Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/01/this-adapter-adds-7-new-ports.html
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Well, honestly, since it uses 2 ports and passes those through, it only adds 5 ports. Having said that, I own one and like it a lot.
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Is that huge solid lever only connected via the tiny little USB-C connector on one end? Or is there some other support for it? It seems designed to break the first time a cable is yanked or something is dropped on it.
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It plugs into both TB3 (USB-C) ports on the side (works on either side). It is pretty solid, more stable than the ones that only plug into one port via a short cable. I carry my MBP with it plugged in most of the time, which is convenient.
In retrospect it’s a shame Apple didn’t stick one of those security slots on the side of the laptop. It could provide a solid mechanical connection for “docks” like this.
There are zillions of these on the market. Mine has an Ethernet port instead of an audio jack and connects via a built-in 3" cable to one USB-C port instead of sitting flush against two. I love it. When I’m home, it’s effectively a dock; plug in one thing and boom, it’s a desktop. When I travel I might just use the HDMI and Ethernet ports in the office, transfer files via SD or a USB thumb drive, etc. And the funny thing is, it’s cheaper than Apple’s own three-port adapter which only has power+HDMI+USB. FWIW the one I have is Letscom, but as I said there are many out there. Definitely a must-have accessory if you have a USB-C machine.
In a better world Apple would ship the laptop with one of these things bundled since it will obviously be necessary for a large percentage of the installed user base.
In an even better world they would just leave the damn ports on the laptop in the first place.
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Not only does this ad not say what type of “USB-C” or “USB 3.1” ports these are, neither does the linked site’s specifications section. Embarrassing.
And that my friends, is a picture of what design fail looks like. I honestly don’t know what happened to this company, but I haven’t seen this amount of fail from them since the mid-90s. Too bad really. As a customer of theirs since 1980 or so, it makes me very very sad.
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That would get in the way of their core dongle-selling business.
There’s kind of a neat retro feel to this huge, somewhat clunky addition to the laptop. I’m getting some kinda retro-computing vibe here.
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