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USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

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Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#181

Post by asdff »

ugjka wrote: post #23
vinhboy wrote: post #13

> It honestly feels like no matter what you buy, you get more or less the same hardware, and you’re most likely getting a heavily overpriced product just because some company printed their logo on it. Isn't this like a known thing? Almost all peripherals on Amazon will have dozens of the exact same form-factor with different logos on it. You just buy the one that is the perfect intersection of costs, positive reviews…

if you go for cheap, you might get someone selling stuff with manufacturing defects

Usually you will see that in the reviews. Depending on the defect rate, stars will drop accordingly I find.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#182

Post by mst »

dymk wrote: post #171
loudthing wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest answer: Apple is a lifestyle brand, however they manage to offer a superior product to the layman because they have tight control over both hardware and software codevelopment. In my experience, people tend to also like Apple hardware because Apple stores are ubiquitous, so when you need a repair done, you just take it to your local mall and get it fixed rather than mailing it away to Lenovo and hoping for the…

> Apple is a lifestyle brand If "I want it to just work" is a lifestyle, then yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.

I've had a lot of "just works" with thinkpads' pre-loaded windows installs.

Every other windows laptop brand, not so much.

Mileage will of course vary - any thinkpad centric thread on here has a bunch of people with experiences like mine and a bunch of horror stories, after all.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#183

Post by baybal2 »

joeman1000 wrote: post #176

It is super frustrating that it’s basically impossible to find good tech (in some categories). How is the author surprised about this though? Surely they knew about white-label alibaba tech, right? It is almost impossible to avoid it. It’s been this way for at least 5 years. I can pick a ‘white-label’ product by sight now. I suggest everyone develops the same intuition and avoids these disappointments.

> It is almost impossible to avoid it.

I am doing these Type-C hubs, and other small stuff peripherals for a living.

My suggestion, don't look stuff retail, and don't look big brands, even Dell.

Pretty much any "brand business" had zero RnD. Their only feedback channel is the RMA rate. If it gets too bad, they just change the supplier.

Instead, I really suggest going the other way. Smaller makers have no money for big marketing, nor buying ready designs, so they hire people, and let them work until they make something sellable.

House brands often have better QC, because they are already very constrained by their pricing, and RMA will kill them. Thus, they have incentive to spend few extra thousand dollars in engineer work hours than to deal with $100k in returns themselves.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#184

Post by loudthing »

dymk wrote: post #171
loudthing wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest answer: Apple is a lifestyle brand, however they manage to offer a superior product to the layman because they have tight control over both hardware and software codevelopment. In my experience, people tend to also like Apple hardware because Apple stores are ubiquitous, so when you need a repair done, you just take it to your local mall and get it fixed rather than mailing it away to Lenovo and hoping for the…

> Apple is a lifestyle brand If "I want it to just work" is a lifestyle, then yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.

"I want it to just work" is a very subjective phrase. I think you'll find the majority of users have very different use cases for technology than you do.

Also, try to read past the first sentence before you downvote me.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#185

Post by gnicholas »

My MBP (2017 no-TB) runs significantly hotter when plugged into my Anker dock and powering my Samsung 1080p display. The laptop is closed in this configuration, so it's only running one display either way. But it's 10-15°C warmer when plugged.

It's possible this is because the closed lid keeps heat in. I've also heard that using any external display requires the laptop to use its discrete GPU, and this generates additional heat.

Either way, it's pretty annoying because the laptop starts throttling itself with very modest usage.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#186

Post by mst »

physhster wrote: post #116

I have one of those Anker x-in-one hubs and it works well, minus the Ethernet which it capped at 300Mbps due to [checks notes] a USB 2.0 interconnection. Why?!? I ended up getting a separate sub $20 USB-C to Ethernet adapter from a random Amazon brand called Uni. Get full gig, every time despite it having a Realtek 8153 chip in it. So, there might be more to it.

There's a comment only visible via showdead from somebody who claims to be working in China and that the 8153 is actually fine except most of their employers' competitors mess up powering it properly, and it's a cheap enough chip to not be particularly happy when that happens.

I have no means of verifying this, but it seems at least a plausible hypothesis.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#187

Post by loudthing »

mst wrote: post #182
dymk wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple is a lifestyle brand If "I want it to just work" is a lifestyle, then yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.

I've had a lot of "just works" with thinkpads' pre-loaded windows installs. Every other windows laptop brand, not so much. Mileage will of course vary - any thinkpad centric thread on here has a bunch of people with experiences like mine and a bunch of horror stories, after all.

Back in the day I had a Thinkpad T40 tablet that served me very well. Absolutely bullet proof PC, and it could run Crysis on integrated graphics :)

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#188

Post by theonething »

My order history says I ordered one of these in 2018

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074DRW84M

It worked flawlessly so when I needed another two years later I didn't hesitate.

I'm using both right now to power my MBP (2018 13"), connect some peripherals and two external displays. Has been working flawlessly for years. I took it for granted. From this article and comments, looks like I got really lucky.

Looks like they don't make them anymore. I should have picked up a few more.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#189

Post by Gigachad »

dogma1138 wrote: post #65
moritonal wrote: post #7

If you want a decent dock you have to spend a bit of money. I went through this pain before accepting the cost and buying a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub[1]. Run's two 4k displays at 60Hz, any peripheral and charges my laptop. So good I bought a second. 1. https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/

You can get them on the cheap as you can buy enterprise Dell/HP USB-C/TB for like $50-70 on EBay… Do not waste your money on high end consumer stuff, the enterprise stuff is better and the market is flooded with disposed units…

Those Dell ones that come with the XPS caused us endless problems at work. Higher res screens would just not work properly. The only one that consistently just worked was the apple HDMI/USB-A/USB-C charging dongle.

Re: USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021)

#190

Post by Gigachad »

aendruk wrote: post #25
vinhboy wrote: post #13

> It honestly feels like no matter what you buy, you get more or less the same hardware, and you’re most likely getting a heavily overpriced product just because some company printed their logo on it. Isn't this like a known thing? Almost all peripherals on Amazon will have dozens of the exact same form-factor with different logos on it. You just buy the one that is the perfect intersection of costs, positive reviews…

The most frustrating part is that I want no logo. It’s the worst of both worlds; no brand reputation, yet still covered in ads.

The Apple dongles have no branding on them. Other than their distinctive design language I guess.
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