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I struggled for a long time to find a "full featured" dock that could support my setup with a single cable. I wanted 3x 2560x1440@60 monitors, wired ethernet, U

I struggled for a long time to find a "full featured" dock that could support my setup with a single cable. I wanted 3x 2560x1440@60 monitors, wired ethernet, USB 3.x, and power without having 5+ cables to move around. Last year Dell finally released the WD19TB and it's awesome. https://www.delltechnologies.com/resources/en-us/asset/data-sheets/products/electronics-accessories/dell_thunderbolt_dock_wd19tb_spec_sheet.pdf https://www.delltechnologies.com/resources/en-us/asset/data-... I happen to run an XPS with Arch & KDE Plasma and everything worked perfectly out of the box. Highly recommended for anyone who has a TB3 laptop and is looking for a good dock.

baybal2 5y ago
The problem with TB used to be the power consumption of the PHY chip. A guy in a coworking next to me has a Dell dock which makes his fans spin, and the laptop body painfully hot to touch. How is it for you?
- paco3346 5y ago
  Mine stays warmish but not enough to make the fans consistently spin. The heat generated by using the dock is no different than what's generated by using an AC adapter with individual DP & USB cables.
- LeonM 5y ago
  This typical for laptops with discrete GPUs. Outputting video over TB can often only be done by the discrete GPU. I do not know the reason why this works this way. On my Lenovo X1E, this is also the case. Thunderbolt video output only works via the nVidia GPU (instead of the Intel graphics on the CPU). So connecting the TB dock causes my fans to spin up, as the laptop is now rendering my desktop using a power hungry nVidia chip.
- StringyBob 5y ago
  This is still noticeable in lower power devices. I have discovered that if I leave a usb cable plugged into a MacBook Air M1 usbc socket in standby, it draws about half a watt extra, even though the cable power draw is zero. This means the battery goes flat in a few days vs a few weeks in standby - the PHY seems to be using more power in standby than rest of laptop
eulers_secret 5y ago
Thanks for the recommendation, I've been seriously considering one of these for my XPS. As a side note I am deeply in love with my XPS 9310 (Tigerlake) on Kubuntu (kernel 4.11). Battery life is INSANE, instant wake and sleep, keeps cool, but still has thermal overhead/power (thanks to the fans) to do large kernel compiles or other serious hard work. Also the screen (I got the non-4K model) is very pretty, sometimes I just look at it and go 'wow, that looks good'. Excuse me if I gush too much.
- paco3346 5y ago
  The recent XPS lineup has been really great especially with the mainline kernel. I have a 15" so the thermal issues were a bit of a challenge at first. I ended up undervolting the CPU and now I get decent battery life (~4 hours) and no thermal issues. As for the dock- it has absolutely been worth every penny.
twic 5y ago
Can you boot off a USB-C external drive plugged into the hub? I have an XPS, a Sitecom USB-C hub, and a Samsung T5 drive. Booted off its internal drive, the laptop can see the drive through the hub. But it can't boot off it. I don't know why; i imagine that a USB-C hub is not transparent, and the host needs to explicitly reach through it, but the XPS firmware doesn't know how.
- paco3346 5y ago
  Yes, I can. Note however, that this is not a USB dock- it's Thunderbolt. In my particular case (literally just tested this) I needed to enable Thunderbolt boot support and change the security level (I have my thunderbolt settings pretty locked down). Booting off both a USB drive and a TB drive worked.
  - twic 5y ago
    Thank you! I am hazy about the relationship between USB-C and Thunderbolt, but this information motivates me to go and find out!
gerlin2010 5y ago
I made an account just to share _my_ experiences with a Dell XPS 9300, Dell WD19TB and one Dell U2719x Display, running the latest Linux Mint, in Cinnamon flavor. There's a reason, I'm spelling out Dell so many times here, because my expectations were that such an all-company-x setup would work out of the box with the least amount of problems. Sadly it did not. Currently the setup is workable, but what I've experienced in the half year I'm running it was nightmarish. The thing wouldn't power up, screen would black out and not come on again during meetings, display must stay on all the time (no power safe), sleep is impossible because the system won't come up again or go to sleep again after a few seconds of waking it up. Web research has lead me to believe, that I'm not the exception, but rather the rule and there might be a reason Dell is still sending out firmware updates for the XPS and the dock (which in general is greatly appreciated). I have to add, the Laptop sits closed in a stand behind the screen, which might contribute to my problems, but I just couldn't let this 100% recommendation stand here without an opposite experience ... I hope this it's working out better for everyone else, but this is my "story". Dell support is no great help either and a time investment I am not happy to make anymore after several tries.
- paco3346 5y ago
  Thank you for pointing this out- as individual stories our experiences are anecdotal but combined they paint a different picture. I was hesitant at first when I ordered mine and expected to have problems as others did. I should also point out that I use an XPS 9570.
  - gerlin2010 5y ago
    I am happy for you, having a positive experience -- and partly because of that, slightly optimistic that Dell might improve my and my peers' situation. And of course you are right: A single anecdote is just that, but a few more may paint a rather well-rounded picture. Cheers
    - paco3346 5y ago
      To build on what someone else had said- firmware updates may play a roll here. While I do think any manufacturer should test things before they ship I am grateful that Dell does seem to keep pushing updates for them. I did install the latest firmware when I bought mine (early 2020) and was able to through Linux. I also had a few BIOS updates I had applied before I even bought the dock and do recall a few of the change log entries mentioning TB dock fixes. Perhaps the same will be true for your machine.
kabes 5y ago
I have the WD19TB and have a lot of issues with it. I need to unplug/plug it multiple times a day since things stop working (display not detected, USB devices not working, ...). Both on windows and Ubuntu. I also can't seem to get 2*4k60hz working. Also have the caldigit ts3 plus which is better but doesn't provide enough power for my dell precision 7550

baybal2 5y ago

The problem with TB used to be the power consumption of the PHY chip. A guy in a coworking next to me has a Dell dock which makes his fans spin, and the laptop body painfully hot to touch. How is it for you?

