[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built a website to better compare USB-C h...
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Show HN: I built a website to better compare USB-C hubs found on
Amazon
Author : junkern
Score : 198 points
Date : 2020-01-26 16:10 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.usb-hubs.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.usb-hubs.org)
| nfriedly wrote:
| First up, nice job. This is awesome!
|
| Here's a few filters off the top of my head that you might
| consider adding:
|
| * Price
|
| * DisplayPort ports
|
| * Maximum power pass-through
|
| * Is the ethernet port gigabit or just 100mbit ( e.g.
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y5N3YCD/ - You generally can't get
| 4k60 + gigabit without thunderbolt 3.)
|
| You might also want to consider adding docks, or perhaps create a
| second website for those. (In my mind, the main distinction
| between the two is weather or not it has a built-in power supply
| - it looks like none of yours do.)
| thierryzoller wrote:
| Sell it to Amazon, their GUI needs an overhaul, it's an
| unstructured mess.
| jungletime wrote:
| Which of these would work best for connecting two external drives
| to move files around.
|
| I have a 2013 macbook pro with 2 lightning ports, and 2 usb 2
| ports.
|
| Very often I need to connect two external drives at the same
| time, leaving me without a port to connect my wireless logitech
| mouse and keyboard.
|
| I tried to find a lightning to usb adapter, but these don't seem
| to exist.
| h4kor wrote:
| Anyone else thinks its weird that we created an entire
| industry/product section just because notebook builders don't
| include common ports anymore?
| tn890 wrote:
| Not really. I mean, it's conceivable that portable devices have
| gotten smaller and more streamlined since they get replaced
| sooner, while the outside world has largely remained the same
| (from a connectivity standpoint).
| hrgiger wrote:
| Nice site! Would be nice to add cable length as well, finding hub
| for desktop PCs very hard.
| larrywright wrote:
| This is really cool. One more bit of data that would be helpful:
| cord length. Almost all of these have short cords that are great
| for portable use cases, but not ideal for use at a desk.
| junkern wrote:
| Interesting thought. Not sure if I can gather cord lengths of
| all the hubs.. Will note it down for later:)
| larrywright wrote:
| I think it would be sufficient to just indicate if it has a
| long cable or not. You can tell from the pictures generally.
| koala_man wrote:
| I was going to suggest just getting a longer cable, but I see
| now that almost all of them have non-removable USB-C cables
| sticking out.
|
| Why is this? Is it because only one port can be upstream, so
| they try to avoid the confusion? Or just cost?
| wmf wrote:
| Probably both. A good USB-C cable isn't cheap and using the
| wrong cable would cause the hub not to work.
| tgdn wrote:
| It looks very cool :)
|
| Is it open source? I'd love to contribute!
| ebg13 wrote:
| Unfortunately this doesn't fix any of the confusing bullshit
| around USB versions and specs and port shapes. And it muddies the
| issue by mixing "3" and "2" with "C", which describe entirely
| different things. My first search looking for 3 USB-C ports
| brought up this behemoth: https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-
| Adapter-VEOOVE-Samsung-Unive...
|
| 2 of the USB-C ports are USB 2.0? WTF is that. Nobody wants that.
| soneil wrote:
| And the third is just PD, no data. Searching for 2 ports is no
| better - they're all one data plus one PD (with the exception
| of one that's macbook-specific, so it can pass-thru two ports
| because it's using 2 on the host).
|
| It seems like it'd be more realistic to have a tick-box for "a
| usb-c port" and a tick-box for "a PD port".
| fwipsy wrote:
| Needs an option for total USB ports (including USB3 + USB2). Say
| someone has 3 hard drives, a keyboard and a mouse. Probably they
| would want at least 3 USB3 ports for the hard drives and at least
| 5 total, but would be just as happy with 5 USB3 as 3 USB3 and 2
| USB2.
| mmastrac wrote:
| Awesome work. Having just gone through this for my company, I'd
| recommend a few valuable bits of information:
|
| - Thunderbolt 3 support filter
|
| - Power delivery capability (usually 60W-100W if at all)
|
| Both of those are valuable for mac shoppers.
| loopbit wrote:
| Not only for macs... I have 4 raspberry pi4 powered through an
| USB hub and spent quite a bit of time looking for one that had
| at least 4 ports and that every port could deliver a minimum of
| 5V-3A. The US amazon had a few, but trying to find them (or
| similar) in several european Amazons was quite difficult.
| alias_neo wrote:
| Any chance of a link? I'm looking good something to power a
| Pi4 cluster. Thanks
| loopbit wrote:
| I ended up going with this one:
| https://thepihut.com/products/anidees-6-port-smart-ic-usb-
| ch...
|
| Have had it for a couple of months now with no issues.
| soneil wrote:
| > and that every port could deliver a minimum of 5V-3A.
|
| For the pi, "at the same time" is what most hubs seem to miss
| - often they can supply 3A per port, but not ports * 3A
| overall. (60W on 6-10 ports is a typical config, so you can
| pull 12-15W per port, but not 6 * 12+ overall.
| sitkack wrote:
| You have some model numbers handy? Which one are you
| currently using?
