Review: CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 TS3 Lite dock for MacBook Pro

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2021
A bevy of Thunderbolt 3 docks for the 2016 MacBook Pro have arrived, and AppleInsider takes a look at the first one to cross our test bench -- the CalDigit TS3 Lite.




The first, biggest, loudest complaint about the new MacBook Pro was aimed squarely at Apple's choice of ports for it. Or, more specifically, the lack of them, besides the two or four USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports depending on model.

Users lamented their old USB and Thunderbolt devices, howled that they'd have to buy hundreds of dollars of dongles and adapters to make them all work. Despite the fact that the USB-C to USB 3.1 type-A adapter is $9 from Apple, with many third party alternatives, the complaint is not entirely without merit.

But, instead of replacing cables or getting adapters, a smoother and cleaner choice for this crowd is a Thunderbolt 3 dock.

Port roundup




The back of the the aluminum and plastic CalDigit TS3 Lite contains a Gigabit Ethernet port, a headphone jack, a microphone jack, a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a full-size DisplayPort, and a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports. Pretty standard fare for a Thunderbolt dock.

On the front there are two ports -- one is USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C, and the other is a Type-A port. Given that the included cable is all of 20-inches long, we'd hoped that the front port was a Thunderbolt 3 port.




The dock does not provide charging power to a MacBook Pro, nor is it claimed to by the manufacturer. However, 15W of power is supplied to connected devices, including a computer if there are no other sources of power connected.

In general use...

The driver-free dock works perfectly from a basic functionality standpoint both in macOS and in a Bootcamp installation of Windows 10. Mass storage devices, input devices, and output devices all work perfectly, just like they were natively plugged into the host computer.

We had no issues with connectivity. Ethernet was solid, and we had no drop-outs on input peripherals.

As a note, the 6A AC power adapter is massive as bricks go, and gets very hot. Not enough to burn skin, but uncomfortable to the touch after only about 20 minutes of use.


Data transfer on USB 3.1

Not all USB 3.1 connections are equal. Some cases and docks don't support UASP.

UASP stands for USB Attached SCSI, and assuming your equipment supports it all the way through, generally provides for faster file transfers than gear that doesn't support it.

Finding UASP-compatible gear is less of an issue than it was only a few years ago. However, the TS3 Lite does support the protocol, and as such, the faster transport speeds.

Pass-through 5K?

One of the selling points of the CalDigit dock is that it has a down-stream Thunderbolt 3 port, allowing for up to five down-stream devices. CalDigit claims that it can support the LG Ultrafine 5k.

We decided to put that to the test. Leaning on our testing partners, we found that even with a hard drive, a keyboard, a mouse, and an Ethernet cable actively feeding data to the MacBook Pro connected to the LG Ultrafine 5K display, we didn't have any problems at all with refresh or connectivity issues -- until we connected more peripherals to the monitor itself.

After we hooked up a keyboard to the LG Ultrafine 5K, we'd start getting very brief pauses in the monitor refresh.

It took a while to even spot the pauses. We hadn't seen anything like it in our previous testing of the monitors with wi-fi routers and other strong RF sources.

Once we did, we started working backwards to figure out what the problem was. Disconnecting every device from the TS3 Lite didn't fix the problem, but unplugging the input devices from the monitor cleared it up immediately.

So, yes, the TS3 Lite does support a downstream 5K monitor on the pass-through Thunderbolt 3 connector. Just don't expect charging power to be fed back to the MacBook Pro, and don't connect anything to the monitor.

Less drama with dual 4K

The CalDigit TS3 Lite also advertises dual 4K support, providing you've got sufficient adapters on hand. We used a pair of Acer B286HK 4K displays, one natively connected to the DisplayPort connector on the dock, and one with a $30 Plugable USB-C to DisplayPort cable when connected to our 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Both displays fired right up, running at 4K resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate. Reproducing the previous test with the LG 5K display, we found no pauses or drop-outs at all with the dual 4K setup even when torturing the hard drive and Gigabit Ethernet connection.