paco3346 5y ago
Mine stays warmish but not enough to make the fans consistently spin. The heat generated by using the dock is no different than what's generated by using an AC adapter with individual DP & USB cables.
LeonM 5y ago
This typical for laptops with discrete GPUs. Outputting video over TB can often only be done by the discrete GPU. I do not know the reason why this works this way. On my Lenovo X1E, this is also the case. Thunderbolt video output only works via the nVidia GPU (instead of the Intel graphics on the CPU). So connecting the TB dock causes my fans to spin up, as the laptop is now rendering my desktop using a power hungry nVidia chip.
StringyBob 5y ago
This is still noticeable in lower power devices. I have discovered that if I leave a usb cable plugged into a MacBook Air M1 usbc socket in standby, it draws about half a watt extra, even though the cable power draw is zero. This means the battery goes flat in a few days vs a few weeks in standby - the PHY seems to be using more power in standby than rest of laptop

eulers_secret 5y ago

Thanks for the recommendation, I've been seriously considering one of these for my XPS. As a side note I am deeply in love with my XPS 9310 (Tigerlake) on Kubuntu (kernel 4.11). Battery life is INSANE, instant wake and sleep, keeps cool, but still has thermal overhead/power (thanks to the fans) to do large kernel compiles or other serious hard work. Also the screen (I got the non-4K model) is very pretty, sometimes I just look at it and go 'wow, that looks good'. Excuse me if I gush too much.

paco3346 5y ago
The recent XPS lineup has been really great especially with the mainline kernel. I have a 15" so the thermal issues were a bit of a challenge at first. I ended up undervolting the CPU and now I get decent battery life (~4 hours) and no thermal issues. As for the dock- it has absolutely been worth every penny.

twic 5y ago

Can you boot off a USB-C external drive plugged into the hub? I have an XPS, a Sitecom USB-C hub, and a Samsung T5 drive. Booted off its internal drive, the laptop can see the drive through the hub. But it can't boot off it. I don't know why; i imagine that a USB-C hub is not transparent, and the host needs to explicitly reach through it, but the XPS firmware doesn't know how.

paco3346 5y ago
Yes, I can. Note however, that this is not a USB dock- it's Thunderbolt. In my particular case (literally just tested this) I needed to enable Thunderbolt boot support and change the security level (I have my thunderbolt settings pretty locked down). Booting off both a USB drive and a TB drive worked.
- twic 5y ago
  Thank you! I am hazy about the relationship between USB-C and Thunderbolt, but this information motivates me to go and find out!

gerlin2010 5y ago

I made an account just to share _my_ experiences with a Dell XPS 9300, Dell WD19TB and one Dell U2719x Display, running the latest Linux Mint, in Cinnamon flavor. There's a reason, I'm spelling out Dell so many times here, because my expectations were that such an all-company-x setup would work out of the box with the least amount of problems. Sadly it did not. Currently the setup is workable, but what I've experienced in the half year I'm running it was nightmarish. The thing wouldn't power up, screen would black out and not come on again during meetings, display must stay on all the time (no power safe), sleep is impossible because the system won't come up again or go to sleep again after a few seconds of waking it up. Web research has lead me to believe, that I'm not the exception, but rather the rule and there might be a reason Dell is still sending out firmware updates for the XPS and the dock (which in general is greatly appreciated). I have to add, the Laptop sits closed in a stand behind the screen, which might contribute to my problems, but I just couldn't let this 100% recommendation stand here without an opposite experience ... I hope this it's working out better for everyone else, but this is my "story". Dell support is no great help either and a time investment I am not happy to make anymore after several tries.

paco3346 5y ago
Thank you for pointing this out- as individual stories our experiences are anecdotal but combined they paint a different picture. I was hesitant at first when I ordered mine and expected to have problems as others did. I should also point out that I use an XPS 9570.
- gerlin2010 5y ago
  I am happy for you, having a positive experience -- and partly because of that, slightly optimistic that Dell might improve my and my peers' situation. And of course you are right: A single anecdote is just that, but a few more may paint a rather well-rounded picture. Cheers
  - paco3346 5y ago
    To build on what someone else had said- firmware updates may play a roll here. While I do think any manufacturer should test things before they ship I am grateful that Dell does seem to keep pushing updates for them. I did install the latest firmware when I bought mine (early 2020) and was able to through Linux. I also had a few BIOS updates I had applied before I even bought the dock and do recall a few of the change log entries mentioning TB dock fixes. Perhaps the same will be true for your machine.

kabes 5y ago

I have the WD19TB and have a lot of issues with it. I need to unplug/plug it multiple times a day since things stop working (display not detected, USB devices not working, ...). Both on windows and Ubuntu. I also can't seem to get 2*4k60hz working. Also have the caldigit ts3 plus which is better but doesn't provide enough power for my dell precision 7550