| loopbit wrote:
| For amazon.com, there were a few from Anker (one was
| mentioned in another comment) that looked interesting... As
| I said, no luck finding them in europe.
|
| I ended up going with this one:
| https://thepihut.com/products/anidees-6-port-smart-ic-usb-
| ch...
| hinkley wrote:
| One of Anker's raisons d'etre is high current USB ports,
| so I'd be shocked if they couldn't do 3A.
|
| I did not realize they were not available in the EU
| though. It looks like they list on Amazon UK, not sure
| how helpful that is.
| mobilemidget wrote:
| Good HDMI capable usb-c hubs below 20 USD? Hmm, I cannot find
| anything similar priced in NL. I would prefer to have one
| that can do 2x HDMI as not all workplaces I sit have usb-c
| capable monitors. When I was checking a while back it seems
| to have a weird pricing gap between ones that have 1 or 2
| HDMI outputs. More than twice the price.
| hinkley wrote:
| I was so pissed a year and a half ago when I realized that none
| of the hubs had a Thunderbolt pass-through. The new Anker 7 in
| 1 has a 'USB-C data' port. Given there's no claim or picture of
| video out, I'll bet that's all it does.
|
| And the tail on these. It's almost always too short to make it
| useful to plug it into the back of a thunderbolt display.
|
| I think the Thunderbolt 3 monitor I got recently is my last
| planned Thunderbolt 3 purchase. I'm not sure if I can hold out
| long enough for USB-4 to land, where hubs are expected to be
| hubs again. But barring lost or damaged equipment, I'm going to
| try.
| jayp wrote:
| What did you end up buying? Any regrets?
|
| I got something from cable matters but think it is faulty and
| cuts out on PD at times. I am looking for a replacement.
| Marsymars wrote:
| I've found CalDigit and Plugable to both be very good in
| general.
| mmastrac wrote:
| I ended up buying a monitor with PD/TB3 rather than a hub as
| my setup was using a pretty janky old monitor.
|
| The two "hubs" that supported all the stuff that I wanted
| were effectively docking stations:
|
| - https://hengedocks.com/products/stone-pro
|
| - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VL675DT
|
| I also bought one of these
| (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hypershop/hyperjuice-
| wo...), but waiting on delivery. It's not a hub, however.
| whatsmyusername wrote:
| We have so many 2015/13inch henge docks I'm trying to get
| rid of.
| petepete wrote:
| I recently bought one for my ThinkPad.
|
| I'd suggest to avoid anything DisplayLink at all costs, it's
| laggy on Windows and the Linux driver support is pretty bad
| (Ubuntu only, doesn't support the latest version, not open
| source).
|
| I just use another USB-C to DisplayPort cable even though it
| should be unnecessary.
|
| https://www.displaylink.com/
| junkern wrote:
| Power Delivery is already implemented, but you have to choose
| that the hub has to have at least one usb-c port. It it
| possible to have power delivery without having an usb-c(likw)
| port? Thunderbolt 3 support is on my todo list:)
| pen2l wrote:
| I've got a carbon x (6th gen) and an iPhone X, I think what you
| want would work for me too. This is what I'm thinking of:
| https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Charging-PowerPort-Intelligent-...
|
| If someone happens to have experience with this, share your
| thoughts please!
| jimsmart wrote:
| I have one of these, and it is a great piece of kit - but it
| is not a USB hub of any kind: it only provides power.
| fmjrey wrote:
| If you're only after a power adapter for your X1C6 + iPhoneX
| then this Anker device will certainly work. I would however
| wonder if you really need 100W power, 75W would seem
| sufficient.
|
| Edit: if you plan to use a USB to lightning connector for
| your iPhone X then indeed the 100W is needed as apparently
| this device splits power evenly (50W+50W) between the two USB
| C. A comment however says it's not fast charging the iPhoneX
| when they are both used, so now I understand your dilemma.
| berbec wrote:
| Seems very nice. Is there a way to search for hubs that don't
| have a feature? I want a hub that has ethernet, but not hdmi, for
| example.
| junkern wrote:
| Is already on my todo list. It was easier to implement the
| simple "has feature", instead of doing a full blown search
| interface :D
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| oh goodness... yes, fine work, but this site rubs my hugest tech
| pet peeve today
|
| There is not a single USB-C hub on this site. A USB-C hub would
| take one USB-C port and turn it into several USB-C ports.
|
| These are what are called port replicators. There are no USB-C
| hubs in existence, which is a huge reason why the standard is
| still struggling.
|
| Thank you for putting a selector for "how many USB-C ports" front
| and center, that at least illustrates the problem...
| junkern wrote:
| never really thought about the distinction until now, but yes,
| you are right. But most people don't really care and call it
| usb-hub, including me^^
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| (why are there no "real" USB-C hubs? some say that it is due to
| the lack of the existence of a chip that Intel is going to
| release "any time now" for like a year now... others say that
| the power delivery requirements of USB-C make this really
| tricky)
| bluedino wrote:
| Great question. Been waiting since 2015 on those...
| nrp wrote:
| USB-C hubs are on their way. A couple of IC makers now have
| parts supporting that, so products using them are in the
| development pipeline:
| http://www.genesyslogic.com/en/product_view.php?show=69
|
| I'm actually currently developing one as well that has a
| unique twist to it.
| Ididntdothis wrote:
| Cool. It's about time. After getting a MacBook Pro 2019 I
| was pretty surprised to find out there are no real USB hubs
| out there.
