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by graeme 2578 days ago
>One, ONE $30 adapter gives you all of those

That's not how TB3 works though. Those cheap dongles don't necessarily pass through correctly, and this can lead to all manner of problems when you have sensitive equipment connected. Lots of reports of audio issues on USB C Macs when using external dongles, for example.

The actual TB3 hubs cost $150 minimum iirc.

This may not cause trouble in your own use case, but it's definitely potential cause for concern for people that need a lot of I/O
2 comments
stephenr 2578 days ago
> That's not how TB3 works though.

The USB/hdmi/memory card adapters for $30 aren’t TB3, they’re USB-C.

If you want “a lot of I/O” then going back to 2 usb3 ports isn’t going to help you.

A single TB3 port will handle the same external I/O the previous MBPs had across all ports barring TB2.

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pfranz 2578 days ago
> That's not how TB3 works though.

I don't believe that's how TB3 works, either. I might be mistaken or out of date, but I've looked. At any price I haven't seen an actual TB3 hub that gives you more ports than you start with. The ones that do aren't TB3, they're extra power-only or USB-only USB-C ports. Everything I've seen is just a passthrough TB3 port with additional accessories that are generally USB or HDMI tunneled through.

> Lots of reports of audio issues on USB C Macs when using external dongles, for example.

If you're talking about audio production...that tends to go with everything computer related for 30+ years. Which port you plug in, the brand of cable you use, the minor software release--all are potential problems. Everyone tends to have a unique setup, too.

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