HELP?! Best Investment for future? Thunderbolt 2 vs Thunderbolt 3

[jimmyjohnjohn]

Hey All,

So I dropped approx 300 Euro on a storage bay for my macbook 2011 which connects to it via. Thunderbolt 2. It arrived.

Dilemma is that I realised they sell the Thunderbolt 3 version for the same price so I'm thinking about returning and exchanging it.

This is where it gets a bit tricky for me and I'd really appreciate a dig out. I wanted to try futureproof my investment. I was aware I could use a thunderbolt 2-3 adapter in future to use the storagage bay BUT I hear thunderbolt 4 is out now??

Something tells me tho that my investment will be futureproofed alot better with the Thunderbolt 3 version? What do you think?

 

[chscag]

Something tells me tho that my investment will be futureproofed alot better with the Thunderbolt 3 version? What do you think?

Definitely go with TB 3. TB 3 is also compatible with USB-C which is what Apple is using on all its newer devices.

 

[chabig]

I wanted to try futureproof my investment.

1) Trying to "future proof" you purchase is a waste of time and money. Buy what you need now.
2) Computers and computer hardware are not investments.

Now having said that, it's a no-brainer to buy Thunderbolt 3 rather than Thunderbolt 2, especially for the same price. Thunderbolt 4 isn't a technical improvement over Thunderbolt 3. It's a marketing label. Companies advertising Thunderbolt 3 can pick and choose parts of the spec to implement. But companies that want to claim Thunderbolt 4 must provide all of the features of Thunderbolt spec. Apple has always provided all of the features, so even though Apple claims Thunderbolt 3, you're getting the same interface as Thunderbolt 4.

 

[justashooter]

Doing a little research on this forum I believe that your "storage bay" is the OWC ThunderBay 4 Mini.
The maximum speed OWC specs for the thunderbolt 2 version is 1346MB/s.
The maximum speed OWC specs for the thunderbolt 3 version is 1556MB/s.
I don't believe there is enough of a difference that you would even notice, I also don't believe you will reach these benchmarks with standard 2.5 inch SSD's.
I have the thunderbolt 2 version, with 4 500gb Crucial SSD's running a RAID 0 and the max speed I reached, using Black Magic Disk Speed Test on a 2015 MacBook Pro that has thunderbolt 2 (I was upgrading it for a friend), was 984 write and 1181 read. My 2012 MacBook Pro with thunderbolt ran at 755 write and 810 read. It makes a difference for the video editing I occasionally do.

If you really need high speed you will be upgrading to NVMe SSD's that run at 2800MB/s in a Thunderbolt 3 computer.

 

[HDFan]

Trying to "future proof" you purchase is a waste of time and money. Buy what you need now.
2) Computers and computer hardware are not investments.

A lot of individuals do consider a computer an "investment" in the sense that they want the system to last as long as possible. Those who just need a browser, and mail, some file storage, for example.

It makes no sense to purchase a system with older technology that will become obsolete in the future. Firewire, anyone? If you want your investment to last as long as possible you want to "future proof" it as best you can. If the cost of thunderbolt 2 or 3 is the same it is a no brainer, go with 3

Thunderbolt 2 has a maximum throughput of 20 Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 40 Gbps. Thunderbolt 4 offers only minor improvements.

The maximum speed OWC specs for the thunderbolt 2 version is 1346MB/s.
The maximum speed OWC specs for the thunderbolt 3 version is 1556MB/s.

You can get double those speeds using thunderbolt 3 NVME SSDs.

 

[GumaRodak]

I have lacie storage with TB2 connection. Recently bought new mbp. So i added to cart a TB3 to TB2 adapter. Problem solved.

 

[Fishrrman]

There's no "future-proofing" a MacBook Pro that's now 10 years old.
Can't be done.

If you get a thunderbolt3 dock, seems to me you will ALSO NEED a tbolt2-to-tbolt3 adapter cable...?

 

[HDFan]

There's no "future-proofing" a MacBook Pro that's now 10 years old.

You're not "future proofing" the Mac, you're FP the enclosure for when the Mac is replaced.

you will ALSO NEED a tbolt2-to-tbolt3 adapter cable...?

yes

 

[Fishrrman]

Is the "storage bay" the OP is talking about just an external drive enclosure?
Is it a multi-drive enclosure?

 

[HDFan]

So I dropped approx 300 Euro on a storage bay for my macbook 2011 which connects to it via. Thunderbolt 2.

Doesn't say whether it is a multi-drive enclosure.

 

[justashooter]

In this other post that the OP started:

Hard Drives Enclosure Future Compatibility (Thunderbolt 3/2) and Hard Drive Recommendations

Hey Everyone, I purchased an OWC Thunderbay Mini. For those who are unaware, it's a 4 (SSD) drive enclosure which has thunderbolt 2 ports for my late 2011 macbook. (Detailed spaces below at link). Firstly, I just wanted to ask confirmation that, in the event my macbook fails and I upgrade to...

forums.macrumors.com

the OP says he has this:

OWC ThunderBay 4 mini Thunderbolt 2 External Drive Enclosure

Features two Thunderbolt 2 ports for up to 1346MB/s real-world speeds, so you have more than enough bandwidth to handle personal and business backups.

eshop.macsales.com

so I am assuming (yeah, I know it can get you in trouble) that is what he is asking about.