I just bought an OWC 13 port dock, as I have a FW800 HDD as my backup. I sold my 2012 15" (non retina) MBPro yesterday, and bought the new 15" MBPro 2.6Ghz. The dock is a tad pricey, but will be worth the ports and peripherals I have to use that were lost with the new laptop. In for the long haul here.
I just bought an OWC 13 port dock, as I have a FW800 HDD as my backup. I sold my 2012 15" (non retina) MBPro yesterday, and bought the new 15" MBPro 2.6Ghz. The dock is a tad pricey, but will be worth the ports and peripherals I have to use that were lost with the new laptop. In for the long haul here.
Please forgive me if you already know this, but: You could remove the HDD from the FW800 chassis, buy a USB-C or USB 3.1 enclosure (faster, future-proof, and only $30), and be out of that legacy connector for good.
IMO the only reason to be using FW800 is for music; Firewire picked up a lot of traction in that industry, new equipment often isn't meaningfully better than old equipment, and the replacement value is high. Hard drives? Just pull it out and stick it in a new box. Chump change.
I just bought an OWC 13 port dock, as I have a FW800 HDD as my backup. I sold my 2012 15" (non retina) MBPro yesterday, and bought the new 15" MBPro 2.6Ghz. The dock is a tad pricey, but will be worth the ports and peripherals I have to use that were lost with the new laptop. In for the long haul here.
Why on Earth would you continue to use FW800 over USB? A USB 3.1 gen1 (5Gbps) or gen2 (10Gbps) enclosure is going to be a helluva lot faster than FireWire at 800Mbps. What a waste of a 40Gbps TB3 port.
I still use FW800 hard drive enclosures/docks but only because I'm still on a 2011 MBP, and USB 2.0 is only 480Mbps. I absolutely cannot wait to finally upgrade this year and recycle all of that garbage and move to USB 3.1 gen2 enclosures.
I just bought an OWC 13 port dock, as I have a FW800 HDD as my backup. I sold my 2012 15" (non retina) MBPro yesterday, and bought the new 15" MBPro 2.6Ghz. The dock is a tad pricey, but will be worth the ports and peripherals I have to use that were lost with the new laptop. In for the long haul here.
Please forgive me if you already know this, but: You could remove the HDD from the FW800 chassis, buy a USB-C or USB 3.1 enclosure (faster, future-proof, and only $30), and be out of that legacy connector for good.
IMO the only reason to be using FW800 is for music; Firewire picked up a lot of traction in that industry, new equipment often isn't meaningfully better than old equipment, and the replacement value is high. Hard drives? Just pull it out and stick it in a new box. Chump change.
Yeah I did see that as an option....I might still do that perhaps.
I just bought an OWC 13 port dock, as I have a FW800 HDD as my backup. I sold my 2012 15" (non retina) MBPro yesterday, and bought the new 15" MBPro 2.6Ghz. The dock is a tad pricey, but will be worth the ports and peripherals I have to use that were lost with the new laptop. In for the long haul here.
Why on Earth would you continue to use FW800 over USB? A USB 3.1 gen1 (5Gbps) or gen2 (10Gbps) enclosure is going to be a helluva lot faster than FireWire at 800Mbps. What a waste of a 40Gbps TB3 port.
I still use FW800 hard drive enclosures/docks but only because I'm still on a 2011 MBP, and USB 2.0 is only 480Mbps. I absolutely cannot wait to finally upgrade this year and recycle all of that garbage and move to USB 3.1 gen2 enclosures.
I got the pluggable dock because it was the cheapest and can still drive 2 x 4k monitors. It also charges at 60W, not 15W. If you're gonna spend $300+ on a TB3 dock, you might as well get an eGPU enclosure.
When can I plug my iPhone into one of these thingees?
now?
At first I thought you were being as tongue & cheek as I was.
But, thinking about it, maybe not. I guess it is physically possible.
That leaves a hell of a lot of possibilities. Do we just get a teaser here?
The hell are you talking about? If you're asking how to use a Thunderbolt as a dock to attach devices to your iPhone, you clearly can't do that. Obviously you can plug an iPhone into a USB port on a dock to charge or sync data with your Mac.
Why isn't the Akitio Thunder3 Dock Pro on the list? I believe it's the only full-blown dock to offer 10GbE ethernet over copper, plus several other ports including a Cfast 2.0 card reader. Unfortunately it also has a small fan, but it's not very loud and can safely be switched off for short periods.
Why isn't the Akitio Thunder3 Dock Pro on the list? I believe it's the only full-blown dock to offer 10GbE ethernet over copper, plus several other ports including a Cfast 2.0 card reader. Unfortunately it also has a small fan, but it's not very loud and can safely be switched off for short periods.
Because we can't vouch for it yet. We've used and approve the rest of them.
Good job! I was just researching it on Amazon as Apple online offers two so-so (read reviews). I think refresh of my 2010 MacBook Air 11 inch can be coming soon. Time to move on... especialy that Mojave does noty support that old MBA.
Just be careful with those reviews as it is not about ports only. Many of these docks support only one display regardless of how many displays you could connect via ports or extensions. Thi is common limitiation between docks.
Good job! I was just researching it on Amazon as Apple online offers two so-so (read reviews). I think refresh of my 2010 MacBook Air 11 inch can be coming soon. Time to move on... especialy that Mojave does noty support that old MBA.
