7 ms·

Will that hub or dock slow your SSDs, or even make them faster?

105 points by zdw 2y ago

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
declan_roberts 2y ago
I bought a dock for my Mac mini. It works great, but I do notice that it takes a few seconds/minutes after waking up before the NVMe SSD is mounted, which means I can't keep any of my dotfiles on it.
shae 2y ago
CalDigit TS4 is the best dock I've used. I tried several. I get 2.5 GB Ethernet, two external 4k monitors, and much throughput.
- marxisttemp 2y ago
  I like my Kensington a lot, don’t seem them mentioned a lot but the build quality is very high, lots of ports and it even has an official mount for under-desk use
  - codetrotter 2y ago
    What’s the model name?
    - shwouchk 2y ago
      I recently got this one (see sibling comment to parent) and am quite happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CMT7WMVM https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CMT7WMVM Note that as all docks it requires displaylink software on mac to use more than one screen, and the software is a bit buggy - needs to be restarted every couple of times i reconnect to the dock for the displays to work right. TBH this is the first dock i experience this with but then again os and software updates, and ive seen weird flaky behavior before, just not specifically this.
      - twoparachute45 2y ago
        Not all docks need DisplayLink. Thunderbolt-powered ones like this [0] or this [1] can support multiple displays for Macbook Pros without it, so if you want to avoid having to use DisplayLink, they're solid picks. The one thing you need to watch out for is that if you go with the second one, there are no HDMI ports, so you need a USB-C to HDMI converter, which in my experience can be flaky at higher refresh rates. If on the other hand your monitors support DisplayPort, then USB-C to DisplayPort is native, doesn't need a converter (just an adapter), and works better. 1: https://plugable.com/products/tbt4-ud5 https://plugable.com/products/tbt4-ud5 2: https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/ https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/
        fragmede 2y ago
        From the first link > On Mac systems, dual display is only supported on M1 Pro/Max, M2 Pro/Max, M3 Pro/Max, and M4/Pro/Max systems So if you're still on an OG M1 it won't work for you.
        wtallis 2y ago
        Base M2 or M3 won't work either; a Thunderbolt dock cannot work around a lack of display pipes on the SoC. The M4 is the first base M-series chip that supports two external displays in addition to the internal display, hence the slightly different phrasing in your quote for the M4 generation.
        shwouchk 2y ago
        Aside from my justified negative opinions about caldigit, i was referring to docks that offer 3+ (simultaneous) screen outputs (eg not one with 2 hdmi+2dp that can use either set but not all 4 together). That requires DP.
        Terretta 2y ago
        > docks that offer 3+ (simultaneous) screen outputs ... requires DP Still incorrect. What you actually have to use is two thunderbolt ports on the MacBook. Then you can power not just two but four 6K screens, as each TB port can push 2 externals (in addition to built-in screen). So this iVANKY dock is native TB quad screen, for example: https://www.amazon.com/FusionDock-Thunderbolt-Monitor-Docking-Station/dp/B0C8MZXMSR/ https://www.amazon.com/FusionDock-Thunderbolt-Monitor-Dockin...
    - marxisttemp 2y ago
      SD5700T
      - codetrotter 2y ago
        Thank you
- kalleboo 2y ago
  Just watch out for the TS3 dock, a few of the USB ports on it are driven by a flaky chipset and should be avoided https://sebvance.medium.com/the-secret-caveats-of-the-caldigit-ts3-plus-dock-ebddea7d2fc https://sebvance.medium.com/the-secret-caveats-of-the-caldig...
  - simoncion 2y ago
    > 2. Don’t expect to run any USB hubs behind any of the USB ports on this dock whatsoever... even if the downstream hub is only powering wimpy devices like wireless mouse dongles. You might not have this problem if you plug the hub into the dock’s extra Thunderbolt port... I have this device and don't have this problem? I have a couple of self-powered hubs downstream of this thing and have plugged them into the USB-A-shaped ports on the back. I don't have any downstream Thunderbolt devices plugged into this thing. Maybe that's the major difference between my setup and the author's? (Or maybe I'm running better firmware on this thing than he is?)
    - kalleboo 2y ago
      I haven't tried any hubs, but my problem was using a 2.5 Gbps USB Ethernet controller off of one of the Fresco Logic USB ports (the front 5 Gbps ones or the rear right-hand 3 USB-A ports), after a few hours it would drop. I thought the cheap USB adapter was bad, replaced it, same thing. I found this blog post, switched to one of the ASMedia ports (the rear 10 Gbps USB-C port or the most left-hand USB-A port) and both of the Ethernet controllers are rock-solid now. I now have it in the Thunderbolt port which ekes out another 100 Mbps or so compared to the ASMedia USB ports. The blog post is probably a bit sensationalistic but I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price.
      - simoncion 2y ago
