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I've been using Thunderbolt 3 for years now (through Dell's TB16 dock station and XPS 9350) and have mixed feelings about it. It's definitely cool to connect on
by Leace 8y ago
I've been using Thunderbolt 3 for years now (through Dell's TB16 dock station and XPS 9350) and have mixed feelings about it. It's definitely cool to connect only one wire and have everything plugged in but it leaves much to be desired in practice.
For example, currently the dock frequently disconnects and reconnects itself on OS start. I've reproduced it on Windows and on Linux. Another thing is that the connector is kind of brittle. I get it that now everything goes through it but sometimes touching it by accident (e.g. when putting a glass of water) disconnects everything once in a while. Sometimes the USB 3.0 part of the dock doesn't start. Requires powering the entire dock off and on again. Again, reproduced in Windows and Linux and over several iterations of the hardware (both the dock and my laptop). This is just a couple of issues I've got now, it was worse before.
What started as a nice idea doesn't work for me in practice and I'll be sure that my next computer will be just a regular PC keeping the setup boring and simple.
I'm wonder what are your experiences with Thunderbolt 3 in daily usage? (if possible please mention your setup).
- mrtweetyhack 8y agoI would blame that on your docking station and/or your cable. Thunderbolt is just the technology. Implementations can vary by vendor. If you plug in a cheap audio cable and get bad noise in the audio, do you blame your stereo?
- mixmastamyk 8y agoI've a similar setup and no problems. Perhaps try updating the firmware, and reseating the connections. If there are still problems perhaps some parts need to be replaced.
- Leace 8y agoI just checked and I do have the latest firmware for both the laptop and the dock. The issue still persists. What is your motherboard version? Mine is A03. I had the initial one replaced. (I also replaced TB15 that was a total failure)
- mixmastamyk 8y agodmidecode says Precision 5520, Version: A00. I have the TB16 also.
- Leace 8y agoAh okay, thanks. From what I've seen XPS 9350 was the first thing to support Thunderbolt so maybe it's the teething problems of first gen hardware ;)
- wslh 8y agoUsing Dell XPS 13 (9365) and Dell TB16 in Windows with three monitors. My experience is great except for months where USBs were not recognized and I couldn't use the dock because I couldn't use the keyboard and mouse. I assume the problem was fixed after some drivers/firmware updates. I continue to see some issues that I can tolerate. I love the vision of the Thunderbolt technology because you can have a standard way to switch your notebook to a desktop mode using a single cable but at the same time it is clear that Windows and Windows based notebooks live in "no man's land", there is no good integration and nobody to blame about the hardware and software integration. I imagine in the future you can have good eGPU support and may be additional processors.
- Leace 8y agoThanks for sharing your setup & experience!