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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)

#221

Post by jfb »

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.

I get around this by using a desktop computer. I appreciate without wanting the engineering that goes into modern laptops; but they're solving for a problem that I just don't have.

USB remains, of course, a donkey circus. Everyone involved in USB ought to be ashamed of themselves.

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

#222

Post by ClumsyPilot »

npunt wrote: post #134
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…

Big picture, USB-C is set to considerably reduce ewaste given that more and more consumer electronics products are standardizing on it as a charging solution, eliminating custom chargers and letting manufacturers get away with not including a charger. This is likely to be accelerated by regulations in the EU. The last time we had this level of standardization was probably the AA battery. Not saying things are perfect…

"Big picture, USB-C is set to considerably reduce ewaste"

In 20 years once they atoned fir the dongle sins, I have 6 usbC adapters around the house

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

#223

Post by faaarmer »

steveBK123 wrote: post #29

Shitty USB-C is incredible. I have some docks/SD-card reader devices that somehow only work when plugged in with side A facing up despite the port allowing plugging in either way.

That's because they cheap out and only wire up one side (apparently). I have a few like that too.

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

#224

Post by nwallin »

Also note that if you have a laptop that supports Thunderbolt, you need a docking station that supports Thunderbolt. If you have a laptop that supports Alternate Video Mode, you need a docking station that supports Alternate Video Mode. AFAIK no laptop supports both modes, and very, very few docking station supports both. (you'll usually get reduced features if you have a mismatch; for instance, you'll get just one monitor, or two monitors at low resolution, or no video out at all, just the additional USB/ethernet ports)

My work laptop has Thunderbolt, my personal laptop does not. So this is an issue for me. I have a Plugable TBT-UDZ, which is one of relatively few docking stations that supports both. I can therefore use two 2560x1440 60Hz displays through either laptop.

This isn't without issue. My work PC (Windows) will every other week or so BSOD when connected to it, but, well, it's Windows. My personal personal computer (linux) will not crash, but every other week or so will simply refuse to recognize the docking station. So I have to unplug the docking station and plug it back in. It's annoying, but not the end of the world. I believe these two issues are the same issue, but I haven't bothered to confirm that. I don't have a Mac to try it on.

https://plugable.com/products/tbt3-udz

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

#226

Post by dspillett »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #209
moffkalast wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> why even bother with buying a laptop in the first place. If the goal is to hook up two 4K monitors

That might not be a full-time goal. Some want a machine that works on the move but can be expanded to bigger screens and such when at certain locations (office and/or home). A laptop and dock allow this compromise.

It is a compromise, not one suitable for all. But it is the list inconvenient option for many.

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

#228

Post by drstewart »

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.

You bought a laptop without a SCSI port?

Can I ask why you bought a laptop that doesn't have that already on it?

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

#229

Post by WaxProlix »

jmyeet wrote: post #74

I've gone through a number of Thunderbolt docks over the last few years. I tend to prefer docks to hubs because you tend to use your laptop at several fixed positions, each of which might have 1 or more monitors, a network cable, accessories (eg keyboard, mouse, camera) and so on. It's easier to just plug in one cable from the dock to the Macbook that'll do everything including power it. A good example of this is the…

I've had some mediocre luck with USBC cables, paying premium for stuff that has the same below-spec performance as the bulk I got from monoprice a few years ago at a fraction of the cost. How do you evaluate 'nice' cables before shelling out money for garbage?

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

#230

Post by realityking »

nwallin wrote: post #224

Also note that if you have a laptop that supports Thunderbolt, you need a docking station that supports Thunderbolt. If you have a laptop that supports Alternate Video Mode, you need a docking station that supports Alternate Video Mode. AFAIK no laptop supports both modes, and very, very few docking station supports both. (you'll usually get reduced features if you have a mismatch; for instance, you'll get just one m…

AFAIK all MacS that support Thunderbolt also support DisplayPort alt mode. Is that different on the PC side? That’d be quite surprising.

What Macs don’t support ist DisplayPort MST. So the only way to power two monitors with one adapter would indeed be Thunderbolt.

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