Retiring the MP5,1 and using my MBA M1 in a USB-C docked setup. Advice welcome.

[Angelus]

Hi there,

I'm really hoping that the group can advise on my specific use case.
Current computers:
-Heavily upgraded MP 5,1 with oodles of RAM, 2TB SSDs and running Monterey on Opencore.
-MBA M1 with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD

I've owned the 5,1 for about 10+ years now and it's been tremendously fun/satisfying to keep it running all of this time. It used to be my primary machine for home stuff/gaming/photography/general life admin etc. It's attached to a Dell 24" display with a Logitech C910 webcam and I use an older Apple Pro keyboard and Magic Mouse gen 1.It has multiple internal drives and these are used to maintain a bootable Mojave set-up (for Opencore) and internal backups.

I bought my MBA last year and as both are signed into iCloud and the MBA has a 2TB drive it has become my primary usage machine. I don't play games much anymore and I don't really have the time to do the Opencore thing on a regular basis. I also could do without the stress/worry that I'll screw up the Opencore settings or break my Mac Pro with a software update. I also don't want to be stuck with this machine on Monterey and would like my Macs to be able to access all security updates and keep up with my iPad/iPhone and all the new features the iOS/iPadOS updates introduce.

My wife doesn't use computers much but when she does need to do taxes/continuing professional development she uses the Mac Pro. She has voiced that she would like to have a laptop for cooking recipes/listening to her music and basically not being tethered to the office desktop. My wife's requirements are very low in terms of power and storage and a local store has an MBA M1 256GB on special which would suit her needs fine.

Now this is an example of the cart being in front of the horse but I found a Brydge vertical dock for pretty cheap this week and so now I'm thinking that I'll retire the Mac Pro and use a USB-C docking set-up that would allow both my wife and I to have access to a "desktop" if needed.

I'm not very familiar with USB-C docking etc so this is new territory to me but does this make sense to the community as a workable option?
-Buy a dock such as the Caldigit TS3 Plus and attach my monitor, keyboard and webcam to the Caldigit
-Plug the Caldigit into the Brydge stand port 1
-Remove my drives from the Mac Pro, put them in an enclosure and attach that to the Brydge stand port 2.

I'm assuming then that my wife and I could dock the MBAs as needed and when attached use the external SSDs for time machine back-ups etc. I've read the Caldigit doesn't have a power button so I'm not sure if keeping external drives plugged into that is a good idea long term.

Sorry for the long post. I'd appreciate anyones input. Regarding particular devices, brands models, I've searched for reviews of many and there are not many locally available in New Zealand aside from the Caldigit. Ideally I'd rather buy in country so I don't have to worry about power adapters etc.

 

[ilikewhey]

you basically described my old setup, i was using a caldigit dock with an m1 mba, the only thing i can think of was the initial jack in period and monitor detecting the signal took like couple seconds longer than i liked. other then that it was a pretty flawless setup.

 

[Angelus]

you basically described my old setup, i was using a caldigit dock with an m1 mba, the only thing i can think of was the initial jack in period and monitor detecting the signal took like couple seconds longer than i liked. other then that it was a pretty flawless setup.

That’s really valuable information, thank you.

With the Caldigit, would it keep any external disks spinning even if the MBA was not docked? I’m a bit unclear as to whether it powers connected peripherals 24/7 or only if connected to the MBA.

 

[NeonNights]

The Brydge looked nice but didn't seem to save much space due to the wide base. I picked up a cheap vertical stand instead to hold up an M1 MBA, 13 MBP, and M1 iPad Pro 12.9. I use a CalDigit SOHO to connect the MBA to a 4K TV and it works great.

I have only connected a single external SSD at any given time and it stays "connected/available" because I set the MBA to turn off the display when idle but never sleeps while connected to power. I still need to tap the keyboard to "wake" the connection between MBA and TV but that only takes a couple of seconds.

 

[ilikewhey]

That’s really valuable information, thank you.

With the Caldigit, would it keep any external disks spinning even if the MBA was not docked? I’m a bit unclear as to whether it powers connected peripherals 24/7 or only if connected to the MBA.

are you referring to ssd or hard drives, either way when the tb is not jacked in to the mba the disk just sits idle. but you have to manually eject them every time you plug out regardless.

 

[Angelus]

I'll probably have at least one of my two 2TB SSDs attached and then I have another few hard drives from the MP bays I could use also.
My wife's not very tech savvy so I'll just need to remind her to eject them when she's done.

 

[brookter1]

I'll probably have at least one of my two 2TB SSDs attached and then I have another few hard drives from the MP bays I could use also.
My wife's not very tech savvy so I'll just need to remind her to eject them when she's done.

You can download a program from CalDigit which allows you to click to eject all attached drives at once - keep it in the menu bar as a reminder…

 

[dickiedunn]

Interesting post as I’m in the exact same boat. Migrating from my cMP 5,1 to a M2 MBA. I found an inexpensive TB 4 dock on another thread that seems to work ok. My issue is I can’t seem to find a way to run two monitors. Are you runnning dual displays? I think that is a limitation of the M1 and M2 MBA but I thought there might be a workaround. I have a new Apple Studio Display that is great, but I want to ideally add my old 30” Cinema Display as a 2nd monitor. I’ve got all the adapters to get it to work through the display port on the dock but it won’t work simultaneously while the studio display is plugged in via the thunderbolt port.

 

[Angelus]

Glad to hear I’m not the only one. Feeling very torn about my Mac Pro as I’ve put a lot of time and energy into keeping it going and it was great fun in the process.

Im just using a single Dell 24” display. I’ll probably just stick with a single display but may upgrade the size. At this stage I the Caldigit TS3 Plus I’d where’s it at for a dock and I’m still researching enclosures for my spinning hard disks and SSDs. I’d like something that’s stylish and has a few bays as I have two 4TB mechanical drives and two 2TB SSDs.

 

[dickiedunn]

Ha, I’m with you brother. I love the form factor of my 2012 cMP 5,1. I’ve updated it and it runs great, if only I could get the recent security updates without having to mess without all the OpenCore shoobie doo. I just love that form factor with everything internal. It’s so neat, without all the dongles and cables. Anyway, I’m looking at external storage options too. I moved a Samsung 970 Evo plus I had inside my cMP to an Acasis TB enclosure and it’s pretty fast. I need to find a good 4 TB solution though for my main data drive. I’m considering just going with SSD vs NVME as it seems fast enough for my needs and I’m looking for reliability. My big issue right now is how to get two monitors connected to a MBA. If I were to purchase again, I would have gone with a MBP or now a Mac Mini just for the multiple monitor support. I didn’t do my research when I bought the MBA and didn’t realize it only support one monitors.

 

[Angelus]

I think I’m happy with my MBA M1 purchase. Two monitors would be a luxury for my usage.

After more research, I’m now trying to decide now between a monitor hub and a dedicated hub.