Backwards compatible

Out of curiosity, we plugged in Apple's Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter into the device, and tried to use it with a 2014 15-inch Thunderbolt 2-equipped Retina MacBook Pro, as well as a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro with the original Thunderbolt spec.

All the ports, but the down-stream Thunderbolt 3 port functioned on both computers, which was a nice surprise. If you've got an older Mac with any flavor of Thunderbolt, you can future-proof a bit and get the CalDigit dock, while you save your funds for a new computer.

TS3 Lite or something else?

Unfortunately, since the dock doesn't provide charging power, there's no compelling reason to get one if you already have access to a Thunderbolt 2 dock, or are planning to take advantage of some sales on the older gear, plus and Apple's $29 Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter.

But, the CalDigit TS3 Lite dock does what it says it will do on the box. The USB 3.0 implementation passes UASP to connected devices, allowing for the best data transfer speeds. The Gigabit Ethernet port is in fact Gigabit, and the pass-through Thunderbolt 3 port is perfectly fine for other devices, even including the LG Ultrafine 5K display -- just don't hang anything else off the monitor.


Score: 4 out of 5

AppleInsider rates the CalDigit TS3 Lite a solid four out of five. If the cable was a three-foot cable, allowing for more flexibility in installation locations, then it would be a 4.5 out of five.

All told, the CalDigit TS3 Lite returns legacy ports back to users, including a full size DisplayPort so owners aren't necessarily beholden to the sometimes problematic adapter situation. At $199.99, it is probably the cheapest Thunderbolt 3 dock we've seen -- but budget a few extra dollars for a longer cable just the same.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,148member

    The dock does not provide charging power to a MacBook Pro, nor is it claimed to by the manufacturer. However, 15W of power is supplied to connected devices, including a computer if there are no other sources of power connected.

    Sorta missing a key purpose of a dock, don't you think? On that alone, regardless of what else it can do, it shouldn't get more than a 2.5 out of five. It's only doing half the job of a dock. Maybe it should be called a powered dongle.

    edited February 2017 Soli
  • Reply 2 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    entropys said:

    The dock does not provide charging power to a MacBook Pro, nor is it claimed to by the manufacturer. However, 15W of power is supplied to connected devices, including a computer if there are no other sources of power connected.

    Sorta missing a key purpose of a dock, don't you think? On that alone, regardless of what else it can do, it shouldn't get more than a 2.5 out of five. It's only doing half the job of a dock.

    It's also not $349.

    It does exactly what it says it will do, and it does it well. It never claims to provide charging power, nor does it claim to be a one-cable solution.
    john.b
  • Reply 3 of 21
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    freethinking
  • Reply 4 of 21
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,189member
    A bevy has arrived
  • Reply 5 of 21
    anomeanome Posts: 1,531member
    twa440 said:
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    What's actually unusable about it? Mine's working fine without a dock of any kind attached.

    Still, the lack of power is a problem. It seems that most docks or monitors that do support power through USB-C or TB3 only support 60W, which isn't enough for the 15". I was hoping we'd see more that support 87W (or 85 or whatever) by now.
    Soliwatto_cobraStrangeDayspscooter63
  • Reply 6 of 21
    Not available on amazon.ca :(   It also has 2 USB 3 ports, not 3.

    Still, for $200 it's not as expensive as most Thunderbolt accessories I've seen, and only $50 more expensive than the CalDigit USB-C dock.
    jibberj
  • Reply 7 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    Not available on amazon.ca :(   It also has 2 USB 3 ports, not 3.

    Still, for $200 it's not as expensive as most Thunderbolt accessories I've seen, and only $50 more expensive than the CalDigit USB-C dock.
    It has three. Two 3.1 USB-A, one 3.1 USB-C beyond the two TB3 USB-C ports.
    john.bwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 21
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,090member
    twa440 said:
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    asinine comments like these get old.  You want desktop features in a laptop?  Get a desktop.

    Laptops are meant for mobile.  The fact that the MBP's are as powerful as a desktop does not negate it's original intent.  Sacrifices have to be made to make laptops lighter and last longer.

