Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

overengineer.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 530 posts

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

#431

Post by culopatin »

Since the author only shares complaints and no solutions, I figured I’d share an option.

I’ve been using an HP Thunderbolt G2 dock with my M1 Pro and I get a 95% success rate.

The 5% failure rate is, I suspect, linked to my LG monitor more than the dock itself. I get some flickering sometimes that is resolved by restarting the monitor or restarting the dock. Happens 1 in 20 connections maybe. I also use the monitor with a windows computer and there is some funky color issue going on where if I go back to windows after using the Mac everything is at 200% saturation and 1% brightness or something like that.

Other than that, Ethernet is fast, I connect to 2 monitors at different refresh rates and I have all the ports I need with just one cable connected to the laptop.

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

#432

Post by porbelm »

LeanderK wrote: post #425

I have an old macbook but I really like the idea to have a single cable connected to a hub where everything plugs in and your laptop charges. I just wonder whether the usb-c style connector really is suitable for it? It seems like it could disconnect easily and what about the wear?

How much do you move the laptop when it's plugged in to the dock? Would it not usually be stationary near the dock with its own keeb and mouse?

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

#433

Post by dpezet »

aivisol wrote: post #370

> I’m slightly concerned about the fact that some of the products use electrolytic capacitors. Those hubs get pretty warm, even if you’re not routing your laptop’s power through the hub, and electrolytic capacitors don’t like warm environments, and that’ll significantly shorten their life. However, that’s probably negligible, since lots of resistors are also designed just barely around their load ratings, all the chi…

> he just replaces all electrolytes without even looking at them.

He must burn himself a lot. It's hard enough to solder components when you are looking at them.

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

#434

Post by WhyNotHugo »

This same topic drives me mad too.

I got a USB-C Satechi hub, for some inexplicable reason, the webcam didn't work and other devices were super flaky. Maybe faulty unit? I returned it anyway.

I got another USB-C hub with HDMI and it didn't really work well with my monitor -- it turns out my monitor is 3440x1440, but has an HDMI port which does not support that resolution at 60Hz, so the HDMI is unusable. Oh well, not the USB-C hub's fault, but it still turns out I can't use one with this monitor.

So I got a Thunderbolt one. But that didn't work because it's Thunderbolt 4, and my laptop is only Thunderbolt 3. Of course, both are identical cables, and Dell's website doesn't explain this anywhere -- I only figured it out thanks to Reddit.

Okay, so I got another Thunderbolt one -- TB3 this time. That does mostly work -- except that when the laptop goes to sleep, the hub disconnects the keyboard that goes through it, so pressing keys won't wake up the laptop again. Oddly, the hub DOES feed power to the keyboard, it's just the data connection to the laptop that goes to sleep. I've to open the lid and press the internal keyboard. Meanwhile, the keyboard's power LED remains on.

I also have a monitor light connected to the hub, and it causes the opposite issue: the hub keeps powering the light when the laptop goes to sleep, so the light stays on. If the laptop turns of for any reason during the night, the light turns back on and STAYS on after that.

USB-C is a blessing and a curse. It looks like everything is interoperable, but it rarely is, and it's not at all obvious what products work together and which ones don't. Some cables charge my JBL USB-C speaker, but most don't. Some cables are Thunderbolt, some aren't. Some work with the webcam, some don't. Half these issues I have a mild idea why, half I don't.

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

#435

Post by ziml77 »

tomatowurst wrote: post #321
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #317

This article makes me feel very good about almost always being several years behind the edge when it comes to hardware. By the time I get around to using these devices, hopefully this kind of crap will get shaken out, and I'll have a nice stable of salvage accessories to choose from. For now, I'll stick to my (also salvaged) MBP with regular USB, audio jacks, MagSafe, HDMI, SD card reader, and an extra millimeter or…

the one problem is that when I look up the price of Caldigit and other brands that HN is vouching for they are $400~$500 range. I would need to burn through 8~9 $50~60 range alternatives that allegedly "suck" before I see returns, and by that time we would have 3 to 4 iterations of macbook. I guess if you like peace of mind then this makes sense but I hope nobody drops $500+ on a hub from reading HN comments, the "cr…

But they don't work just fine? I mean maybe they do for your use case, but I've had functionality issues with cheap docks/dongles. Things like not supporting resolution/refresh rates combos that it was supposed to or not getting full USB speeds. And there are people here saying that they've even had these devices take down their networks.

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

#436

Post by steveBK123 »

faaarmer wrote: post #223
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.

There’s also single side failure modes of some type. I have devices that work on both sides for months.. until they don’t.

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

#437

Post by vetinari »

greggman3 wrote: post #281
manyxcxi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve got the TS 3 Plus dock (which has Ethernet) and it has been working flawlessly on my 2020 MBP (Intel) the entire time. I _think_ there was a firmware update in the early days that unlocked the 85 or 90 watt charging. I had heartburn about the price, but it’s been worth every penny. I’m not pushing 4K though, so mileage may vary. I’ve got a 27” TB2 Apple Cinema Display via TB2 to USB-C and a Dell via Display port…

I have the TS3. It's been great BUT.... the Mac has not been great with it in the following ways. (1) I keep my MBP closed. It take 10-30 seconds for it to wake up on keypress. That's so long that I often have no way to tell if it noticed I pressed key. (2) If XCode is debugging and the screen sleeps then MacOS 12 never recovers unless I disconnect the cable, open the lid, get it wake up on the laptop monitor, and th…

I'm using OWC TB3 dock, it has the same (1) problem. In the past, I've used Kanex TB2 dock and it was the same.

So for the feedback on keypress, I'm using devices with backlight. Both keyboard or mouse work fine, once they light up, you know that it is waking up.

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

#438

Post by gumby »

moffkalast wrote: post #405
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m with you on this. I’m a FAANG software engineer who does hardware stuff too and I have a 2020 MacBook Air with 2 (two!) USB-C ports. One for charging, one for other stuff. In my two years of owning the device I have not once ever been frustrated needing the third port. I do quite often use both of the two ports, but even needing three seems to never happen in my use case. I don’t use external monitors with that d…

You seriously never needed to plug in a plain common USB-A flash drive or any other peripheral? Or flash an sd card or anything of the sort? Interesting.

Nope. I pass data around over the network, either via cloud or P2P. If I plug into an external display I use BT kbd/trackpad. And I do have a waterproof/shockproof camera with an SD card but I don’t use it every day, or even every week; I use my phone.

Flash drive? Hardly ever used one; networking existed before they were invented.

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

#439

Post by dymk »

loudthing wrote: post #184
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 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.

I didn’t downvote you.

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

#440

Post by vetinari »

TheNewAndy wrote: post #91
moritonal wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the Ethernet I enjoyed the fact the dock was clean and unopinionated, just providing USB ports so I could use a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter. Your comments about the Screen Blanking sound bad and are are likely correct, I only have an Intel Mac to compare.

I have used the dock with windows and Linux machines and seen solar issues btw. So I would expect the same with an Intel mac

The screen blanking with M1 was driving me crazy. I went through untold amount of cables, and ended up with miniDP (on the dock) to DP (on the monitor) that doesn't blank, but only flickers occasionally.

The funny thing is that 2015 Intel MBP (with Apple TB2->TB3 adapter) with the same dock and same monitor didn't blank or flicker. I guess it is something about the new Apple TB implementation in M1.

Post reply on HN