Thanks for the detailed video! Can you please make a test for SMB Multichannel setup as well? So you connect the dock to a 10G NIC on your network and another 10G NIC connected to the Sabrent TB3 10G which is also connected to the Dock TB port? So in this case you only use 1 TB port on the MAC, for 2x10GB connections. I had great results with SMB multichannel towards a Synology NAS with 2 10G NICs as I can push data back and forth with 2.4 Gbyte/s between the MAC and the NAS :)
IT Support for a law firm here, every desk is kitted out with dual screens, plugged into a Dell D3100 (USB 3.0 Triple Display Dock). This allows for all 100+ employees to essentially 'dock in' at any desk between all 4 of our offices. EVERYTHING is centralised in a cloud based remote desktop environment (I use Arch btw)
How can you tell if someone uses arch? They'll tell you. We use dell u2423e (or something similar) at work, they do type-c docking as well as displayport out with DSC, allowing for a single cable solution for USB, dual displays and GbE
@charlesturner897 i wish we could pish for type c docks. The majority of the local machines are Lenovo thinkpads from 2019, and dell vostros from 2021. The newest wave we have are Lenovo E15 Gen2s (of course i had to give me the newest one :D ). So really, the only way we can have everything the sameis go Type-A 3.0. Sad really, imagine how much less cabling there would be. I even went to the extent of cable tieing my dock to the monitor arm because it got in the way. My ethernet and dock power just run up the pole.
I've followed a similar journey... Caldigit TB3 Plus, then added a Akitio Node Lite with a 10GBE Aquantia NIC inside (which provides a pass-thru TB port), later replaced the AKito/NIC with a Sonet Solo10G. Then I upgraded from a Dell XPS-13 (which charges just fine with the TB3 Plus) to an XPS-15, which needs a 130w adapter that's proprietary to Dell. I eventually got the WD22TB4, and am continuing to use the Sonnet Solo10G with it. Another reason for the captive cable on Dell docks (and power adapters) is that the USB 3.0 power delivery (PD) standard only covers up to 100w. Dell being Dell (and USB PD 3.1 not existing yet), they cooked up some proprietary extensions to USB PD 3.0 that permit Dell chargers & docks to charge Dell laptops at 130w (or more). If the cable were detactable, it's a safe bet that before long, someone would try to charge a Dell XPS-15/17 using some random 'off brand' cable that isn't even safe to use for 100w charging. While cable 'borrowing' is a real problem, I suspect the primary reason for the beefy captive cable is for safety...
I have a TB19 and ever since I moved to a Mac, I’ve been plugging in my 2nd external screen into the laptop, like an animal! I just plugged it into the thunderbolt passthrough and voilla! Thanks a stack! I wish I knew this a year ago.
My work sent me one of those Dell docks for my WFH setup. One nice thing is you can get a VESA bracket which allows you to mount the dock behind a monitor (and it still works if you're using the VESA holes for a monitor arm as well!)
THANK YOU! finally someone who explains how docks with multi display works mac vs pc... rather than those "useless" product review which tells nothing.
From what I remember, I was told by a Dell rep that the audio jack from the front due to supply chain issues. The audio jack was holding them back from having docks ready to ship.
You uploaded this at the perfect time, we are planning to upgrade to 10 gigabit networking at work and I was looking at this exact dock as a solution. I _think_ I could get away with one of the lower-end models though, since I use a Dell laptop (running Linux) and I don't plan on using more than one screen, just one thunderbolt pass-through for the networking should cover me. That said, I hadn't even considered TB bandwidth constraints, so thanks for walking us through those considerations.
Oh man, brings back memories of having to get this working just post COVID during the chip shortage for an office full of Mac users, ended up with a corsair dock of all things. Why on earth they can't get this sorted is beyond me. Edit: also so annoying how they remove the headphone jack!
I recon the headphone jack is just a USB one anyways, just get one for $10 or so. still though sucks that they didn't at least move it to the back or something. that would be quite useful for PC speakers
Everyone in the corporate world uses wireless headset these days due to the amount of Zoom/Teams/Webex meetings being done on a daily basis. Ones I've got are Jabra Evolve2 55 with the Jabra Link 380 & they are clear and comfortable. Anc is terrible compared to what Sony has but price difference is huge.
I have two of the TB3 version of this dock, and I did buy and upgrade one to TB4. Nice to be able to do that. Although I do wish that one of the USB-A ports was 10Gb/sec, but they are only 5 Gb/sec, and they don’t change with the upgrade.
The older Docks are called WD19-130W (the one with audio jack) and WD19S-130W (the one without audio jack). Someone from DELL Support told me that the removal of the audio jack was due to the chip shortage while covid. As the Dock are moduar it is maybe possible to use the Basepart of the WD19-130 and connect the TB4 Part of the WD22TB4. So you would get a TB4 Version with audio jack if you need one. Note on the cooling fan: In our envoirement the fan starts mainly when upgrading the firmware of the dock. Note on Laptop compatiblity: Check DELL Dockingstation Matrix... not all DELL Laptops support every dock. The Dell Latitude 5500 Series supports the TB Versions only in its newer 5510* (with specific CPUs) or with 5520+ Generations. This Matrix will obviously only include DELL Laptops, but it can give a good understanding if your non-DELL Laptop would work if it is in the same generation. Note on Display compatiblity: Not all DELL Docks supports every Displayconfiguraton cause of bandwith limitations. If you want to use 2x4k@60 as you have shown, that would require the WD22TB4. None of the USB Versions support this, the max on the most USB Versions is 5k@60 therefore it won't support 2x 4k@60.
I love my Plugable TB3 dock, my work issues them for MacBook Pro users. Also got a number of the USB-C versions of the WD22, we only issue them to people with PCs because the extra display outputs are useless for Mac users. We use Plugable DisplayLink docks for Macbook Airs to get around their hard cap of one external display.
The dell docks are upgradable. That left side with the source thunderbolt cable can detatch. Say you had the WD19TB, you could buy that WD22TB4 part and swap it out for an upgrade to TB4 The modules second hand can be very cheap. I've done it!
Thank you for an excellent and extremely informative video I’ve had. I’ve got the old version of the dock and planning on using a single 4K monitor, but found the teardown of the dock interesting.
As an FYI - the HP dock is not actually permanently attached. The base screws off and the cable can be replaced. It's a really good design for exactly that reason - the cables don't go walking, but if someone breaks the cable it can easily be replaced by a tech.
I found your aside about another adapter having a noisy fan interesting because a few years ago I was shopping for TB docks and learned all the quirks you covered here. But the Dell docks of the time, the TB2 that you mention, had a fan that would spin up periodically. It was one of the reasons I did not buy it. I’m curious if they’ve since dropped the fan. Edit: this is what I get for posting before finishing the video, the teardown was great, and sure enough there’s a fan. When I worked in an office, the fan was inaudible, but after COVID moved me to work from home, I could hear the fan every time it spun up. So the dock had to go.
Well presented. However the one test that I can think of that is missing is plugging the Sabrent 10gb device directly into the laptop. Since you still weren't seeing full upload speed after removing the monitors, it would make it clear if the sabrent device (or one of your computers) is the hindrance or if it is something with the dell dock.
That bottleneck of network traffic due to the displays is really interesting. Thats not really an intuitive thing to consider in a setup like this so I bet most people wouldn't even realize.
It's a common thing with docks. If you want to use 3 displays on a dock with a HP laptop you have to go into the bios and enable a high resolution mode setting. You'll otherwise get 1080p on two monitors and 480p on the 3rd. That's due to maxing out USB bandwidth. The setting lowers USB ports to 2.0 and the NIC to 100m
Thanks for the review, top tip to pick these up off of ebay! Just FYI, you can daisy chain two TB monitors. Also TB3 has 4 lanes of PCIe, which is why they only have one downstream TB port. TB4 trades 3 lanes of PCIe for more downstream TB ports. So if you have a hub with lets say a NVMe storage, you are better off with TB3 vs TB4.
Dell is known for just gluing a TB3 or 4 onto a USB-C hub, which means that you got two TB4 (or 3) ports, and the rest of the ports sit off an USB3 hub. They work, but they are not a full blown TB hub like the TS3+ or TS4.
