Will this setup work?

[satinsilverem2]

I finally upgraded to a new MBP to replace my dying 2011 machine. My current setup looks like this.
MBP-> OWC Elite Pro Dual-> Belkin TB Dock-> Dell U2717D. This setup has worked well for years for me. I bought the TB3 to TB2 adapter to connect with and I'm having some reservations about it working. Ive read in a couple of places that the adapter doesn't work with non thunderbolt monitors. Something about the adapter not outputting a DisplayPort signal. Also I've heard that it doesn't work with daisy chained thunderbolt devices. This setup is really only temporary until i upgrade to a newer dock and display, but I don't know when that upgrade is happening. Is anyone using their 2016 machines with older TB docks and monitors and not having issues? I haven't gotten the new machine yet so I haven't been able to test.

 

[Fishrrman]

I doubt there are very many others using the exact combination of hardware that you are.

For that reason, the only way you're going to know, is to try things and report back here as to how you fared...

 

[treekram]

Macs with a Thunderbolt port will sense whether you plug in a Thunderbolt or a Displayport device and will output the appropriate signal. The Apple TB3-TB2 adapter does not do this and will only output TB2. It looks like the Belkin TB Dock does sense and can output a Displayport signal, which is a nice feature to have. That's why your current setup works since it looks like the U2717D is not a Thunderbolt monitor. I have not seen anything to suggest that the TB signal coming out of the Apple TB3-TB2 adapter will not daisy-chain. But you can call or visit an Apple store and ask them.

But as the previous post says, you have an unusual setup and the only way to know for sure is to try it out. If it doesn't work, you can return the Apple adapter. If the bigger concern is whether you should get the 2016 MBP vs. the 2015 MBP, which would almost certainly work with your setup, you can try it out and return it if it doesn't work.

 

[satinsilverem2]

Macs with a Thunderbolt port will sense whether you plug in a Thunderbolt or a Displayport device and will output the appropriate signal. The Apple TB3-TB2 adapter does not do this and will only output TB2. It looks like the Belkin TB Dock does sense and can output a Displayport signal, which is a nice feature to have. That's why your current setup works since it looks like the U2717D is not a Thunderbolt monitor. I have not seen anything to suggest that the TB signal coming out of the Apple TB3-TB2 adapter will not daisy-chain. But you can call or visit an Apple store and ask them.

But as the previous post says, you have an unusual setup and the only way to know for sure is to try it out. If it doesn't work, you can return the Apple adapter. If the bigger concern is whether you should get the 2016 MBP vs. the 2015 MBP, which would almost certainly work with your setup, you can try it out and return it if it doesn't work.

Thats what ill have to do is just try it out. Im happy with buying a 2016 over a 2015 for a number of reasons and I will eventually move to a thunderbolt 3 dock and 4k monitor. Im just thinking in the interim if it will work.

 

[treekram]

I'm pretty confident it will work. What I should have added in my previous post is that what is being passed to your OWC Elite Pro Dual is a TB2 signal, whether you use your 2011 MBP or the 2016 MBP with the Apple TB3-TB2 adapter. TB and DP monitors both use DP data, TB adds a layer over the DP data. The Belkin TB Dock can take the DP data out of the TB data and present a "pure" Displayport signal that DP-only monitors can understand.

 

[satinsilverem2]

Well I got my new MBP and hooked it up and everything is working smoothly like I hoped.

 

[treekram]

Glad it works for you. It's good that you started this thread and reported your results for people who have similar questions. And actually, your 2011 would be Thunderbolt 1, so you may notice better performance from the devices connected to your Thunderbolt chain since a 2560x1440 display would take a lot of the bandwidth of a TB1 connection.

 

[satinsilverem2]

I haven't been able to do any real testing but everything seems to be a lot smoother connection wise and I'm no longer having my drives randomly eject all the time.