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| Can't wait to see it! I'd love to be on your announcement
| list.
| cerberusss wrote:
| I know you're right, but nowadays, everybody calls them hubs.
|
| But if you really need the hub you describe, here's one that I
| think conforms to what you describe:
| https://www.coolgear.com/product/usb-31-typec-4-port-hub-or-...
|
| For a little bit more, you can have 6 USB-C ports:
| https://www.coolgear.com/product/usb-3-1-dual-type-usb-c-a-8...
| 1wheel wrote:
| Could I connect my mbp to this with one cord to get power and
| external monitors?
| cerberusss wrote:
| Nope
| jhealy wrote:
| It connects to your computer via USB 3.1 and a USB type-a
| port. Unfortunately type-a can't power the computer and
| can't carry video signals.
| jwr wrote:
| That's a USB3.1 hub that has USB-C connectors. While one can
| get away with that in the whole USB-C mess/confusion, it is
| usually not what people expect. You can't connect a monitor
| or power your device with this hub, for example.
| bluedino wrote:
| At what point did a 'dock' become a 'hub'?
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| my goodness... I wonder if that is legit or if the
| manufacturer had to break spec... thanks for the link!
| Ididntdothis wrote:
| If I understand correctly it's basically a regular hub that
| has USB C outlets instead of USB A. Useful but won't do
| stuff like monitors.
| Marsymars wrote:
| IIRC that's fine according to spec. What you can't do is
| have a cable with female USB-C on one end.
| Trias11 wrote:
| I was thinking about adding few things to make it paid service: -
| allow people to enter keywords describing product - allow people
| to enter their own affiliate id - allow people to generate short
| url to dynamically generated page showing above
|
| All above would allow people to quickly generate and share chunks
| of specific amazon products to their following and monetize it.
|
| You could either produce sidebar with your own ads or just charge
| for such service so it would be win-win for all
| chapium wrote:
| If its a paid service, who would be paying? This data is all
| over the internet, typically for no monetary charge. Other
| shopping sites (I'm thinking of newegg) already provide a
| detailed breakdown.
| elwell wrote:
| Like a 'roll your own affiliate marketing site'? You could call
| it 'affilterate marketing'.
| thrwaway69 wrote:
| I was thinking about the same. If there are any affiliate
| marketing people in here, can you tell us more about your
| workload, RoI, setup and problems? :D
| reiichiroh wrote:
| Have you posted this to the folks at /r/usbchardware ?
| chx wrote:
| Oh hi! /r/usbchardware mod here.
|
| I will talk to the other mods whether we want to endorse these.
| I personally would never encourage anyone to buy a non-
| certified device made by a noname company but the others might
| have a different opinion.
| jlengrand wrote:
| I just want to tell you how much I appreciate how you allow to
| turn the affiliate link on and off. And also that you basically
| made it so that it's the first thing I see when I join. I don't
| see that much honesty and openness out in the open that often. So
| thanks!
| usbcconfused wrote:
| Related question: a lot of these hubs have very short cords.
| Apparently usb c extension cords are not allowed by the usb c
| spec, but some users report generic female-male cables from
| amazon can do the job fine. Anyone have experience with this or
| know of caveats?
| peter_d_sherman wrote:
| It looks really nice!
|
| I was wondering if you could add power output per port, and
| total, in Amps...
|
| Reason that I ask is because someone might want to power a whole
| bunch of Raspberry Pi's off of a single USB hub, and if it
| doesn't have the requisite amps (~3.0 Amps per socket), it will
| probably burn out, or power will probably sag, and that wouldn't
| be fun!
|
| But, other than that minor "would-be-nice" -- great site, all in
| all!
| Roritharr wrote:
| I would prefer if it had less products but actually reviewed
| them, there is so much crap on Amazon you really need to try
| something out, disassemble it, sometimes even measure it to
| figure out if it's crap or not.
|
| SEO Spam really ruined product search / reviews.
|
| Just last week I tried hard but couldn't find a good review of
| USB-C Power Adaptors, just page after page of SEO optimized spam
| without actual content.
| ec109685 wrote:
| This is great. I always wonder why amazon itself is so useless in
| this space. The only thing you can go is price and reviews there,
| without any good comparisons between products.