        Sounds like I should plug the subset of the ports that are on that Fresco Logic controller so that I don't unwittingly use them at some point in the distant future. > ...I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price. This is understandable. However, I'm pleased with my purchase and I'm only using the built-in Ethernet port, the built-in DisplayPort port, and a couple of USB ports. If it lasts me five years, I will have paid ~60 USD per year, which I think is a bargain when you compare it to fighting with something that's flaky no matter what you do, or just fails after a year or two... requiring you to go on the hunt for a new "dock". Honestly, I think it's pretty damn stupid to have so many USB ports on the thing to begin with. Decent USB hubs are inexpensive; remove all but one or two of the USB ports and use now-spare bandwidth to put additional DisplayPort ports on the thing!
- shwouchk 2y ago
  PSA: STAY AWAY! I had two expensive caldigit docks (TS3 i believe). One was warranty replacement for the first one. Each died after about a year. After that I had an expensive alogic dock. Seemed great when it was working, but after just over a year it went dead (warranty is for two years). The dock i had is out of stock. After weeks of “checking” I was offered an exchange for a cheaper version (whatever) that doesn’t include features i rely on (3 screens). As “compensation” I was offered about 30% of the original price, since “the item was used”. Thanks but no thanks. Standard amortization time for computer equipment is 5 years. And in either case, who has patience to go for weeks without their familiar computing environment? And my cost is replacement of the item, i did not rent it. I got a Kensington dock sold by amazon at slightly less than the original price of that one, with better features and a brand name that is worth more than the piece of paper it is written on. We’ll see how it lasts
  - simoncion 2y ago
    $DAYJOB issues us Mac laptops. (Seems like a waste of money, but it's not MY money.) So, I've been using a CalDigit TS3 Plus device for the last two or three years. I have USB 3, Ethernet, and DisplayPort going out from it, and a Thunderbolt cable going into it. Other than sometimes having to unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable to get the screen to wake [0], it works fine. [0] To make this easy, I have an F<->F coupler near the display that doesn't have latches. I just slip out one end of the cable from the coupler and slip it back in. Quick and easy, if slightly annoying that I have to do it at all.
    - phantompeace 2y ago
      Off topic but why refer to it as $DAYJOB (is it really a variable like that?) rather than just saying “work” or “my job”? I see it all over HN but I’ve actually never understood why people do this. Sorry for veering off topic.
      - orta 2y ago
        The syntax is written like a bash shell variable, the idea (I assume) is that the actual job itself doesn't matter but the idea of it being something they do for work does (because contextually it means they have less decision power.) So, if it were me, saying I work for Puzzmo is about as useful as me saying I work for $DAYJOB in a sentence like that.
- begueradj 2y ago
  What about no dock and no 3 external monitors ?
jsheard 2y ago
It would be a lot simpler if you could just install NVMe drives internally, wired directly to the CPUs PCIe bus with nothing inbetween to slow it down, but alas if Apple let you do that it would cut into their business of selling internal SSD upgrades at a 500% markup.
- sureIy 2y ago
  > SSD upgrades at a 500% markup. Is the price difference really that high or are you comparing them to cheaper SSDs?
  - jsheard 2y ago
    It's absolutely that high. Upgrading a Mac Mini from 256GB to 2TB is an extra $800, and a high-end 2TB NVMe drive like the WD SN850x is around $150 at retail. Even the 8TB version of that drive is only $650. That's why external SSDs are so common in Mac setups, even accounting for the additional cost of a Thunderbolt enclosure it's usually still significantly cheaper than getting a bigger internal SSD from Apple.
    - Retric 2y ago
      Using a gaming part is a poor comparison because gaming parts get higher speeds at lower prices by sacrificing longevity/energy efficiency. Clearly not the tradeoff Apple wants to make here. Which isn’t anything against the SN850x, it’s a great fit for the intended use case it’s just many people assume there’s zero trade-offs involved beyond speed/price/capacity. Apple is definitely raising storage prices to milk their customers and promote their iCloud cash cow, but it’s still worth considering when looking at ‘gaming’ parts in different situations.
      - rudedogg 2y ago
        A Samsung 990 Pro dips to the same prices. I got a 2TB one for $150 this Black Friday. Apple is overcharging for storage. You get a lot of compute for cheap though :/
Neywiny 2y ago
My biggest takeaway from this was finding out they have USB4 2.0. Come ooooonnnnnnnnn. Wikipedia starts by saying USB4 isn't 4.0 (that'd make too much sense I guess). So disappointing.
- twoparachute45 2y ago
  It would be comical if it weren't so ridiculous. The standards group is surely aware of how ridiculous it is, yet they keep coming up with these idiotic names, and then try to defend it by saying "its only the technical name, not the marketing name", as if that matters. They honestly just need to kill off USB at this point and just let Thunderbolt supersede it. Thunderbolt 4 and 5 are literally just implementations of USB4, except the Thunderbolt standards group is doing a hell of a lot better job at naming things and certifying cables than the USB group is.
  - redserk 2y ago
