Which TB3 dock for your 15MBP?

You can get dysfunctional behavior with too little wattage. Not sure it hurts anything in any permanent way. Seems I read the Apple dock that has power pass-through only delivers 60 W.

 

I guess with a dock like OWC's (especially one so expensive), I just want it to supply the correct amount of power. Odds are, it's going to be mounted to my desk and that's where I'm going to want my computer powered/charging most of the time. I wouldn't be so gun shy if my application was going to be less frequent.

In a perfect world I'd love to replace my aging Thunderbolt Display with a 5k monitor that delivered power and ports all in one cable. The LG Ultrafine was a huge disappoint to me, never understood why they didn't break out some more useful ports (ethernet, type-a, etc). In fact, all the ports the OWC dock will have would be phenomenal behind a high-res screen. For now, I can't find a better monitor/dock solution than the old ATD.

--- Post Merged, Mar 31, 2017 ---

I'm in the same boat...

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hypershop/hyperdrivetm-compact-thunderbolt-3-usb-c-hub-for-m

This is what I went with. I got it a couple weeks ago, and it's worked well so far. It had everything I needed, a couple USB-A ports, an HDMI, SD, and extra USB-C.

 

I think you'll be safe with the 60W, given that Apple advertises theirs (originally intended for the MB) for the MBP with no restrictions. What can happen is that charging may be slower (it's pretty fast anyway), and if you drive your machine hard enough, charging will stop. If you drive it the way that would fully discharge the battery in about 75 minutes, you might even draw on the battery when the machine is plugged in. But that would be pretty rare, I think. If the dock has what else you need, you should be fine. But, yes, not as fine as you might want for the price!

 

OWC really overshot their price IMO. If Caldigit is the only one pushing 85w throughput the its in its own class. The only true 1 port solution for 15 MBP. Expect these to be tough to find for a while when they ship.

 

The hyperdrive dock linked to a couple posts up claims 100W. Edit: But that's via the TB3 port, which may not work for everyone.

 

I got the HP Elite 65W Thunderbolt 3 dock (HP technical whitepaper) for my Macbook Pro 2016 without touchbar. I do not use the supplied Thunderbolt 3/Power-Combi-Cable but an active 2m Caldigit 40 Gbit/s Thunderbolt 3 cable. I use an LG 4k display connected by Displayport and a Apple 27 LED Cinema Display connected by DisplayPort. I also use two Samsung T3 SSD.



PLUS:

• It charges the Macbook Pro.
  
  
  
  
• The built in Ethernet controller is a Broadcom NetExtreme, connected not by USB but by PCIe. This is important for me, because all USB Ethernet adapters I tried - and I tried a lot - did lack performance and reliability.
  
  

• All USB ports are USB 3.0 ports. The ports work fine and are reliable. Much more reliable than the Anker USB-C hub ports I used before.
• Audio-Out is realized by an internal USB connection. It works, although I do not need it.

MINUS

• apparently only works with TB 3 enable „hack“
• Using the built in two Displayports result in two mirror screens running with 720p (two displays) or 1080p (one display) with noise and instability and an additional macOS dock. Which looks pretty strange. I will try to find out what the problem is. Fortunately I am still having a Startech TB3toDualDisplayport adapter which I connect to the Thunderbolt 3 out port of the HP dock.
  
  
  
  
• You cannot boot from drives attached to the USB ports of the dock.

As it is very small and therefore easy to hide (sorry for the dirt under the desk) I will keep it, even if I should not be successful in solving the Displayport problems.

UPDATE: The dock uses a Synaptics DisplayPort hub which uses MST to function. MST in this special way (looks like daisychaining) is not supported by macOS Sierra. It might work with Bootcamp Windows.

For those interested in the Thunderbolt 3 device tree, you can see, that even the cable does have a firmware, and not even a 1.x one. :-o But anyways, I still recommend the active Caldigit 40 Gbit/s 2m Thunderbolt 3 cable.

 

Nice HP review.

Thanks, missed that one. I don't like how it covers up both TB3 ports though, would be nervous if my MBP was raised

 

Thank you! After reading the HP whitepaper and after researching the DisplayPort problem, I can better understand, that Caldigit ran into software problems for their dock.

