunderbolt 3 offers enabled... something Apple always did and well ahead of the curve. Apple's full implementation is a big reason why 'Thunderbolt 4' so named devices due to the chipsets within can work on the prior gen systems, something not the case with pre-TB4 PCs)s. Anyway - it's interesting that the base Apple silicon didn't maintain the hardware driven, native dual external display support... it's also why you see those systems either listed as Thunderbolt / USB4 or Thunderbolt 3 / USB4... and then the Pros and up with the singular Thunderbolt 4.

Hard to complain with the incredible capabilities in all these systems today and various options to take them further. I hope the next M base in Mac does away with the single display limitation. Till then, displaylink is a great option to go beyond just the +1 display via USB-C.

Larry this is a rare honor. I have owned many of your products, kits etc. I was a regular on Mike Breeden's forums as well. Thanks for sticking in there and hope business is good.

I saw people saying these hubs lose connection to drives when plugged in. I realize thats a vague symptom that could be anything but there is another thread here from I think the last time MR posted and OWC sale and it was a shockingly large amount of people saying they had this issue. If it's nothing you know about great. Just wanting to bring to your attention.

Second is that I wanted to make sure you knew that a while back I was in the market for an LTO drive and of course I went with you guys first as you're my Mac-centric favorite. $5k for this thing. Argest is a pile of hot garbage. I haven't had a software experience that bad in a decade. Support was non existent. Really gave it my best try but had to return it because support was so poor. Let me know if you want details. Happy to provide correspondence. Was so bummed to have to elsewhere.

 

[ikramerica]

If not such a demand / need to support usb-a, we’d drop them. But not giving customers the usb-a ports they are asking for - adapter dongles are a hassle and headache.

Removing usb-a ports from docks doesnt change the customer need to have those ports available.

Totally agree. While it’s slowly changing there are plenty of customers with legacy drives that need USB3-A connectivity as well as all kinds of peripherals. The point of a dock is to keep those connected. Since they can all be handled by one internal usbc-usba hub that won’t sap speed from the rest of the system, why not offer them?

 

[Serge88]

Thank you Steve for creating Apple and thank OWC for selling accessories.

 

[OWC Larry]

Larry this is a rare honor. I have owned many of your products, kits etc. I was a regular on Mike Breeden's forums as well. Thanks for sticking in there and hope business is good.

I saw people saying these hubs lose connection to drives when plugged in. I realize thats a vague symptom that could be anything but there is another thread here from I think the last time MR posted and OWC sale and it was a shockingly large amount of people saying they had this issue. If it's nothing you know about great. Just wanting to bring to your attention.

Second is that I wanted to make sure you knew that a while back I was in the market for an LTO drive and of course I went with you guys first as you're my Mac-centric favorite. $5k for this thing. Argest is a pile of hot garbage. I haven't had a software experience that bad in a decade. Support was non existent. Really gave it my best try but had to return it because support was so poor. Let me know if you want details. Happy to provide correspondence. Was so bummed to have to elsewhere.

We all together keep things going forward - Those forums were intense, productive, and fun. Nothing pretty, just straight up.

We really really tried to bring BRU up with the Tolis bring on - we'd have been better off to leave that one lying where it was. That said - we are working to see that BRU can be there for those that need it and in the mean time focused on the hardware. Apple has changed a lot of rules, but should have done more due diligence prior to the Tolis/Argest acquisition. Good intentions, but Argest never got to where it needed to be with the new OS 11 & later changes. FWIW - there are plenty of bugs we work around or more directly solved out there. It's really a team that cares here and that is deeply involved. Thanks for the support and hello - we're here with passion and only because of you.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

I just can't trust them after they sold me a bum Thunderbolt Three dock ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[coolbreeze]

This is the one I bought and its been solid for me.

RayCue Mac Mini Hub & Type-C Stand with SSD Enclosure

SUPPER DUPPER!

 

[svish]

Good price for a good dock.