    Regarding Thunderbolt, I don't even bother buying USB-C cables anymore for anything important. If it's in my backpack or used for a dock/monitor, it's going to be a Thunderbolt cable. Expensive? Absolutely. Unnecessary? Almost certainly. But I haven't had any issues with them whatsoever.
    - Krasnol 2y ago
      I've been using USB cables since they exist, and I had never any "issues" with them. The only "issue" I had, was that you often ended up without the proper one when you needed it. Almost all the cables came with the device which needed it. Only bought 2 which were longer. What issues do you experience so frequently that it would justify investing more money into it?
      - Terretta 2y ago
        You answered your own question: Q: What issues do you experience so frequently that it would justify investing more money into it? A: ... often ended up without the proper one when you needed it That's precisely the issue GP solves by only carrying one type of cable, Thunderbolt. If you want to transfer data at top speed, render high resolution high refresh rate video, or charge at maximum wattage, TB4 handles it. One cable to rule them all, no surprises.
harha 2y ago
Ah thunderbolt, yet another standard that started with a promise of simplicity but requires a lot of digging to understand what actually works. For me some things worked better than expected (5K + 4K monitor at 60Hz, even though it states only one 5K or two 4K monitors), some things don't (work laptop detects the hub, but the displays stay blank.
anonymousiam 2y ago
I've been dabbling with this issue for a few months. I've got a one-year-old ThinkPad that multi-boots Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, 23.10), and Windows 11. Upon purchase, I immediately upgraded the 1TB internal NVMe drive to a Samsung 4TB (990). Later, I had some difficulty while upgrading from 23.10 to 24.04. To make things easier while troubleshooting, I was backing up the 4TB image, and restoring it when the upgrade failed. After doing this a few times, I was looking for more speed. I tried several NVMe/TB4 enclosures. Some of them were junk, some were just okay, and this one (which I now have two of) is great: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CSFFMQWF https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CSFFMQWF I now also have three of these 8TB NVMe SSDs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9WT512W https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9WT512W (I also have a few others that are slower and/or smaller.) I've tried a few docks, and this is the one I'm using now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DBHG7486 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DBHG7486 It's a good dock, but unfortunately needs the DisplayLink driver to use the DisplayPort output. This works okay, but the monitor stays dark until the desktop is booted, and cannot be used for switching between Linux virtual consoles. First off, because my ThinkPad has only one TB4 port that also serves as the USB-C PD input, I needed a dock if I wanted to use a TB4 accessory while not running from the battery. The dock is also quite valuable for using an external (4K/60Hz) display when using another TB4 peripheral. The SSDs work fine when plugged into the non-TB4 port, but they operate at less than half of their potential speed, and are enumerated as /dev/sdX instead of /dev/nvmeXnX. Operating the SSDs from the TB4 port gives variable performance depending upon what else is connected, and when it was connected. The Linux PCI+bridge enumeration has some issues with hotplugable devices. Various combinations of pci=assign-busses, realloc, native, hpbussize=XX, lastbus=XX, hpmmiosize=XXXM, hpmmioprefsize=XG will all give varying results. At best, with my 4K monitor operating, I can get 20gbps on one external SSD, or some division of that speed distributed amongst multiple other SSDs. Leaving the PCIe enumeration to the kernel with no additional boot arguments did not go well with 23.10, but works better with 24.04. Hot-plugging performance is always a compromise, depending upon kernel parameters, and the order in which things are plugged in.
__mharrison__ 2y ago
Would love to hear about folks favorite docks. I have a fancy pluggable dock and after my Mac goes to sleep it sometimes stops working when the Mac wakes up. Often, it appears to go into a loop where it detects an external monitor for 5 seconds then disconnects. Pretty annoying and guess away after a reboot.
nottorp 2y ago
What annoys me is not speed, but why there are so few docks with a storage slot inside. It's bad enough that you have to have a box hanging off your machine, but with most docks you have to have several boxes.
- goosedragons 2y ago
  There are several designed that way for the Steam Deck. They are just generic USB C hubs with a slot of the deck. Not Thunderbolt though.
  - nottorp 2y ago
    I have a TB3 dock with a fast ish nvme slot. But I only found two options when I looked... something from OWC and the WD "game dock" i ended up buying. It does do the job including display passthrough.
peachpossum 2y ago
I've been using an OWC 14 port TB3 dock with my 2018 Intel Mac mini for about 5 years now with no issues. I keep a 2TB Samsung T7 external SSD connected and it is always mounted when I wake the system from sleep. I've been very happy with this dock so far. https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG/ https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG/

