Got to love progress. Thank god finally have TB3, so we can finally have products, which don't offer any other connectivity, so we have to buy TB3 to USB3 docks in order to use our devices.
How else would you make a substantially improved (and modular) interface backward compatible with legacy interfaces if not with adapters such as these?
External graphics enclosures come to mind. Basically everything else we already have a solution for (minus single-plug devices that can do power/data/display/laundry/taxes over one cable).
but those enclosures are so expensive they are useless. Most are in the $400 range with just the case and a PSU of some sort. Throw in 1070 and you got the cost of a mid price gaming laptop...
Agreed. TB has so much potential, we're just not getting them.
Take docks. I can't find one that offers 2x DP1.2 ports. I want to connect 2x 4k@60Hz monitors using DP or miniDP. Docks have either 1x DP + 1x HDMI (all on the same stream = 2nd monitor gets 30Hz only) or 1x DP 1.2 4k@60Hz, but for the second, you have to use TB3 Output with a dongle(TB3 to DP1.2)!? Why? I want a dock so I don't have to use a dongle. To make matters worse, some of them are incompatible with the new MacBookPro.
USB ports on Docks; Apart from this Gigabyte (I think) which dock offers USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports? And yes, why are they called 10Gbps? They use 1x PCIe 3.0 lane which is 8Gbps (at least until PCIe 4). Does Intel's TB3 controller provides true 10Gbps? Minus overheads (8b/10b) of course.
TB3 portable SSDs; Many use cheap TLC or slower than the top of the range PCIe 3x4 M.2. SSDs, and RAID-0 to achieve good speeds. Can we not just have one that uses say Samsung's 960 Pro? Where are the cheap TB3 boxes to which we can add our own M.2 SSDs? Also, what's up with TB3 enclosures that house HDs? HDs don't need the bandwidth.
TB3 monitors with only 1x TB3 input and no output for chaining. For 5K I get it, but for 4K? For 4K we don't even need TB3, DP1.2 Alt mode over Type-C will do. Why use TB3 when we don't have to?
The list goes on and on. Unfortunately. We need some innovation and products we would like to buy.
In re SSDs, you are best off buying a TB3 SSD enclosure. Actually, a USB 3.1 gen 2 enclosure will provide more bandwidth than most SSDs need (excluding Samsung 950 Pros and the like).
Where this makes sense is owners of Mac books. Limited internal storage--difficult to upgrade, limited graphics. Now, purchase a lacei 12 big and daisy chain a 4k monitor to it, and you've got a photo editing workstation. Of course, you could purchase a 2p xeon workstation with 1080 in sli and plenty of drives, which will EAT the above system for breakfast.
There seems to be a real issue with quality control regarding the use of the TB interface. I suspect it's just a complexity issue, a strategic decision to sell more of their legacy devices for the time being, or if they really are under appreciating how much the market wants this sort of device modularity. It seems that Intel themselves are the one's preventing some of these devices from hitting the market; source: https://twitter.com/sephr/status/81788301116523315...
Could we rather just get more USB ports on the actual motherboard IO panel or via headers, instead of Thunderbolt which has so few applications it's about as useful as FireWire?
Kind of hard to find a mainstream MB that doesn't have 6+ USB ports these days, and why invest in "old" tech? USB maxes out at 5GBit, so why opt for that when you can have one USB-C with 40 GBits?
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ddriver - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Got to love progress. Thank god finally have TB3, so we can finally have products, which don't offer any other connectivity, so we have to buy TB3 to USB3 docks in order to use our devices.Siress - Sunday, September 3, 2017 - link
How else would you make a substantially improved (and modular) interface backward compatible with legacy interfaces if not with adapters such as these?MadAd - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
We hear so much about TB, waited for years for products to populate channels and what do we get? A USB hub.Great to see it reviewed but colour me underwhelmed regarding the actual tech. Is this the best they can do?
Scabies - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
External graphics enclosures come to mind. Basically everything else we already have a solution for (minus single-plug devices that can do power/data/display/laundry/taxes over one cable).HideOut - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
but those enclosures are so expensive they are useless. Most are in the $400 range with just the case and a PSU of some sort. Throw in 1070 and you got the cost of a mid price gaming laptop...bill44 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Agreed. TB has so much potential, we're just not getting them.Take docks. I can't find one that offers 2x DP1.2 ports. I want to connect 2x 4k@60Hz monitors using DP or miniDP. Docks have either 1x DP + 1x HDMI (all on the same stream = 2nd monitor gets 30Hz only) or 1x DP 1.2 4k@60Hz, but for the second, you have to use TB3 Output with a dongle(TB3 to DP1.2)!? Why? I want a dock so I don't have to use a dongle.
To make matters worse, some of them are incompatible with the new MacBookPro.
USB ports on Docks; Apart from this Gigabyte (I think) which dock offers USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports?
And yes, why are they called 10Gbps? They use 1x PCIe 3.0 lane which is 8Gbps (at least until PCIe 4). Does Intel's TB3 controller provides true 10Gbps? Minus overheads (8b/10b) of course.
TB3 portable SSDs; Many use cheap TLC or slower than the top of the range PCIe 3x4 M.2. SSDs, and RAID-0 to achieve good speeds. Can we not just have one that uses say Samsung's 960 Pro? Where are the cheap TB3 boxes to which we can add our own M.2 SSDs?
Also, what's up with TB3 enclosures that house HDs? HDs don't need the bandwidth.
TB3 monitors with only 1x TB3 input and no output for chaining. For 5K I get it, but for 4K? For 4K we don't even need TB3, DP1.2 Alt mode over Type-C will do. Why use TB3 when we don't have to?
The list goes on and on. Unfortunately. We need some innovation and products we would like to buy.
colinstalter - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
In re SSDs, you are best off buying a TB3 SSD enclosure. Actually, a USB 3.1 gen 2 enclosure will provide more bandwidth than most SSDs need (excluding Samsung 950 Pros and the like).bill44 - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Are there any cheap TB3 enclosures?HideOut - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
you could buy that HDD dfive t hat dont need speed an d put your own samsun SSD in it...drajitshnew - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Where this makes sense is owners of Mac books. Limited internal storage--difficult to upgrade, limited graphics. Now, purchase a lacei 12 big and daisy chain a 4k monitor to it, and you've got a photo editing workstation.Of course, you could purchase a 2p xeon workstation with 1080 in sli and plenty of drives, which will EAT the above system for breakfast.
Siress - Sunday, September 3, 2017 - link
There seems to be a real issue with quality control regarding the use of the TB interface. I suspect it's just a complexity issue, a strategic decision to sell more of their legacy devices for the time being, or if they really are under appreciating how much the market wants this sort of device modularity. It seems that Intel themselves are the one's preventing some of these devices from hitting the market; source: https://twitter.com/sephr/status/81788301116523315...The_Assimilator - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Could we rather just get more USB ports on the actual motherboard IO panel or via headers, instead of Thunderbolt which has so few applications it's about as useful as FireWire?surt - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
But that wouldn't be elegant! You can't seriously propose that a computer might have more than one hole in its case?nowayandnohow - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
Kind of hard to find a mainstream MB that doesn't have 6+ USB ports these days, and why invest in "old" tech? USB maxes out at 5GBit, so why opt for that when you can have one USB-C with 40 GBits?zilesija - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
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