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M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

eclecticlight.co

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Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#301
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a m1 mbp and have used three external monitors from day one. Used a startech 3x4k hub for that. It uses display link - which is sw-based rendering. Worked like a charm for dev work. You likely couldnt tell that from directly connected monitors unless you wanted to push rapidly changing content (like scrolling through logs at 60 screen-heights per second) - then compression would be indeed visible. For work, vid…

Are you able to push 120hz on both external monitors? I’m guessing not. Looked at 2 startech DP dongles and all permutations seem to tap out at 60hz. Really hoping I’m wrong, would love a 120hz solution if possible.

No, 60Hz max with the startech.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#302

The fact that I can't connect more than one monitor to my M1-based iMac is a fucking travesty.

When my current CTO at Merkle Science told me that employees got M1 MacBook Pros, I politely asked for a ThinkPad instead. He obliged, winning me over. I was the only employee using Ubuntu for a while. Today I use my ThinkPad P14S AMD Ryzen 7 5600 in a 4 display setup. It is beautiful and I use it with qtile. While I can work with 2 displays, I'd rather have both be external displays than have to use mismatched displays. I used to use my Macbook 2018 that way at Visa. However I loathed that machine because of how many problems I faced with it and how mental the USB C hell was. Having to use istatmenu to turn on the fans manually at full speed was unacceptable. Having to only use ports on the left or right side was unacceptable.

I don't ever want to use a macbook ever again. I am certain I will have to since many tech Bros think that it is the best experience out there, and the alternative is Windows which is even worse. I hope every company realizes giving your developers the machine or the OS of their choice is not a bad thing. Stop forcing Devs to use X just because your IT is saying so. Let the developers do their jobs in the best possible way.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very specifically do not think they do. I asked if the parent post, by implying the Mac Mini is an entry level desktop, intended to compare them. Context is fundamental to reading threaded discussions.

I’m not following what you are saying if my interpretation was wrong then, and this comment didn’t really clear it up for me. But I guess we can just agree to disagree?

I think you might be agreeing. They are saying that the M1 Mac Mini is far more powerful than these low end devices, hence "Apple doesn't make low end devices".

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that I can't connect more than one monitor to my M1-based iMac is a fucking travesty.

I'm an absolute fiend for screen real estate, and I'm not excusing this. It's a reason I didn't jump onto the M1 bandwagon myself when the first models came out. But I don't see it as nearly reaching the level of being a "fucking travesty", in an era of affordable giant 4K monitors. At any rate, I'm certainly glad newer models fix this.

The core reason is that I want both an extra screen AND to be able to draw on my Cintiq drawing screen. On an iMac, I can't. It's stupid.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#305

I wonder whether it's a software or hardware problem? Let's say you have the thunderbolt connector, shouldn't all those supported standards (esp. the usb) then just be software problems? This does not make it easier for apples side, it might still be a huge undertaking, but then it would be upgradable in principle.

The article makes it pretty clear that they think this is a hardware problem.

Hmm where do you get that? I don't get the impression from reading the article.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think either of those computers holds a candle to an M1 Mac mini I don’t know what to tell you.

I don't think you have to hold a candle to the M1 Mac mini to qualify as a low end desktop.

Of course not, because the M1 Mac Mini is not a low end desktop. That's the whole point multiple people have missed here, and I'm glad you're not one of them.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not following what you are saying if my interpretation was wrong then, and this comment didn’t really clear it up for me. But I guess we can just agree to disagree?

I think you might be agreeing. They are saying that the M1 Mac Mini is far more powerful than these low end devices, hence "Apple doesn't make low end devices".

Exactly. Thanks for reading along.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#308
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I use two monitors, both on displayport. Bought like 4 cables and one adapter to get a working combination :)

What cables/adaptors are you using currently? Looking for good solutions myself.

They're mostly noname brands, the "top" brands aren't available here probably because they're expensive.

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the M1 Mac Mini gets... guess what? 1744 single core and 7732 multi core. https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?q=m1+Mac+mini The Air gets 1744 and 7711. https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q... So no, by your own ranting the M1 mini is not a low-end desktop easily matched by free 15-year-old hardware.

> by your own ranting the M1 mini is not a low-end desktop Sharing research is ranting? Anyway, post I replied to asked: > "Do you think a 15 year old Dell is going to match the performance of any new machine?" Interesting proposition! So I responded to " any new machine" using the earlier Chromebooks as the baseline.

What's the power draw on your fifteen year old Dell? What's the thermal displacement? What generation of NVMe drives does it support?

Re: M1 Thunderbolt ports don’t fully support USB 3.1 Gen 2

#310
post #11
post #6

USB went from being the universal bus, to just being the universal connector. There are never any guarantees that your device (or cable!) actually supports the operation you’re trying

I'm fine with devices offering different capabilities. But the cables should be marked clearly... I have one of the chinese drawing tablets, which has a convoluted "to USB-C" adapter. Apparently you can also drive it with USB-C directly, however only a manufacturer-provided cable (supershort) fits the port. Noone know what cable you can use alternately...

For what it's worth, my Huion tablet (non-screen) had what seemed to be a standard USB-C cable on both ends. Good to know if you ever wanted to try a different Chinese brand.
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