I wonder how much shorter the max cable length can get. Let's find out!
this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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there's no cable now, just two connectors stuck together
Infrared all over again, fml.
I'm sure that any docks for 5 will only be 300$ or more....
Yep, got the Razer TB4 Dock Chroma when the M1 MacBook pros came out, think it was $350. It’s VERY nice to be able to go from desk to couch when WFH and have everything right where you left it, but damn it’s pricey.
AND mine already died once as well. Replaced under warranty but it was a hassle that took a few weeks
Any random thinkpad dock is like 200. A dell d6000 is a displaylink dock (so needs a driver) but will work for 160 bucks.
You really only need TB to extend pcie speeds to a peripheral. For most wfh stuff like spreadsheets you can do it for a LOT cheaper.
Not in my setup. TB4 is necessary for me to be anvke to run my TV + other monitors. Also, I’ve used DisplayLink haha, never going back. It’s just a subpar experience.
Yeah displaylink depends on the use case. For my day to day work, scripting, spreadsheets etc. it’s fine. I can understand why some may not like them. They are great for lower end MacBooks because they can bypass the silly monitor limitations on the “slower” chips
At home I use an eGPU to drive 2 monitors and tv but that’s more to play games.
I THINK a thinkpad dock has 3 outputs. 2 DP and HDMI and is only limited by the horizontal resolution your laptop can output. A lot of intel onboard graphics are limited and if you are trying to output to a 4K+ 2x 1080p monitors you are gonna have trouble.
If only they worked as anounced..
That's pretty typical. 55" LCD TVs were $20k when they first came out, 256MB of RAM was hundreds of dollars when it came out, 128GB hard drives were hundreds of dollars when they came out. Someday, this thing will be dirt cheap and ubiquitous but not now.
That feeling when your laptop overheats because the USB port is consuming 30 watts. :-/
Already, I need to place a desk fan pointed on my laptop to keep it cool when it's connected to the docking station via USB.
Is your dock powered by your laptop? I didn't even know this was possible, all docks I've seen have their own power supply and actually offer PD to the connected device, not the other way around.
I have an Aukey dock and an Anker dock and they both work both ways. When there's no power supply connected to it, power is drawn from the laptop. When there is a power supply, my laptop gets charged instead.
Wait, what is the point of a dock if not to dock your laptop so you have access to an additional monitor, keyboard, mouse,... while only needing to plugin one cable?
Is your dock not always in the same location?
It's more of a hub than a stationary dock but it works the same way. If you have power connected to the hubs power port then yes it is just one cable
We need a more robust connection more than we need a faster connection.
All USB/thunderbolt variants feel like they are a sneeze away from snapping. It's one thing if yiu are connecting things that aren't meant to be moved around, but damn do they feel flimsy for mobile devices that could get bumped around.
How long until we get back to screw in connectors?
It would be pretty easy to make a locking mechanism for a standard usb-c cable. Like for example a slot that's the size of a usb-c connector, and after you put the usb-c cable connector through it to plug it in, you then rotate the slot 90 degrees to lock the cable head in place.
120Gbps mode would be incredible for eGPUs.
How many 4ks at 120hz can it run? Asking for a friend
It should support at least 3. In case you’re seriously asking, TB3 is 40GBps and supports 1 display at 4k@120 with DP 1.4.
4K UHD needs a bandwidth of at least 10.2 Gbps, so this could drive eleven 4K displays
It can be much higher - depends on how much color information you’re sending, and what the refresh rate is.
The DisplayPort spec (which alt mode runs across usbc) covers the streams:
/drools
So some number from 3 to 11 apparently.
120hz vs 60hz is twice the bandwidth, so more like 3-6. Though iirc (and that's a big if since I'm not going to look it up right now), there's a touch of overhead and maybe some reserved bandwidth in the full DP signal, so I'd bet more towards 3. More with compression, but it's not magic.
3x 4K at 144hz, it’s right in the graphic in the article.