Just be careful with those reviews as it is not about ports only. Many of these docks support only one display regardless of how many displays you could connect via ports or extensions. Thi is common limitiation between docks.
This is incorrect. Just about all of these support two displays, one on on-board HDMI or DisplayPort, and the other on the down-stream Thunderbolt 3 port with a USB-C to (whatever) cable.
You may be thinking of docks that have both a HDMI port and DisplayPort. Generally, unless otherwise specified, only one or the other will work.
Firewire was not just big in audio. Photography as well. I have two 20k plus digital backs that use firewire. They are as good as the day I bought them (no moving parts) and still work perfectly, and will continue to do so for years to come. I still use a 2009 27" iMac in the studio for tethered shooting (just upgraded to a SSD). Works a treat. Will need a dock when the day comes that it has to be replaced. A good dock should be about both "expandability" and legacy support.
Firewire was not just big in audio. Photography as well. I have two 20k plus digital backs that use firewire. They are as good as the day I bought them (no moving parts) and still work perfectly, and will continue to do so for years to come. I still use a 2009 27" iMac in the studio for tethered shooting (just upgraded to a SSD). Works a treat. Will need a dock when the day comes that it has to be replaced. A good dock should be about both "expandability" and legacy support.
My two cents.
Cheers.
One dock will do you, the OWC one. That's it, though -- and there's a market reason for that.
Request to AI: with the macmini and MBA announcements with thunderbolt 3 ports on them, can we have a summary of thunderbolt 4k/5k displays? Pretty sure now this will be how I will replace my iMacs going forward.
Request to AI: with the macmini and MBA announcements with thunderbolt 3 ports on them, can we have a summary of thunderbolt 4k/5k displays? Pretty sure now this will be how I will replace my iMacs going forward.
When we roll up a list like this, we aren't just picking randomly. We've used each item, and can vouch for how decent it is. This is a bit more of a problem with TB3 and USB-C displays as we've only tried a few. I'll put it on the list.
Three comments about dongle devices, like the HyperDrive Thunderbolt 3 hub ,and one about FireWire.
First: They may not offer the functionality you expect. For example they often cannot both charge your computer and run a Thunderbolt display at the same time, because USB-C ports are data only. This means that you will need to plug in additional cables to the other ports on your Mac.
Second: Unless both of the type-C connectors are attached to your laptop, they may not be able to power accessories like a hard drive.
Third: These compact dongles are incompatible with protective shell cases. You can buy (expensive) USB-C patch cables, but you would need two for the dongle to carry both Thunderbolt and power.
In case it isn't pretty obvious, I've been disappointed.
There are lot of choices for these dongle docks - not sure why AI featured only the HyperDrive. You can compare prices on the Satechi Aluminum USB-C Pro, the Sanho HyperDrive PRO 8-in-2 USB-C, tye Wavlink Aluminum Thunderbolt 3 Dock for Macbook, and the FONLLAM Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C Dock. I am not recommending any of these, by the way, but they all offer pretty much the same functionality. Personally, I upgraded to the CalDigit.
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As for FireWire, AI seems to have missed the fact that many people purchased very expensive video cameras, and even SLRs, that depend on FireWire. Swapping these out to keep up with Apple ports is considerably more costly than fussing with outdated hard drives. For such people, losing FireWire is not a small problem.
I have the Monoprice USB-C Travel Dock and while I suppose its not technically TB3, it sure would be nice to see some of these travel options compared. The TB3 Docks are great if you have a permanent desk setup you're connecting to, I don't, but realize I am probably in the minority.
BTW, so far the Monoprice unit has performed perfectly, HDMI, VGA and Ethernet work great. Especially nice given how finicky VGA can be with projectors in conference rooms.
I got a travel adapter with USB3, ethernet, and USB-C power pass-through. This would allow me to connect everything I need for a Pro Tools session with one connector.
It works, but the power "pass-through" is a misnomer. Despite connecting the 87w power supply that came with my 15" MBP to the USB-C port on the adaptor, the battery continues to deplete while the computer is in use. I can't imagine why, but that's how it is.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS check how much power ANY adapter will pass on to the machine. If it doesn't say, move along to something else.
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https://smile.amazon.com/HornetTek-Jaws-USB-C-Connection-Enclosure/dp/B019WVTTK4
IMO the only reason to be using FW800 is for music; Firewire picked up a lot of traction in that industry, new equipment often isn't meaningfully better than old equipment, and the replacement value is high. Hard drives? Just pull it out and stick it in a new box. Chump change.
I still use FW800 hard drive enclosures/docks but only because I'm still on a 2011 MBP, and USB 2.0 is only 480Mbps. I absolutely cannot wait to finally upgrade this year and recycle all of that garbage and move to USB 3.1 gen2 enclosures.
Just be careful with those reviews as it is not about ports only. Many of these docks support only one display regardless of how many displays you could connect via ports or extensions. Thi is common limitiation between docks.
It works, but the power "pass-through" is a misnomer. Despite connecting the 87w power supply that came with my 15" MBP to the USB-C port on the adaptor, the battery continues to deplete while the computer is in use. I can't imagine why, but that's how it is.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS check how much power ANY adapter will pass on to the machine. If it doesn't say, move along to something else.