That’s a great find! Just as functional as competing docks from the likes of Belkin and OWC at half the price!
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Review: Belkin's $350 Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD Looks Great, but Could Use More Ports
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Yes, just use a USB C to displayport cable for the second monitor.
Far from it. DisplayPort is the preferred protocol for computer monitors. The reason they are better on docks is that it's easier to go from Displayport to HDMI than HDMI to Displayport with adapters. HDMI 1.4 also doesn't support 4K @ 60.
You can thank intel for that. Any TB device requires a license from intel. Getting that licence is slow and expensive, resulting in few TB products, low competition, and high cost.
Intel recently announced they would make TB royalty free, which should at least solve the cost problem. If they also start to certify products faster we should see the cost of such components come down.
I couldn't find an MR story about it, so here's apple insiders take:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...lty-free-for-manufacturers-before-end-of-2017
I have the CD TB2 dock and br it's nice. I keep my 3K monitor, various USB peripherals (keyboard, trackball, iPhone cable, printer) FW and eSATA drives hooked up and then just eject the hub (there's a menu that will disconnect all drives in one action) and be on your way. Also easy to plug in USB thumb drives as needed. The one problem I have is that my car software has a USB key and it doesn't work well with the dock. I have to keep that in the MacBook Pro directly. Mine is a 15" with DVD so I have the ports.
Sorry to burst your balloon but that's a USB-C dock, not a Thunderbolt 3 dock - which is why its half the price of the TB3 docks and a similar price to the Caldigit USB-C dock. You'll notice the difference between USB-C and TB3 when you hook up your 4k, 60Hz display and all the USB ports drop to USB-2 speed... Also, docks that support multiple displays on a PC via DisplayPort MST won't do that on a Mac...
Levovo do have a TB3 dock on offer but its still the thick end of $300 - and they don't deserve to sell any from that useless web page - I had to download the instruction manual to find out the features! Looks like 5 USB connectors, Ethernet, analog audio, 2xDisplayPort, HDMI, VGA and TB3-thru... which is pretty good, but the multiple display connectors are a waste of space for Mac users until Apple supports MST multi-display - until then pick one, and hang your second display off the Thunderbolt-Thru.
A lot of demand for eSATA... what a throwback... 
I had an eSATA hard drive enclosure to use with my previous Windows machine many years ago. But since I only had a single eSATA port on the back of my machine... I had to use USB3 enclosures for future expansion.
And I eventually switched to only using USB3 enclosures. Why?
Because I could keep a few of them plugged in by using a USB3 hub. They all use the same type of cable. I can run a single cable from the computer to the hub.
I remember the promise of eSATA was "full SATA speeds outside your computer!"
And that was certainly needed when external hard drives were slow USB 2.0
But USB 3.0 is more than fast enough for a HDD.
So I'm guessing all of you who want eSATA already have an eSATA enclosure that still works and you don't want to replace.
Because I honestly haven't thought about buying a new eSATA enclosure in years.
I had an eSATA hard drive enclosure to use with my previous Windows machine many years ago. But since I only had a single eSATA port on the back of my machine... I had to use USB3 enclosures for future expansion.
And I eventually switched to only using USB3 enclosures. Why?
Because I could keep a few of them plugged in by using a USB3 hub. They all use the same type of cable. I can run a single cable from the computer to the hub.
I remember the promise of eSATA was "full SATA speeds outside your computer!"
And that was certainly needed when external hard drives were slow USB 2.0
But USB 3.0 is more than fast enough for a HDD.
So I'm guessing all of you who want eSATA already have an eSATA enclosure that still works and you don't want to replace.
Because I honestly haven't thought about buying a new eSATA enclosure in years.
A lot of demand for eSATA... what a throwback...
So I'm guessing all of you who want eSATA already have an eSATA enclosure that still works and you don't want to replace.
Ding ding ding!
Yes, I have an old Lacie Quad that works just fine (I've actually swapped out the hard drive to a bigger one once.) It also has FW 800, so I could have just gone with the OWC, but I prefer the 85W charging of the Caldigit (and when I bought it it was $200). And hey, eSata is faster than FW 800.
DP is superior to HDMI and continues to be so. DP also supports future resolutions like 5K and 8K.
For HDMI to support 4k @ 60hz, you have to make sure you've got the right cable AND port.
Well the dock isn't a video card. If the monitor itself can handle 4K at 60hz, then I suppose it would be up to the Mac and it's video output.
The executives we've been testing this with don't have 4K monitors as far as I know. But I believe one of them is using it just fine with a 27" Thunderbolt display.
I am using a 4K monitor at home at 60hz and am using a 2016 MBPro USBC-HDMI adapter. It works fine.