 

Oh for ****'s sake. First the wait and now this.

 

Guys, could you advise on the quality to be expected from CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Station and OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock?

I'm currently in preorder of OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock. Their ports combination is amazing and I've chosen it back when preordered implying any Thunderbolt 3 dock must have up to 100W power delivery by default (if it delivers power at all) only to find out recently it will supply mere 60W.

I'm currently charging my tbMBP using Griffin Break-safe cable which only gives 60W and it's kind of slow (though no other problems).

I prefer OWC port combination and design to CalDigit's one however I can live with CalDigit's if its quality is on par with OWC as all the extra ports will not be necessary right away but better charging will be used all the time.

So the question is, judging by past experience with their Thunderbolt docks, what quality is to be expected from CalDigit and OWC?

Thank you!

 

AKiTiO just said they are releasing a Thunderbolt 3 dock in the near future. I'm pretty psyched.

 

Could you refer to the source please? Psyched as well.

 

Caldigit had some of the best TB2 dock reviews. The owc ones are pretty abysmal. Lots of talk of overheating, freezing, garbled output and lack of vendor support.

Plus Caldigit already has the TS3 Lite on shelves and people seem to like it. My vote is on Caldigit.

Of course If Akitio is on the scene that better for everyone.

 

Their customer service. They would not comment on hard dates tho :-/

 

I agree, pretty frustrating that it's taking this long for good dock solutions.

 

Maybe the upcoming Henge Horizontal MacBookPro Dock will be the ultimate dockingstation?
(Dock: 15" Model with Touchbar)
Ports:

• TRRS Audio (x2)
• SD Card
• HDMI
• USB 3.0 (x4)
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Power Supply
• MDP (x2)
• USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 (x2)

Included in box

• Docking Station for 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (2016)
• 85 Watt Power Supply
• Power Cable
• User Guide

The Product-Page claimes that the MBP would be charged with 85W.
Unfortunaly it does not ship before September...

 

It is no different than nearly all the others. Apparently they all use the same design (perhaps some reference pcb or something; I did see a different pcb on YouTube though)

 

This is the one I am waiting for as well because it has all the ports I want to use, but none I don't need. The other docks all have ports I wouldn't use. Also considering their stand alone TB3 dock. Really disappointed these take so long, but I guess it's better than shipping a product that does not work properly. Just have to keep plugging in 5 different things every day. *sad face

 

Considering Caldigit had the best TB2 dock, I'm betting their TB3 dock will be the best. They already have their lite version shipping.

It's a shame that preorder price was $200. Now it's $300!

 

I received several of these at work to test out with 15" TB MBP's. So far most of the devices I have plugged in have worked fine both initially and after removing/reattaching. A few wireless keyboard/mice combos have not worked on re-dock without removing the USB receiver and putting back.

My only real issue is most of my users have Griffin riser stands to elevate the laptops to somewhat near eye level with their 27" displays. When doing so with devices or cables attached to the HyperDrive, without some sort of support under it there is a sag. Long-term, well, I would rather have the HyperDrive give out then the two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the laptop go south.

 

Linus(Tech Tips) reviews TS3 Lite!!!

The Biggest, Baddest Thunderbolt 3 Dongle

Edit: Sigh, another TS3 Lite review, another person complaining about the lack of power delivery. C'mon everyone knows that PD is not an option on this, but its also $100 dollars cheaper than the full fat TS3 station. Its also the only reason we have the TS3 lite on shelvest today.

 

With the TS3 Lite, you can either plug in a second cable to charge your MBP or wait for Caldigit's TB3 dock.

What I've done is use my LG 5K as a dock. I bought an SD card reader and gigabit ethernet adapter to plug into the back of the monitor. One cable solution and the monitor gives me more ports.

It's unfortunate that TB3 is such a mess. Even USB-C to a certain extent is hit or miss.

 

Hi, the Thunderbolt 3 version of the Henge Dock dock, will have two miniDisplayPort + one Thunderbolt 3 passthru.

https://hengedocks.com/products/tethered-dock