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| I like wirecutter for this. Their picks are rarely the most
| expensive and they try to recommend things that last long. I am
| happy they can make a dollar or two of my referral link pick
| for the research work they do.
| dawnerd wrote:
| I feel like they've been slipping recently in order to
| maximize referral income. There's been a number of things
| they've suggested that are simply no where near the best. I'd
| use them as a guide but not a definitive answer - that should
| go for any site with affiliate links.
| victor106 wrote:
| I agree with this. I was a big fan of wirecutter reviews.
| But in recent times they don't include products in a review
| of a category that have significant market share. I find
| the comments section of wirecutter where people mention the
| products they didn't review to be interesting.
| atombender wrote:
| I like them, but they're really inconsistent. I bought a
| bedding set they recommended (from Brooklinen), and it felt
| so cheap and thin, I couldn't believe this was their top
| choice. Brooklinen is a new brand, so I suspect some back
| room shenanigans; they have since been passed over in newer
| reviews.
| etrautmann wrote:
| I've had very bad experiences trusting reviews of the
| wirecutter for some products that were obviously inferior to
| alternatives after returning and purchasing alternatives.
| crooked-v wrote:
| I want a USB-C hub that's just one USB-C in to multiple USB-C
| out. Why is that so impossible to find?
| frosted-flakes wrote:
| Yes, I don't care if they're just plain USB, no Thunderbolt or
| fast charging.
|
| Every "hub" I've seen has maaaybe twl USB-C ports and two or
| three USB-A ports--which makes me think that USB-A will never
| die and we'll be stuck with both of them forever.
| baybal2 wrote:
| Type-C says that there can't be type-c hubs. Just wait for some
| Chinese OEM to work that around
| hinkley wrote:
| USB 4 spec claims to solve this problem. I'm pumping the
| brakes on USB 3.1 purchases, but I dunno if the stars will
| align for my next laptop to have it.
| thrwaway69 wrote:
| Nice! It looks pretty clean and I appreciate the affiliate toggle
| button.
|
| What's the story behind this? (Very specific product ;))
|
| I would suggest adding more margin vertically on cards and making
| them smaller for mobile.
| junkern wrote:
| Yeah, the design was/is more of a quick and dirty to get it up
| and running, will definitely improve it!
|
| The Story: I was actually looking to buy a USB-C hub myself but
| was annoyed by the amazon website: no filtering, no clear
| marking of features... Talked to some tech friends, they had
| encountered the same thing, so I quickly acted and created that
| website^^
| urda wrote:
| This really didn't make things any less confusing. If anything
| else, I'm more confused by just a massive spam of product tiles
| as the first thing I see. It feels like I misclicked an ad in my
| Google search and ended up at a knock-off product website from
| abroad.
|
| What you really need to be doing is making recommendations,
| product breakdown, and even label things as your "choice" and
| why. Right now, it just looks like a glorified affiliate link
| farm and that feels dirty.
|
| Spamming users with a wall of product is not the solution.
| macawfish wrote:
| This is so necessary! However, it still doesn't answer a burning
| question that I have: are there any USB-C hubs that can draw
| power from an _upstream_ power delivery source and supply it to
| downstream USB-A devices?
|
| Just to be clear, I don't expect you to have this answer. From
| what I can tell, the answer is "no that doesn't exist".
| zamadatix wrote:
| USB hubs did this even prior to PD. Is there a particular non-
| standard wattage you're looking for?
| blazespin wrote:
| Need to find a way to detect fraudulent reviews and you're set.
| intpbro wrote:
| Fake spot api? ;)
| junkern wrote:
| haven't heard of them, yet. will check it out :) maybe a
| combination of fakespot and reviewmeta?
| junkern wrote:
| Definitely! It is on my todo list to include
| https://reviewmeta.com/ information for every product :)
| mthoms wrote:
| Just out of curiosity, do you have any statistics on how many
| people disable the affiliate links?
|
| That's really clever by the way, placing that button so
| prominently. It both instills trust and serves as a gentle
| reminder of the amount of work that went into this (at least
| in my mind).
| junkern wrote:
| I do not track that information, yet. But it is a cool idea
| and I think would make for some interesting insights: Will
| implement!
| alagu wrote:
| It is quite nice of you to give option to disable affiliate links
| - though I guess no sane person would want to disable them.
| fortran77 wrote:
| Nice job. (But how did we get into this mess in the first case, I
| ask rhetorically.)
| nachteilig wrote:
| Would also be great to know if it supports 4K!
| larrywright wrote:
| And if 4K, whether it's 4k@60hz or 4k@30hz. Almost none of the
| affordable hubs support 60hz.
| sgarman wrote:
| I still don't have a dock for my MPB at my home because none
| of them support 144hz+. Just have to shuffle cables around
| every time.
| junkern wrote:
| Good idea! Will add that feature:)
| kyriakos wrote:
| An important filter is not just if it has hdmi but how many
| screens it can support. Just a suggestion.
| junkern wrote:
| Is already on my todo list:)
| Terretta wrote:
| Needs to filter whether it can show HDMI 4K at 30Hz or 60Hz. And
| related to that, for video, it's possible to have 2 4K 60hz
| through or one or none.
|
| Also filter whether it's one USB-C connects to computer or two
| USB-C connects to computer. With two USB-C connected to computer,
| can pass through more types of USB to accessories.
|
| Finally, it doesn't show matches that I know are matches.
|
| // I buy these to test, but don't want to waste time testing
| duds, so spend time trying to figure out if/when the claimed
| stats are possible.
|
| 101 Intro: https://www.howtogeek.com/211843/usb-type-c-explained-
| what-i...
|
| 301 Deep dive:
| https://www.bigmessowires.com/2019/05/19/explaining-4k-60hz-...
| maxsilver wrote:
| > Needs to filter whether it can show HDMI 4K at 30Hz or 60Hz.