You could use a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter for the second monitor, and that will handle up to 4k video. Then the 10Gbps Ethernet adapter could plug into the Thunderbolt port.
Those adapters will only work for USB-C ports that support DP Alt Mode which none of the regular USB-C ports on the Caldigit dock support - they're purely USB data ports. This is an annoying thing with USB-C where it's no longer "universal" and different ports can support a varying range of features. The only other option would be USB to DP adapters that use "DisplayLink" which work on standard USB ports but are software driven and require drivers to be installed on the host machine, they also add a fair bit of CPU load and give a somewhat "compressed" looking image so while they can be useful in certain situations where you need more monitors than a machine can natively support, they aren't a replacement for a proper DP output.
Thanks that was a lot of information. Also confirms whether these OEM dock are generic. Was a little leery because both dell and HP tend to do a lot of proprietary and yeah that word. Neat that they attempted to make the cable** replaceable. Seems like it would've been easier to just route the cable through a cable route and have an internal header/jack rather than going to the trouble of soldering on individual wires. I hate things with attached cables because the primary point of failure is where the cable hits a hard surface AKA goes into the device. And then as soon as that cable dies the whole device is dead until you replace or get fancy and manually shorten or replace the cable. And when do you find out a cable is broken when you absolutely need that item.
Good luck with that Dell docking station. I had to replace mine with Dell warranty 3 times over 18 months because the fan inside the dock kept blowing up. It would just go crazy and run at full speed for a while before failing.
Hi, Nice video. Just wanted to mention that using 1 display port you can daisy chain 2 monitors. On your first monitor at least you need DP-in and DP-out ports. Thanks
Daisy chaining requires the connected machine to support DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support. This is the same reason I can't just use the multiple display outputs on the dock itself.
Some really useful information in this video, especially regarding TB passthrough and intercompatibility with Mac + PC. We've got WD19S' at the moment, but moving to 4k displays from 1080p is causing bandwidth issues. Might look into upgrading, even better if we can just get new blocks for the end of the dock
also you can get little dongles that have the exact spacing of a macbook, but with a dual port, it's a little extension dongle, so you can double up on thunderbolt docking stations, or you can plug the NIC directly into the laptop, and there's just this little dongle spacer that you unplug instead of 2 cables.
my mom has extras of these because she was allowed to keep the old dock. I'm considering taking the one she has and using it for macbook docking the only thing getting in the way is a way of switching between devices, my KVM switch completely hard locks up my pc when booting.
Hi. Also Dell user and used to be support guy for Dell equipment. Be *very* careful with that thick cable. I always put a pencil eraser between desk and usb port, to stabilize the plug. It is very small and easy to crack. While the cable itself can be swapped, it is also very hard to get one.
You can find replacements for those attached Dell TB cables. Either from ebay, Dell or maybe even Amazon. FWIW, I have an older Dell (square version) dock similar to this that I bought off of Amazon for something like ~$40.
Very interesting video. I am also thinking of upgrading my setup. I am also looking into the possibility of having 10 Gigabit Ethernet with an external Thunderbolt adapter and to have a third 4K monitor. My understanding is that this will not work on a single Thunderbolt port. So what I have in mind is using two docks on the two thunderbolt ports of the laptop. My current setup: HP Elitebook x360 1040 G8, HP Thunderbolt Dock G2, 1x 4K monitor via Thunderbolt passthrough, 1x 4K Monitor at Displayport, 1x 1920x1200 Monitor at Displayport. A couple of USB devices including an HDMI to USB capture stick with 1080p from a camera and an USB audio interface. Occasionally USB external SSDs. My thoughts: My Laptop has two Thunderbolt 4 ports. I should be able to use an additional Thunderbolt hub like the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub or the Sonnet Echo 5 Thunderbolt 4 Hub on the second Thunderbolt 4 Port of the Laptop. This means the HP Dock in addition to another hub. This should allow enough bandwidth for a third 4K monitor replacing the 1920x1200 and a Gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter like the one from the video. The two 4K I already have can run entirely from USB-Thunderbolt if needed and do not require HDMI/DP. I think a new 3rd 4K would also be able to connect to USB-Thunderbolt for video. So I could completely abandon HDMI/DP plugs. Are there any problems or constraints I am overlooking now? For example, do all external monitors need to be on the same Laptop Thunderbolt port? Do multiple docks interfere in some strange way with each other? Any thoughts would be very helpful.
12:34 No, actually if the tunderbolt cable is ever damaged, you can buy replacements relitively cheap. The cable simplifyplugs into the TB4 PCB, after removing the trainer screws from the metal bracket. Simple job takes about 10 minutes.
Can the Dell usb c docking stations turn on a closed lid dell laptop? I just want to leave my laptop closed and be able to turn it on either by the power button on the dell monitor or by a docking station power button. Thank you for your expert advice!
will you be interested in testing thunderbolt bridge networking for NAS - Mac communication? seems like that is also a cheap way to get 10Gb+ access to NAS for MacBooks. i'm considering building my next NAS with thunderbolt, but there is truly a major lack of info online about truenas scale working with thunderbolt bridge.
Interesting, having followed your previous reviews, I have the same monitors and TS3+ dock. On my 2018 MacBook Pro the displays took ages (and typically one wakes up before the other), but on my new M2 Max, they come on immediately. Interesting to see the other behaviour on your apple silicon Mac.
I don't have the WD22 that you've got, but I definitely grabbed a WD19 for the unbeatable price of 'free' when my company started it's most recent round of hardware upgrades.
These Dell Thunderbolt docks are everywhere, I keep wondering where they all come from since they're obviously still very useful and in no way obsolete so unsure why so many are being gotten rid of by enterprise. Not complaining, they work excellently and can be found dirt cheap on the used market due to how many they apparently sold... or bundled, not sure. And yes, thunderbolt cables go missing because they charge phones. My very expensive 2M active thunderbolt cable went missing and presumably has a new life charging someone's phone...
I suspect it's largely just a case of corporate IT departments replacing hardware as part of a regular 3/5 year rotation - once a device hits a certain age/the warranty runs out, they'll replace it as a matter of course. All the old equipment is sent off to recycling companies that generally refurbish and sell the equipment on. Generally does seem pretty wasteful but for these large companies, they'd often rather only run equipment that is fully supported by the manufacturer rather than needing to handle troubleshooting/repairs internally. It also means that home users/smaller businesses can get great deals on refurbished kit! Another reason can be companies either closing/restructuring offices. Towards the end of the pandemic, eBay was flooded with these docks - presumably either from companies closing offices with people now working from home, or from WFH employees who had previously been given docks by their employer for their home setups moving back into offices and no longer requiring them.
The fixed cable is annoying, understand the reason for it (a wrong cable would also cause issues), but a 'captured' cable that was still removable / replaceable even if it required a screw driver to open the case would help. I've had multiple of these fail, with dodgy cables type issues though it was more of a problem when they were used in a portable fashion.
The minor annoyance I have with the dell docks is they all insist on having cables come out of three sides of the unit, which always makes them into a bit of a desk octopus. Nice solution, though, and a lot cheaper than buying a Caldigit TS4, I assume due to the number of Dell docks that come off major IT leases.
Large companies might be dumping the wd22tb4 because they're not the most stable dock. I have a bunch of problems with them at the company I work for, we're looking for a replacement...
Just to be sure - Even if this supports 180W power, it won't power up and damage my Mac mini M2 right? Mac mini have their own power supply. I want a dock to expand IO.
Love those docks . I had the wd19s and wd19tbs. Good overall but every couple minutes you’ll get 50% packet loss for a couple seconds. Very annoying for gaming. This is with up to date firmware and network drivers. Otherwise it’s good
What adapter did you use to connect the second monitor up? I have bought a TB3 dock with TB passthrough, and a USB C to HDMI cable but not able to get it working.
im setting something up similar for my partner, with her recently purchased MBPM3 PRO, for her graphic design work, I donated 2 of my old 1440p monitors 1 Asus 1 MSI the MSI has a Type-C Display port but the Asus is limited to 2 HDMI 2.0 and the DP port is broken ( damaged pins I think ) can I use 1 HDMI from the ASUS and 1 DP type-c from the MSI to WD22TB4 as the dock is on eBay for £80, I can't justify Caldigits TS4 dock unfortunately but maybe in the future thank you for the Video and explanation of the Dell Dock
This was super helpful. Thanks, Cameron! Just for clarification, the Dell WD22TB4 will work with both mac and pc? (I use one for personal and the other for work.)
