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by lholden 1565 days ago
It's possible the author is unaware that there are cables that have a USB-C (TB4) connector on one end and a DisplayPort connector on the other. This should directly support running DisplayPort 1.4 off just the dock they purchased without additional dongles. (Which would also work with the OWC TB4 dock you mention).

Possibly they had a specific need for actual DisplayPort ports on the dock though, and because they specifically wanted DisplayPort 1.4, that ruled out TB3 docks.

How do you like that OWC dock? It looks pretty nice. I also noticed that CalDigit has successor to your TS3 that looks pretty nice too.
3 comments
grork 1565 days ago
I'm very happy with the OWC dock -- it's been rock solid, and in the eGPU/Intel config allowed single cable by daisy chaining the eGPU off the dock. I had a similar experience with their ThunderBolt hub (which is just 3 TB4 outs, 1 TB4 in).

I've theorized for a while that the OWC, Razer, Belkin, and Kensington TB4 docks are all the same (Razer sacrificed a USB port for RGB) -- they have the same basic layout, and same basic capabilities. The CalDigit TS4 looks like a different design, adding some more ports.

I have a friend with various TB docks w/ Intel Mac + eGPU, and have experienced a consistent issue when using a secondary USB-C DAC for audio. I haven't, but if that's your scenario, might be worth a pause.

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rtsao 1565 days ago
Your assumption is correct. Those docks are all based on the Goodway DBD1100 [1]. When I was researching which dock to purchase myself, I came across this comprehensive list [2] of Thunderbolt docks which was super informative.

[1] http://www.goodway.com.tw/prodimg/edm/DBD1100.pdf

[2] https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/usb4-tb4-docks/

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ubercow13 1565 days ago
Yes, I think the solution the author has settled on is unnecessarily complicated architecturally? I'm not sure how the OWC adapter is working seeing as it's TB3 and I thought TB3 only supports one downstream TB port per device - is the second DP port (or both) somehow connected to the PCIe lanes?

I think the whole point of TB4 is that you can plug multiple monitors straight into the dock.

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firecall 1564 days ago
Yep - this is exactly what I use!

Although I plug both into the Mac directly.

The article confused me too with its talk of dongles and DP ports on docks. Just get the right cables man! :-)

Side note - TB docks are still stupidly expensive, even after Intel changed the licensing which was supposed to make them cheaper. If I'm remembering that correctly.

Side side note: DisplayLink for 4K on M1 macs is still not working right! :-(

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