| And related to that, for video, it's possible to have 2 4K 60hz
| through or one or none.
|
| I don't think they'd bother, because none of these docks can do
| it. USB-C 3.1 inherently can't support a 4k@60hz display, due
| to bandwidth limitations. And it certainly can't run two of
| them.
|
| You'd have to jump up to a Thunderbolt 3 dock for that sort of
| thing.
| wmf wrote:
| USB-C 2.0 can support 4K60 (see deep dive above) so you can
| drive one good monitor if you don't need fast network or
| storage.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| did you mean USB-C at USB 2.0 speeds?
|
| there is no standard by that name and Rev 2.0 does not
| mention video
| Terretta wrote:
| The Thunderbolt capable docks on Amazon are still listed as
| USB-C because consumers seem to think it's all about cable
| shape.
|
| That said, there are plenty of dual USB-C connector, dual
| HDMI 4K@60hz port, dongles designed for Mac on Amazon. I
| think this is the most recent addition:
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RH9HF4R/
|
| _"Satechi Aluminum Type-C Dual HDMI Adapter 4K 60Hz with
| USB-C PD Charging -- Stunning dual HDMI display with a
| convenient USB-C PD port to keep your setup up and running -
| all in 4K 60Hz resolution. ENGINEERED FOR 4K DUAL DISPLAY -
| features dual HDMI ports to connect two monitors for
| stunning, extended 4K 60Hz display. Requires a direct HDMI
| connection, will not work with VGA, DVI or Thunderbolt
| displays..."_
|
| By contrast, this is one HDMI 4K@60Hz and one HDMI 4K@30Hz:
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/Satechi-Multimedia-Adapter-
| Gigabit-...
|
| Includes the two 4K HDMI ports of differing refresh rates,
| USB-C PD 3.0 charging, Gigabit Ethernet, micro/SD card
| readers, and USB 3.0 ports, and also will _not_ work with
| Thunderbolt.
| Marsymars wrote:
| > The Thunderbolt capable docks on Amazon are still listed
| as USB-C because consumers seem to think it's all about
| cable shape.
|
| Thunderbolt docks with Titan Ridge controllers fall back to
| USB capabilities/bandwidth if connected to a USB-C non-
| Thunderbolt host.
| s_gourichon wrote:
| Satechi always sounds funny to French people. Pronouncing
| the name literally means in casual language "it poops you".
| maxsilver wrote:
| Sorry, to clarify, you technically can get enough bandwidth
| for 4k@60hz out of a USB-C port, but you have to abandon
| the data lanes for more DisplayPort lanes. (I.e, give up
| all of your USB 3.0 ports and gigabit ethernet or similar-
| speed ports). So, "adapters" can do it, but docks generally
| can't.
|
| https://www.bigmessowires.com/2019/05/19/explaining-4k-60hz
| -... has the specific technical details.
| Terretta wrote:
| Yes, that link was in my top level post. :-)
|
| And that's why I'm linking to adapters that use two of
| the Macbook Pro ports.
| chx wrote:
| Two 4k @ 60 Hz is either Thunderbolt (which is fine for
| Macs but has a price and I would rather buy like
| https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=38575 or
| https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=31261 instead of a
| noname company) or DisplayLink which is to be avoided at
| all costs. This hub is Thunderbolt as can be deciphered
| from "Does not support MacBook models with single USB-C
| port" (see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201736#usbc )
| but the fact I need to decipher what it is a second strike
| against it. It seems lately Intel has loosened its iron
| grip on Thunderbolt 3 (after all, it handed the standard
| over to USB IF) so now everything goes (we see empty M.2 to
| TB3 enclosures and chaining eGPU boxes both of which were
| forbidden by Intel prior) but the fact they didn't include
| the trademarked name makes me go hm.
|
| Finally, it could be a DP 1.4 MST hub but that is very rare
| (the first USB C to DP 1.4 MST I am aware of was announced
| at CES 2020 https://plugable.com/2020/01/07/plugables-new-
| docking-statio... and didn't ship yet) and figuring out
| support will be _very_ interesting. All Intel 14nm laptop
| CPUs are stuck with DisplayPort 1.2 and then researching
| which laptops with Radeon / nVidia GPUs run their USB C
| through those GPUs to provide DP 1.4 will be fun.
|
| Let's put 4k @ 60 (and then 4k @ 30) into the bandwidth
| calculator:
| https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/729232-guide-to-
| display... you can see you need more than what DP 1.2 can
| provide so everything I said above applies.
|
| Oh and of course if it's for a Mac, in general, you could
| just use two USB C plugs, I suspect that's what the 4k @ 60
| + 4k @ 30 is: one plug is used in DP alt mode, the other is
| used in MFDP mode.
| Terretta wrote:
| It doesn't support macs with a single port because it
| takes two ports, uses each one. That changes the
| bandwidth calculator math.
|
| This adapter was, I believe, also announced at CES 2020.
| chx wrote:
| A much more concise but similarly deep intro can read at the
| beginning of https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/wiki/newdocks
| tn890 wrote:
| I'm in the market for a dock/hub for my 16" MBP and I'm
| completely baffled by the lack of decent options. I just want the
| following 3 capabilities:
|
| - 100W PD
|
| - 4k60Hz (preferably through USB-C)
|
| - Gigabit ethernet
|
| I have not been able to find a _single_ docking station or hub
| that can check these 3 boxes :(
| joshmgross wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CZPV8DF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.P...
