Dunno. I don't have requirement for TB passthrough. My problem as a consumer is it is hard to understand exactly what the laptop supports and what the hub/dock output protocol levels are. The longer cable is nice. Don't need a 1m cable but from what I see laptops might have a single usb-c form factor port and the short little stub cables are a problem if the port is on the wrong side, so a bit longer cable (and not so stiff as some docks) makes arranging the hardware easier.
I agree. I have an 4 year old laptop with USB 3.? and TB3 over USB-C. I know I need to figure out exactly what my laptop supports, but I'm unclear if these new USB4/TB4 docks are fully compatible with USB3/TB3. Can I use this dock with my current laptop and still be future proofed for when I next upgrade?
Owning a couple OWC docks and the CalDigit hub, this isn't worth the upgrade for me. These things are already insane $$$, so if it's gonna be premium anyhow, I'd like to see a 10 GB Ethernet port (Intel chip). And my high-end camera is using CFexpress cards now, so all these SD readers are meh.
It's nice to see improvements, but I haven't been overly concerned about external connectivity speed since USB 3.0 landed at "good enough" and has remained sufficient for my own personal use even now.
One need constantly increasing would be external memory ~32-64GB (DDR4 would be sufficient, even with low 10-20Gbps (TB2-TB3) (40Gbps available, perspective to ~80Gbps for next years) connectivity, but low latency&interrupt, for USB-C PCI-e protocols?) and movable between devices if needed (compatibility towards USB3/4). Thinking about cost efficiency a QLC flash PCIe swap device (M.2 connectors for NVME_protocol, newer E1, NGSFF (M.3)) on USB 3.1 would be an instantly available alternative.
My concern is how the display ports are connected internally...If they use an MST hub inside this makes it incompatible with most enterprise grade KVM switches...I'd like to think they have the bandwidth with USB4/TB4 to provide at least 2 discrete channels to properly provide EDID info to external KVMs
Count me out for both of these reasons. I use one display for both gaming and work, so I need 4k120 and adaptive sync.
"We do not officially support high refresh rate displays above 60Hz. (higher refresh rates under 4K resolution may be selected but performance and stability above 60Hz is not guaranteed)"
"We do not support HDR (High Dynamic Range) or adaptive sync/variable refresh rate (such as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync technologies)"
But I have to thank them for clearly answering questions that most vendors don't bother even thinking about. With many vendors, their sites don't say squat about refresh rate or adaptive sync, and if you ask the seller on Amazon, they'll answer some question that wasn't even what you asked.
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Exotica - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
No downstream thunderbolt 4 ports = a massive no thank you.scott967a - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
Dunno. I don't have requirement for TB passthrough. My problem as a consumer is it is hard to understand exactly what the laptop supports and what the hub/dock output protocol levels are. The longer cable is nice. Don't need a 1m cable but from what I see laptops might have a single usb-c form factor port and the short little stub cables are a problem if the port is on the wrong side, so a bit longer cable (and not so stiff as some docks) makes arranging the hardware easier.questionasker - Friday, January 6, 2023 - link
I agree. I have an 4 year old laptop with USB 3.? and TB3 over USB-C. I know I need to figure out exactly what my laptop supports, but I'm unclear if these new USB4/TB4 docks are fully compatible with USB3/TB3. Can I use this dock with my current laptop and still be future proofed for when I next upgrade?hubick - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
Owning a couple OWC docks and the CalDigit hub, this isn't worth the upgrade for me. These things are already insane $$$, so if it's gonna be premium anyhow, I'd like to see a 10 GB Ethernet port (Intel chip). And my high-end camera is using CFexpress cards now, so all these SD readers are meh.PeachNCream - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
It's nice to see improvements, but I haven't been overly concerned about external connectivity speed since USB 3.0 landed at "good enough" and has remained sufficient for my own personal use even now.back2future - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
One need constantly increasing would be external memory ~32-64GB (DDR4 would be sufficient, even with low 10-20Gbps (TB2-TB3) (40Gbps available, perspective to ~80Gbps for next years) connectivity, but low latency&interrupt, for USB-C PCI-e protocols?) and movable between devices if needed (compatibility towards USB3/4).Thinking about cost efficiency a QLC flash PCIe swap device (M.2 connectors for NVME_protocol, newer E1, NGSFF (M.3)) on USB 3.1 would be an instantly available alternative.
kwisatzCA - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
My concern is how the display ports are connected internally...If they use an MST hub inside this makes it incompatible with most enterprise grade KVM switches...I'd like to think they have the bandwidth with USB4/TB4 to provide at least 2 discrete channels to properly provide EDID info to external KVMsDigitalFreak - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 - link
https://kb.plugable.com/question/1705024DanaGoyette - Sunday, January 8, 2023 - link
Count me out for both of these reasons. I use one display for both gaming and work, so I need 4k120 and adaptive sync."We do not officially support high refresh rate displays above 60Hz. (higher refresh rates under 4K resolution may be selected but performance and stability above 60Hz is not guaranteed)"
"We do not support HDR (High Dynamic Range) or adaptive sync/variable refresh rate (such as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync technologies)"
But I have to thank them for clearly answering questions that most vendors don't bother even thinking about. With many vendors, their sites don't say squat about refresh rate or adaptive sync, and if you ask the seller on Amazon, they'll answer some question that wasn't even what you asked.