 

[AppliedMicro]

This is a garbage deal trying to sell overstocked hardware. The product is three years old, has Thunderbolt 3 (not 4), and 1 gbps Ethernet (it doesn't need to be 10 gbps, but at least 2.5 would be nice). Just because macrumors gets paid to advertise it, doesn't make it a good deal.

It’s obviously a deal to move overstock of hardware that doesn’t support the latest and greatest spec (Thunderbolt 4). That said, for the number of ports you’re getting, this does not seem “garbage” a deal. $99 isn't a price point for enthusiasts expecting the latest and greatest and benchmarking their hardware for bragging rights.

In the end, it works if it works. And if it does (what's advertised well), it doesn't need to get knocked as "garbage".

 

[BornAgainMac]

I was able to switch to USB-C for my portable hard drives by just getting a couple of $7 cables from Amazon. I would never purchase a dock with legacy USB ports for daily use. I have a dongle for those times when I need to setup a an old wireless printer or scanner that needs to connect one time to setup.

USB-A needs to die like Firewire 400 and 800.

 

[gco212]

It’s obviously a deal to move overstock of hardware that doesn’t support the latest and greatest spec (Thunderbolt 4). That said, for the number of ports you’re getting, this does not seem “garbage” a deal. $99 isn't a price point for enthusiasts expecting the latest and greatest and benchmarking their hardware for bragging rights.

In the end, it works if it works. And if it does (what's advertised well), it doesn't need to get knocked as "garbage".

I didn't call the product garbage (although it has a poor reputation based on posts on macrumors previous advertisement for it last week). I said the deal is garbage. Promoting a deal based on the MSRP of three years ago and ignoring what it's been selling at for the past long while is at best misleading and at worst deceitful (I would tend to lean toward the second personally).

And no, I'm not saying it's illegal to promote in that way, it's just unethical.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Promoting a deal based on the MSRP of three years ago and ignoring what it's been selling at for the past long while is at best misleading and at worst deceitful

Agree on that. 👍

If you call that lowest ever price or something, OK. But the price / rebate percentage comparison is nonsense. Though common practice.

 

[theluggage]

Without going into other differences between a 10Gb/s usb-c dock vs a 40Gb/s thunderbolt dock, just want to note that all of our docks are designed for desktops and laptops alike.

Of course they work with both desktops and laptops, but they're called "docks" for a reason - their Unique Selling Point is as a single-cable docking solution for laptops. Some desktop users may need additional HDMI, ethernet, USB-A etc. ports - but most desktops already have some of those ports and 60 or 90W power only available on the upstream TB port is no use to a desktop user - yet all of these add to the cost and complexity of the dock.

Even on "hubs" you see a bit of laptop bias: the OWC TB4 Hub has the upstream TB port on the front, where a laptop user would need it, rather than the back, where a desktop user would want it - and I'm not just getting at OWC here - I have a Caldigit Elements hub and that has the upstream on the side rather than the "back". (NB: in both cases I'm taking the "back" to be where the barrel connector for the power brick is!)

To be fair, OWC also do the MiniStack STX (under "external drives") which is very much designed for desktops (although, equally, it would work on a laptop).

The product is three years old, has Thunderbolt 3 (not 4)

TB4 vs TB3 is not such a big deal if you want "legacy" ports rather than more TB connections. There's no immediate advantage to TB4 if it's just driving USB 3 and DisplayPort 1.2 stuff (in fact, its a bit' swings and roundabouts' with USB 3). TB3 vs. TB4 is convoluted, the main advantage of TB4 is about allowing multiple downstream TB ports, which don't run USB 3 kit any faster than a plain old USB-C or A- port.

Promoting a deal based on the MSRP of three years ago and ignoring what it's been selling at for the past long while is at best misleading and at worst deceitful

Well, yes - but, honestly, file under "puff" (alongside "Prime Day prices" and every other "Sale!!!" in the history of money). Apart from that, while I don't have the product and can't vouch for its quality/reliability, $99 seems like a reasonable deal for old, but still useful, tech that did cost > $200 3 years ago.

 

[dredlew]

If not such a demand / need to support usb-a, we’d drop them. But not giving customers the usb-a ports they are asking for - adapter dongles are a hassle and headache.

