Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The PSU of the 16" MacBook Pro M1 is actually 140W, in the specs roughly a 1/4 down this page

Good point, I guess the power supplied to the MBP from the TB port would be variable based on other peripherals attached
Even my old 16 intel machine would slowly drain the battery under heavy load if I only had the TS3 powering it. The real power supply never skipped a beat. I expect that'll be even worse with the 140 watt one!
 
That's something I've been wondering, is 85-90W going to be enough to keep the 16" M1 Max charged during taxing loads?
 
Even my old 16 intel machine would slowly drain the battery under heavy load if I only had the TS3 powering it. The real power supply never skipped a beat. I expect that'll be even worse with the 140 watt one!

Yep. But all we need to do is plug in the magsafe. Not exactly a great effort needed to undock by unplugging a thunderbolt 3 cable and a magsafe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chevron
That's something I've been wondering, is 85-90W going to be enough to keep the 16" M1 Max charged during taxing loads?
Not sure, but I think it will be ok. My dock supplies 85w, and as a test I'm simultaneously exporting images from Lightroom (which uses CPU) and Capture One (which uses GPU), and am not seeing any battery drain indicated. The powermetrics terminal command is showing about 45 watts of "package power" usage (though I don't think that includes the LCD backlighting, but power usage for that is not showing up for me).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chevron
Yep. But all we need to do is plug in the magsafe. Not exactly a great effort needed to undock by unplugging a thunderbolt 3 cable and a magsafe.
Yup, so it's not really a port loss for me because of that. The machine's smart enough to draw from the biggest supply.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rafterman
Not sure, but I think it will be ok. My dock supplies 85w, and as a test I'm simultaneously exporting images from Lightroom (which uses CPU) and Capture One (which uses GPU), and am not seeing any battery drain indicated. The powermetrics terminal command is showing about 45 watts of "package power" usage (though I don't think that includes the LCD backlighting, but power usage for that is not showing up for me).
encoding videos in batch is what triggers it for me...spikes all the CPU cores to 100%
 
The PSU of the 16" MacBook Pro M1 is actually 140W, in the specs roughly a 1/4 down this page

Good point, I guess the power supplied to the MBP from the TB port would be variable based on other peripherals attached
Oh sorry, I was thinking of the Intel 16”. Anyway, I have 14” M1Max on order and I’m hoping to get by with the CalDigit Element Hub that delivers a fixed 60W. It’s because they mention in their marketing that it’s fixed 60W vs variable wattage on other hubs that I know this is how others do it. Worst case I will also need to plug the MagSafe when pushing the machine. Still better than having to plug everything every time.
 
Oh sorry, I was thinking of the Intel 16”. Anyway, I have 14” M1Max on order and I’m hoping to get by with the CalDigit Element Hub that delivers a fixed 60W. It’s because they mention in their marketing that it’s fixed 60W vs variable wattage on other hubs that I know this is how others do it. Worst case I will also need to plug the MagSafe when pushing the machine. Still better than having to plug everything every time.

No worries, it is hard to keep track of all the different specs.

Nice on the 14 MBP, do report back once you have it, and on how well the Element works with it. Good point on the fixed supply, another thing for em to watch out for ;)
 
Good point on the fixed supply, another thing for em to watch out for ;)
Yeah, it's just another thing to keep in mind. My sister calls it the law of conservation of hassle. When you switch to something new, it's never less of a hassle. It's just a different kind of hassle. Typical example: Bluetooth headphones. No cable, but why doesn't it connect? Or here: just one cable, but will it work with all my stuff and then what if I do this or that?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chevron
Oh sorry, I was thinking of the Intel 16”. Anyway, I have 14” M1Max on order and I’m hoping to get by with the CalDigit Element Hub that delivers a fixed 60W. It’s because they mention in their marketing that it’s fixed 60W vs variable wattage on other hubs that I know this is how others do it. Worst case I will also need to plug the MagSafe when pushing the machine. Still better than having to plug everything every time.
60's going to be a bit tight if you have any sort of load. USB-C is capped at 100W if I recall right, which is the other reason for the return of magsafe
 
60's going to be a bit tight if you have any sort of load. USB-C is capped at 100W if I recall right, which is the other reason for the return of magsafe
I read somewhere that the 16” at full load uses somewhere around 65W. For normal work I do, those 60W should be enough. But I’ll let you know when I get the 14”. Current date is end of the month.
 
I read somewhere that the 16” at full load uses somewhere around 65W. For normal work I do, those 60W should be enough. But I’ll let you know when I get the 14”. Current date is end of the month.
That's surprise me given that it ships with a 140w supply, but please, post back with experience.
 