It'll work with both as long as the PC supports thunderbolt. If you want to use both monitors on both Mac and PC, just make sure you connect them as shown in this video - one into the dock's video outputs, the other into one of the Thunderbolt passthrough ports.
They're actually VESA monitor arms that allow the VESA plate to tilt to a full 90° angle. I then bolted a piece of MDF to each of them to hold the speakers - they work really well!
Great video! However a little confused how my setup works then lol; I've been using a CaliDigit dock with dual display port for my MacBook (2019 Intel then 2023 M2 Max) fine for years? Both monitors plugged directly to the dock using Display Port, extended not duplicated, both running at 4k60 no issues
M1/M2/M3 non-Pro/Max only supports one external display, M1/M2/M3 Pro supports two external displays, M1/M2/M3 Max support three external displays in extended configuration. All Intel Macs support as much external display as the internal graphics e.g. Iris Xe supports. Apple found a weird way of monetizing external display capabilities pushing you to a upsell.
Which model of Caldigit dock are you using? Looks like their "Mini" ones have a pair of video outputs at the expense of a Thunderbolt passthrough port - internally they are likely using the second Thunderbolt port on the Thunderbolt IC as a second video output.
Another option is to repurpose a thunderbolt nvme enclosure. Use the enclosure, connect a m.2 to pcie adapter, and then connect a physical pcie network card. I did exactly this. Why? Because the thunderbolt 3 aquantia aqc107 devices on the market all appear to suffer from a limitation with macOS where airplay doesn’t fully work. Like let’s say you want to use your Mac as an airplay speaker or you want to stream video from your Apple TV or other device to your Mac. Doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked for years. But with the Marvell aquantia aqc113s pcie network cards sold by some companies, those cards function just like the built in one in the Mac Studio or Mac mini. Meaning airplay works! So this is exactly what I did. I just put everything in a custom made acrylic box. Skinned it with some carbon fiber with a cutout for the rj45 jack. And some other small cutouts for airflow. And it has been beautiful. Works well on my M1 Max Apple silicon!
I definitely want to play around with using regular PCIe cards over Thunderbolt (and actually have a spare NVMe enclosure and M.2 to PCIe card) but for this I wanted a durable solution that could sit on my desk without risk of damage. To use a PCIe card I'd need to worry about some sort of external PSU and enclosure. Personally I don't really have any interest in using Airplay so it's not a big deal.
The attached Thunderbolt cable removes a major support problem in any business environment - people trying to use a standard USB cable as and when cables get moved around. "My computer is not working" just about always needs someone to visit the user's location.
Are you using a special driver to get the TH-S3EA/Sabrent NIC working with MacOS Sonoma? I had this exact setup working well with Ventura and since upgrading to Sonoma the NIC no longer works. Did you upgrade the firmware on the NIC? Thanks!
Update - I had to re-install Mac OS Ventura, hook up the Sabrent NIC (it worked no issue). Then in-place upgrade to Sonoma, this kept what ever driver the system needed to keep the NIC functioning.
What kind of Macbook did you use for testing? I was thinking about buying a Macbook Air M2. But I suspect that I won't be able to use 2 monitors with this dock. I probably need an M2 / M3 Pro for this?
I'm using an M1 Max 16" Macbook Pro. As far as I'm aware, the non-Pro/Max models only support a single external display so you'd need to get a Pro/Max based machine.
I have had three Dell docking stations fail on me after about three years each. So be careful about buying them used. The ports tend to fail and not be recognized. At work, we had a batch of 60 fail within two weeks of each other, again after about three years. We stopped buying Dell docking stations after that.
Sounds okay to me, although I don't have a particularly deep voice and I'm recording with a headworn mic (Sennheiser HSP Essential) rather than a large desktop microphone so I'm never going to get that rich "RUclipsr voice" sound and unlike something like a lavalier mic, it picks up less bass/chest rumble and ends up being a bit more sibilant which, while not sounding as "warm" does tend to improve overall intelligibility. In terms of post-processing, I do apply a compressor, a slight boost to the higher frequencies and roll off anything below 120Hz (along with cutting out a few other "problem" frequencies) but I'm not some sort of audio expert so I've just focussed on making it sound as clear as possible rather than sounding particularly dramatic or cinematic.
No idea about the 10gbit ethernet but I use the WD22 with linux and it works great with two 4K displays. Dell even let you upgrade the dock's firmware from linux (but only Ubuntu - a liveusb does the job though if you're using another distro).
I'm not, this is purely to allow me to access my NAS at 10gbps, my current internet connection is ~300mbps, hopefully upgrading to 1gbps in the near future once it's available.
I covered this at 06:13 - To use multiple display outputs from the dock itself, the computer needs to support DisplayPort MST. This is available on most PCs, but Macs don't support it. On a Mac, the only way to use multiple displays is by connecting the second display to a Thunderbolt passthrough port.
Daisy chaining requires the connected machine to support DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support. This is the same reason I can't just use the multiple display outputs on the dock itself.
It's really weird and funny that now in 2024 year, Apple still hasn't implemented MST in macOS (Windows via BootCamp worked just fine!). It's in DisplayPort 1.2 spec as standard feature, and Apple claims they support DisplayPort 1.4 at least since many years! Fun fact is: macOS actually *do* support MST!!! But in a weird opposite way... You remember old high-res (at the time) Apple Cinema Display? Yeah... this thing was weird... it was actually 2 display links connected via 1 DisplayPort cable. Guess how that worked... yeah... MST! MST was used to transport 2 parts of that single display, so it *is* in the system. It just doesn't support proper config with actually transferring multiple separate screens via single MST connection :/
That's definitely an option and I do want to try out PCIe enclosures in the future, but for this setup, the Sabrent NIC worked out a lot cheaper. I suspect you'd still need some sort of dock with the setup you'd mentioned as while the OWC device would handle network and display outputs, you'd need something else to handle the USB side of things (unless you could use one of those USB and HDMI laptop "dongles" off of the Thunderbolt passthrough port to connect both a second display and USB devices, although no idea if that would work).
you only have 1 thunderbolt port? that's what i was confused with. you could put a Sonnettech mcfiver pcie card, and get 10gbe, usb and two pnvme drives. i got one in a jonsbo n3, baller 11900k 8 bay nas with thunderbolt 4. i put it, where the gpu, could of gone. @@camerongray1515
I have multiple Thunderbolt ports but the point of this setup is to be able to dock everything over a single cable to make it super simple to connect/disconnect my laptop to move between working at my desk vs elsewhere and to easily swap between my work and personal laptops. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with the new Dell dock and instead continued using the Caldigit and connected the NIC directly to the laptop. That Sonnet card looks really interesting and I'd be interested in trying one out in the future, but compared to this setup, you'd end up spending £400 for the card and £250 for the OWC enclosure to achieve basically the same setup that I have here that only cost me £220 with the exception of the M.2 slots on the Macfiver card, although that's not something I'd really have a use for.
Of course the crazy idea of using the second thunderbolt port on the mac just for the 10G network adapter was too radical... 🙄 That Dell dock is a glorified USB-C hub which extracts the DP video signal from USB-C. Don't expect miracles.
Of course I'm well aware that I could have used the second TB port, but the whole point was that I wanted to be able to dock and swap machines using a single cable. As for the dock - these docks are available in both USB-C and Thunderbolt versions. The "main part" of the dock is the same on both but they have different I/O modules on the left hand side which handle the Thunderbolt/USB-C interface side of things. On this Thunderbolt version, there is a Thunderbolt controller which handles the two passthrough ports and then provides a DP interface which is passed to the video outputs via a MST hub and a USB 10gbps connection which is sent via a couple of USB hub ICs to provide the USB ports and also feeds the ethernet controller. Sure, a conventional Thunderbolt dock such as my Caldigit has a PCIe based ethernet controller and uses PCIe USB controllers instead of USB provided by the Thunderbolt IC, but in my situation especially where I'm using an external NIC, it works equally as well.