| Is pretty close at 87W
| tn890 wrote:
| I would've compromised for this dock if it were cheaper. A
| lot cheaper.
|
| I'd pay $300 for a dock with 100W PD, 4k60 and gigabit. But
| this ain't it.
| nfriedly wrote:
| 4k60 + gigabit is not possible without going up to Thunderbolt
| 3 - there isn't enough bandwidth otherwise. The best you can do
| is 4k60 + USB 2.0 (so a gigabit Ethernet connection would cap
| out at ~300mbps in practice.) See
| https://www.bigmessowires.com/2019/05/19/explaining-4k-60hz-...
|
| DisplayPort 1.4 changes this, but everything seems to be stuck
| on 1.2
|
| 100W is, of course, possible.
|
| I use a CalDigit USB-C Pro Dock with my MBP:
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07VL675DT - it's TB3, but it
| can fall back to USC-C (with reduced capabilities, of course).
| It uses Intel's newer Titan Ridge chipset. The older and more
| common Alpine Ridge chipset is TB3 only.
| tn890 wrote:
| How does the CalDigit TS3 Plus do it then?
|
| Too bad about the 85W.
| nfriedly wrote:
| It uses Thunderbolt 3. Same connector, but different
| protocol with 2-4x the bandwidth.
| tn890 wrote:
| I fail to see why you assumed I wouldn't want a
| thunderbolt 3 dock.
| nfriedly wrote:
| Because you said "preferably through USB-C".
| tn890 wrote:
| I meant the actual physical connection?
|
| Man this whole Type C thing is confusing. Wasn't it
| supposed to simplify USB?
| nfriedly wrote:
| Oh, I see. Sorry about that. This stuff is stupidly
| confusing.
|
| For what it's worth, unless you're doing a constant full
| load on your CPU _and_ GPU, 85 watts is probably enough.
| crooked-v wrote:
| Thunderbolt 3 is the same form factor as USB-C, but
| there's different hardware in the cables themselves to
| enable higher data throughput. If you want to use
| Thunderbolt 3, the devices on either end need to
| specifically support it.
|
| Note that in the future, Thunderbolt 3 is getting de
| facto rebranded as USB4 (no space).
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/09/usb4-is-coming-
| soon-...
| gambiting wrote:
| >>100W is, of course, possible.
|
| I don't think it is. The dock itself uses quite a lot of
| power, that's why the highest you can find is about 85-90W.
| USB-C cables support max of 100W so I don't think it's
| physically possible to accept 100W and output 100W at the
| same time.
| leipert wrote:
| Personally I am CalDigit fan and if 85 W are good enough:
| https://www.caldigit.com/ts3-plus/
| tn890 wrote:
| I'm reluctant to spend that much if it can't even fully power
| my laptop.
| jcheng wrote:
| I was surprised how little difference using a 60W instead
| of 87W charger mattered for MBP15, at least according to
| this article the actual power draw and recharge rate were
| pretty close: https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/25/60w-usb-c-
| charger-good-for-al...
| [deleted]
| lennydizzy wrote:
| The new 16 inch Macbook Pro has a 96W charger, any adapter
| supports that yet?
| whatsmyusername wrote:
| When it comes to peripherals you should seriously consider all
| the options, discard everything, and just buy Anker because it's
| the best.
| Marsymars wrote:
| Anker is good for their main product lines (chargers, cables
| and power banks), but the rest of their peripherals (mice,
| keyboards, speakers, data hubs, etc.) feel like afterthoughts
| that don't compete past the low-end of the market.
| reiichiroh wrote:
| Blind faith in Anker by itself isn't enough. It has North
| American customer service presence but there are a few times
| where its products aren't much more than rebrands of the many,
| many other weird Shenzhen brands like TaoTronics, TronSmart
| etc.
|
| Used to think Aukey, Satechi were in the same league as Anker
| but they've been shown to falsely show standards compliance as
| well as a being USB power non-compliant with some. Satechi
| has/had a lot of fake reviews powering its growth as well.
| bubersson wrote:
| I did exactly that. And I'm really positively surprised about
| the build quality of Anker hub.
|
| I bought some of the wireless chargers from Anker before and
| those feel quite plastic-y, so this was nice.
| whatsmyusername wrote:
| They tend to drop product lines immediately when they're no
| longer profitable (like their bang'n external drive docks) so
| we buy their stuff in bulk when it fits our purpose.
|
| edit: Oh hey, it's run by a former googler.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anker_(mobile_chargers) neat.
| gre wrote:
| Great start, I end up with 49 products that meet my basic
| filters. I'd really like some more feature differentiation to
| decide. Release dates might help too, as I'd rather buy a newer
| product.
| grizzles wrote:
| Feature request: USB-PD 3.0 feature option.
| rubatuga wrote:
| There's only one USB-C hub listed with a detachable cable, the
| uni Hub. Any USB-C cable that supports full speed USB 3.2 Gen 2
| works. I reviewed it on my blog here:
| https://www.naut.ca/blog/2019/09/11/uni-usb-c-hub/
| ydj wrote:
| I've bought a uni USB-c to DisplayPort cable before. Support
| was helpful: had some trouble getting it to work with my laptop
| in Linux and they sent me another cable to make sure it wasn't
| a cable issue.
| falcolas wrote:
| Personal opinion: I have had the best value-for-quality out of
| the "J5 Create" brand. Adding them to this list (it's a useful
| tool) would be great.