While the power adapter is 140W, that's mainly for fast charging. I expect the laptop to use well below the 90W the Anker Apex delivers in regular use. In-depth reviews like Anandtech go into this: (quote from Anandtech: In multi-threaded scenarios, the package and wall power vary from 34-43W on package, and wall active power from 40 to 62W.)
That's while running CPU benchmarks. With GPU benchmarks, it does 57W (70W wall). While doing both at the same time, it does 92W (120W wall). But that's rather an extreme scenario!

Source: https://www.anandtech.com/show/17024/apple-m1-max-performance-review/3
So I remembered the 60W but the reality is more complicated indeed. I probably remembered the CPU only scenario because I hardly have a need for the GPU. And to be clear: this is the 2021 16”, not the Intel one. For more details on the exact specs tested, check the article.
 
That's surprise me given that it ships with a 140w supply, but please, post back with experience.
140W is only there for fast charging. I’ll definitely report back when I get the 14” M1Max 32GB. I now know what a Mac does when the power supply doesn’t provide sufficient power. I connected my Intel 16” to my iPad charger recently ?
 
I bought a Caldigit TS3 for a M1 Pro and it seems to work fine, connecting to a LG 4k screen, powering the laptop (at 87W according to Caldigit), ethernet cable, and an assortment of thunderbolt 3, usb c and usb A slots.

The two thunderbolt ports are taken up automatically -- one goes to the laptop, the other to the display, the rest are free, of course.

There's a couple of things I haven't worked out yet (e.g. what's the best way of undocking so that attached disks are unmounted correctly) but I suspect those are present with every dock.

There's a webpage dedicated to Caldigit docs and M1 Pro/Max compatibility (https://www.caldigit.com/caldigit-docks-and-apple-m1-pro-m1-max-compatibility/) if that helps anyone.
I've got a TS3+ with my M1 Pro, a LG 34" Ultrawide and lots of ports in use - all works fine.

Occasionally I need to open the lid of my laptop to get the monitor to wake, but that's been an issue with Macs and thunderbolt-connected monitors for as long as I can remember.
 
The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock should be fine. It has 4 USB controllers (two FL1100 4Gbps, one ASM1142 8Gbps, one Alpine Ridge 10Gbps) and a PCIe Ethernet controller. Max bandwidth is ≈22Gbps.

The OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock is another option but it has only one USB controller (Goshen Ridge 10 Gbps) with one USB 10 Gbps port which is probably bypassed since the M1 Macs support USB tunnelling so that the M1 Mac's USB controller is used instead. The M1 Mac's USB controller might not perform as well as the dock's USB controller. All the ports and devices (audio, ethernet, etc) use USB. Everything internally is connected to a couple USB hubs, one hub connected to the first hub which is connected to the one USB port. The max total bandwidth is 10 Gbps but at least all the ports are 10 Gbps.

I don't think bandwidth is an issue since you won't be using multiple devices at the same time? Reading and writing use separate lines so you can usually read to one device and write to another at max bandwidth simultaneously.


Thunderbolt docks can usually do two displays.

To do 3 displays requires one display to be connected using DisplayLink. An eGPU would also be an option but is not supported by M1 Macs.

Dude, you’re a wealth of info on Thunderbolt. Thanks for the insight, you’ve cleared up a ton of questions for me (a guy moving to MacBook/Thunderbolt/Logic with zero experience on Macs)

Cheers…
 
  • Like
Reactions: fleks
I'm currently ducking the DELL Thunderbolt 3 Docking solution, it's pretty good. Currently hooked up to a Huawei Mateview and a 21:9 Ultrawide display.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chevron
Anyone tried the Kensington SD5750T(https://www.cdw.com/product/kensing...derbolt-4-3-x-thunderbolt-gi/6732279?pfm=srh#) that comes with 180w for Macbook Pro Max? I have 3 Display Monitors and Macbook display(Totally 4 screens) with my current MBP 13" 2019. I have ordered M1 Macbook Pro Max 16" and yet to receive it. I currently use startech dock and i do have TS3 Plus as well. I was curious to check whether Thunderbolt4 dock would be better for new MBP?
 
So whats everyone’s favorite dock? And what is the minimum Wattage i should get for 16 inch Max since the included MagSafe is 140W?
 
So whats everyone’s favorite dock? And what is the minimum Wattage i should get for 16 inch Max since the included MagSafe is 140W?
Well most Docks using TB4 are hard to find, I currently got a TB4 Dock from DELL but costed me around 300€.

A mate of mine got the Calldigit one and he’s happy with it but paid a whopping 400€
 
Well most Docks using TB4 are hard to find, I currently got a TB4 Dock from DELL but costed me around 300€.

A mate of mine got the Calldigit one and he’s happy with it but paid a whopping 400€


I just took delivery of an OWC ThunderBolt 4 Dock, 300 Euros too from the Europe store. A lot fo ports mind...

I will report back once I have tested it out :)
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.