Advice on USB-C/Thuderbolt 4 Dock
Discussion
I have a new-to-me Lenovo T14s laptop which, as is the way these days, has only a few ports, two of which are USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 with one acting as power input as well. The variety of docks is a bit confusing if you haven't played with this stuff before so can anyone suggest which one(s) to look at - Lenovo or other wise. Should I look at USB-C or Thunderbolt types?
In terms of what I'd like in the way of ports it needs RJ45 & preferably 2x Displayports which can cope with 3840x2160 if possible - if not then 2560x1440 will do. I can't guarantee that the screens I use will have USB Displayport passthrough but they will almost certainly have DP inputs. A few extra USB ports seem to come as standard.
The next question is about power suppiles when using a dock: the standard PSU is 65W but do I need a bigger one to power the dock as well, which will have the disadvantage of being more weight to carry around.
Any suggestions are welcome.
In terms of what I'd like in the way of ports it needs RJ45 & preferably 2x Displayports which can cope with 3840x2160 if possible - if not then 2560x1440 will do. I can't guarantee that the screens I use will have USB Displayport passthrough but they will almost certainly have DP inputs. A few extra USB ports seem to come as standard.
The next question is about power suppiles when using a dock: the standard PSU is 65W but do I need a bigger one to power the dock as well, which will have the disadvantage of being more weight to carry around.
Any suggestions are welcome.
I've had a Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 dock Gen 2 since lockdown started, bought it on eBay. The display resolutions supported by the various Lenovo docks are listed here https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/pd02962...
Mine supports 2 x 4k @ 60Hz which is fine for me. Not sure what power supply I'm running, it's all out-of-sight on a cable tidy tray, just one TB cable connected to the laptop which I use as the keyboard and 3rd screen.
Mine supports 2 x 4k @ 60Hz which is fine for me. Not sure what power supply I'm running, it's all out-of-sight on a cable tidy tray, just one TB cable connected to the laptop which I use as the keyboard and 3rd screen.
Thanks, I'm looking at travelling with it though. So far it seems I need the laptop, a 65W PSU, a USB to RJ45 adapter for when I'm configuring stuff, a dock for when I'm at a desk designing & a 100W PSU because the dock needs a square tip PSU not a USB-C one. It's getting a bit silly.
How about something like this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docking-Station-DisplayPo...
You wouldn't need a separate PSU for that.
There's always a bit of trial and error with these hubs so make sure you can return if it doesn't work reliably.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docking-Station-DisplayPo...
You wouldn't need a separate PSU for that.
There's always a bit of trial and error with these hubs so make sure you can return if it doesn't work reliably.
dan98 said:
How about something like this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docking-Station-DisplayPo...
You wouldn't need a separate PSU for that.
There's always a bit of trial and error with these hubs so make sure you can return if it doesn't work reliably.
That's a bit more like it - I could use the same USB-C PSU. I wonder if it works though! Maybe worth testing.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docking-Station-DisplayPo...
You wouldn't need a separate PSU for that.
There's always a bit of trial and error with these hubs so make sure you can return if it doesn't work reliably.
The "dock" above, and a USB-C thunderbolt dock are quite different.
A Thunderbolt Dock will connect to the laptop with a single cable, and is really designed to be sat on a desk so many people can "hot desk" with just plugging in a single cable which will provide power, as well as have screens/ethernet cable etc connected all the time. They are incredibly capable and will support 2 or 3 screens in 4k resolution as well as everything else you will ever want of it.
The dock above from Amazon is much lower bandwidth, and will struggle to do 2 screens in high resolution. It's a bit more like adding extra USB ports. You will need to carry around your own power supply as well.
If you can afford it, then a Dell/Lenovo/HP USB-C Thunderbolt dock is best. If you just want to run a couple of standard quality screens then get the Amazon one above. From experience if you want to use it on anything over 28/30" (QHD resolution), then you will struggle.
A Thunderbolt Dock will connect to the laptop with a single cable, and is really designed to be sat on a desk so many people can "hot desk" with just plugging in a single cable which will provide power, as well as have screens/ethernet cable etc connected all the time. They are incredibly capable and will support 2 or 3 screens in 4k resolution as well as everything else you will ever want of it.
The dock above from Amazon is much lower bandwidth, and will struggle to do 2 screens in high resolution. It's a bit more like adding extra USB ports. You will need to carry around your own power supply as well.
If you can afford it, then a Dell/Lenovo/HP USB-C Thunderbolt dock is best. If you just want to run a couple of standard quality screens then get the Amazon one above. From experience if you want to use it on anything over 28/30" (QHD resolution), then you will struggle.
Condi said:
The "dock" above, and a USB-C thunderbolt dock are quite different.
A Thunderbolt Dock will connect to the laptop with a single cable, and is really designed to be sat on a desk so many people can "hot desk" with just plugging in a single cable which will provide power, as well as have screens/ethernet cable etc connected all the time. They are incredibly capable and will support 2 or 3 screens in 4k resolution as well as everything else you will ever want of it.
The dock above from Amazon is much lower bandwidth, and will struggle to do 2 screens in high resolution. It's a bit more like adding extra USB ports. You will need to carry around your own power supply as well.
