CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

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20 Sep 2006
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I've been after the TS4 for a while. I've been running the TS3+ for about 5 years with no issues but it was lacking 2.5 GbE, my USB-C Time Machine NVMe drive wouldn't recognise via the dock, and I had to use the Mac HDMI port to my AW3423DW to get anything over 60 Hz. I'd been putting off getting one due to the near £400 price, but I noticed last night it was available via Apple for £299 so ordered one.

www.apple.com

CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock

The CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Pro Dock will connect to your Mac’s Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 port to provide 18 ports of connectivity via a single Thunderbolt cable. Buy online now at apple.com.
www.apple.com

Just plugged it in, full 2.5 Gbps to my NAS, my TM drive is recognised off the back of it, my Dell 4k still runs at 4k/60 as it should, but now my Alienware runs at 100 Hz which I think is the max using DP to HDMI adapters. Very happy, only have a single cable from my Mac now and everything I need runs from the dock. Still pretty expensive I admit, but it's used daily.

This is all on my M1 MacBook Pro.
 
Interesting. I'm running a Dell WD19TBS on my MBP M1 Pro, but it's a bit wobbly. I updated the firmware on it, and the AW3423DW I'm running it on and it does 144hz but I think my KVM is now the weak link.

When you say "over 60hz" do you mean you didn't see any other option, or there are other options but the screen flickers or works for a bit then drops out? What DP cables are you running out of interest?
 
I think 60 was the max on the TS3+. I'm using some random Pluggable DP to HDMI adaptor to go into the monitor. I can't use direct DP as my gaming PC is connected to the monitor via DP, and I don't really want to use a KVM.
 
Ah, gotcha. Yeah it's 100hz max on HDMI looking at the specs. Wise man not using a KVM, they are convenient when they work...

I'm tempted to get a Level1Techs KVM to get around the DP limitation on the AW. Just about the only KVM I can see that doesn't suck.
 
I rather like that - I've got every port in the back of my Studio in use already! I wouldn't need the extra display capability but all those extra sockets are very appealing.
 
Use a few of the TS4's in the office and they're great albeit expensive as you say, although £300 is a decent discount for one.
The TS3 was always a solid dock though and still can be had for £60-100 off eBay (for those on a budget/don't need T4).

randal said:
Yeah it's 100hz max on HDMI looking at the specs.
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You can achieve 4K@120Hz using the Cable Matters HDMI adapter (you'll need to update the firmware using Windows first though) and there's talk (on various Apple forums) of 4K@240Hz HDMI adapters but i can't say i've seen one that supposedly works with Mac's.
Realistically it's DP for higher refresh rates out of Mac's though.
 
ChrisD. said:
Thing is, it doesn't look like it's discounted, it's as if Apple are selling it at that price and that's the UK price.
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It's odd as Amazon is still doing it for £400 and even Caldigit themselves have currently got it 'discounted' to £380.
Either way, £300 is well worth it for a TS4.

ChrisD. said:
Got a link to the specific adaptor? Do they do a DP to HDMI cable?
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The USBC to HDMI CM Adaptor - https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1368-122-48gbps-usb-c-adapter-supporting-8k-video.aspx
Ideally you want the newer VMM7100 adaptor but there's a whole MR thread on this - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ith-apple-silicon-m1-m4-now-possible.2381664/

Cable Matters do do a few DP to HDMI adaptors/cables but i believe they're all limited to 4K 60/120Hz. StarTech does a cable that supposedly supports 4K@144Hz but never tried it.

Edit - StarTech cable, https://www.startech.com/en-us/display-video-adapters/133displayporthdmi21
 
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I did look at one of these but the huge thread on it and all the bugs and reliability on mac rumors put me right off. I need to read again and see if they fixed the issues because that's a good price. Maybe a new one is coming.
 
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I bought the elements hub and ended up returning it. It was running so bloody hot on the one I had and the slow down on my drives wasn't worth it. I might give the bigger brother a try as a few of you are running them fine.
 
dannyjo22 said:
I bought the elements hub and ended up returning it. It was running so bloody hot on the one I had and the slow down on my drives wasn't worth it. I might give the bigger brother a try as a few of you are running them fine.
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Admittedly, I’ve kept anything like drives straight off the big daddy… would say baby warms a little, but I’ve not had it to the point it’s warmed the room up.
 
whiskycycle said:
Admittedly, I’ve kept anything like drives straight off the big daddy… would say baby warms a little, but I’ve not had it to the point it’s warmed the room up.
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What sort of drop off do you get on the Pro dock? I use Sandisc extreme SSD's the 1050mbs ones as I didn't want all the enclosure faff messing up a clean look and I have no issues with using Lightroom from the drives. I get 900mbs transfer speeds but wouldn't want to lose too much of that or I would have to look at faster drives and enclosures. The elements hub almost halved it.
 
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