Peripheral connections for new 15" MBP

[sparkie7]

In my specific use case I have the 15" w/ 4 ports and the TS3 Lite (which pushes no power. Well; five or so watts). So I was ok with "losing" a TB3 port (which would have been dedicated to charging anyway) to "gain" another USB-C port on the TS3 lite.

Yeah, ok. So you use two ports out of your 4. One for the OEM Apple adapter + one for the TS3 Lite.

I like the TS3 in that it can charge at 85W and I only use one port. But those to eSATA ports are of no use to me
[doublepost=1505886465][/doublepost]

OK so I went ahead and ordered the OWC dock...

You have a MBP 15". So what are you going to do with the charging aspect. Use the  OEM charger on a second port?

 

[shansoft]

Great, thank you for confirming what I've said! If you charge for 15 minutes, use it, charge it again, use it, and so on, the cycle only counts as full when you end up using 100% of the capacity. It does not matter how many times you charge it. This was in response to your statement:

That being said, in every-day usage, if you were to use a charging capacity lower than 85W, your battery would charge, discharge, and charge again more frequently. That is a fact. This would inevitably lead to increased battery charge cycles versus someone who used a full-power solution.

charge cycle is not everything.

I have seen so many Macbook Pro 15" using 13" charger and couldn't keep up with charging speed under heavy load, ended with less than 100 cycle charging / less than 70% of battery capacity in less than a year.

This is due to the fact that it couldn't keep up with the system demand on power and starting to drain and charge the battery constantly. This will also heat up the battery.

Hence why people need to stop buying 60w charging connector for 15", you only gonna end up killing your computer.

 

[killawat]

Yeah, ok. So you use two ports out of your 4. One for the OEM Apple adapter + one for the TS3 Lite.

I like the TS3 in that it can charge at 85W and I only use one port. But those to eSATA ports are of no use to me

Well, you could rationalize it like this, the TS3 Lite is $200 on Amazon (I've seen it as low as $180, which is a great price BTW), the TS3 Full is $300, an Apple 85w charger is ~ $75 dollars once you add it all up the additional cables that aren't included. I personally think the eSATA ports are, um, antiquated in this day and age, but I understand the usage scenario (just like people would scoff at my Firewire usage in 2017). Maybe they'll make a new version in the future with the same form factor (which is great) but doesn't include the eSATA.

I was also concerned about the first round of these power delivery systems. Sending 85W over the same wire as a 40 Gbps connection seemed like voodoo at the time (still does some days), but now that everything is out in the wild it looks good. Lots of good options today.

 

[sparkie7]

I personally think the eSATA ports are, um, antiquated in this day and age, but I understand the usage scenario (just like people would scoff at my Firewire usage in 2017).

The irony is that I do have at least six FW drives. But not a single eSATA ! WTH, if the TS3 dock had two FW ports instead of eSATA I would have ordered it by now

 

[ZapNZs]

OK so I went ahead and ordered the OWC dock...and I currently have 2 Dell U2412 displays that I would like to connect to my new 2017 15" MBP (via the OWC dock)...I already have a DP->mDP adapter so I can use that for one of the monitors...for the 2nd display, I've been using a DVI->HDMI cable to hook up to my 2012 MBP...so do I now need a DVI->TB3 adapter? Or DP->TB3 adapter? I don't know much about these various hook-ups, so some advice would be appreciated...thanks!
[doublepost=1505884555][/doublepost]Maybe this is what I want/need?

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21607

A VGA option would be good because there are situations where I will need to connect my computer to a projector that has VGA but not HDMI...

For the second monitor, you should be able to just use a USB-C --> DisplayPort cable?
IMO, if running dual displays on a 15, it's definitely worth using the OEM charger to ensure the system has sufficient power.

 

[Macinthelou]

Received the OWC dock today!

The provided TB3 cable is 0.5M, but I would like a slightly longer cable.

I found this from Monoprice:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24720

Do I need/want 60W vs 100W? Does it make a difference?

Thanks!

 

[killawat]

Received the OWC dock today!

The provided TB3 cable is 0.5M, but I would like a slightly longer cable.

I found this from Monoprice:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24720

Do I need/want 60W vs 100W? Does it make a difference?

Thanks!

I would personally skip that one. Does not say if it is certified on there.

I assume it is but, no reason to when most other vendors will tell you if its certified. I like monoprice kit , but there are so many other players in the TB3 space (CalDigit, Cable Matters, Startech, Pluggable) .

 

[Macinthelou]

For the second monitor, you should be able to just use a USB-C --> DisplayPort cable?
IMO, if running dual displays on a 15, it's definitely worth using the OEM charger to ensure the system has sufficient power.

So I just tried to connect my two external displays (Dell U2412M) and the one with a USB-C->DP connection is working just fine...however, the 2nd display with a mDP->DP connection is not working properly...at first, I could get both displays to connect, but then the 2nd one started blinking and then went black...now I can't get it to display at all...any ideas what's going on? (I did hook up the MBP separately with the OEM charger).

Thanks!

 

[Freyqq]

I just ordered a new 15" MBP and need some advice as to the best way (i.e. which specific adapters to buy) to make the following connections):

1) Power adapter
2) Ethernet connection (I currently have a TB->ethernet adapter)
3) USB2-external HDD (used for Time Machine)
4) Dell U2412M display (have DP as well as HDMI cables available)
5) 2nd Dell U2412M display (have DP as well HDMI cables available)
6) Need a spare USB ports for iPhone, flash drive, etc...

Since there are a total of 4 TB3 ports, how can I make this all work?

Thanks!

Those docks are expensive. You can just buy 2 dp to USB c adapters, a USB A to USB C cable, a USB 3 dock, and a USB Ethernet adapter. All of those total well under $100 usd.