USB-C *HUB* With drives?

[Kaitlyn2004]

Just got my new MacBook Pro and trying to figure out my dock/hub setup for "desktop mode".

I was looking at Thunderbolt Docks, but am thinking I can and should be able to get away with just a USB-C Hub instead with a slightly modified setup. I do mostly photo editing.

Through the USB-C hub I would expect to connect:

- PD to laptop
- 1x 4K 27" monitor (DP or HDMI)
- Logitech USB receiver
- External 8TB 3.5" HDD
- 3.5mm out to speakers
- Open to card reader, otherwise happy to use laptop's
- I will probably occasionally also plug in another drive (maybe SSD or 3.5") for backups (I separately have a NAS+offsite backup already)

I also have my lightroom catalog+working photos on a portable NVMe SSD. I would think I would plug this in directly to my laptop - I don't need it all the time, and when I plug it in for "photo editing sessions", I might as well also maximize that 40gbps speed... even if it's not entirely necessary

All of the above points to, I think, no need for a thunderbolt hub or that max speed? Especially because I am very open to plugging in my fast device separately into laptop directly? I THINK I'm mainly a bit concerned about plugging in drives into a "usb c hub" vs a "thunderbolt dock" - is the connection reliability the same? I would hate for the drive to randomly fall offline or lose connection or whatever and risk data loss.

As I write it out... and figure I must be fairly close to the average user or maybe even above... it has me questioning why so many people are even buying thunderbolt docks? What do they need that I'm not using? (I suppose that fast external nvme drive is one, for sure)

 

[Ben J.]

I have my photos folder on my fastest external drive, together with my music production files. So, internal drive small, containing system, home folder and apps, essentially. Performance around 3000MB/s. Then I have the photo files, music prod stuff etc., things that need speed, on the external, around 1500MB/s. I'm really happy with the LR Classic performance this way. Way better than photos on a ~500MB/s ssd. I keep my LR catalogue on the internal drive, btw.

All things not needing the high speed, like backups, can be connected to a USB3 (~400MB/s) dock just fine.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Just got my new MacBook Pro and trying to figure out my dock/hub setup for "desktop mode".

I was looking at Thunderbolt Docks, but am thinking I can and should be able to get away with just a USB-C Hub instead with a slightly modified setup. I do mostly photo editing.

Through the USB-C hub I would expect to connect:

- PD to laptop
- 1x 4K 27" monitor (DP or HDMI)

Generally speaking, USB hubs don't pass display signals. Those that do, tend to use DisplayLink or similar USB-to-video which is lower quality than normal.

If you want the monitor, it probably has to be Thunderbolt.

Everything else would be fine.

 

[Kaitlyn2004]

Generally speaking, USB hubs don't pass display signals. Those that do, tend to use DisplayLink or similar USB-to-video which is lower quality than normal.

If you want the monitor, it probably has to be Thunderbolt.

Everything else would be fine.

Oh... that's news to me. I feel like I never read (or registered) that detail when reading a number of reviews? The main thing I noticed about hubs is that most only do 4k30

But the Anker 555 for example is often recommended... it does 4k60. But it's not a true display? Is this actually quality drop I would notice?

 

[Kaitlyn2004]

I have my photos folder on my fastest external drive, together with my music production files. So, internal drive small, containing system, home folder and apps, essentially. Performance around 3000MB/s. Then I have the photo files, music prod stuff etc., things that need speed, on the external, around 1500MB/s. I'm really happy with the LR Classic performance this way. Way better than photos on a ~500MB/s ssd. I keep my LR catalogue on the internal drive, btw.

All things not needing the high speed, like backups, can be connected to a USB3 (~400MB/s) dock just fine.

Hmm unless I'm mistaken, a lot of what I read is that having your Photo Library on a "slower" drive doesn't ultimately make a difference? I think the catalog on a faster drive DOES have an impact - but even then I'm not sure about your typical SSD vs NVMe speeds...

I'm planning to keep my catalog (and previews cache) off the internal drive... at least that's the idea for now.

 

[Ben J.]

Hmm unless I'm mistaken, a lot of what I read is that having your Photo Library on a "slower" drive doesn't ultimately make a difference? I think the catalog on a faster drive DOES have an impact - but even then I'm not sure about your typical SSD vs NVMe speeds...

I'm planning to keep my catalog (and previews cache) off the internal drive... at least that's the idea for now.

Well, you shouldn't believe everything you read. There is no question; any media files like RAW photos, hidef video etc, that you want to edit and work with needs to be on your fastest drive. Lo-res video and audio like mp3, wavs, not so much.

 

[joevt]

With a USB-C hub, DisplayPort input is limited to two lanes. If it support DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 then it can do 4K60 at 8bpc but only if the display support HBR3 or if the USB-C hub contains a DisplayPort 1.4 MST hub.

If it includes a DisplayPort 1.4 MST hub with DSC decompression, then it can do nearly up to 4K120. However, some MST hubs cannot decompress 10bpc so you can't do 4K60 10bpc even with DSC. This is a problem with the CalDigit SOHO. I don't know if there's a USB-C dock with MST that can decompress 10bpc.

macOS doesn't support MST for multiple displays but should be able to support MST for DSC decompression.

DSC decompression shouldn't be necessary if the display supports DSC. Such a display could then support 4K 10bpc up to nearly 120 Hz.

HDMI 2.0 is limited to 4K60 8bpc unless chromo subsampling is used. Get a dock with DisplayPort, then you can choose a separate HDMI adapter if you need HDMI.

You can get the capabilities of a MST hub or a DisplayPort display using AllRez (on an Intel Mac) to dump the DPCD info of the DisplayPort device.

 

[Kaitlyn2004]

With a USB-C hub, DisplayPort input is limited to two lanes. If it support DisplayPort 1.4 HBR3 then it can do 4K60 at 8bpc but only if the display support HBR3 or if the USB-C hub contains a DisplayPort 1.4 MST hub.

If it includes a DisplayPort 1.4 MST hub with DSC decompression, then it can do nearly up to 4K120. However, some MST hubs cannot decompress 10bpc so you can't do 4K60 10bpc even with DSC. This is a problem with the CalDigit SOHO. I don't know if there's a USB-C dock with MST that can decompress 10bpc.

macOS doesn't support MST for multiple displays but should be able to support MST for DSC decompression.

DSC decompression shouldn't be necessary if the display supports DSC. Such a display could then support 4K 10bpc up to nearly 120 Hz.

HDMI 2.0 is limited to 4K60 8bpc unless chromo sub sampling is used. Get a dock with DisplayPort, then you can choose a separate HDMI adapter if you need HDMI.

You can get the capabilities of a MST hub or a DisplayPort display using AllRez (on an Intel Mac) to dump the DPCD info of the DisplayPort device.

I like to consider myself rather tech literate - I used to work in tech, but been out for over a decade. Things move so quickly but I'm still "comfortable" with tech.

But this all feels rather overwhelming to me. How is your general user supposed to figure all this out? Even what you might purchase in a retail store might not work with your setup.

So then something is just not working and you (the user) has no idea why... and good luck understanding or debugging anything!

Hell now I've accumulated a bunch of USB-C cables. I appreciate the different lengths and maybe not USB-C on both ends, whatever. But figuring out which provide data (what speed!?), charging (what speed!? what profiles are supported!?)... well I have no idea how I will even realistically figure that out! And now I'm adding thunderbolt into the mix. And some cables/devices will work backwards to USBC... but not all.

When USB-C was just coming online I wanted to embrace it so much I wanted everything to move to it. But now it's become so unclear and confusing to people!

/rant