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/stores/node/9123406011
| junkern wrote:
| Thanks for the hint! Will add them:)
| bitL wrote:
| Tangentially related, does anyone know if there is a DisplayPort-
| to-USB-C/Thunderbolt cable one could use to connect a GPU
| (DisplayPort) to a monitor (USB-C/Thunderbolt)?
|
| I'd like to connnect Titan RTX (DisplayPort) to LG's 31" 5k2k
| (USB-C) but all I see are cables for the opposite direction, i.e.
| USB-C/Thunderbolt to DisplayPort, for MacBooks. Other DisplayPort
| on LG is already used by another computer (gaming PC with 2080Ti)
| and HDMI can't do 5120x2160@60Hz.
| chx wrote:
| The Delock 63928
| https://www.delock.de/produkte/G_63928/merkmale.html?setLang...
| is in the direction you want but I am not 100% it can do
| DisplayPort 1.4. AmazonGlobal ships it globally from
| https://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLOCK-Displayport-Adaptor-type-Mon...
| please test and report back either at
| https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/co23kd/i_have...
| and mention /u/chx_ so I see your report or just email me at
| chx1975 gmail . While reddit has unsavory parts, we keep our
| little corner focused on USB C knowledge.
|
| Alternatively, you can power the Gigabyte GC Titan Ridge from a
| mining riser, no PCIe is necessary, feed it DisplayPort
| signals, get Thunderbolt signals. Titan Ridge is DP 1.4
| capable.
| bitL wrote:
| Thanks, ordering that DeLOCK now! Will get back to you when I
| test it!
|
| Titan Ridge is an option as well though I want to use it in
| an x399 Zenith Extreme board (DeepLearning rig) and that
| might be challenging (in theory it should work but the board
| is super buggy).
| JoshuaJB wrote:
| > Tangentially related, does anyone know if there is a
| DisplayPort-to-USB-C/Thunderbolt cable one could use to connect
| a GPU (DisplayPort) to a monitor (USB-C/Thunderbolt)?
|
| Edit: See other comment. Looks like someone actually did manage
| to create a cheap adapter, and was able to power it from
| DisplayPort as well. I'd love to hear if anyone knows how well
| this works.
|
| I think this would be quite hard to do inexpensively, as USB-C
| hosts have to be configured by the client to send Display Port
| signals on the SuperSpeed lanes. [1] If the monitor (client)
| doesn't detect a host, it's probably not going to try to
| interpret the SuperSpeed signals as DP. It seems to me that an
| adapter would likely have to emulate a USB-C host supporting DP
| alt mode. This would at least require external power (unless
| your monitor's USB-C port is powered), and would more likely
| require the adapter to use one of your USB 3 ports so that it
| can also support devices on any monitor USB hubs.
|
| [1] https://www.totalphase.com/blog/2019/11/how-displayport-
| alt-...
| bitL wrote:
| I'll see, I am worried it won't work as well as that LG
| monitor is like 1st gen bleeding-edge tech where
| incompatibilities might arise. MacOS users definitely had
| issues with it at first and those use USB-C connector on the
| display, but DP/HDMI works fine so far.
| dep_b wrote:
| Why not Thunderbolt 3 hubs? Also card readers are interesting,
| pass through power might be as well.
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| Card readers are interesting but they need more UHS-II support
| on these hubs to get decent read times for modern SD card
| workflows
| junkern wrote:
| My plan is to add more usb hubs (usb-3, thunderbolt), so stay
| tuned ;) Card reader filter will also be implemented very
| soon:)
|
| I am no expert on usb hubs, but filtering for pass through
| power is actually possible: You have to specify at least 1 for
| usb-c port, then you can select the "Power Delivery" checkbox.
| Is power delivery the same as pass through power? and it is it
| possible to have that without having a usb-c port?
| _1tan wrote:
| Thumbs up of for Thunderbolt 3 hubs!
| calaphos wrote:
| For choosing the right product based on a list of spec
| requirements I can highly recommend the price comparison website
| Geizhals [1]. They offer an insane amount of filter options over
| a wide category of products. Want USB C hub with Power Delivery,
| Gigabit LAN, a card reader and at least 2 display options? Here
| are your options: [2]. Also works for Mainboards, TVs and a whole
| lot of other stuff
|
| [1] https://geizhals.eu/?cat=nbdock [2]
| https://geizhals.eu/?cat=nbdock&xf=5206_2%7E5207_DisplayPort...
| TekMol wrote:
| This one is my favorite site of this type:
|
| https://www.productchart.com
|
| It has an awesome interface and covers the US and the UK.
| vxNsr wrote:
| Seems like a great website for EU, does anyone know of
| something similarly detail oriented for US-based consumers?
