“Apple’s decision to move to Thunderbolt 3/USB-C in its new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models generated some heat but is also fostering a boom in MacBook Pro hubs,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld. “These hubs are designed to add support for earlier flavors of USB, Lightning, HDMI and other interconnect standards.”
“Elgato’s newly announced Thunderbolt 3 Dock provides you with three USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt USB-C ports, 1 DisplayPort (1.2), and both headphone and microphone jacks,” Evans writes. “The intention is that you leave the powered dock on your desk where it connects all your peripherals, including displays.”
“Introduced at CES 2017, the [OWC] DEC is attracting lots of attention,” Evans writes. “This is because while it makes your svelte new MBP as thick as the 2012 model, it also adds USB-A and Gigabit Ethernet ports, an SD card slot and 4TB of storage to your Mac. The product is designed to slot to the underside of your Mac and is expected to ship in Spring 2017, price to be announced.”
“‘We’re absolutely more sure than ever that we’ve done the right thing,’ Apple’s VP marketing, Phil Schiller said when discussing the move to USB-C,” Evans writes. “The rash of new peripherals suggests that third party Mac accessories vendors agree. They really want to hook you up.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, moving to all-Thunderbolt 3 / USB=C on the MacBook Pro was the right decision. They’re future-proofed.
