so I just bought a desktop pc that has two usb c connections. I have an Apollo twin x interface and it’s not compatible with regular usb c it has to be thunderbolt. Is there a work around for this or some sort of adapter that would help me out?
I’m having trouble getting external display output from the rear USB-C/Thunderbolt port on my Alienware M15 R6.
Laptop: Alienware M15 R6, Windows 11
Monitors: 2x Samsung Odyssey Q5 monitors
Laptop Dock: Dell Thunderbolt 4.0 Smart Dock (SD25TB4)
The single, direct HDMI connection from the laptop to one monitor at a time works normally.
The Thunderbolt port recognizes my phone, so I'm assuming the port works for USB data.
The monitors are not detected through the Smart Dock. I have tried several cheaper dock options, but the laptop would not recognize the monitors.
End Goal: Both Q5 monitors are connected to the Smart Dock via DisplayPort cables connected to the Alienware M15 R6 Laptop.
Showing off some speed tests since I decided to connect all the Mac Mini's in my rack via Thunderbolt.
I'm showing the Machine info with each test.
The setup is:
M2 Pro Mac Mini 32GB RAM 1Gbe and Thunderbolt 4(not shown) - It's the fileserver with 2 x 10 bay enclosures. It runs Orbstack for my docker containers and sync scripts to backup everything both on perm and remotely. It is running the container with OpenSpeedTest.
M4 Mac Mini 16GB RAM, 1Gbe and Thunderbolt 4 - this is the main media server, and has a 5 bay SSD array attached. As shown in the screenshots, it connects at 975Mb/s over ethernet, but downloads at 25Gb/s and Uploads at 17Gb/s over thunderbolt.
M4 Pro Mac Mini 48GB RAM, 10Gbe and Thunderbolt 5 - this is currently running LMStudio for sharing, as well as any compiling of projects. It also has some Apple Containers for Docker and VMWare for use as needed. As shown, it goes from 980MB/s on ethernet (M2 being only 1Gbe) to 27 Gb/s Download and 16 Gb/s upload.
I also included my M5 MacBook Air over wifi, with is also getting around 900 Mb/s internally.
So, I've set up the Mini's to talk to each other over thunderbolt, making backups / xfers at least 16 times faster, while still leaving the ethernet network so I can get back to them as needed. All for the price of about $20 for two decent thunderbolt cables.
Last note, I would probably retire the M2pro, but it actually has 1 more thunderbolt connection than the M4, which is coming in handy for all the storage.
I have a Asus Vivobook and i want to connect an external eGpu with Thunderbolt. I'm not a Expert in this thing so, can you tell me of my laptop supporto Thunderbolt 3/4. Thank you for the help. P.S: i'm italian so idk of i write this correctly
Spent way too many hours trying to figure out why certain Thunderbolt/USB4 setups wouldn't perform as expected. Turns out cable bandwidth limits, display requirements, and protocol differences are way more confusing than they should be.
I ended up building a small calculator that lets you check whether a cable can actually handle your monitor, dock, storage, or other setup before buying or troubleshooting.
I originally built it specifically for Mac users, but it turns out the calculator is just as useful for Windows/PC usersdealing with Thunderbolt, USB4, docks, eGPUs, and high-bandwidth peripherals.
I don't think links are allowed here, so if anyone wants to try it, just replace {dot} with a real dot:
retinadesk{dot}com/tools/cable-bandwidth-calculator/
Curious: what's the most frustrating Thunderbolt/USB4 compatibility issue you've run into?
Does anyone know of any good thunderbolt extension cables that are reliable and lock securely to a dongle cable?
My major use case is be using HDMI for projection on shows, from my MacBook Air M3 via a dongle (I'm looking at this one - https://amzn.eu/d/0dCm0Ow2)
How long can a Thunderbolt extension cable be and still work robustly under these sorts of show conditions?
This is a huge fail. Other docking stations just work, sonnet should implement drivers/firmware in their devices that detect and support any device. Because thats why we pay the big bucks.
Is there a hub that is like this? I know Ugreen maxidocks exist but theyre too large to be portable. I only need nvme slot with an ethernet. Thank you