    Jeez... there's always that one percent...
    SoliMikeymikewatto_cobraStrangeDayspscooter63
  • Reply 9 of 21
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    twa440 said:
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    Or, this Mac isn't for you if you need a port it doesn't offer. For example, if I need FireWire, I probably wouldn't have upgraded to a Mac that had eschewed that port interface or maybe your argument is that no Mac has ever been useful because docks, adapters, and peripherals existed before the first one ever came to market.
    Mikeymikewatto_cobrapscooter63
  • Reply 10 of 21
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,796member
    twa440 said:
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    On the flip side you can connect almost anything you want to this laptop and it has plenty of ports to support it. If you for some reason wanted 4 Ethernet ports, well you can do this. If you wanted 4 Thunderbolt 2 ports well you can do this too. Its endless possibilities. I guess maybe this is glass half full thinking but I really don't see a downside to this.
    anomelorin schultzStrangeDays
  • Reply 11 of 21
    Looks good to me for the price. What about the build quality? It looks a bit nicer than the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock to me. What do you think?
  • Reply 12 of 21
    Pascalxx said:
    Looks good to me for the price. What about the build quality? It looks a bit nicer than the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock to me. What do you think?
    http://9to5mac.com/2017/02/21/caldigit-ts3-lite-thunderbolt-3-dock-unboxing-hands-on/
  • Reply 13 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    I've tested a lot of Thunderbolt docks in five years here and there. I have yet to find one with a poor build quality.
  • Reply 14 of 21
    twa440 said:
    Maybe we shouldn't have to spend $200 to make a pro laptop usable. 
    Maybe you don't, and maybe it's a mistake to assume your cases are everyone else's too. I'm a software developer and i have no need for all those ports. Just wifi and a good machine. I'd rather have the slimmer and lighter portable and let you deal with whatever adapters you need for your use case. 
    pscooter63
  • Reply 15 of 21
    mtbnutmtbnut Posts: 199member
    I wonder how much less of a POS this TB dock is compared to the burning Dumpsters that were the Matrox and Belkin ones of years past. I literally threw both of those things in the, um, Dumpster. Goes to show how bad they are when the manufacturers have released 0 firmware updates since their release; either they think it's perfect, which neither of them were, or they're beyond salvation and the engineers were promptly fired. 
    edited February 2017
  • Reply 16 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    The first generation Thunderbolt 1 docks... weren't great. Everybody stepped up their game with the TB2 ones.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    AppleBumAppleBum Posts: 37unconfirmed, member
    The only thing missing is a Firewire 800 port. Is the OWC dock the only one that supports Firewire?
  • Reply 18 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    AppleBum said:
    The only thing missing is a Firewire 800 port. Is the OWC dock the only one that supports Firewire?
    So far. As a reminder, older docks work fine when used in conjunction with the TB3 - TB2 adapter.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    tomservo291tomservo291 Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    I got one of these, just boxed it up for return.  Dual 4K screens did not work with dual Dell P2715Q displays.  I had the same kind of setup described here, one USB-C -> DisplayPort cable and one DisplayPort -> DisplayPort cable.

    It was very odd, the monitor connected to the DisplayPort of the dock would receive a signal but only display blackness (the backlight was clearly turned on), and the monitors OSD controls would not work until the display was disconnected.  Very bizzare. Contacted support and they gave no useful help, so I have to return this.

    Would rather wait for OWC or Belkin's to get released, as they will have charging as well
    edited February 2017
  • Reply 20 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    I got one of these, just boxed it up for return.  Dual 4K screens did not work with dual Dell P2715Q displays.  I had the same kind of setup described here, one USB-C -> DisplayPort cable and one DisplayPort -> DisplayPort cable.

    It was very odd, the monitor connected to the DisplayPort of the dock would receive a signal but only display blackness (the backlight was clearly turned on), and the monitors OSD controls would not work until the display was disconnected.  Very bizzare. Contacted support and they gave no useful help, so I have to return this.

    Would rather wait for OWC or Belkin's to get released, as they will have charging as well
    That's a strange incompatibility. Does the monitor work directly connected to the MacBook Pro with your adapters? I suspect there's something else at work here, maybe a MST/SST setting or something that may need to be tweaked.
    edited February 2017
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