@@camerongray1515 As you correctly pointed out, the fact the the module with the cable exists in both a USB-C and Thunderbolt variety while the rest of the dock is the same, is a clear indication that the main module is a USB-C hub. This means that all the USB ports and the ethernet port on the dock are sharing the same 10Gbps bandwidth. The video output ports are an exception as they are extracting a DisplayPort video signal out of USB-C (see DisplayPort Alt Mode). In the end, you are going from Thunderbolt to USB-C to drive anything connected to the main unit and taking away bandwidth from the 10Gbps NIC by daisy chaining it via the Thunderbolt port on the "adapter" bit. While I do understand the appeal of a one-cable-rules-them-all approach, this is not the right compromise to make, IMHO. I have a much simpler setup (single external monitor), where I use a USB-C dock with power delivery passthrough with my Mac, to get assorted USB ports, 1GB ethernet and a useless HDMI port that outputs 4k@30Hz (which I don't use), and a separate USB-C to DisplayPort adapter to drive a 4K display at 60Hz. It does pretty much the same as it leverages USB-C on one side, and Alt DisplayPort on the other, but it costs about £24. As you mentioned PC Users would have a better time, due to the way DisplayPort has been crippled by Apple.
@@camerongray1515 Of course RUclips does not like my comment. Let me try again, with a shorter and less articulated version... As you correctly pointed out, the main part of the dock is entirely USB-C. In the end, while I appreciate the desire of using a single cable, you downgraded to an inferior dock, just for the TB passthrough capability. I would have kept the old dock and connected the 10Gbps NIC to the other TB port on the Mac. There is an OWC TB hub with 1 TB port in, 3 TB ports out and a single USB-A 10Gbps which could be interesting, as you could drive monitors off the TB ports, and maybe daisy chain the 10Gbpbs NIC as well. Said that, I did enjoy the video.
Ultimately it entirely comes down to personal preference and people are welcome to make their own decisions. I'm more than happy to lose a small amount of upload network bandwidth (where even 7gbps is completely exessive for my needs) and gain the convenience of a single cable. In addition to the MacBooks, I also often use a Framework laptop which, while the ports are modular, I usually have a single USB-C port module on each side so docking with a pair of USB-C cables would get messy. As for the dock being a downgrade - sure, the Caldigit dock maybe had more total USB bandwidth (although I've not sat down with the datasheets of the various ICs to investigate this) but you also need to look at my use case - the only USB devices I'm actually using on the dock are a keyboard and a USB 2.0 audio interface, so whether the dock is limited to 10gbps USB bandwidth or not, it really doesn't matter to me. The only high bandwidth USB devices I use are the portable SSDs that my camera records to, and I generally connect those directly to the laptop so that I can undock and take the laptop to another room without having to close down any editing projects. And of course there are going to be better docks out there with higher peak USB bandwidth and PCIe NICs, but remember, I picked up this dock for £79! It's also worth mentioning that I have experienced issues with USB audio interfaces connected to the Caldigit where the audio would occasionally "blip" or drop out for a fraction of a second periodically to the extent that I ended up using the optical output with an external DAC, these issues have never occurred with the Dell.
@@camerongray1515 yes, it's all about a balance between convenience and outcome in the end. Other people could benefit from understanding that this is a TB to USB-C hub and decide to buy the plain USB-C version if they have no thunderbolt devices whatsoever and want to save even more money. I'd still look into that OWC hub, even to just to make a video about it. Worst case scenario you could always send it back. 😉
Not sure that the Dell is as good an option as the OWC Thunderbolt Pro Dock. The OWC Pro Dock also provides three USB-A 3.2 10Gb ports, one USB-C 3.2 10Gb port, a High-speed SD port and a CFexpress port. With both configurations, all of the Thunderbolt ports would be used so I think I would pay a little extra for the OWC and get the four faster USB ports, the HS SD port and the CFexpress port. Sorry, I just see this video as you trying to convince yourself that purchasing an inferior product for less money was a good idea...
Yes, I did by an "inferior" product for less money, because that's a fairly normal thing to do when you don't need the capabilities of the more expensive one. We're talking a saving of £130 here and I don't need any of the additional features you mentioned. The Dell dock has one 10Gb/s USB-C port and I don't even really need that. The only 10Gb USB device I use is the SSDs from my camera (which I generally just plug into the laptop directly) so I'm only going to ever connect, at most, one 10Gb/s USB device at a time. I'm never going to need any other high speed USB devices since I rely on network storage rather than any sort of USB storage arrays - the only USB devices I currently have connected to my dock are a keyboard and a USB 2.0 audio interface. I also don't use CFexpress and I record most of my video to USB SSDs, and on the rare occasion that I do use an SD card, my laptop has a perfectly good UHS-II SD card reader in it, it's not something I need in a dock. I'd rather have camera media connected directly to the laptop anyway since it means I can easily undock and move the laptop without having to close my editing projects. Finally, my setup here allows me to easily use just the network adapter elsewhere with a laptop without having to disconnect and move an entire docking station complete with its power adapter.
I covered this at 06:13 - Those multiple display outputs rely on DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support so you can only use them to extend your desktop with a PC. When using a Mac the only option for multiple displays is to connect one to the dock's display outputs, and the other to the Thunderbolt passthrough port.
Buy on Amazon (Affiliate):
- Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 10GbE NIC: geni.us/OHCbWMW
- Dell WD22TB4 Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station: geni.us/OAFAuBv
Thanks for the detailed video! Can you please make a test for SMB Multichannel setup as well? So you connect the dock to a 10G NIC on your network and another 10G NIC connected to the Sabrent TB3 10G which is also connected to the Dock TB port? So in this case you only use 1 TB port on the MAC, for 2x10GB connections. I had great results with SMB multichannel towards a Synology NAS with 2 10G NICs as I can push data back and forth with 2.4 Gbyte/s between the MAC and the NAS :)
IT Support for a law firm here, every desk is kitted out with dual screens, plugged into a Dell D3100 (USB 3.0 Triple Display Dock). This allows for all 100+ employees to essentially 'dock in' at any desk between all 4 of our offices. EVERYTHING is centralised in a cloud based remote desktop environment (I use Arch btw)
How can you tell if someone uses arch? They'll tell you.
We use dell u2423e (or something similar) at work, they do type-c docking as well as displayport out with DSC, allowing for a single cable solution for USB, dual displays and GbE
@charlesturner897 i wish we could pish for type c docks. The majority of the local machines are Lenovo thinkpads from 2019, and dell vostros from 2021. The newest wave we have are Lenovo E15 Gen2s (of course i had to give me the newest one :D ). So really, the only way we can have everything the sameis go Type-A 3.0. Sad really, imagine how much less cabling there would be. I even went to the extent of cable tieing my dock to the monitor arm because it got in the way. My ethernet and dock power just run up the pole.
Been using Dell docking stations for years for Macs. IT people looked at me weird when I suggested it but it usually works great.
I work in IT and it's what we supply and have done for years. Dell make excellent docks!
I've followed a similar journey... Caldigit TB3 Plus, then added a Akitio Node Lite with a 10GBE Aquantia NIC inside (which provides a pass-thru TB port), later replaced the AKito/NIC with a Sonet Solo10G. Then I upgraded from a Dell XPS-13 (which charges just fine with the TB3 Plus) to an XPS-15, which needs a 130w adapter that's proprietary to Dell. I eventually got the WD22TB4, and am continuing to use the Sonnet Solo10G with it.
Another reason for the captive cable on Dell docks (and power adapters) is that the USB 3.0 power delivery (PD) standard only covers up to 100w. Dell being Dell (and USB PD 3.1 not existing yet), they cooked up some proprietary extensions to USB PD 3.0 that permit Dell chargers & docks to charge Dell laptops at 130w (or more). If the cable were detactable, it's a safe bet that before long, someone would try to charge a Dell XPS-15/17 using some random 'off brand' cable that isn't even safe to use for 100w charging.
While cable 'borrowing' is a real problem, I suspect the primary reason for the beefy captive cable is for safety...
I have a TB19 and ever since I moved to a Mac, I’ve been plugging in my 2nd external screen into the laptop, like an animal! I just plugged it into the thunderbolt passthrough and voilla! Thanks a stack! I wish I knew this a year ago.