105 points by zdw 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

I bought a dock for my Mac mini. It works great, but I do notice that it takes a few seconds/minutes after waking up before the NVMe SSD is mounted, which means I can't keep any of my dotfiles on it.

shae 2y ago

CalDigit TS4 is the best dock I've used. I tried several. I get 2.5 GB Ethernet, two external 4k monitors, and much throughput.

marxisttemp 2y ago
I like my Kensington a lot, don’t seem them mentioned a lot but the build quality is very high, lots of ports and it even has an official mount for under-desk use
- codetrotter 2y ago
  What’s the model name?
  - shwouchk 2y ago
    I recently got this one (see sibling comment to parent) and am quite happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CMT7WMVM https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CMT7WMVM Note that as all docks it requires displaylink software on mac to use more than one screen, and the software is a bit buggy - needs to be restarted every couple of times i reconnect to the dock for the displays to work right. TBH this is the first dock i experience this with but then again os and software updates, and ive seen weird flaky behavior before, just not specifically this.
    - twoparachute45 2y ago
      Not all docks need DisplayLink. Thunderbolt-powered ones like this [0] or this [1] can support multiple displays for Macbook Pros without it, so if you want to avoid having to use DisplayLink, they're solid picks. The one thing you need to watch out for is that if you go with the second one, there are no HDMI ports, so you need a USB-C to HDMI converter, which in my experience can be flaky at higher refresh rates. If on the other hand your monitors support DisplayPort, then USB-C to DisplayPort is native, doesn't need a converter (just an adapter), and works better. 1: https://plugable.com/products/tbt4-ud5 https://plugable.com/products/tbt4-ud5 2: https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/ https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/
      - fragmede 2y ago
        From the first link > On Mac systems, dual display is only supported on M1 Pro/Max, M2 Pro/Max, M3 Pro/Max, and M4/Pro/Max systems So if you're still on an OG M1 it won't work for you.
        wtallis 2y ago
        Base M2 or M3 won't work either; a Thunderbolt dock cannot work around a lack of display pipes on the SoC. The M4 is the first base M-series chip that supports two external displays in addition to the internal display, hence the slightly different phrasing in your quote for the M4 generation.
      - shwouchk 2y ago
        Aside from my justified negative opinions about caldigit, i was referring to docks that offer 3+ (simultaneous) screen outputs (eg not one with 2 hdmi+2dp that can use either set but not all 4 together). That requires DP.
        Terretta 2y ago
        > docks that offer 3+ (simultaneous) screen outputs ... requires DP Still incorrect. What you actually have to use is two thunderbolt ports on the MacBook. Then you can power not just two but four 6K screens, as each TB port can push 2 externals (in addition to built-in screen). So this iVANKY dock is native TB quad screen, for example: https://www.amazon.com/FusionDock-Thunderbolt-Monitor-Docking-Station/dp/B0C8MZXMSR/ https://www.amazon.com/FusionDock-Thunderbolt-Monitor-Dockin...
  - marxisttemp 2y ago
    SD5700T
    - codetrotter 2y ago
      Thank you
kalleboo 2y ago
Just watch out for the TS3 dock, a few of the USB ports on it are driven by a flaky chipset and should be avoided https://sebvance.medium.com/the-secret-caveats-of-the-caldigit-ts3-plus-dock-ebddea7d2fc https://sebvance.medium.com/the-secret-caveats-of-the-caldig...
- simoncion 2y ago
  > 2. Don’t expect to run any USB hubs behind any of the USB ports on this dock whatsoever... even if the downstream hub is only powering wimpy devices like wireless mouse dongles. You might not have this problem if you plug the hub into the dock’s extra Thunderbolt port... I have this device and don't have this problem? I have a couple of self-powered hubs downstream of this thing and have plugged them into the USB-A-shaped ports on the back. I don't have any downstream Thunderbolt devices plugged into this thing. Maybe that's the major difference between my setup and the author's? (Or maybe I'm running better firmware on this thing than he is?)
