¿ Do you or Malcom O. Or Mke W., know what the USB 4 config is as to the dock capability of 4 ports—whether it’s a hub or chain configuration and how it’s bandwidth is distributed?
Hub.
Bandwidth distribution is allocated on device plug-in, according to the spec. In short, you won't want to plug in a 16gbit/sec peripheral like a NVMe drive to one of those ports and expect a lot out of the other ports, even if you aren't using the fast drive.
Thanks.
So multiple TB3 buses on the Mac are desirable. ¿ Does the cost of the chipset and its connections to PCIe lanes make it feasible?
Any word or hunches on whether we will see PCIe buses on Apple Silicon Macs? I’m not assuming that new Apple Silicon Macs will necessarily follow the architecture of the Developer MacMini. Maybe an advanced bus that is backwards compatible.
Apple has said that it is not abandoning Thunderbolt 3 in Apple Silicon.
USB-C, Thunderbolt, same plug different capabilities, different names. Oh boy, poor public this is unnecessarily confusing. They need to standardise the name and have a set of fixed capabilities. As someone mentioned above, what a mess.
Here's another mystery -- "fast charing" USB-C cables on Amazon that won't fast-charger an iPad Pro using its new fast charger. I've tried two so far that won't do it. The second one told me they specifically exclude the iPad Pro from their supported list of fast-charging devices. Wish I knew why -- my understanding is the iPad supports USB PD (Power Delivery), one of the more popular fast charging standards.
This is what happens when smart people try to be too clever
There is a reason why you have different connectors
There should be one connector for power, one for display, one for peripherals (where each protocol gets its own - thunderbolt and usb)
You shouldn't need to look at your computers manual to work out what goes where and whether that connector will work with this cable and do what you need it to do
A total disaster by the a stupid decision to harmonise something that didn't need harmonising
Saving a few millimetres or pennies on having one connector is not the right way to go
The people responsible for this should all be fired - they have gone for style over substance in an attempt to prove how smart they are
This articles complicates rather than explicates. Too much data for too little insight. And punts the whole current mess to USB4 (which apparently is really Thunderbolt 3) and Thunderbolt 4. I have little doubt that we will have a new mess to sort out.
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
A Thunderbolt 3 dock with a DisplayPort connector, then a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable. Alternatively, an eGPU with a DisplayPort PCI-E GPU card, and the same DisplayPort to MDP cable.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
A Thunderbolt 3 dock with a DisplayPort connector, then a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable. Alternatively, an eGPU with a DisplayPort PCI-E GPU card, and the same DisplayPort to MDP cable.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
A Thunderbolt 3 dock with a DisplayPort connector, then a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable. Alternatively, an eGPU with a DisplayPort PCI-E GPU card, and the same DisplayPort to MDP cable.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
Oh wait... Thunderbolt 3 docks are super-expensive ($250+).
However, given this article which does not seem to fully answer this question in mind (my apologies): will a USBC dock work as well? They are half the price!
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
A Thunderbolt 3 dock with a DisplayPort connector, then a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable. Alternatively, an eGPU with a DisplayPort PCI-E GPU card, and the same DisplayPort to MDP cable.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
Oh wait... Thunderbolt 3 docks are super-expensive ($250+).
However, given this article which does not seem to fully answer this question in mind (my apologies): will a USBC dock work as well? They are half the price!
I don’t know. Haven’t tried any. The key is a native DisplayPort and not HDMI. I can confirm that it works with a Vega 64 in either a Sonnet or Razer eGPU enclosure, and also with the TS3+ by CalDigit.
I don't have access to the display anymore, so I can't do any further testing.
This is what happens when smart people try to be too clever
There is a reason why you have different connectors
There should be one connector for power, one for display, one for peripherals (where each protocol gets its own - thunderbolt and usb)
You shouldn't need to look at your computers manual to work out what goes where and whether that connector will work with this cable and do what you need it to do
A total disaster by the a stupid decision to harmonise something that didn't need harmonising
Saving a few millimetres or pennies on having one connector is not the right way to go
The people responsible for this should all be fired - they have gone for style over substance in an attempt to prove how smart they are
I'm sure Intel and the USB-IF will take your suggestion under advisement. And, you don't need to look at your computer's manual to work out what goes where. This is 100% on the cable manufacturers not adhering to "suggested" labeling requirements by USB-IF.
As a reminder, USB-C/TB3 aren't Apple-specific things. They are industry standards, developed and decided upon by multiple companies and groups.
