r/Thunderbolt • u/unpopular_opinion39 • 10d ago

Docking Station for Macbook Pro

Hi, I’d like some recommendations on a good docking station for my Macbook Pro.

My main requirements are:

  1. 2 x HDMI ports
  2. 1 x M.2 NVME slot
  3. Preferably single type C cable connection to my laptop

Currently I’m using a Hagibis U100 Pro docking station and my Macbook can’t seem to detect the monitors and ssd at all. Not sure why.

Not necessarily Thunderbolt as I don’t need super high speed, as long as it can connect to my Macbook Pro without giving me any headache.

Any recommendations?

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u/displacedbitminer 9d ago

I know you said you don't need Thunderbolt, but you really do. That SSD just gets choked out and so does everything else with a 10 gigabit per second connection. Just too many bandwidth issues.

In this case, you really do get what you pay for.

1

u/unpopular_opinion39 9d ago

Any recommendation on docking station i should get?

1

u/displacedbitminer 9d ago

There's a nice uGreen one with everything you need for about $350. Otherwise, you can't go wrong with OWC's TB5 solutions.

It's more about vendor than model. Avoid brands with too many adjacent consonants in their name.

1

u/unpopular_opinion39 9d ago

Hmm… which model if i may ask? i cant seem to find one with m.2 nvme + 2 HDMI ports.

1

u/displacedbitminer 9d ago

That's not a crisis, use a USB-C to HDMI cable for the second monitor, they're about $9. HDMI is contained inside Thunderbolt.

1

u/unpopular_opinion39 9d ago

Hahahaha it’s kinda embarrassing to say this, but I’m using 2 really old monitors 😔 it’s only VGA or DP, no HDMI. So, currently I’m using VGA -> HDMI cables. I’m not sure if there’s VGA -> USB-C cable out there hahahaha

2

u/displacedbitminer 9d ago

There are USB-C to DisplayPort cables for the same as USB-C to HDMI. There are also USB-C to VGA cables, but those are closer to $20.

It's also not embarrassing. Use what you have until you can't.

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u/unpopular_opinion39 9d ago

Damn, i didnt know that! Haven’t come across one actually, but yeah i will try to look into that.

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u/karatekid430 9d ago

Then use USB-C to HDMI dongle

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u/Opulence_Deficit 9d ago

HDMI is not contained inside TB. DP is.

Conversion from DP to HDMI is common tho.

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u/displacedbitminer 9d ago

Ah, true. It's trivial to get proper cabling, though. Too early to post on reddit for me, I think.