I assume that's referring to the fact that it can actually act as a 60w power supply for a laptop and not just pass through power from another 60w power brick as is typical of cheap usb c docks.
For those who have it, I think they'd be better off with a Thunderbolt 3 external GPU chassis. It is a bit more expensive but you'd get real GPU performance out of it.
While innovative, Club 3D has quality/longevity issues. Every product I have bought from them has only lasted a couple months, but they were the only company who made what I needed so I just dealt with it. I'm mostly speaking of their active adapter cables (DisplayPort 1.2 and 1.4 to HDMI 2.0/b HDR and such). Their products work flawlessly for a while and then just quit.
DisplayLink is trash and completely poisoning the well if they're gonna put it on a USB-C device. DisplayPort Alternate Mode should have basically killed DisplayLink for this use case.
Exactly. DisplayLink was a decent (but hackish) way of getting video out on old usb-a. Usb-c alt-modes provide a better solution. Crazy that someone would be making a displaylink dock with usb-c in 2019 over just doing it right and using displayport alt-mode.
I'd be interested to hear about why you think that USB-C Alt-modes provide a better solution, what's your reasoning behind that? I am neither pro nor against anything, just interested in your reasons.
usb-c alt-mode provides native displayport lanes. It is pure displayport no different than a "normal" DP connector just running over different pins. Displaylink takes the frame buffer applies lossy compession and then pushes that as usb data mixed in with other usb data where on the other end it is muxed out and decompressed and sent to the monitor outputs. It is really a hack and one with significant compromises. Sure prior to usb-c altmodes it was about the only way possible to get video to a dock in a vendor agnostic way but it is vastly inferior to usb-c alt mode. Hell just from a bandwidth point of view there is no comparison. usb-c DP alt mode provides either 20 Gbps of DP video + USB 3 (5 or 10 Gbps depending on the host) or alternatively 40 Gbps for video but then only USB 2.0. Displaylink has only 5 or 10 Gbps TOTAL to work with that means the video and all the rest of the usb traffic have to be crammed into 5 or 10 Gbps.
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ajp_anton - Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - link
"Built in PSU"So what is that DC-looking power connector for, and where do we plug the AC cable?
kpb321 - Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - link
I assume that's referring to the fact that it can actually act as a 60w power supply for a laptop and not just pass through power from another 60w power brick as is typical of cheap usb c docks.Kevin G - Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - link
For those who have it, I think they'd be better off with a Thunderbolt 3 external GPU chassis. It is a bit more expensive but you'd get real GPU performance out of it.rpg1966 - Thursday, July 18, 2019 - link
? Depends if you need performance or real estate.TyrantRex - Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - link
While innovative, Club 3D has quality/longevity issues. Every product I have bought from them has only lasted a couple months, but they were the only company who made what I needed so I just dealt with it. I'm mostly speaking of their active adapter cables (DisplayPort 1.2 and 1.4 to HDMI 2.0/b HDR and such). Their products work flawlessly for a while and then just quit.mukiex - Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - link
DisplayLink is trash and completely poisoning the well if they're gonna put it on a USB-C device. DisplayPort Alternate Mode should have basically killed DisplayLink for this use case.TheUnhandledException - Thursday, July 18, 2019 - link
Exactly. DisplayLink was a decent (but hackish) way of getting video out on old usb-a. Usb-c alt-modes provide a better solution. Crazy that someone would be making a displaylink dock with usb-c in 2019 over just doing it right and using displayport alt-mode.Dawsmonkee - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link
I'd be interested to hear about why you think that USB-C Alt-modes provide a better solution, what's your reasoning behind that? I am neither pro nor against anything, just interested in your reasons.TheUnhandledException - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
usb-c alt-mode provides native displayport lanes. It is pure displayport no different than a "normal" DP connector just running over different pins. Displaylink takes the frame buffer applies lossy compession and then pushes that as usb data mixed in with other usb data where on the other end it is muxed out and decompressed and sent to the monitor outputs. It is really a hack and one with significant compromises. Sure prior to usb-c altmodes it was about the only way possible to get video to a dock in a vendor agnostic way but it is vastly inferior to usb-c alt mode. Hell just from a bandwidth point of view there is no comparison. usb-c DP alt mode provides either 20 Gbps of DP video + USB 3 (5 or 10 Gbps depending on the host) or alternatively 40 Gbps for video but then only USB 2.0. Displaylink has only 5 or 10 Gbps TOTAL to work with that means the video and all the rest of the usb traffic have to be crammed into 5 or 10 Gbps.The_Assimilator - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link
> DisplayLink is trashWhy, because of the driver and CPU requirements?
> DisplayPort Alternate Mode should have basically killed DisplayLink for this use case
I agree, unfortunately many manufacturers cheap out and don't support AM over USB-C. I'm hoping and expecting this will change over time.