I got myself a Mac for learning SwiftUi because I want to make an iPhone game. I got myself a used 16/256 M1 Air model that has 2 USB-C ports and that’s it.
This made me create a workstation, where I have a high quality Thunderbolt 3 dock that works with DisplayLink, so I can have up to 4 external displays on windows and 3 on my MacBook Air. On this dock, I have connected 2 monitors, a mouse, a keyboard, a webcam, still have some USB A and C ports free to use. Best thing is that this dock has a micro SD and a regular SD slot!
All this through a single USB-C cable!
I want to connect my work HP Probook to this setup? Just plug the USB-C cable in and all comes to life!
I want to connect my gaming-PC? Just plug the USB-C cable in the Thunderbolt slot of the Graphics card and all comes to life!
Oh, I want to connect my USB-C emulator console, iPad, Tablet, etc. to the monitor, or the USB-stick? Or the Ethernet ? Just plug it in!
Basically I got my single cable workstation, and all that because of Apple removing useful at-home-things from a on-the-go device
I can do all that with my X1 Carbon which isn’t much thicker than an M1 Air. It’s got the same two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports but also has full-size HDMI, 2xUSB A, and wired headphones.
It seems like Apple’s main method of innovation is finding new ways to get people to buy $29.99 dongles over and over again.
They like to make things appear sleek until you actually have to use them. All that sleekness goes out the window as soon as someone hands you flash drive and you have to break out a dock.
That’s the thing that bugs me about Apple products anymore. Having a tower the size of a mid-size ATX, with ports you can plug peripherals into, inside the case? Oh, that’s so hard and unsightly. Here, hook up external peripherals to this hub instead.
Upvote for unpopular. But I really don’t understand this mentality that removing options “for you” is a good thing.
They were saying it isn’t, but it forced then down a path they probably wouldn’t have considered otherwise. And they made something nice despite Apple’s cheaping out in something so important.
As a media producer, I don’t.
Sorry to say that, but making the usb a universal serial bus is not an Apple concept. With the C specs, it’s mature enough to be used at any of these instances, even on those wall-e inpired inferior machines. Apple innovation is that for people who still want to use hdmi, headphones, ethernet or other connector they say fuck you 🖕🍎🖕
Yeah until a peripheral is having weird issues that magically goes away only when you plug in directly to the computer.
Or the dock randomly decides it doesn’t like one specific computer anymore and falls back to being a USB3 hub. Thunderbolt docks are really cool but I’ve had tons of reliability issues with them over the years.
I still use one but it’s been relieved from display duty because it didn’t always play nice.
okay but noting would stop you from doing this with extra ports
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I like my Framework 16’s solution: 6 hot-swappable expansion ports. Only want one USB-C? Get one and 3d print fillers for the other 5 slots or use the expandable memory because why not (other than $). Want an SD or MicroSD? You can get that too, along with 3.5mm, hdmi, USB-A, ethernet, or display ports. Everyone can configure it exactly how they want.
I had a preorder for a 16 but because life I had to cancel it and go with something else. I’m still rooting for them so hard. Glad to see folks out there using them and liking them enough to talk about their experiences.
I love it! I understand how it goes with the life stuff, I’m just lucky that it worked out really. Definitely keep an eye on them in the future, you can get refurbed and factory seconds of 13s now from https://frame.work/marketplace, so by the next time you’re hunting that may be a decent option for less money! Still pretty expensive, but at least they’re less!
If I want to connect my laptop to a code reader for my car, I just plug my OBD2 reader into one of the USB type A ports. If I want to connect it to a monitor, I have USB-C, DP, and HDMI ports available, depending on what the monitor supports. I want to transfer some movies from my NAS, I can plug the ethernet port right into a switch or a wall jack.
I use every single port on my laptop, and I don’t have to buy an adapter to connect to anything.
