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OWC's 14 Port Thunderbolt 3 Dock Now Available for Purchase

Emanuel Rodriguez said:
I am aware of far more use cases than that, yet it still doesn't change the fact that 99% of users will not do any of these things. It wouldn't make sense to include 10Gb networking in a product meant for the mass market, yet.

Also, CAT 6a cabling is on the more expensive side of the passive cabling world. Not quite STP levels, and certainly can't hold a candle to fiber, but the additional cost definitely adds up after awhile. If you don't need it, don't pay for it. A good motto for life.
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Maybe, but they soon will when 4K is superseded by 8K (screens are just hitting the top-end now, and organisations like NHK in Japan are broadcasting it in a couple of months), and transferring even a few compressed video files will take ages at just a GbE speed, when file sizes will still be relatively large.

And no, cat 6A is cheap these days, even cat 7 is becoming cheap too. So if you're remodelling your home/office it'd be absolutely crazy not to install it as a minimum over cat 5/e.
[doublepost=1542165185][/doublepost]Still prefer the Caldigit TS3+, with its DP port and full 10Gb USB-C port. As full DP is more common and is easier to convert to mDP or HDMI with v. cheap adapters.
 
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jimthing said:
Maybe, but they soon will when 4K is superseded by 8K (screens are just hitting the top-end now, and organisations like NHK in Japan are broadcasting it in a couple of months), and transferring even a few compressed video files will take ages at just a GbE speed, when file sizes will still be relatively large.
[doublepost=1542165185][/doublepost]Still prefer the Caldigit TS3+, with its DP port and full 10Gb USB-C port. As full DP is more common and is easier to convert to mDP or HDMI with v. cheap adapters.
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I believe you're overestimating how much bandwidth 8K actually needs. Some say about 100Mb, some say more. Either way, it should definitely be just fine with a gigabit connection. Or, do you mean transferring actual movie files? Well, very very few people do that sort of thing anymore. Today, most people stream their content over the internet. They don't have to transfer entire video files, they just need enough bandwidth to transfer ~30 frames of that video file in one second, which isn't much. Again, gigabit will be more than enough for that.
 
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i just bought the 13 port one last week, im gonna return it for the 14 port one, wish i would have waited!
 
twistedpixel8 said:
What makes these so expensive? I’m just curious but it seems that anything TB3 has something a bit like “Apple Tax” applied. I get that it’s very fast, but damn: 10x the price fast?
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Is there a non-Thunderbolt 3 dock that’s comparable at 1/10th the cost? Most of the decent USB-C alternatives with charging and a lot of ports are around half the cost with A LOT less power.

Also Pluggable makes an excellent TB3 dock that’s about $75 cheaper than the OWC model. The main thing you lose is the 8Gbps USB-C port. I run a bunch at my office and they charge and can run a pair of 4K monitors.

I believe there is still (or was until recently) royalties paid to Intel that bumped the price. It’s also a more complex technology and is still generally aimed at professionals (which means markups by default).
 
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It's not just royalties, Intel makes the chips.

Still waiting for TB on AMD.
 
I have the previous version of this dock without the gen 2 port and micro SD in front. There are two things I didn't like about it:
1) the power brick is seriously huge, twice as thick as the dock itself;
2) the 3.5mm jack is just a copy of the one on a modern Mac, that is a TRRS jack with one contact for mono mic (for older iPhone earbuds with mic), I was expecting dedicated aux in and out combo, more importantly with stereo input.
 
It's near the end of 2018 and still no one has made just a simple USB-C to USB-C hub. I want to expand my USB-C ports I don't want to convert them to silly USB-A ports.

Also where are all the Thunderbolt 3 to 10Gb adapters?
 
Great, but why not more than two Thunderbolt 3 ports? It would be great to have more. With two, you use one to connect to the Mac, leaving only one free. So, you end up with the same number of free Thunderbolt 3 ports (two).
 
big deal, how do i connect my mac mini to mac-book air in elcapitan again?works flawlessly in mpuntain lion, and just yesterday, never mind, some remote login admin mid-manager was toggled on
[doublepost=1542199612][/doublepost]does the OWC hub include an eOMFG$ in the 40 watt range?
[doublepost=1542199737][/doublepost]
dannys1 said:
It's near the end of 2018 and still no one has made just a simple USB-C to USB-C hub. I want to expand my USB-C ports I don't want to convert them to silly USB-A ports.

Also where are all the Thunderbolt 3 to 10Gb adapters?
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why doncha make one yourself? you seem handy, innovated and just. Your signature impressed me with them apples.
 
Still prefer the Caldigit TS3+, with its full size DP port, 2x USB-C ports (one at full bandwidth 10Gb), and separate audio in+out ports. Full size DP is more common and is therefore easier to convert to mDP/HDMI/VGA with very cheap adapters.

For comparison:

Caldigit has... http://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-3-dock/thunderbolt-station-3-plus/index-uk.asp
extra: USB-C gen.1 port + audio IN+OUTs. Also option of horizontal or vertical orientation.

OWC has... https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG
extra: microSD slot.

different: 10Gb [Caldigit] vs. 8Gb [OWC] USB-C gen.2 / DP [Caldigit] vs. mDP [OWC].

So...
Micro SD to SD adapters are cheap and everywhere, and the OWC shares SD/mSD chipset (so only one can be used at a time anyway), so really that's a moot addition. The Caldigit has the 2 extra ports (USB-C g.1 + audio in/outs), faster 10Gb USB-C g.2, and both orientations, so really that would be better AFAICT, given price is similar.