Removing usb-a ports from docks doesnt change the customer need to have those ports available.

I’m sorry, did I miss the version of your product that only comes with USB-C? Or is it ok for those customers to have to deal with adapters and dongles but it’s not ok for the ones stuck in the past?

This is the same nonsense as the legacy PC ports PS/2 and Serial. To this day, there are still new PCs that ship with these absolutely useless ports just in case some users stuck in the 90’s might want to use them. Stop it already. There are always people who refuse to move forward.

Again, there are small, inexpensive dongles and adapters for those that still want USB-A/B. And it should be inconvenient for them so they will upgrade as soon as possible to new hardware that has USB-C. Current users of USB-C are definitely not downgrading to older hardware, that would be asinine.

To drag everyone along for decades on multiple standards is unconscionable. OWC, you are enabling this behavior. USB-C is a decade old already, drop the support for legacy standards and let everyone move forward.

 

[ikramerica]

There are a lot of people on this planet, each with a different set of experiences. I can tell you that my experience with OWC has been nothing short of poor. I have purchased several different items from them starting in 2005 with a Mac RAM Upgrade and finally ending in 2022 with an OWC Thunderbolt to Dual DisplayPort 1.4.

For the first couple purchases, I was very happy. However, over time each purchase has either failed or performed significantly under spec and compared to other products. The last product was returned due to failure. I will say that for any failed product, the MFG has offered a replacement, or if quickly enough, a refund. However, two of the four failed product replacements also failed. Over the years I kept telling myself, based on experiences with their older products, I was just unlucky or it was just a particular product. But after only still using one out of the last six purchases, I don't think I am unlucky.

When 5 out of 6 products from one MFG fail or massively underperform....you move on from that MFG. That is what I have done and can not in good faith recommend this MFG to anyone.

That’s why I gave my experience as well. They responded with “we haven’t sold PATA products in 10 yrs” but that doesn’t mean anything. I many many product failures in their PATA days to the point I couldn’t rely on them anymore. I have never had bad luck with their SIMMS or DIMMS, but that doesn’t really matter in this era.

Because of dock failures (mine and my sister’s) I switched to CalDigit and it has been perfect for 9 yrs now. It’s worked with 3 different Mac Laptops both Intel and M1. It’s worked with various external monitors, HDs, enet networks, keyboards, mice etc.

 

[RumorConsumer]

We all together keep things going forward - Those forums were intense, productive, and fun. Nothing pretty, just straight up.

We really really tried to bring BRU up with the Tolis bring on - we'd have been better off to leave that one lying where it was. That said - we are working to see that BRU can be there for those that need it and in the mean time focused on the hardware. Apple has changed a lot of rules, but should have done more due diligence prior to the Tolis/Argest acquisition. Good intentions, but Argest never got to where it needed to be with the new OS 11 & later changes. FWIW - there are plenty of bugs we work around or more directly solved out there. It's really a team that cares here and that is deeply involved. Thanks for the support and hello - we're here with passion and only because of you.

Have you thought of making an alliance with Martin at YoYotta? His software has been excellent. LTFS seems to work just fine. Pair that with your drives and you have a solution. Nowhere near the sophistication as BRU but its quite good.

 

[picard102]

Hate this dock and most other ones that are on the market at this time. When will manufacturers finally stop adding USB-A ports to new hardware?! The whole point of USB-C was to standardize and get rid of USB-A & B.

You want backwards compatibility? Fine, then use a tiny adapter for legacy devices! But don’t make me use an adapter for new devices when they shouldn’t need one. Get this USB-C transition over with already and decommission A&B, mini, micro and whatever else there is.

Right now we’re literally living this!

Agreed. Spent an hour tonight trying to find a dock that had more than 2 USB C ports.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Ordered one to use with my 2020 iMac. Looking forward to trying it out!

 

[bheathain]

I purchased this dock as part of the sale and have been using it about a week. It's perfect for my needs with my MBP M1 16".

 

[Bkxmnr]

Ugh! It's now $138.