They have lower wattage output maybe than the more expensive docks, though. So maybe that means that they won't charge the battery as fast?
I agree. I don't know what people are expecting when they plug a 13inch MBP into dual 4K monitors. My fully loaded 2016 13inch struggles when I connect it to a single 1080p monitor.
That's a bit worrying if true, since i've frequently used a 2010 13" MBP with a 1440p Apple Cinema, and colleagues use MacBook Airs on 1440p without any issues...
Dual 4k off a 13" might be excessive, but the same ports/docks issues apply to 15" MBPs with discrete graphics which should be able to run 2x4k + the internal display in their sleep.
Or people stuck in the past could simply use the computers from that era too, not just the peripherals
The current MB and MBP are for the future so buy those if you want that and don't object to replacing old cables. Sadly these docks are lacking in USB-C ports which is a real shame. It seems that they are not that future proof (and with Thunderbolt 3/USB-C that is very important because these docks can last; no need to buy a new dock when you've bought a new notebook!).
Not to mention that all these Thunderbolt 3 docks are no different than the TB2 and TB1 docks from the same manufacturer. The only thing the manufacturers did is replace TB1/2 with TB3. Shows that most people here have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. If you want to complain about the products then at least know what they are.
Docks can be quite complex, especially the good ones (the ones not being finicky and buggy) which increases cost. The components used adds to the cost as well (PCIe and other high bandwidth stuff isn't cheap). The other thing is that not many people buy them. Most of them are used in businesses and those don't use Macs that much.
Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C should open up things a bit because now suddenly any notebook can take use of them. That makes the dock cheaper from the user/business because they don't have to buy a new one when they switch to a different brand and/or model notebook. These docks also can last for years and years. I have one of the very first Thunderbolt docks (thus TB1) and am still using it with my MBP 2016 without any problems.
For the user these docks also add convenience. You only have to connect/disconnect 1 cable instead of a complete bunch of them ( a big benefit for those switching between desk and elsewhere often during the day). The desk doesn't get messy, cables don't get tangled and no messing about what cable goes where (some people have difficulty with that). That alone can be worth the high price of docking stations.
Btw, Intel is dropping the licensing fees and opening up Thunderbolt. That should create a surge in Thunderbolt products whilst also lowering prices a bit.
Pre-order the CalDigit TS3 dock, it comes with 2 of 'm.
You'd already be using a power supply for charging the notebook, the dock gives you another one so you can keep that at your desk and the other in your bag. The one thing the dock does and those internal ports don't is (dis)connect all of the peripherals with a single connector.
The old port arrangement is also a lot of waste. You only get a mere 2 USB ports while in fact almost all of the peripherals are USB which means you have to go out and buy a USB hub. Now you also want something at your desk to power the notebook as well as something for along the way and thus you buy another power adapter which you cannot use with anything else because it uses a proprietary port. You could also buy a TB1 or TB2 dock instead so you only have to connect that in order to connect all the peripherals plus the additional power supply which means taking up 2 sockets instead of 1 and thus you need yet another additional tool to accomplish the job.
Having 4 USB ports, a power adapter that uses a universal available connector and a dock that can both connect and power the notebook are far less of a waste here. Users need not worry about cables and connectors, it is something we need to get to ASAP. The only way we can accomplish that is by doing it, no one has gotten anywhere by doing nothing.
Yes but like all the current USB-C docks that will come at a cost: the other USB ports will be USB2.0 speeds since all these USB-C docks are only USB3.0/3.1 Gen 1 (=max 5Gbps). That's simply too little for 4k @ 60Hz and USB3.0. Thunderbolt 3 docks do not have this limitation.
Yeah, I'll admit that I haven't bought a display in a long time. But why did Apple keep putting Mini Displayports on their Macs? I guess they're more compact, but I guess I just assumed that after the mini version came out they just went with that instead of the bigger port, along with HDMI for people who use that.
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I see. Those are good reasons. Please see what I wrote above? Don't get why they use the full size.
I don't know why, maybe it's more common? I would have preferred mini DisplayPort myself. IMO, there's no reason for full size to exist with mini DP available.
In the pre-Thunderbolt era it was due to compactness (it's why they developed it) but when Thunderbolt came out they put it in because Intel used it as the official Thunderbolt connector. As of Thunderbolt 3 they've changed it for the more universal USB-C.
Or people stuck in the past could simply use the computers from that era too, not just the peripherals
The current MB and MBP are for the future so buy those if you want that and don't object to replacing old cables. Sadly these docks are lacking in USB-C ports which is a real shame. It seems that they are not that future proof (and with Thunderbolt 3/USB-C that is very important because these docks can last; no need to buy a new dock when you've bought a new notebook!).