If you can afford it, then a Dell/Lenovo/HP USB-C Thunderbolt dock is best. If you just want to run a couple of standard quality screens then get the Amazon one above. From experience if you want to use it on anything over 28/30" (QHD resolution), then you will struggle.
A thunderbolt dock isn't necessarily any quicker than a USB-C dock. It all just....depends. A Thunderbolt Dock will connect to the laptop with a single cable, and is really designed to be sat on a desk so many people can "hot desk" with just plugging in a single cable which will provide power, as well as have screens/ethernet cable etc connected all the time. They are incredibly capable and will support 2 or 3 screens in 4k resolution as well as everything else you will ever want of it.
The dock above from Amazon is much lower bandwidth, and will struggle to do 2 screens in high resolution. It's a bit more like adding extra USB ports. You will need to carry around your own power supply as well.
If you can afford it, then a Dell/Lenovo/HP USB-C Thunderbolt dock is best. If you just want to run a couple of standard quality screens then get the Amazon one above. From experience if you want to use it on anything over 28/30" (QHD resolution), then you will struggle.
The OP mentioned travelling - fully featured docking stations are heavy and yes usually require another large/heavy PSU to go with.
This dock / adapter *doesn't* require a separate PSU - the laptop's USB-C PSU will power it, and then pass through to the laptop.
It may or may not struggle with 2 screens - at least according to the spec it should be fine, and Amazon do free returns if not.
Over years of travelling with MacBook Pros pre-retirement, I have acquired a bunch of thunderbolt and USB-C docks/hubs, some powered, some passthrough, some without power
The powered ones are heavy and require a power supply, so not ideal for travelling
The ones with pass-through power all get burning hot
For travelling with two DisplayPort monitors and RJ45 Ethernet, a dock I can recommend is a Caldigit DisplayPort 3 mini-dock (you can use your other port for power)
I happen to have this model, and few others going spare
The powered ones are heavy and require a power supply, so not ideal for travelling
The ones with pass-through power all get burning hot
For travelling with two DisplayPort monitors and RJ45 Ethernet, a dock I can recommend is a Caldigit DisplayPort 3 mini-dock (you can use your other port for power)
I happen to have this model, and few others going spare
Or, if you don’t mind needing an extra power supply and using USB-C to DisplayPort cables, I use this OWC Thunberbolt 4 hub on my Mac Mini, with a large TB4 SSD array plugged in as well
OWC Thunderbolt Hub - Thunderbolt 4 Hub with 5 ports for Mac and Windows
OWC Thunderbolt Hub - Thunderbolt 4 Hub with 5 ports for Mac and Windows
Mr Pointy said:
I have a new-to-me Lenovo T14s laptop which, as is the way these days, has only a few ports, two of which are USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 with one acting as power input as well. The variety of docks is a bit confusing if you haven't played with this stuff before so can anyone suggest which one(s) to look at - Lenovo or other wise. Should I look at USB-C or Thunderbolt types?
In terms of what I'd like in the way of ports it needs RJ45 & preferably 2x Displayports which can cope with 3840x2160 if possible - if not then 2560x1440 will do. I can't guarantee that the screens I use will have USB Displayport passthrough but they will almost certainly have DP inputs. A few extra USB ports seem to come as standard.
The next question is about power suppiles when using a dock: the standard PSU is 65W but do I need a bigger one to power the dock as well, which will have the disadvantage of being more weight to carry around.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Not quite the same but similar: I have a Dell 9570 with three USB-C and no other ports. I run two 30inch external displays via a Dell thunderbolt 4 dock, with the screens connected individually to the dock via DisplayPort cables. In terms of what I'd like in the way of ports it needs RJ45 & preferably 2x Displayports which can cope with 3840x2160 if possible - if not then 2560x1440 will do. I can't guarantee that the screens I use will have USB Displayport passthrough but they will almost certainly have DP inputs. A few extra USB ports seem to come as standard.
The next question is about power suppiles when using a dock: the standard PSU is 65W but do I need a bigger one to power the dock as well, which will have the disadvantage of being more weight to carry around.
Any suggestions are welcome.
I had a b
d job getting it running, TBH. The culprits appear two fold: first I need to run power to the dock and the laptop, and not just run the laptop off the dock, because intensive processor use would cut the signal to the external displays. Secondly I had to delete all the Nvidia software on the laptop and disable the Nvidia hardware. That doesn’t play nicely with the dock. When I travel I use an HP Thunderbolt dock (can’t remember the model but is it a small cube about the size of two Apple TVs and an external no-name 15.6inch LCD monitor that runs at 3840x2160. This works pretty well (and is stable).
Worth mentioning Windows is 'safer' on vanilla USB-C than Thunderbolt.
It all should work perfectly together but I wouldn't be spending the extra for TB unless you can vouch the hardware compatibility is all there on your particular laptop (or there's an easy return process).
Lenovo (and particularly AMD) is a bit hit and miss on this.
It all should work perfectly together but I wouldn't be spending the extra for TB unless you can vouch the hardware compatibility is all there on your particular laptop (or there's an easy return process).
Lenovo (and particularly AMD) is a bit hit and miss on this.
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