OWC also has simply awful international distribution too. They don't seem to think the non-US world even exists! Sort it out.
Trust me, I've tried buying their stuff here in the UK easily, and most of it simply isn't readily available, on Amazon (especially without an importer marking the price up heavily!) or anywhere else. Caldigit operates international sites and Amazon sales, so one can buy locally in local currency easily.
 
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jimthing said:
Still prefer the Caldigit TS3+, with its full size DP port, 2x USB-C ports (one at full bandwidth 10Gb), and separate audio in+out ports. Full size DP is more common and is therefore easier to convert to mDP/HDMI/VGA with very cheap adapters.

For comparison:

Caldigit has... http://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-3-dock/thunderbolt-station-3-plus/index-uk.asp
extra: USB-C gen.1 port + audio IN+OUTs.

OWC has... https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG
extra: microSD slot.

different: 10Gb [Caldigit] vs. 8Gb [OWC] USB-C gen.2 / DP [Caldigit] vs. mDP [OWC].

So...
Micro SD to SD adapters are cheap and everywhere, and the OWC shares SD/mSD chipset (so only one can be used at a time anyway), so really that's a moot addition. The Caldigit has the 2 extra ports (USB-C g.1 + audio in/outs) and faster 10Gb USB-C g.2, so really that would be better AFAICT.
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Don't confuse the USB Type-C port with the protocols it supports. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 protocol is what offers the 10Gb/s speeds. In fact, some early USB Type-C ports could only do USB 2.0, although that was rare. USB Type-C has no speed. If you put Thunderbolt over it, you can do up to 40Gb/s speeds. If you put USB over it, you can do up to 10Gb/s speeds. If you put DisplayPort over it... etc.
[doublepost=1542207120][/doublepost]
jimthing said:
Maybe, but they soon will when 4K is superseded by 8K (screens are just hitting the top-end now, and organisations like NHK in Japan are broadcasting it in a couple of months), and transferring even a few compressed video files will take ages at just a GbE speed, when file sizes will still be relatively large.

And no, cat 6A is cheap these days, even cat 7 is becoming cheap too. So if you're remodelling your home/office it'd be absolutely crazy not to install it as a minimum over cat 5/a.
[doublepost=1542165185][/doublepost]Still prefer the Caldigit TS3+, with its DP port and full 10Gb USB-C port. As full DP is more common and is easier to convert to mDP or HDMI with v. cheap adapters.
Click to expand...
Still, 5e is cheaper. For a home user, there is no reason to spend any extra money on 6a, when 5e will do just fine. 5e is actually capable of up to 5Gb speeds, further proving my point. Obviously, horizontal runs should all be 6a, but that's just because installing runs is expensive, and they're used primarily in business environments, so you want to future-proof them.
 
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Emanuel Rodriguez said:
Don't confuse the USB Type-C port with the protocols it supports. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 protocol is what offers the 10Gb/s speeds. In fact, some early USB Type-C ports could only do USB 2.0, although that was rare. USB Type-C has no speed. If you put Thunderbolt over it, you can do up to 40Gb/s speeds. If you put USB over it, you can do up to 10Gb/s speeds. If you put DisplayPort over it... etc.
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I haven't confused anything, so stop trying to muddy my words. Nothing you said is relevant to my comparison comment above.

The Caldigit has two USB-C's (1x 10Gb + 1x 5Gb), in addition to the 2x TB3's. The end.
 
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jimthing said:
I haven't confused anything, so stop trying to muddy my words. Nothing you said is relevant to my comment above.

The Caldigit has two USB-C's (1x 10Gb + 1x 5Gb), in addition to the 2x TB3's. The end.
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Nope. My point is that Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB Type-C port as well, which a lot of people even in the industry have confused.
 
Should add, seemingly neither one supports displays over USB-C connection either – though OWC's specs doesn't make it clear (meaning it's highly unlikely).

Wonder when these apparent 5K vanilla USB-C displays are gonna arrive, given Apple said the new iPad Pros can "even connect to a 5K at 60Hz" at their recent keynote? The iPads are vanilla USB-C (10Gb) rather than TB3 (40Gb), so this was an interesting point they made, as no 5K USB-C (non-TB3) displays even exist.
 
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Emanuel Rodriguez said:
I am aware of far more use cases than that, yet it still doesn't change the fact that 99% of users will not do any of these things. It wouldn't make sense to include 10Gb networking in a product meant for the mass market, yet.

Also, CAT 6a cabling is on the more expensive side of the passive cabling world. Not quite STP levels, and certainly can't hold a candle to fiber, but the additional cost definitely adds up after awhile. If you don't need it, don't pay for it. A good motto for life.
Click to expand...

10GbE (and 2.5 & 5GbE) on RJ45 plugs is already with us. The iMP has it, the new Mac mini can have it and many a NAS system now has it. Nobody is that keen on pushing media files around a network at spinning rust speeds.

The Cat6A standard is also misunderstood. To pass the length and interference testing it is essential in order to provide reliable performance in an industrial setting. For home offices or small offices regular Cat5E is more than capable of running 10GbE and that puts you back in the SATA SSD speed range for your network. The market is moving away from 1GbE networking.
 
OWC, the ones which will release this monstrosity...

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back-to-back-computersv3_170421_204949.jpg
 
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