My work sent me one of those Dell docks for my WFH setup. One nice thing is you can get a VESA bracket which allows you to mount the dock behind a monitor (and it still works if you're using the VESA holes for a monitor arm as well!)
Can’t wait for Thunderbolt 5. I just got 20G PON fiber! Hopefully there will be a 25gbps dock in the near future.
THANK YOU! finally someone who explains how docks with multi display works mac vs pc... rather than those "useless" product review which tells nothing.
Now thats a propper review ! thanks. Having a pain with connecting two monitors to M1 pro mac and came across your video
From what I remember, I was told by a Dell rep that the audio jack from the front due to supply chain issues. The audio jack was holding them back from having docks ready to ship.
Hopefully they bring it back. I actually use split wired speakers and headset at the desk.
Great video. I just purchased the OWC Thunderbolt pro dock with 10GbE, arrives today. YOu have inspired me to do some testing also
I have that exact same Dock, it's great.
You uploaded this at the perfect time, we are planning to upgrade to 10 gigabit networking at work and I was looking at this exact dock as a solution. I _think_ I could get away with one of the lower-end models though, since I use a Dell laptop (running Linux) and I don't plan on using more than one screen, just one thunderbolt pass-through for the networking should cover me. That said, I hadn't even considered TB bandwidth constraints, so thanks for walking us through those considerations.
Oh man, brings back memories of having to get this working just post COVID during the chip shortage for an office full of Mac users, ended up with a corsair dock of all things. Why on earth they can't get this sorted is beyond me.
Edit: also so annoying how they remove the headphone jack!
I recon the headphone jack is just a USB one anyways, just get one for $10 or so.
still though sucks that they didn't at least move it to the back or something. that would be quite useful for PC speakers
It might be handy to get rid of some bandwidth requirements, the 3.5mm always uses some bandwidth sadly.
Everyone in the corporate world uses wireless headset these days due to the amount of Zoom/Teams/Webex meetings being done on a daily basis. Ones I've got are Jabra Evolve2 55 with the Jabra Link 380 & they are clear and comfortable. Anc is terrible compared to what Sony has but price difference is huge.
if you're really picky, get an older one with a headphone jack, and upgrade the thunderbolt module.
I have two of the TB3 version of this dock, and I did buy and upgrade one to TB4. Nice to be able to do that. Although I do wish that one of the USB-A ports was 10Gb/sec, but they are only 5 Gb/sec, and they don’t change with the upgrade.
The older Docks are called WD19-130W (the one with audio jack) and WD19S-130W (the one without audio jack). Someone from DELL Support told me that the removal of the audio jack was due to the chip shortage while covid. As the Dock are moduar it is maybe possible to use the Basepart of the WD19-130 and connect the TB4 Part of the WD22TB4. So you would get a TB4 Version with audio jack if you need one.
Note on the cooling fan: In our envoirement the fan starts mainly when upgrading the firmware of the dock.
Note on Laptop compatiblity: Check DELL Dockingstation Matrix... not all DELL Laptops support every dock. The Dell Latitude 5500 Series supports the TB Versions only in its newer 5510* (with specific CPUs) or with 5520+ Generations. This Matrix will obviously only include DELL Laptops, but it can give a good understanding if your non-DELL Laptop would work if it is in the same generation.
Note on Display compatiblity: Not all DELL Docks supports every Displayconfiguraton cause of bandwith limitations. If you want to use 2x4k@60 as you have shown, that would require the WD22TB4. None of the USB Versions support this, the max on the most USB Versions is 5k@60 therefore it won't support 2x 4k@60.
Good info this - I was looking for a potential upgrade for a D6000 but I do use the audio out and don't want to lose it.
Made me really happy that despite not needing to, you tested without monitors just because. Super satisfying.
Really well made video. Lots of good detailed information and it's clear that you know what you're talking!
I love my Plugable TB3 dock, my work issues them for MacBook Pro users. Also got a number of the USB-C versions of the WD22, we only issue them to people with PCs because the extra display outputs are useless for Mac users. We use Plugable DisplayLink docks for Macbook Airs to get around their hard cap of one external display.
The dell docks are upgradable. That left side with the source thunderbolt cable can detatch.
Say you had the WD19TB, you could buy that WD22TB4 part and swap it out for an upgrade to TB4
The modules second hand can be very cheap. I've done it!
I have WD19TBS I want to upgrade to a WD22TB4 via a module but I've seen any on Ebay :(
Thanks to this video/you - I purchsed it from ebay for my home setup and I absolutely love it!
Thank you for an excellent and extremely informative video I’ve had. I’ve got the old version of the dock and planning on using a single 4K monitor, but found the teardown of the dock interesting.
Great video! I was searching about docks and this specifically. And the content are rare.
Thanks for the video. I bought the tb19 for 70€ after watching your video and it works great.
As an FYI - the HP dock is not actually permanently attached. The base screws off and the cable can be replaced. It's a really good design for exactly that reason - the cables don't go walking, but if someone breaks the cable it can easily be replaced by a tech.
Wow, excellent presentation ! Appreciate it!
I found your aside about another adapter having a noisy fan interesting because a few years ago I was shopping for TB docks and learned all the quirks you covered here. But the Dell docks of the time, the TB2 that you mention, had a fan that would spin up periodically. It was one of the reasons I did not buy it. I’m curious if they’ve since dropped the fan.
Edit: this is what I get for posting before finishing the video, the teardown was great, and sure enough there’s a fan. When I worked in an office, the fan was inaudible, but after COVID moved me to work from home, I could hear the fan every time it spun up. So the dock had to go.
Well presented. However the one test that I can think of that is missing is plugging the Sabrent 10gb device directly into the laptop. Since you still weren't seeing full upload speed after removing the monitors, it would make it clear if the sabrent device (or one of your computers) is the hindrance or if it is something with the dell dock.
I forgot to put that in the video but testing using iPerf with the NIC connected directly to the laptop could easily get 10Gbps in both directiions.
That bottleneck of network traffic due to the displays is really interesting. Thats not really an intuitive thing to consider in a setup like this so I bet most people wouldn't even realize.
It's a common thing with docks. If you want to use 3 displays on a dock with a HP laptop you have to go into the bios and enable a high resolution mode setting. You'll otherwise get 1080p on two monitors and 480p on the 3rd. That's due to maxing out USB bandwidth. The setting lowers USB ports to 2.0 and the NIC to 100m
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I was looking at a 49" ultrawide, 5120x1440p60, but if you want USB 3.0 and 1GbE you'll have to drop it to 30Hz
Thanks for the review, top tip to pick these up off of ebay! Just FYI, you can daisy chain two TB monitors. Also TB3 has 4 lanes of PCIe, which is why they only have one downstream TB port. TB4 trades 3 lanes of PCIe for more downstream TB ports. So if you have a hub with lets say a NVMe storage, you are better off with TB3 vs TB4.
I use the USB version all the time. Pro tip, heat shrink that cable end . They always fall to bits.
Dell is known for just gluing a TB3 or 4 onto a USB-C hub, which means that you got two TB4 (or 3) ports, and the rest of the ports sit off an USB3 hub. They work, but they are not a full blown TB hub like the TS3+ or TS4.
You could use a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter for the second monitor, and that will handle up to 4k video. Then the 10Gbps Ethernet adapter could plug into the Thunderbolt port.
Those adapters will only work for USB-C ports that support DP Alt Mode which none of the regular USB-C ports on the Caldigit dock support - they're purely USB data ports. This is an annoying thing with USB-C where it's no longer "universal" and different ports can support a varying range of features. The only other option would be USB to DP adapters that use "DisplayLink" which work on standard USB ports but are software driven and require drivers to be installed on the host machine, they also add a fair bit of CPU load and give a somewhat "compressed" looking image so while they can be useful in certain situations where you need more monitors than a machine can natively support, they aren't a replacement for a proper DP output.
Thanks that was a lot of information.
Also confirms whether these OEM dock are generic. Was a little leery because both dell and HP tend to do a lot of proprietary and yeah that word.
Neat that they attempted to make the cable** replaceable. Seems like it would've been easier to just route the cable through a cable route and have an internal header/jack rather than going to the trouble of soldering on individual wires.