  - kalleboo 2y ago
    I haven't tried any hubs, but my problem was using a 2.5 Gbps USB Ethernet controller off of one of the Fresco Logic USB ports (the front 5 Gbps ones or the rear right-hand 3 USB-A ports), after a few hours it would drop. I thought the cheap USB adapter was bad, replaced it, same thing. I found this blog post, switched to one of the ASMedia ports (the rear 10 Gbps USB-C port or the most left-hand USB-A port) and both of the Ethernet controllers are rock-solid now. I now have it in the Thunderbolt port which ekes out another 100 Mbps or so compared to the ASMedia USB ports. The blog post is probably a bit sensationalistic but I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price.
    - simoncion 2y ago
      Sounds like I should plug the subset of the ports that are on that Fresco Logic controller so that I don't unwittingly use them at some point in the distant future. > ...I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price. This is understandable. However, I'm pleased with my purchase and I'm only using the built-in Ethernet port, the built-in DisplayPort port, and a couple of USB ports. If it lasts me five years, I will have paid ~60 USD per year, which I think is a bargain when you compare it to fighting with something that's flaky no matter what you do, or just fails after a year or two... requiring you to go on the hunt for a new "dock". Honestly, I think it's pretty damn stupid to have so many USB ports on the thing to begin with. Decent USB hubs are inexpensive; remove all but one or two of the USB ports and use now-spare bandwidth to put additional DisplayPort ports on the thing!
shwouchk 2y ago
PSA: STAY AWAY! I had two expensive caldigit docks (TS3 i believe). One was warranty replacement for the first one. Each died after about a year. After that I had an expensive alogic dock. Seemed great when it was working, but after just over a year it went dead (warranty is for two years). The dock i had is out of stock. After weeks of “checking” I was offered an exchange for a cheaper version (whatever) that doesn’t include features i rely on (3 screens). As “compensation” I was offered about 30% of the original price, since “the item was used”. Thanks but no thanks. Standard amortization time for computer equipment is 5 years. And in either case, who has patience to go for weeks without their familiar computing environment? And my cost is replacement of the item, i did not rent it. I got a Kensington dock sold by amazon at slightly less than the original price of that one, with better features and a brand name that is worth more than the piece of paper it is written on. We’ll see how it lasts
- simoncion 2y ago
  $DAYJOB issues us Mac laptops. (Seems like a waste of money, but it's not MY money.) So, I've been using a CalDigit TS3 Plus device for the last two or three years. I have USB 3, Ethernet, and DisplayPort going out from it, and a Thunderbolt cable going into it. Other than sometimes having to unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable to get the screen to wake [0], it works fine. [0] To make this easy, I have an F<->F coupler near the display that doesn't have latches. I just slip out one end of the cable from the coupler and slip it back in. Quick and easy, if slightly annoying that I have to do it at all.
  - phantompeace 2y ago
    Off topic but why refer to it as $DAYJOB (is it really a variable like that?) rather than just saying “work” or “my job”? I see it all over HN but I’ve actually never understood why people do this. Sorry for veering off topic.
    - orta 2y ago
      The syntax is written like a bash shell variable, the idea (I assume) is that the actual job itself doesn't matter but the idea of it being something they do for work does (because contextually it means they have less decision power.) So, if it were me, saying I work for Puzzmo is about as useful as me saying I work for $DAYJOB in a sentence like that.
begueradj 2y ago
What about no dock and no 3 external monitors ?

