Will be getting a Pro 12.9 2021 next Friday! Coming from an Ipad Pro 10.5 (which has served me well) so I'm excited about the upgrade. I'm not too familiar with Thunderbolt however. What exactly should I stock up with? Should I buy a Thunderbolt 3 USB C-Hub? I see some cheap ones on Amazon and some more expensive ones. I'm looking to hook up the Ipad to a monitor using HDMI, load the occasional SD Card, and hook up an external hard drive as needed. I'm confused about the charging as well- one hub I see on amazon says it will charge at 100 Watts; will that work with the Ipad (or is it even needed)? Thanks!
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iPad Pro Thunderbolt newbie - hub? Power?
- Thread starter paapplefan
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You need to buy a thunderbolt dock only if you plan to drive a thunderbolt monitor or several 4k monitors at the same time, which I guess you don't.
Or if you want to use Thunderbolt drives, which a very expensive.
Otherwise a USB C hub will be more than enough.
Beware of some cheap hubs claiming to be "Thunderbolt compatible" or similar things, they are just USB C hubs.... The real ones are not cheap...
Also, if you ever buy a TB drive, some drives are TB only so won't work with non TB devices, while others can fall back on USB C. You need to check before buying and it's not always clear.
All USB C drives will work with TB devices. USB C drives are not all equal.
Some are gen 1, up to 5Gb/s, some are gen 2, up to 10Gb/s, some are gen 2X2, up to 20Gb/s (Thunderbolt is up to 40Gb/s). Forget USB 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 naming, it doesn't matter, gen 1, 2 and 2x2 is what matters.
Or if you want to use Thunderbolt drives, which a very expensive.
Otherwise a USB C hub will be more than enough.
Beware of some cheap hubs claiming to be "Thunderbolt compatible" or similar things, they are just USB C hubs.... The real ones are not cheap...
Also, if you ever buy a TB drive, some drives are TB only so won't work with non TB devices, while others can fall back on USB C. You need to check before buying and it's not always clear.
All USB C drives will work with TB devices. USB C drives are not all equal.
Some are gen 1, up to 5Gb/s, some are gen 2, up to 10Gb/s, some are gen 2X2, up to 20Gb/s (Thunderbolt is up to 40Gb/s). Forget USB 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 naming, it doesn't matter, gen 1, 2 and 2x2 is what matters.
That helps. Thanks! So if I want to just hook up one 4K monitor a usb c hub will be fine it sounds like.