I hate things with attached cables because the primary point of failure is where the cable hits a hard surface AKA goes into the device.
And then as soon as that cable dies the whole device is dead until you replace or get fancy and manually shorten or replace the cable.
And when do you find out a cable is broken when you absolutely need that item.
You can get replacement pc to dock cables from dell and they are relatively easy to replace if you have competent soldering abilities
No, that doesn't make it okay. There's absolutely no justifiable reason for that cable to be soldered.
Good luck with that Dell docking station. I had to replace mine with Dell warranty 3 times over 18 months because the fan inside the dock kept blowing up. It would just go crazy and run at full speed for a while before failing.
I realize this is already 4 months old. I wonder if the fan can be replaced with a quieter one or just be turned off. Looks like a generic laptop fan.
@@hilmarkoerner2603 It was quiet when it was working. Didn’t try to fix as it was a corporate device.
Hi, Nice video. Just wanted to mention that using 1 display port you can daisy chain 2 monitors. On your first monitor at least you need DP-in and DP-out ports. Thanks
Daisy chaining requires the connected machine to support DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support. This is the same reason I can't just use the multiple display outputs on the dock itself.
Some really useful information in this video, especially regarding TB passthrough and intercompatibility with Mac + PC. We've got WD19S' at the moment, but moving to 4k displays from 1080p is causing bandwidth issues. Might look into upgrading, even better if we can just get new blocks for the end of the dock
also you can get little dongles that have the exact spacing of a macbook, but with a dual port, it's a little extension dongle, so you can double up on thunderbolt docking stations, or you can plug the NIC directly into the laptop, and there's just this little dongle spacer that you unplug instead of 2 cables.
my mom has extras of these because she was allowed to keep the old dock. I'm considering taking the one she has and using it for macbook docking
the only thing getting in the way is a way of switching between devices, my KVM switch completely hard locks up my pc when booting.
thanks for the video. I loved the deep dive into the chips on the docking station
Hi. Also Dell user and used to be support guy for Dell equipment. Be *very* careful with that thick cable. I always put a pencil eraser between desk and usb port, to stabilize the plug. It is very small and easy to crack.
While the cable itself can be swapped, it is also very hard to get one.
Nice setup. I went the Dell D600 dock with a Plugable 2.5Gbe usb dongle which gives my Mac 2 external monitors and a cheap bump over the onboard 1 Gbe
I tried one of those Dell thunderbolt docs years back on my MBP and it would not charge properly but everything else worked fine.
You can find replacements for those attached Dell TB cables. Either from ebay, Dell or maybe even Amazon. FWIW, I have an older Dell (square version) dock similar to this that I bought off of Amazon for something like ~$40.
Very interesting video. I am also thinking of upgrading my setup. I am also looking into the possibility of having 10 Gigabit Ethernet with an external Thunderbolt adapter and to have a third 4K monitor. My understanding is that this will not work on a single Thunderbolt port. So what I have in mind is using two docks on the two thunderbolt ports of the laptop.
My current setup: HP Elitebook x360 1040 G8, HP Thunderbolt Dock G2, 1x 4K monitor via Thunderbolt passthrough, 1x 4K Monitor at Displayport, 1x 1920x1200 Monitor at Displayport. A couple of USB devices including an HDMI to USB capture stick with 1080p from a camera and an USB audio interface. Occasionally USB external SSDs.
My thoughts: My Laptop has two Thunderbolt 4 ports. I should be able to use an additional Thunderbolt hub like the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub or the Sonnet Echo 5 Thunderbolt 4 Hub on the second Thunderbolt 4 Port of the Laptop. This means the HP Dock in addition to another hub. This should allow enough bandwidth for a third 4K monitor replacing the 1920x1200 and a Gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter like the one from the video. The two 4K I already have can run entirely from USB-Thunderbolt if needed and do not require HDMI/DP. I think a new 3rd 4K would also be able to connect to USB-Thunderbolt for video. So I could completely abandon HDMI/DP plugs.
Are there any problems or constraints I am overlooking now? For example, do all external monitors need to be on the same Laptop Thunderbolt port? Do multiple docks interfere in some strange way with each other?
Any thoughts would be very helpful.
12:34 No, actually if the tunderbolt cable is ever damaged, you can buy replacements relitively cheap. The cable simplifyplugs into the TB4 PCB, after removing the trainer screws from the metal bracket. Simple job takes about 10 minutes.
Can the Dell usb c docking stations turn on a closed lid dell laptop? I just want to leave my laptop closed and be able to turn it on either by the power button on the dell monitor or by a docking station power button. Thank you for your expert advice!
Great video, thanks 👍
will you be interested in testing thunderbolt bridge networking for NAS - Mac communication? seems like that is also a cheap way to get 10Gb+ access to NAS for MacBooks. i'm considering building my next NAS with thunderbolt, but there is truly a major lack of info online about truenas scale working with thunderbolt bridge.
Interesting, having followed your previous reviews, I have the same monitors and TS3+ dock. On my 2018 MacBook Pro the displays took ages (and typically one wakes up before the other), but on my new M2 Max, they come on immediately. Interesting to see the other behaviour on your apple silicon Mac.
I don't have the WD22 that you've got, but I definitely grabbed a WD19 for the unbeatable price of 'free' when my company started it's most recent round of hardware upgrades.
These Dell Thunderbolt docks are everywhere, I keep wondering where they all come from since they're obviously still very useful and in no way obsolete so unsure why so many are being gotten rid of by enterprise. Not complaining, they work excellently and can be found dirt cheap on the used market due to how many they apparently sold... or bundled, not sure.
And yes, thunderbolt cables go missing because they charge phones. My very expensive 2M active thunderbolt cable went missing and presumably has a new life charging someone's phone...
I suspect it's largely just a case of corporate IT departments replacing hardware as part of a regular 3/5 year rotation - once a device hits a certain age/the warranty runs out, they'll replace it as a matter of course. All the old equipment is sent off to recycling companies that generally refurbish and sell the equipment on. Generally does seem pretty wasteful but for these large companies, they'd often rather only run equipment that is fully supported by the manufacturer rather than needing to handle troubleshooting/repairs internally. It also means that home users/smaller businesses can get great deals on refurbished kit! Another reason can be companies either closing/restructuring offices. Towards the end of the pandemic, eBay was flooded with these docks - presumably either from companies closing offices with people now working from home, or from WFH employees who had previously been given docks by their employer for their home setups moving back into offices and no longer requiring them.
That Sabrent really looks like it has an HHL PCIE Nic inside that. Judging from its huge size.
Is this capable of a 3rd display (likely a TV for client viewing) in addition to these two monitors?
What’s you power cost per month with all you server kit on ? Thinking about moving my lab to my home instead of remote access ….. cheers 👍🏻
The fixed cable is annoying, understand the reason for it (a wrong cable would also cause issues), but a 'captured' cable that was still removable / replaceable even if it required a screw driver to open the case would help. I've had multiple of these fail, with dodgy cables type issues though it was more of a problem when they were used in a portable fashion.
A major problem with the Dell docking stations is the cable being attached can't so when it inevitably fails you can't really do anything about it
The minor annoyance I have with the dell docks is they all insist on having cables come out of three sides of the unit, which always makes them into a bit of a desk octopus. Nice solution, though, and a lot cheaper than buying a Caldigit TS4, I assume due to the number of Dell docks that come off major IT leases.
(As you said not 10 seconds further into the video, hah.)
Large companies might be dumping the wd22tb4 because they're not the most stable dock. I have a bunch of problems with them at the company I work for, we're looking for a replacement...
Just to be sure - Even if this supports 180W power, it won't power up and damage my Mac mini M2 right? Mac mini have their own power supply. I want a dock to expand IO.
I have bought the Dell WD 22 TB4 but it's not working with MacBook Air M1 2020 model, any insight on how to fix or what have caused the problem
17:22 is where the drink is spilled. That's why I always have cups/bottles which have a closed top on them except for when I'm at the dinner table.
I got the usb version for steamdeck and love it.
