USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness (2021) • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by daveoc64 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:49 PM UTC

Evidlo wrote: post #135

Why do people buy laptops that don't have this stuff already on it? I run an engineering course and it's almost comical how often students have to set aside their $2000 Macbooks and use the desktop workstations because they forgot their dongles at home. My Thinkpad has 6 USB ports (2 USB 3.0), SDCard, DisplayPort, VGA, ethernet and also e-sata and Firewire which I've never used.

Even on a laptop with plenty of ports, it's very convenient to be able to plug in just one cable and get power, video, ethernet, mouse, keyboard etc.

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

#202

Post by djur » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:50 PM UTC

Evidlo wrote: post #135

Why do people buy laptops that don't have this stuff already on it? I run an engineering course and it's almost comical how often students have to set aside their $2000 Macbooks and use the desktop workstations because they forgot their dongles at home. My Thinkpad has 6 USB ports (2 USB 3.0), SDCard, DisplayPort, VGA, ethernet and also e-sata and Firewire which I've never used.

Cheap laptops also have a lot of cheap shitty hardware on them supporting those peripherals. It's not as clear cut as "on board good, on hub bad".

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

#203

Post by dogma1138 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:52 PM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #189

dogma1138 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sounds to me that you for some reason got the older USB-C 3.1 / Gen 1 docks those are limited to 5gbps which means no 4K@60 the Gen 2 USB-C / TB3 docks work quite flawlessly as long as you ofc plug them into a Gen 2 or TB port…

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

#204

Post by moffkalast » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:55 PM UTC

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/

Remind me to never buy a laptop without a healthy array of dedicated external ports. This is lunacy.

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

#205

Post by matthew-wegner » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:56 PM UTC

dml2135 wrote: post #82

Does anyone know if it's possible to drive three HD/QHD monitors via a single thunderbolt port on an M1 Mac, and if any docks exist that would support this use case? Many of these docks and Apple support documents say they support dual displays at 4K resolutions, but it's difficult-to-impossible to find information on # of displays supported at lower resolutions.

The short answer is no, unfortunately. There is a limit of two monitors per Thunderbolt port. My understanding is that this limitation lives somewhere at the DisplayPort spec level, but I don't know the specifics.

The longer answer is that you might be able to, depending on resolution/refresh. This will need both hardware and software for "DisplayLink". I've never kicked the tires on this setup, but I believe it's basically setting up a single frame buffer that will span two physical devices.

Hardware: https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m1-mac-dual-displayport-a...

Software: https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics/down...

IMO it isn't very viable, especially once you're past 60hz HD resolutions, and also because the macOS drivers/software sometimes lag behind major OS releases or even point releases.

I hang a 4k@144hz and two 1440p@144hz screens off an M1 Max. It's basically one monitor per cable at that point (docking is two Thunderbolt + HDMI). One TB cable goes to a CalDigit TS3+ for power, USB accessories, and one of the 1440p monitors. The other goes straight to the 4k monitor.

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

#206

Post by icelancer » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 11:57 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #83

I wonder how much e-waste this USB-C bullshit idea generated. It's not even a one-off, "early adopter" problem, considering that even now it's hard to buy something that actually works and you have to churn through many attempts before getting lucky. In contrast, I can't remember the last time I bought a USB-A, HDMI or Ethernet cable/peripheral that didn't work, partly because those specs are self-contained and simpl…

Yeah, a perfect example are all the people in this thread recommending Thunderbolt devices while a bunch of us sit here and type away on our Ryzen or Threadripper powered machines.

USB-C has been such a massive disappointment.

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

#207

Post by code_biologist » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 12:00 AM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #183

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 bi…

What is an example house brand? Amazon? I understand your reasoning and it makes sense, but I'm not sure what brands that actually means, or how to find them.

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

#208

Post by the_mitsuhiko » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 12:01 AM UTC

Ethernet on powered USB-C hubs has its own madness unfortunately: https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2020/7/6/usb-c-network-hubs/

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

#209

Post by TacticalCoder » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 12:03 AM UTC

moffkalast wrote: post #204

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/

Remind me to never buy a laptop without a healthy array of dedicated external ports. This is lunacy.

Yup when you see both the price and the size of these docks, you gotta wonder why even bother with buying a laptop in the first place. If the goal is to hook up two 4K monitors, I'd rather have, say, a desktop computer powered by a threadripper.

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

#210

Post by jd3 » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 12:06 AM UTC

bayindirh wrote: post #67

somethoughts wrote: post #9

It feels like Apple should have done/should do an official in-house docking system instead of outsourcing such a critical component in the overall system/value proposition.

Actually they have a simple USB-C break-out adapter which has a USB-A port, an HDMI port and power-in. It works extremely well. You can connect it to a USB3.0 hub to get a lot of ports. I leave it at my office desk for day to day operation. If you want a proper docking station, a higher end Dell monitor [0] will do with USB-C, display daisy chain and USB-PD. It'll enable single cable connectivity to anything you care…

This is the ideal setup, imo. I know it's pricey due to the Apple markup, but I just expensed it through my job.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MUF82AM/A/usb-c-digital-a...

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HJKF2ZM/A/belkin-usb-c-to...

https://us.anker.com/products/a7516?variant=40237697171606