Not to mention that all these Thunderbolt 3 docks are no different than the TB2 and TB1 docks from the same manufacturer. The only thing the manufacturers did is replace TB1/2 with TB3. Shows that most people here have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. If you want to complain about the products then at least know what they are.
Docks can be quite complex, especially the good ones (the ones not being finicky and buggy) which increases cost. The components used adds to the cost as well (PCIe and other high bandwidth stuff isn't cheap). The other thing is that not many people buy them. Most of them are used in businesses and those don't use Macs that much.
Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C should open up things a bit because now suddenly any notebook can take use of them. That makes the dock cheaper from the user/business because they don't have to buy a new one when they switch to a different brand and/or model notebook. These docks also can last for years and years. I have one of the very first Thunderbolt docks (thus TB1) and am still using it with my MBP 2016 without any problems.
For the user these docks also add convenience. You only have to connect/disconnect 1 cable instead of a complete bunch of them ( a big benefit for those switching between desk and elsewhere often during the day). The desk doesn't get messy, cables don't get tangled and no messing about what cable goes where (some people have difficulty with that). That alone can be worth the high price of docking stations.
Btw, Intel is dropping the licensing fees and opening up Thunderbolt. That should create a surge in Thunderbolt products whilst also lowering prices a bit.
Over two years with the retina MacBook employed in a professional role, yet to see a single peripheral that can natively connect to USB C, across numerous facilities and multiple countries. It might be the future, equally still very far off in the real world
Oddly some of us actually use our portable computers in a portable role, therefor controlling the computing environment is a tad difficult. MBP's previous port set up remains to be relevant and highly so, by the time USB C gains the same levels of utilisation your beloved 2016 MBP will be well and truly outdated. Smarter manufacturers are bolstering the port selection by the addition of USB C/TB-3, Apple simply castrating their notebooks for many.
At the very least Apple should have been in a position to offer a suitable USB C/TB-3 dock at launch, unfortunately looks like they were too busy picking door handles for the new office
priorities and all. So much looking forward to more of Tim & Co procrastinating once again on how Apple values it's professional community, so clearly obvious by the piss poor state of the Mac in 2017...FWIW over 20 years with the Mac, now I'am making the money on Microsoft's hardware, which speaks volumes...
Q-6
That's because you simply refuse to look. I've seen too many smartphones, external disks, displays and all sorts of cables that connect to USB-C and I didn't even try to look for them. The frontpage here alone is enough for that.Over two years with the retina MacBook employed in a professional role, yet to see a single peripheral that can natively connect to USB C, across numerous facilities and multiple countries. It might be the future, equally still very far off in the real world
Yeah and most of us who do just that don't find any issues with it. You're not the only one in a professional role with an enormous amount of Macs with USB-C around you. In my case it's not limited to Macs, we have Dells too. Due to that we are standardising around USB-C. Every adapter we buy is able to work on both devices and that saves us money. And adapter we have to buy, even with those Dells that come with all the other ports you want and thus those ports do not solve anything. We still have to use adapters to connect to displays, beamers and ethernet.
And catering to others, hence the good sales figures. This is just what every company on the planet does because it is impossible to cater whatever you offer to everybody on the planet.
Intel should have done a proper job with the certification process and Texas Instruments shouldn't have messed up the TI82 chip in the first place. If they would have done a proper job then we'd have plenty of Thunderbolt 3 devices out already at launch time instead of this month. Because it is Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C there is no need for Apple to be coming out with a docking solution. Anyone can do it and by the looks of it, they do.
Yeah, it says that you are from the past. Since 7 years ago, the world has been moving from software on clients back to it being on servers. It used to be called server based computing but now they named it cloud computing and things like Software as a Service (SaaS). Great thing about that is that you can run it on the worlds most used and sold computing device: the smartphone. All you need is a web browser. And for some something like SSH or RDP/ICA. The operating system no longer matters nor does the hardware on the infrastructure side of things.
We now live in a world where we can use the computer we like, not the one we have to use because else the software doesn't work.
It may work for you, and others, equally it also fails to work for many, myself being one. As for being locked in to the past you have no idea of the workflow at hand or the technology involved, safe to say it exceeds Apple's consumer grade notebooks by magnitudes. From the past just laughing at you, making judgements yet you have no clue of the specific usage, workflows or the revenue generated by the enormous number of three notebooks I utilise for my consulting business...
Not against USB C/TB-3 just as a sole implementation, not the brightest of ideas outside of the Ultra portable lines...
Q-6