| guidedlight wrote:
| Here's a bug/feature request:
|
| The website doesn't support the Amazon links in Australia. When I
| click a link on my iPhone it opens the Amazon app, then tries to
| switch my app to the US listing which doesn't work.
|
| My suggestion is to provide multiple Amazon links for various
| countries.
| abalone wrote:
| Nice idea. I'm curious, how much affiliate revenue are you
| generating?
| az656 wrote:
| From what I can see, none of these support multiple 4K monitors -
| how do people dock in situations like this? I've been using a
| USB-C eGPU with my multiple screens and Ethernet attached to
| that. Is there a cheaper way to do this?
| bluedino wrote:
| You really can't without lots of compromises - 4K @ 60Hz uses
| most of the bandwidth that USB-C 3 can really provide.
| applecrazy wrote:
| Is it possible to buy two adapters and plug one monitor into
| each? Tedious, yes, but cheaper than eGPUs.
| Terretta wrote:
| https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RH9HF4R/
| tgv wrote:
| Useful, but one thing: a USB-3 port can be compatible with a
| USB-2 port, so one _might_ expect that 2 USB-2 ports can also be
| covered by a device with two USB-3 ports (as long as they have
| the same connector), but I don 't think the search works like
| that.
| atombender wrote:
| Nice work. I miss the ability to filter by video support. I got
| this one [1] without reading the fine print, and it only supports
| 4K at 30Hz, not 60Hz.
|
| I'm actually still looking for a hub that will do 4K/60Hz HDMI/DP
| and power delivery (and preferably 1-2 extra USB-C ports), so
| that I can power my MacBook Pro with it, and have it deliver
| video to my external display, all while only having one cable
| going into the MacBook. Not dual monitors, just a single display
| while the lid is closed.
|
| From what I can tell, that's only possible with an expensive
| Thunderbolt dock.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079GSMZ7G
| kekub wrote:
| I have bought this [1]. It costs around 40$, does PD at 60W, 4K
| Display Port, 2xUSB2 (due to bandwidth restrictions - for me
| this is fine as I have a time machine hard Drive and a USB mic
| attached) and 100MBit RJ45. I also bought a 1m USB-C extension
| cord, which makes it possible to completely hide the dongle
| under my desk. No issues with any of the ports so far. I would
| definitely recommend looking for DP instead of HDMI, because it
| seems to use less bandwidth. You can also get 2 DP 4k@60Hz with
| PD from the same vendor.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Multiport-
| DisplayPort-E...
| atombender wrote:
| Thanks, but being USB 2.0 only isn't great. That's why I
| suspect a Thunderbolt hub is the only option.
| wmf wrote:
| I was shopping for that the other day but didn't pull the
| trigger; here are some things I found. Thunderbolt docks have
| come down from ~$300 to ~$100 so you may be better off with
| that route.
|
| https://www.bigmessowires.com/2019/05/19/explaining-4k-60hz-...
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Multiport-DisplayPort...
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/Dell-Business-Thunderbolt-USB-C-Doc...
| atombender wrote:
| Thanks! The Dell is big and requires an external power
| supply, which is a no-go. The Cable Matters is better, but
| only does USB 2.0, which means I can't use it for hard
| drives. There's an HDMI version, but doesn't do 60Hz.
|
| This is what I'm fighting right now. Lots of hubs, they all
| do some things right, but not everything. The reason is
| apparently answered by the first article ("any USB-C hub
| using this technique for 4K60 video can't have any USB 3.1
| ports on it").
|
| I've yet to find a sub-$100 Thunderbolt dock. Monoprice had a
| sale on docks in December, bringing the price down to $56,
| but I was too slow to pull the trigger.
| withinrafael wrote:
| To work around macOS' awful monitor restrictions (i.e. lack of
| general MST support), we bit the bullet and got a Dell WB19TB
| [1] (Thunderbolt dock). It sucks from a wiring perspective but
| it works.
|
| [1] https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-thunderbolt-
| dock-w...
|
| (To those that go down this route, be aware: you cannot use
| both DP ports on this dock as-is -- again, macOS lacks MST
| support. One monitor must be connected to the Thunderbolt add-
| on module.)
| paulcarroty wrote:
| > $259.99
|
| It sucks from a price perspective too.
| fpgaminer wrote:
| I wouldn't trust Dell with this. I have a Dell monitor that I
| bought because it has a USB-C port that supported both PD and
| video. But it turns out it doesn't work well with MacBooks
| (constantly loses connection, and messes with the MacBook's
| sleep). Dell acknowledged the issue and released a patch that
| fixed it ... for Windows machines. They refuse to fix it for
| MacBooks because they don't want to support a competitor's
| product. So I would be highly skeptical of a Thunderbolt dock
| from Dell working well with MacBooks.
|
| Addendum: That monitor is also a dud in many other ways,
| notably that the PIP and PBP feature sucks and it has
| horrific ghosting. All a real shame as Dell used to have high
| standards for their monitors.
| InternetOfStuff wrote:
| ISTR my Dell USB-C dock can do that (but check for yourself, I
| might misremember). No idea how well it works with Macs though.
| junkern wrote:
| Will definitely add filter by video support!
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