This is what happens when smart people try to be too clever
There is a reason why you have different connectors
There should be one connector for power, one for display, one for peripherals (where each protocol gets its own - thunderbolt and usb)
Instead of a separate cable for everything, which we've had for decades prior, wouldn't the smart thing to have be what Apple had with DisplayPort and later with Thunderbolt -- a cable that does both power & connectivity? It seems USB is what introduced most of these various types. I should don't want multiple cables for my monitor -- a honking VESA video signal cable, a separate power cable, etc...gross.
I think the most important spec for any port is the bandwidth and Thunderbolt 4 is pretty disappointing because of it. We already saw the 16-inch's 5600M outperform external enclosures due to bandwidth limitation. Perhaps because Intel is still using PCIe 3.
Sounds to me that Apple might just make their own connectors if that ever happens.
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
A Thunderbolt 3 dock with a DisplayPort connector, then a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable. Alternatively, an eGPU with a DisplayPort PCI-E GPU card, and the same DisplayPort to MDP cable.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
I tried out an HP powered dock with DP input that a colleague had, and it worked well initially, then started to misbehave. Slowed down my MBP16 considerably.
However, I tried it without a powered dock using an MDP-F to DP-M connector plugged into a DP-F to USBC-M connecter, and has generally worked well so far (although it has had a random sleep/wake a couple of times). The key insight seems to be MDP-to-DP before connecting to the MBP.
Yet it seems rather fussy, to the point that I might finally give up on the 2010 Cinema Display.... :-/
Has anyone used any of these newer TB cables I've been seeing on Amazon? Many claim to be USB 4 / TB 3 at half the price.
I've seen at lease a dozen cables like this under various brands. They are half to a third of the price of those by OWC, Belkin, CalDigit, etc. The price seems almost too good to be true but I've always thought the cables were over priced, along with other Thunderbolt devices.
Nobody's answered my phone calls about this, and requests for review cables have been denied. And, like I said in the previous thread, there is no USB4 certification process yet, so they're at least lying about that.
We'll see anyway, as they can't stop me from ordering them off Amazon. In theory, they'll be here on Friday.
Any word about the flood of $25 Active Thunderbolt/USB-4 cables on Amazon? These cables claim the same capabilities as the name brands which are priced up to 3x times as much.
I used to adore USB, when it came out, but with the current state of confusion I don't even bother to try to understand it anymore. I gave up. Its complexity is the antithesis of Apple's ethos.
To me, "USB" = Universally Scorned Bus.
Oddly, USB 3.2 isn't even Serial anymore. It's natively parallel. It should be renamed UPD in order to be accurate. It's own name isn't even accurate.
The sheer length and density of this article says everything you need to know about the Byzantine sh*tshow called USB standards. Thanks, AI, for even attempting the thankless job of explaining the inexplicable.
Comments
https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/07/08/apple-silicon-macs-to-support-thunderbolt-despite-shift-to-arm
So, PCIe buses exist in some shape or form.
Thunderbolt is fairly straightforward, it does it all to include power. But a USB port varies a great deal. They should be marked but often are not.
Current USB Type-C alt modes include:
Here's a simple question (for anyone who might have the answer, including the author of this piece): How can I make the Apple MinDisplayport 27" cinema display work with my 16" MBP? (Don't bother searching the internet, where you'll see unworkable solutions like "use a Thunderbolt 3-MDP adapter" or "use a USBC-MDP adapter" -- useless!)
RAMBUS ON PCI 5.0
https://www.rambus.com/blogs/pci-express-5-vs-4/
Thunderbolt will not be replaced but extended when a full x16 lane can be leveraged.
There's something peculiar about the 27-inch display with MDP that doesn't like TB3 at all.
However, given this article which does not seem to fully answer this question in mind (my apologies): will a USBC dock work as well? They are half the price!
I don't have access to the display anymore, so I can't do any further testing.
As a reminder, USB-C/TB3 aren't Apple-specific things. They are industry standards, developed and decided upon by multiple companies and groups.
Sounds to me that Apple might just make their own connectors if that ever happens.
However, I tried it without a powered dock using an MDP-F to DP-M connector plugged into a DP-F to USBC-M connecter, and has generally worked well so far (although it has had a random sleep/wake a couple of times). The key insight seems to be MDP-to-DP before connecting to the MBP.
Yet it seems rather fussy, to the point that I might finally give up on the 2010 Cinema Display.... :-/
To me, "USB" = Universally Scorned Bus.
Oddly, USB 3.2 isn't even Serial anymore. It's natively parallel. It should be renamed UPD in order to be accurate. It's own name isn't even accurate.