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

TMDR

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
10
50
Currently I have two 1080p displays hooked up to my 15" rMBP, both with MiniDisplay-HDMI converters. All of the ports on the left side are in use, which takes me some time to pull out or fumble in again when leaving or reconnecting. A nice solution seams the new OWC Thunderbolt dock, leaving me with only two cables to (dis)connect; power and one thunderbolt cable to the dock. Finally a mature dock. Plus I kind of want the ethernet connection to pass 180 mbit/s..

Now the only question is: can this dock hook up one display to the HDMI port while simultaniously give pixel bits through the MiniDisplay port (well, you know, the thunderbolt port). The website for the Belkin dock states that this is not possible with their dock, but I was hoping that this is possible with this mature new dock. Couldn't find it on the OWC promotional page. Am I blind?

Thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,422
4,390
Delaware
Yes, the OWC information is sparse, and not too clear on that point.
OWC has pretty good tech support, so you could email them and ask your more specific question.
But, the unit is not available for sale yet (other than pre-sale), so any specs when it starts to actually ship might be different (and could be better than you see now - could happen!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch

TMDR

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
10
50
One has to be a Thunderbolt Display. See the comments in their blog:
http://blog.macsales.com/27663-owc-...-supporting-connectivity-for-up-to-78-devices

Thanks for the quick reply. Haven't found that comment on Google.

Too bad that this won't do the trick for me. Does anybody know why none of the docks currently support this feature? Should be pretty straighforward if you ask me. Twice 1080p over one thunderbolt cable is possible, I'm sure because daisy chaning is supported, 20Gbit is more than enough for that. I'm really not getting this..
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,359
276
NH
Display port protocol over Thunderbolt is different than data. One can only have one display per lane (may be a Mac computer constraint), so if they put two TBDP-HDMI converters in the dock, you would lose the daisy chain, the dock would need to be the last in the chain.

You can put a graphics card in a TB expansion chassis and run how many displays as you like. Those that have several displays, or need more GPU performance, do this.

Dunno if you can add two docks, daisy chain them, and use each to drive a different display.
 

TMDR

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
10
50
Understand that only one display port monitor could be connected, but is the HDMI port converted to MP? That seems not logical to me. That would also mean that if the HDMI port is connected, the dock will automatically be the last device in the chain, so why would they even bother having the HDMI port on the dock?
 

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
3,031
Display port protocol over Thunderbolt is different than data. One can only have one display per lane (may be a Mac computer constraint), so if they put two TBDP-HDMI converters in the dock, you would lose the daisy chain, the dock would need to be the last in the chain.
If you don't have any TB devices to regularly unplug, what speaks against putting the dock at the end of the TB chain? And I also don't understand why one shouldn't be able to put another TB device behind the dock and then a put a (m)DP display at the end. The point of TB is daisy-chaining and putting a DP display at the end of a TB chain.
 

chobochobo

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2017
10
5
I just got stuff from OWC, two thunderbay 4s and a thunderbolt 2 dock. I can confirm that the dock works with an Apple cinema display attached to the thunderbolt of the dock, and a second display attached to the HDMI of my 2015 MBP - it won't work if you plug it into the HDMI of the dock.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagooch
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.