jsheard 2y ago

It would be a lot simpler if you could just install NVMe drives internally, wired directly to the CPUs PCIe bus with nothing inbetween to slow it down, but alas if Apple let you do that it would cut into their business of selling internal SSD upgrades at a 500% markup.

sureIy 2y ago
> SSD upgrades at a 500% markup. Is the price difference really that high or are you comparing them to cheaper SSDs?
- jsheard 2y ago
  It's absolutely that high. Upgrading a Mac Mini from 256GB to 2TB is an extra $800, and a high-end 2TB NVMe drive like the WD SN850x is around $150 at retail. Even the 8TB version of that drive is only $650. That's why external SSDs are so common in Mac setups, even accounting for the additional cost of a Thunderbolt enclosure it's usually still significantly cheaper than getting a bigger internal SSD from Apple.
  - Retric 2y ago
    Using a gaming part is a poor comparison because gaming parts get higher speeds at lower prices by sacrificing longevity/energy efficiency. Clearly not the tradeoff Apple wants to make here. Which isn’t anything against the SN850x, it’s a great fit for the intended use case it’s just many people assume there’s zero trade-offs involved beyond speed/price/capacity. Apple is definitely raising storage prices to milk their customers and promote their iCloud cash cow, but it’s still worth considering when looking at ‘gaming’ parts in different situations.
    - rudedogg 2y ago
      A Samsung 990 Pro dips to the same prices. I got a 2TB one for $150 this Black Friday. Apple is overcharging for storage. You get a lot of compute for cheap though :/

Neywiny 2y ago

My biggest takeaway from this was finding out they have USB4 2.0. Come ooooonnnnnnnnn. Wikipedia starts by saying USB4 isn't 4.0 (that'd make too much sense I guess). So disappointing.

twoparachute45 2y ago
It would be comical if it weren't so ridiculous. The standards group is surely aware of how ridiculous it is, yet they keep coming up with these idiotic names, and then try to defend it by saying "its only the technical name, not the marketing name", as if that matters. They honestly just need to kill off USB at this point and just let Thunderbolt supersede it. Thunderbolt 4 and 5 are literally just implementations of USB4, except the Thunderbolt standards group is doing a hell of a lot better job at naming things and certifying cables than the USB group is.
- redserk 2y ago
  Regarding Thunderbolt, I don't even bother buying USB-C cables anymore for anything important. If it's in my backpack or used for a dock/monitor, it's going to be a Thunderbolt cable. Expensive? Absolutely. Unnecessary? Almost certainly. But I haven't had any issues with them whatsoever.
  - Krasnol 2y ago
    I've been using USB cables since they exist, and I had never any "issues" with them. The only "issue" I had, was that you often ended up without the proper one when you needed it. Almost all the cables came with the device which needed it. Only bought 2 which were longer. What issues do you experience so frequently that it would justify investing more money into it?
    - Terretta 2y ago
      You answered your own question: Q: What issues do you experience so frequently that it would justify investing more money into it? A: ... often ended up without the proper one when you needed it That's precisely the issue GP solves by only carrying one type of cable, Thunderbolt. If you want to transfer data at top speed, render high resolution high refresh rate video, or charge at maximum wattage, TB4 handles it. One cable to rule them all, no surprises.

