MacBook Pro Dock

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WAslayer

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So company has finally decided that a 2 day a week work from home policy will be sufficient..

This means my primary workstation (desktop) will now go back to living in the office and I will have to work from home using my work MacBook..

Being a 13", I am not thrilled about the screen real estate it offers and will therefore need a dock to push display over to the two monitors I have at home..

So please, any recommendations on a decent dock that's going to offer rj45, two display out at 1080p over preferably display port, usb A port and that can live out of sight and not dangle on the side of the laptop..?
 
Do you have 2 thunderbolts?
You can just get 2 thunderbolt --> HDMI converters then
 
I have one of those nasty USB-C plug in docks, it does the job fine but its far from being ideal.
There are tons of options available, my company supplied the one I have and Im not going to pay for anything better.
 
Wait, doesnt it already have 1 HDMI output? Then you just need to output one the thunderbolt as well

Im running 3 screens in total on my iMac here at work via 2 x thunderbolts
1 is thunderbolt --> HDMI
1 is thunderbolt --> VGA
 
Pineapple Smurf said:
Wait, doesnt it already have 1 HDMI output? Then you just need to output one the thunderbolt as well

Im running 3 screens in total on my iMac here at work via 2 x thunderbolts
1 is thunderbolt --> HDMI
1 is thunderbolt --> VGA
Click to expand...
No, it does not.. they thunderbolts and 3.5mm jack is what you got..

And no, I'm not going to use two adapters or docks.. I don't like desk clutter and the single adapter I am using is already driving me up the wall..

So I want a single device, with all the ports I require that I can neatly tuck away out of sight..
 

Video Support​

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

  • Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
  • Up to four displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output

  • Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
  • VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
J5create has a USBC mini dick with the ports I require, however, support for MacBook has become flaky and they don't seem to last very long in general, if the user reviews are anything to go buy..a shame, cause at a 1k, it would have been worth it..

The next best option I have found is a viper branded one direct from the istore.. At 2.4k, I am hesitant to pull the trigger..
 
Pineapple Smurf said:

Video Support​

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

  • Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
  • Up to four displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output

  • Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
  • VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
That's the 15".. I have stated multiple times I have the 13"... Take off thelose beer glasses.. it's barely lunch time..
 
WAslayer said:
So company has finally decided that a 2 day a week work from home policy will be sufficient..

This means my primary workstation (desktop) will now go back to living in the office and I will have to work from home using my work MacBook..

Being a 13", I am not thrilled about the screen real estate it offers and will therefore need a dock to push display over to the two monitors I have at home..

So please, any recommendations on a decent dock that's going to offer rj45, two display out at 1080p over preferably display port, usb A port and that can live out of sight and not dangle on the side of the laptop..?
Click to expand...
Get a Mac monitor.
 
Moved the 15" macbook pro to infront of the keyboard for size. Cables on Mac is for the connectors and charger, and comes from monitor, so also only 1 plug required
 

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Last edited:
Venomous said:
Just easier.
See my post with pic. Macbook normally stands on side behind the monitor.
Only infront now to help judge size of monitor. It was not new when monitor was bought about 2 years ago.
Click to expand...
Sure, but I already have two monitors at home.. so no sense in going to purchase a Mac monitor just for this, which is likely to cost the same or more than a dock would..

And I'd still only have one monitor that case..
 
@WAslayer

Surely any old dongle will do? I've been using my 32" Asus 1440p monitor with my 13" M1 MacBook Air since the day I bought it. I picked up a R900 dongle from iStore at the same time I bought the MBA. It has 3x USB type A, 1x USB type-C, HDMI, a 3.5mm audio jack (that doesn't seem to work) and an SD+microSD card reader. The HDMI port has worked perfectly fine. I just plug my speakers into the main 3.5mm jack on the device, and my DAC into one of the old school USB ports, and I've got a desktop. I'm using wireless Apple input devices.

I haven't bothered with an Ethernet cable, as the 5GHz Wi-Fi is as fast as my PC which is wired up. There are presumably larger dongles with a network jack though.
 
WAslayer said:
Pro, 13", first one released with the touch bar..
Click to expand...
You will need 2 x usb type C adapters as the bare minimum, like this: https://www.takealot.com/usb-3-1-us...ital-av-usb-charger-adapter-supe/PLID55053344

I initially tried a combination of one of the above and one of these: https://www.istore.co.za/hyperdrive...Gs45K8TKdND5xLtA0cRudYS-t5ImzCEBoC578QAvD_BwE but it does not work.

To be honest its not a great solution. Messy and sometimes the Macbook struggles to detect the displays. Also looking for an alternative.
 
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