Love those docks . I had the wd19s and wd19tbs. Good overall but every couple minutes you’ll get 50% packet loss for a couple seconds. Very annoying for gaming. This is with up to date firmware and network drivers. Otherwise it’s good
I'm so confused, do you without the floor the whole time with your dancing hands, or do you have a table that looks like a floor 🤔
It's a wooden tabletop
Okay, thanks for clearing that one up! And thanks also for the great content, I really appreciate your work 😀@@camerongray1515
What adapter did you use to connect the second monitor up? I have bought a TB3 dock with TB passthrough, and a USB C to HDMI cable but not able to get it working.
im setting something up similar for my partner, with her recently purchased MBPM3 PRO,
for her graphic design work, I donated 2 of my old 1440p monitors
1 Asus
1 MSI
the MSI has a Type-C Display port but the Asus is limited to 2 HDMI 2.0 and the DP port is broken ( damaged pins I think )
can I use 1 HDMI from the ASUS and 1 DP type-c from the MSI to WD22TB4
as the dock is on eBay for £80, I can't justify Caldigits TS4 dock unfortunately but maybe in the future
thank you for the Video and explanation of the Dell Dock
This was super helpful. Thanks, Cameron!
Just for clarification, the Dell WD22TB4 will work with both mac and pc? (I use one for personal and the other for work.)
It'll work with both as long as the PC supports thunderbolt. If you want to use both monitors on both Mac and PC, just make sure you connect them as shown in this video - one into the dock's video outputs, the other into one of the Thunderbolt passthrough ports.
When you mentioned both monitors being 4k60 I was like oof thats gonna be a little bit of an issue if you want full 10gb.
Can you give this a test with linux? Am curious if the hub and sabrent nic works or not.
Nice. Would you mind sharing the details of the speaker clamps onto the vertical poles?
They're actually VESA monitor arms that allow the VESA plate to tilt to a full 90° angle. I then bolted a piece of MDF to each of them to hold the speakers - they work really well!
Great video! However a little confused how my setup works then lol; I've been using a CaliDigit dock with dual display port for my MacBook (2019 Intel then 2023 M2 Max) fine for years?
Both monitors plugged directly to the dock using Display Port, extended not duplicated, both running at 4k60 no issues
M1/M2/M3 non-Pro/Max only supports one external display, M1/M2/M3 Pro supports two external displays, M1/M2/M3 Max support three external displays in extended configuration. All Intel Macs support as much external display as the internal graphics e.g. Iris Xe supports. Apple found a weird way of monetizing external display capabilities pushing you to a upsell.
Which model of Caldigit dock are you using? Looks like their "Mini" ones have a pair of video outputs at the expense of a Thunderbolt passthrough port - internally they are likely using the second Thunderbolt port on the Thunderbolt IC as a second video output.
@@camerongray1515 Ahh, bought it in Jan 2020, it's the USBCProDock-US07-SG
How would you use this if you have 3 Mac displays, would this still work?
How is it possible to get that many fingerprints on the screen of a non-touchscreen laptop?
Can you link to the blog post (the one you said you might forget :-) )?
Knew I'd forget something: dancharblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/24/dell-wd22tb4-dock-review-and-teardown/
Nice, neat solution.
Doesn't thunderbolt daisy chain?
Another option is to repurpose a thunderbolt nvme enclosure. Use the enclosure, connect a m.2 to pcie adapter, and then connect a physical pcie network card. I did exactly this.
Why? Because the thunderbolt 3 aquantia aqc107 devices on the market all appear to suffer from a limitation with macOS where airplay doesn’t fully work. Like let’s say you want to use your Mac as an airplay speaker or you want to stream video from your Apple TV or other device to your Mac. Doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked for years.
But with the Marvell aquantia aqc113s pcie network cards sold by some companies, those cards function just like the built in one in the Mac Studio or Mac mini. Meaning airplay works! So this is exactly what I did. I just put everything in a custom made acrylic box. Skinned it with some carbon fiber with a cutout for the rj45 jack. And some other small cutouts for airflow. And it has been beautiful. Works well on my M1 Max Apple silicon!
I definitely want to play around with using regular PCIe cards over Thunderbolt (and actually have a spare NVMe enclosure and M.2 to PCIe card) but for this I wanted a durable solution that could sit on my desk without risk of damage. To use a PCIe card I'd need to worry about some sort of external PSU and enclosure. Personally I don't really have any interest in using Airplay so it's not a big deal.
@@camerongray1515 if the pcie card is low power enough you can power it directly off the thunderbolt bus. That’s what I’m doing with my setup.
Is that an anker wireless charger? I have the same one. Mine is micro USB
The attached Thunderbolt cable removes a major support problem in any business environment - people trying to use a standard USB cable as and when cables get moved around. "My computer is not working" just about always needs someone to visit the user's location.
i have the Dell WD19S Docking Station with 130W Power Supply for my M1 Pro Max
Anyone know of a dock that can drive three monitors for a Macbook Pro M3 Max. Driving me nuts.
spills drink: 👁👁
💧
Are you using a special driver to get the TH-S3EA/Sabrent NIC working with MacOS Sonoma? I had this exact setup working well with Ventura and since upgrading to Sonoma the NIC no longer works. Did you upgrade the firmware on the NIC? Thanks!
Update - I had to re-install Mac OS Ventura, hook up the Sabrent NIC (it worked no issue). Then in-place upgrade to Sonoma, this kept what ever driver the system needed to keep the NIC functioning.
What kind of Macbook did you use for testing? I was thinking about buying a Macbook Air M2. But I suspect that I won't be able to use 2 monitors with this dock. I probably need an M2 / M3 Pro for this?
I'm using an M1 Max 16" Macbook Pro. As far as I'm aware, the non-Pro/Max models only support a single external display so you'd need to get a Pro/Max based machine.
@@camerongray1515 thanks
I have had three Dell docking stations fail on me after about three years each. So be careful about buying them used. The ports tend to fail and not be recognized. At work, we had a batch of 60 fail within two weeks of each other, again after about three years. We stopped buying Dell docking stations after that.
What makes your audio so compressed and tinny?
Sounds okay to me, although I don't have a particularly deep voice and I'm recording with a headworn mic (Sennheiser HSP Essential) rather than a large desktop microphone so I'm never going to get that rich "RUclipsr voice" sound and unlike something like a lavalier mic, it picks up less bass/chest rumble and ends up being a bit more sibilant which, while not sounding as "warm" does tend to improve overall intelligibility. In terms of post-processing, I do apply a compressor, a slight boost to the higher frequencies and roll off anything below 120Hz (along with cutting out a few other "problem" frequencies) but I'm not some sort of audio expert so I've just focussed on making it sound as clear as possible rather than sounding particularly dramatic or cinematic.
What about using this setup on Linux or other distros or on Unraid and other NAS servers?
No idea about the 10gbit ethernet but I use the WD22 with linux and it works great with two 4K displays. Dell even let you upgrade the dock's firmware from linux (but only Ubuntu - a liveusb does the job though if you're using another distro).
Where are you getting your 10Gb internet from
I'm not, this is purely to allow me to access my NAS at 10gbps, my current internet connection is ~300mbps, hopefully upgrading to 1gbps in the near future once it's available.
Why not just use the two DisplayPort ports for your displays
I covered this at 06:13 - To use multiple display outputs from the dock itself, the computer needs to support DisplayPort MST. This is available on most PCs, but Macs don't support it. On a Mac, the only way to use multiple displays is by connecting the second display to a Thunderbolt passthrough port.
But surely you can daisy chain the two monitors from the one display port!
Daisy chaining requires the connected machine to support DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support. This is the same reason I can't just use the multiple display outputs on the dock itself.
thanks for the awesome content! Bro- clean your laptop screen ;)) lol
It's really weird and funny that now in 2024 year, Apple still hasn't implemented MST in macOS (Windows via BootCamp worked just fine!). It's in DisplayPort 1.2 spec as standard feature, and Apple claims they support DisplayPort 1.4 at least since many years!
Fun fact is: macOS actually *do* support MST!!! But in a weird opposite way... You remember old high-res (at the time) Apple Cinema Display? Yeah... this thing was weird... it was actually 2 display links connected via 1 DisplayPort cable. Guess how that worked... yeah... MST! MST was used to transport 2 parts of that single display, so it *is* in the system. It just doesn't support proper config with actually transferring multiple separate screens via single MST connection :/
or a OWC Mercury Helios 3S and your own 10gbe nic. would do the same i think. i own one.
