Are Dell/HP/Lenovo etc. thunderbolt docks ONLY compatible with their laptops or will it work with any thunderbolt laptop?

[Mnky313]

these docks are really cheap on eBay, I googled around and most of the questions are people asking if it worked for older USB ports.

The dell documentation doesn't really say much about it either.

theoretically it's just thunderbolt 3 so I guess there wouldn't be any real reason it wouldn't work....
 

[Sarra]

It should work with any Thunderbolt 3 USB equipped laptop.

 

It probably would 'work' with a non-Thunderbolt 3 USB port, but it will be so slow (for video output), that it would be useless. Or nearly useless.

 

The downside is that it doesn't have the power adapter, so it might not work in the first place.

 

The sticker on the bottom shows 'Input 19.5 volts DC 6.7 AMPS/9.23 AMPS/12.3 AMPS', so... You would need a 240watt brick with 19.5V output.

 

I found one by goggling Dell TB16. They cost around $65, from the link I clickied.

 

You might be able to find the power brick cheaper elsewhere... It's a huge brick. It's larger than a Dell Optiplex PSU, 240w is a lot of power.

 

My take: This thing is a waste of money, unless you actually need the DP or HDMI ports, since a simple USB hub and USB to ethernet adapter can replicate the rest of the ports on the device.

[Mnky313]

1 minute ago, Sarra said:

The sticker on the bottom shows 'Input 19.5 volts DC 6.7 AMPS/9.23 AMPS/12.3 AMPS', so... You would need a 240watt brick with 19.5V output.

 

I found one by goggling Dell TB16. They cost around $65, from the link I clickied.

 

You might be able to find the power brick cheaper elsewhere... It's a huge brick. It's larger than a Dell Optiplex PSU, 240w is a lot of power.

I had an old Precision, I actually have 2 of those Dell 240W already

1 minute ago, Sarra said:

My take: This thing is a waste of money, unless you actually need the DP or HDMI ports, since a simple USB hub and USB to ethernet adapter can replicate the rest of the ports on the device.

I was trying to find a dock that can do 3 displays (either 2 DP or 1 DP & 2 HDMI (I have a DP to 2x HDMI adapter)), at least 1 USB 3.0 (I have a USB 3.0 hub), ethernet & audio because that would reduce the cables I have connected to the laptop from 8 to 3 (only 2x Power & Thunderbolt to the dock).

[Sarra]

1 minute ago, Mnky313 said:

I was trying to find a dock that can do 3 displays (either 2 DP or 1 DP & 2 HDMI (I have a DP to 2x HDMI adapter)), at least 1 USB 3.0 (I have a USB 3.0 hub), ethernet & audio because that would reduce the cables I have connected to the laptop from 8 to 3 (only 2x Power & Thunderbolt to the dock).

I have very, very little experience using Thunderbolt 3 for video output, so I do not know how that experience will be for you.

 

However, since you are looking for the video output, and you already have a boat anchor power brick that would work with it, it should be fine. For $25 or so, pull the trigger.

[Mnky313]

Just now, Sarra said:

I have very, very little experience using Thunderbolt 3 for video output, so I do not know how that experience will be for you.

 

However, since you are looking for the video output, and you already have a boat anchor power brick that would work with it, it should be fine. For $25 or so, pull the trigger.

Yeah, I have 0 experience with Thunderbolt, this is my first machine with it.

If you think that dell brick is big the laptop has 2 even larger bricks XD I don't really care. (especially for the dock as it won't really move from the desk)

I'll probably get one and see if it works (but I'm gonna find one with returns in case it doesn't work).

[ministrsinister]

1 hour ago, Mnky313 said:

these docks are really cheap on eBay, I googled around and most of the questions are people asking if it worked for older USB ports.

The dell documentation doesn't really say much about it either.

theoretically it's just thunderbolt 3 so I guess there wouldn't be any real reason it wouldn't work....
 

Hey man, beware of the Dell TB15/16s, they are notorious for hardware problems. 

 

If you can find the newer TB19s, those are honestly the way to go. There used to be a Thunderbolt controller application from Intel, but a lot of Dell/HP laptops have Thunderbolt support built into the BIOS these days. 

[ministrsinister]

42 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

Yeah, I have 0 experience with Thunderbolt, this is my first machine with it.

If you think that dell brick is big the laptop has 2 even larger bricks XD I don't really care. (especially for the dock as it won't really move from the desk)

I'll probably get one and see if it works (but I'm gonna find one with returns in case it doesn't work).

WHAT A CHUNKER 

[Mnky313]

13 hours ago, ministrsinister said:

Hey man, beware of the Dell TB15/16s, they are notorious for hardware problems. 

 

If you can find the newer TB19s, those are honestly the way to go. There used to be a Thunderbolt controller application from Intel, but a lot of Dell/HP laptops have Thunderbolt support built into the BIOS these days. 

Yeah, problem is the TB16s are ~$25-$30 and the cheapest wd19 (I can't find anything called TB19) one I could find is $110 so.... I'll probably end up just getting a TB16 and hopefully it works well enough.

 

I have this Thunderbolt Control Center Application, I don't think I've installed the Intel application separately, maybe it installed with windows or drivers.

[ministrsinister]

35 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

Yeah, problem is the TB16s are ~$25-$30 and the cheapest wd19 (I can't find anything called TB19) one I could find is $110 so.... I'll probably end up just getting a TB16 and hopefully it works well enough.

 

I have this Thunderbolt Control Center Application, I don't think I've installed the Intel application separately, maybe it installed with windows or drivers.

Honestly, there's a reason why they are that cheap... no one wants them lol

 

The last one I had in my office just activated the kill-switch on a few of our Dell power bricks when I tried using it, so we recycled it recently along with a bunch of old Dell replicators. Might be worth the extra $70 or so to get the TB19 just to make sure you have something functional. At that price, you could probably buy one new as well and have it last years. 

 

Occasionally you do find a TB16 that works decently for a while, but I think its still risky IMHO