New Macbook and Thunderbolt connections

[andygo]

I'm considering retiring my 5 year old Imac and using a new macbook hooked up to a couple of monitors as a workstation with the advantage of going walkabout with the macbook as necessary.

I'm put off by the dearth of ports to connect peripherals to though.


I have a Samsung usb laser printer to connect as well as my time machine ext hdd, I also have other storage usb 3 HDDs to connect on occasion. At the moment they connect to my imac via a powered usb hub, all very convenient, especially when transferring downloaded content to my Ipad and iphone.

What's the best way to practically connect the accessories chaps?

[megaphone]

Isn't the Thunderbolt 3 port also a USB-C port?

[craigjm]

megaphone said:

Isn't the Thunderbolt 3 port also a USB-C port?

Yes

[hkp57]

I got one of these, works a treat

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NPPJWR9/ref...

But maybe if your wanting to run monitors the more expensive one might be better but this one also powers your macbook

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CVMV8VC/ref...

Edited by hkp57 on Monday 10th June 10:02

[andygo]

hkp57 said:

I got one of these, works a treat

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NPPJWR9/ref...

But maybe if your wanting to run monitors the more expensive one might be better but this one also powers your macbook

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CVMV8VC/ref...

Edited by hkp57 on Monday 10th June 10:02

I saw the second option yesterday thanks. Welcome to the world of Apple I thought, that's expensive!

[devnull]

Yes, Thunderbolt 3 docks really aren't cheap. They've always been around the 250-300 mark.

I use a variety of Macs and think pads all with TB3 and I put off getting a dock for the longest time, but now that I have one, they are pretty cool.

[Bikerjon]

Another option is to get a USB-C monitor which usually come with additional USB ports. Plug everything into the monitor then just one lead goes into the Macbook.

[andygo]

I guess the answers are here:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3136583/macbook-p...

[mikef]

andygo said:

I saw the second option yesterday thanks. Welcome to the world of Apple I thought, that's expensive!

I got one of these for around £40 https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-t10-usb.... Does power pass-thru, 4 USB-3 ports, Ethernet and HDMI and like their mechanical keyboards it’s real quality construction.