Fresh to the Low End Mac mailbag from FaceBook User Michael Vega:
“Possibly known knowledge, but I wanted to show a proof of concept and I’m glad it works. I have a thunderbolt 3 dock, but it works with Thunderbolt 2/1 Macs. My work laptops are a current generation of Lenovo PCs with Thunderbolt 4, so I wondered if I could use a dock that would do it all.”
Editor’s Note:
According to a StarTech.com article: “If you use an adapter, Thunderbolt 3 host connections are compatible with Thunderbolt 1 and Thunderbolt 2 devices. Thunderbolt 3 devices are not backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1 and Thunderbolt 2 host connections.” This may or may not leave ambiguity with regard to device/dock compatibility, leaving end-users on their own to test which configurations do and don’t work.
The Brydge Stone Pro Thunderbolt 3 Dock has a single USB-C style Thunderbolt 3 uplink to the host computer. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB-C style charging port, 3x USB-A connectors, ethernet, an non-uplink thunderbolt 3 connector, a DisplayPort, and a barrel-jack style power connector.
Now, back to Michael: “By using an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter, a TB2 cable, and connecting my 2 Apple 27” LED Cinema Displays using a USB-C adapter, the other with a full DP adapter, I can connect this dock to my 2015 and 2011 MacBook Pro! The 2015 15” has 2 TB2 and an HDMI, so this would allow me to use another TB device or 4 monitors total.”
“The MBP 13” 2011 only has Intel graphics so when connecting the dock it shuts off the internal screen but outputs full resolution to the external monitors. When connecting to the 2015 it down-steps to TB2 (20Gbps), on the 2011 it’ll do TB1 (10Gbps).”
“Very pleased with this setup. My only wish was that this dock had another DP or HDMI port so I can do triple monitors (I have 3 LED Cinema Displays)”
“…based on a comment on a post here (on the Low End Mac FaceBook group) where someone used an OWC TB3 dock and used this adapter I wanted to try for myself. This dock isn’t as full featured with ports like other Thunderbolt 3 Docks. While I have plenty of Dell WD19TBS Thunderbolt 3 docks at work and other PC-centric branded USB-C docks, those use DP with MST for the monitor connections which macOS doesn’t support at all.”
