Anybody using a dock with their M1 MacBook Pro (14" or 16")? Like it?

[anonymouse1]

Right now, I'm using an m1 MacMini for my desktop and a 2015 MBA for my laptop (moving around the house, travel). I'm thinking of selling them both and buying an M1 MBP to replace them.

To my mind, that suggests buying a Tbolt dock that I could easily plug and unplug, with all my peripherals plugged into the dock (backup, printer, scanner, two monitors). Then it's just one cable to unplug, and I can use the laptop pretty much like Im using my MBA.

Anybody doing something like this? Any recommendations for best practices or for a dock?

Thanks!

[Buzz]

Use a dock w/ M1 MBA here, can't imagine using it w/o a dock.

Our older MBP's have ample ports, but any new MBP would definitely get docked!
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[Will Collier]

The Mrs. has a dock for her MBA (and used it to earn an MBA). Works well.

[datbeme]

I'm using our sponsor's Thunderbolt Dock with my M2 MBP. It's been great, but I have been having a few issues I'm trying to troubleshoot. I'm not certain it's the dock, but it is suspect.*

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-dock

I had used OWC's TB2 dock for many years. Coincidentally, it died just as I was transitioning machines.

It's a long term investment, so I was willing to pay a premium and was considering all of OWC's options along with the Caldigit TS4. I almost bit the bullet and got the Caldigit because it is highly regarded and *slightly* more functional, but the OWC dock was half the price. I got it for the occasional sale price of $199 (right now it's $249 (less $20 directly from OWC). If I really need something different in a year or two, my wife or kids can surely use it.

*While I've been pleased with the dock, I've been experiencing some crashes and drive disconnects that could be the dock, could be Ventura, could be my UPS, a cable...or something else. I'm still trying to isolate it, but I can probably blame the dock on my ethernet connection disappearing frequently and then resuming when I plug and unplug the dock's TB4 cable. After doing some other testing, I'll probably be contacting OWC support in the near future.

[Zoidberg]

I went with an OWC Gemini (formerly known as Mercury Elite Pro Dual something or other) as it had the options I needed from a Thunderbolt Dock (primarily Thunderbolt connectivity, USB3, and Ethernet). It also has a DisplayPort connector and SD card reader if you need such things (I don't use the DisplayPort but I'm happy it has the SD card reader for occasional "forgot I had that" finds). The two internal bays are 16TB HDDs which are my master archives (very old/unused work files & etc.). One of the USB3 ports goes to a hub where I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap, OWC Optical, and external keyboard/trackball connected under my desk.

Nowadays I've expanded my setup to include a miniStack STX which sits between my MacBook Pro and the OWC Gemini. It has four Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as internal connectivity for both an NVMe stick and an SSD or HDD drive (which for me is a CCC clone (NVMe) and a Time Machine backup (2.5 SSD)). I also have an OWC Envoy Express with another CCC clone connected (thus tertiary backup). I have plans to add a swap-out Envoy Express in this spot.*

For the rare on-the-go moments, I just unplug the MagSafe and the Thunderbolt cable (and an audio plug; the only thing that Gemini is missing) and go.


* I have a lot of backup for many reasons (work, primarily). My naming scheme:

- Moe is the Time Machine Drive in the miniStack STX
- Larry is the CCC Clone inside the miniStack STX
- Curly is the OWC Envoy Express connected via TB4
- Shemp is the planned OWC Envoy Express which will swap out with Curly from time to time so I always have an off-site clone

It's overkill for most but works well for me.

[sekker]

I'm using a USB-C dock with DisplayLink, works with any M-series Mac for driving more than one monitor.

Depending on what you are adding, you might not need TB. The peripherals you list do not need more than USB.

[C(-)ris]

I have a number of the OWC Thunderbolt docks. My biggest issue is that they don't always reconnect both monitors when it is connected and the monitors don't always connect in the correct arrangement. Multiple docks, multiple machines, same issue. Otherwise they seem to work well.

[Buzz]

Zoidberg wrote:
......

For the rare on-the-go moments, I just unplug the MagSafe and the Thunderbolt cable (and an audio plug; the only thing that Gemini is missing) and go.

* I have a lot of backup for many reasons (work, primarily). My naming scheme:

- Moe is the Time Machine Drive in the miniStack STX
- Larry is the CCC Clone inside the miniStack STX
- Curly is the OWC Envoy Express connected via TB4
- Shemp is the planned OWC Envoy Express which will swap out with Curly from time to time so I always have an off-site clone

It's overkill for most but works well for me.

- Our "Moe" is paired w/ "Manny" and "Jack", aka The Pep Boys....
- In ancient times, "Huey", "Dewey", and "Louie" served for many of those early years.

- It's fun coming up w/ amusing storage drive names to keep computing interesting. I've used a lot more Disney along the way, and then there was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' period. And we can't forget the scientists, "Sagan", "Hawking", "deGrasse-Tyson" ('deG-T'), "Einstein", "Bill Nye", "The (d')Science Guy" ('daS-G'), etc.. The big space-tech/airline manufacturers, "Boeing", "Airbus", "Lockheed", "Rocketdyne", et al.. have also been used.

For the most part, I'm not a fan of parting w/ the storage drives, so most of the oldies, and their nifty names are still around (boxed up in drawers/cabinets), save a few that were nuked & repaved to be sold (read that, mostly donated) with various Mac systems as they aged out here.

Thanks for the blast from the past.
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