That's definitely an option and I do want to try out PCIe enclosures in the future, but for this setup, the Sabrent NIC worked out a lot cheaper. I suspect you'd still need some sort of dock with the setup you'd mentioned as while the OWC device would handle network and display outputs, you'd need something else to handle the USB side of things (unless you could use one of those USB and HDMI laptop "dongles" off of the Thunderbolt passthrough port to connect both a second display and USB devices, although no idea if that would work).
you only have 1 thunderbolt port? that's what i was confused with. you could put a Sonnettech mcfiver pcie card, and get 10gbe, usb and two pnvme drives. i got one in a jonsbo n3, baller 11900k 8 bay nas
with thunderbolt 4. i put it, where the gpu, could of gone. @@camerongray1515
I have multiple Thunderbolt ports but the point of this setup is to be able to dock everything over a single cable to make it super simple to connect/disconnect my laptop to move between working at my desk vs elsewhere and to easily swap between my work and personal laptops. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with the new Dell dock and instead continued using the Caldigit and connected the NIC directly to the laptop. That Sonnet card looks really interesting and I'd be interested in trying one out in the future, but compared to this setup, you'd end up spending £400 for the card and £250 for the OWC enclosure to achieve basically the same setup that I have here that only cost me £220 with the exception of the M.2 slots on the Macfiver card, although that's not something I'd really have a use for.
All good!@@camerongray1515
i bought the dell from your link, was $208 but brand new. @@camerongray1515
Can’t you daisy chain the second monitor as DP has been provided. Edit: Oh you have a Mac that doesn’t support that
dell dock works but for some reason need a stupid loud fan. I hate the thing :(
Of course the crazy idea of using the second thunderbolt port on the mac just for the 10G network adapter was too radical... 🙄
That Dell dock is a glorified USB-C hub which extracts the DP video signal from USB-C. Don't expect miracles.
Of course I'm well aware that I could have used the second TB port, but the whole point was that I wanted to be able to dock and swap machines using a single cable. As for the dock - these docks are available in both USB-C and Thunderbolt versions. The "main part" of the dock is the same on both but they have different I/O modules on the left hand side which handle the Thunderbolt/USB-C interface side of things. On this Thunderbolt version, there is a Thunderbolt controller which handles the two passthrough ports and then provides a DP interface which is passed to the video outputs via a MST hub and a USB 10gbps connection which is sent via a couple of USB hub ICs to provide the USB ports and also feeds the ethernet controller. Sure, a conventional Thunderbolt dock such as my Caldigit has a PCIe based ethernet controller and uses PCIe USB controllers instead of USB provided by the Thunderbolt IC, but in my situation especially where I'm using an external NIC, it works equally as well.
@@camerongray1515 As you correctly pointed out, the fact the the module with the cable exists in both a USB-C and Thunderbolt variety while the rest of the dock is the same, is a clear indication that the main module is a USB-C hub. This means that all the USB ports and the ethernet port on the dock are sharing the same 10Gbps bandwidth. The video output ports are an exception as they are extracting a DisplayPort video signal out of USB-C (see DisplayPort Alt Mode).
In the end, you are going from Thunderbolt to USB-C to drive anything connected to the main unit and taking away bandwidth from the 10Gbps NIC by daisy chaining it via the Thunderbolt port on the "adapter" bit. While I do understand the appeal of a one-cable-rules-them-all approach, this is not the right compromise to make, IMHO.
I have a much simpler setup (single external monitor), where I use a USB-C dock with power delivery passthrough with my Mac, to get assorted USB ports, 1GB ethernet and a useless HDMI port that outputs 4k@30Hz (which I don't use), and a separate USB-C to DisplayPort adapter to drive a 4K display at 60Hz. It does pretty much the same as it leverages USB-C on one side, and Alt DisplayPort on the other, but it costs about £24.
As you mentioned PC Users would have a better time, due to the way DisplayPort has been crippled by Apple.
@@camerongray1515 Of course RUclips does not like my comment. Let me try again, with a shorter and less articulated version... As you correctly pointed out, the main part of the dock is entirely USB-C.
In the end, while I appreciate the desire of using a single cable, you downgraded to an inferior dock, just for the TB passthrough capability. I would have kept the old dock and connected the 10Gbps NIC to the other TB port on the Mac.
There is an OWC TB hub with 1 TB port in, 3 TB ports out and a single USB-A 10Gbps which could be interesting, as you could drive monitors off the TB ports, and maybe daisy chain the 10Gbpbs NIC as well.
Said that, I did enjoy the video.
Ultimately it entirely comes down to personal preference and people are welcome to make their own decisions. I'm more than happy to lose a small amount of upload network bandwidth (where even 7gbps is completely exessive for my needs) and gain the convenience of a single cable. In addition to the MacBooks, I also often use a Framework laptop which, while the ports are modular, I usually have a single USB-C port module on each side so docking with a pair of USB-C cables would get messy. As for the dock being a downgrade - sure, the Caldigit dock maybe had more total USB bandwidth (although I've not sat down with the datasheets of the various ICs to investigate this) but you also need to look at my use case - the only USB devices I'm actually using on the dock are a keyboard and a USB 2.0 audio interface, so whether the dock is limited to 10gbps USB bandwidth or not, it really doesn't matter to me. The only high bandwidth USB devices I use are the portable SSDs that my camera records to, and I generally connect those directly to the laptop so that I can undock and take the laptop to another room without having to close down any editing projects. And of course there are going to be better docks out there with higher peak USB bandwidth and PCIe NICs, but remember, I picked up this dock for £79! It's also worth mentioning that I have experienced issues with USB audio interfaces connected to the Caldigit where the audio would occasionally "blip" or drop out for a fraction of a second periodically to the extent that I ended up using the optical output with an external DAC, these issues have never occurred with the Dell.
@@camerongray1515 yes, it's all about a balance between convenience and outcome in the end.
Other people could benefit from understanding that this is a TB to USB-C hub and decide to buy the plain USB-C version if they have no thunderbolt devices whatsoever and want to save even more money.
I'd still look into that OWC hub, even to just to make a video about it. Worst case scenario you could always send it back. 😉
Shame that dock didn't have 2.5gbe, otherwise I would have ordered one up
Not sure that the Dell is as good an option as the OWC Thunderbolt Pro Dock. The OWC Pro Dock also provides three USB-A 3.2 10Gb ports, one USB-C 3.2 10Gb port, a High-speed SD port and a CFexpress port. With both configurations, all of the Thunderbolt ports would be used so I think I would pay a little extra for the OWC and get the four faster USB ports, the HS SD port and the CFexpress port. Sorry, I just see this video as you trying to convince yourself that purchasing an inferior product for less money was a good idea...
Yes, I did by an "inferior" product for less money, because that's a fairly normal thing to do when you don't need the capabilities of the more expensive one. We're talking a saving of £130 here and I don't need any of the additional features you mentioned. The Dell dock has one 10Gb/s USB-C port and I don't even really need that. The only 10Gb USB device I use is the SSDs from my camera (which I generally just plug into the laptop directly) so I'm only going to ever connect, at most, one 10Gb/s USB device at a time. I'm never going to need any other high speed USB devices since I rely on network storage rather than any sort of USB storage arrays - the only USB devices I currently have connected to my dock are a keyboard and a USB 2.0 audio interface. I also don't use CFexpress and I record most of my video to USB SSDs, and on the rare occasion that I do use an SD card, my laptop has a perfectly good UHS-II SD card reader in it, it's not something I need in a dock. I'd rather have camera media connected directly to the laptop anyway since it means I can easily undock and move the laptop without having to close my editing projects. Finally, my setup here allows me to easily use just the network adapter elsewhere with a laptop without having to disconnect and move an entire docking station complete with its power adapter.
There's 3 display out on that dock, why would you even use a thunderbolt for it?
I covered this at 06:13 - Those multiple display outputs rely on DisplayPort MST which Macs don't support so you can only use them to extend your desktop with a PC. When using a Mac the only option for multiple displays is to connect one to the dock's display outputs, and the other to the Thunderbolt passthrough port.
A generous response from Cameron. I will add: WATCH THE VIDEO BEFORE QUESTIONING MATE!