harha 2y ago

Ah thunderbolt, yet another standard that started with a promise of simplicity but requires a lot of digging to understand what actually works. For me some things worked better than expected (5K + 4K monitor at 60Hz, even though it states only one 5K or two 4K monitors), some things don't (work laptop detects the hub, but the displays stay blank.

anonymousiam 2y ago

I've been dabbling with this issue for a few months. I've got a one-year-old ThinkPad that multi-boots Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, 23.10), and Windows 11. Upon purchase, I immediately upgraded the 1TB internal NVMe drive to a Samsung 4TB (990). Later, I had some difficulty while upgrading from 23.10 to 24.04. To make things easier while troubleshooting, I was backing up the 4TB image, and restoring it when the upgrade failed. After doing this a few times, I was looking for more speed. I tried several NVMe/TB4 enclosures. Some of them were junk, some were just okay, and this one (which I now have two of) is great: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CSFFMQWF https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CSFFMQWF I now also have three of these 8TB NVMe SSDs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9WT512W https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9WT512W (I also have a few others that are slower and/or smaller.) I've tried a few docks, and this is the one I'm using now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DBHG7486 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DBHG7486 It's a good dock, but unfortunately needs the DisplayLink driver to use the DisplayPort output. This works okay, but the monitor stays dark until the desktop is booted, and cannot be used for switching between Linux virtual consoles. First off, because my ThinkPad has only one TB4 port that also serves as the USB-C PD input, I needed a dock if I wanted to use a TB4 accessory while not running from the battery. The dock is also quite valuable for using an external (4K/60Hz) display when using another TB4 peripheral. The SSDs work fine when plugged into the non-TB4 port, but they operate at less than half of their potential speed, and are enumerated as /dev/sdX instead of /dev/nvmeXnX. Operating the SSDs from the TB4 port gives variable performance depending upon what else is connected, and when it was connected. The Linux PCI+bridge enumeration has some issues with hotplugable devices. Various combinations of pci=assign-busses, realloc, native, hpbussize=XX, lastbus=XX, hpmmiosize=XXXM, hpmmioprefsize=XG will all give varying results. At best, with my 4K monitor operating, I can get 20gbps on one external SSD, or some division of that speed distributed amongst multiple other SSDs. Leaving the PCIe enumeration to the kernel with no additional boot arguments did not go well with 23.10, but works better with 24.04. Hot-plugging performance is always a compromise, depending upon kernel parameters, and the order in which things are plugged in.

__mharrison__ 2y ago

Would love to hear about folks favorite docks. I have a fancy pluggable dock and after my Mac goes to sleep it sometimes stops working when the Mac wakes up. Often, it appears to go into a loop where it detects an external monitor for 5 seconds then disconnects. Pretty annoying and guess away after a reboot.

nottorp 2y ago

What annoys me is not speed, but why there are so few docks with a storage slot inside. It's bad enough that you have to have a box hanging off your machine, but with most docks you have to have several boxes.

goosedragons 2y ago
There are several designed that way for the Steam Deck. They are just generic USB C hubs with a slot of the deck. Not Thunderbolt though.
- nottorp 2y ago
  I have a TB3 dock with a fast ish nvme slot. But I only found two options when I looked... something from OWC and the WD "game dock" i ended up buying. It does do the job including display passthrough.

peachpossum 2y ago

I've been using an OWC 14 port TB3 dock with my 2018 Intel Mac mini for about 5 years now with no issues. I keep a 2TB Samsung T7 external SSD connected and it is always mounted when I wake the system from sleep. I've been very happy with this dock so far. https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG/ https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK14PSG/