Hello, I commented earlier saying I'm still experimenting with a very similiar setup. What I've found is that scaling works best when I have the laptop closed on my desk stand. Weird you're having scaling issues with the laptop closed, are you sure you set it to second display only? I turn the laptop on and immediately shut the lid so it goes directly to the second monitor upon windows login. Another option is to just sign out when the computer logs in, that resets all the scaling issues. My final option is to set "preferred monitor" or "primary monitor" in BIOS to be something off the dock.
Also, I bought this 40Gbps 6ft cable (I got the 3ft also) and it's been working excellent. Amazon Link
Here is the one that I’m using with my Razer Core:
I see that it’s available in the UK store as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H5QF2TK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JeojFbP823JHM.
Cable Matters Active TB3 2M/6.6ft 100W.
It's very well made, coils nicely for transportation - USB ends snap in nice and solid. Also allowed me to put my eGPU enclosure elsewhere saving desktop space.
Its a bit pricey but most long tb3 cables are. There is also active and passive. If you get a cheaper cable they support less bandwidth, 20gbps vs 40gbps and less wattage.
>Do any of the multi port docks have a long enough cable to do this or would I be stuck buying a male/female usb c cable to extend it?
Determine if you need a thunderbolt cable, or just a USB C cable. It seems like you can extend usb-c, but not thunderbolt.
The longest regular thunderbolt 3 cable you can get is 6.6 feet. Someone may make an optical one, but its going to be extremely expensive and not carry power, only data.
>Would that affect speeds/quality?
Generally longer cables are worse for speed/quality and power delivery.
A 6 foot thunderbolt 3 cable that also charges my laptop. For about 6 moths I set my laptop on top of my eGPU because the cable the came with the razer core was so short. Super inconvenient. Here is the one I got: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Thunderbolt-Supporting-Compatible/dp/B01H5QF2TK/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=12Z4VSOSK3I53&keywords=thunderbolt+3+cable+6ft&qid=1550897148&s=gateway&sprefix=thunderbolt+3+cable+&sr=8-5
Edit: there are cheaper ones but i don’t believe they charge the laptop
To clarify, the Extra is just the cable. https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Thunderbolt-Supporting-compatible/dp/B01H5QF2TK This cable :)
I have never even tried to charge my laptop with the TB3 ports. So I'm completely fine not using that feature, I just thought it would be a nice to have box to check.
I had been eyeing this one but do not own it yet, will mark this as somewhere to come back to afterward and enter into the google sheet. This had been a huge concern to me, been surprised at how hard it is to find real world testing data for these cables.
Meanwhile others have the same shit for 60 bucks lol
Just trying to defend crazy pricing.
I use one of these cable matters TB3 cables: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Thunderbolt-Supporting-Compatible/dp/B01H5QF2TK
With this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XMNGVVD
Everything works great in macOS. I had stuttering with USB devices for a bit, but that went away and hasn’t come back and I don’t know exactly what fixed it. Seemed like more issues at lower refresh rate on the monitor, which doesn’t make sense at all.
Even cable matters has an offering: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H5QF2TK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZDfiFb4N9VS53
Tb3 cables at full speed 2m is not impressive or new, nor worth more than $70. The other features apple touts are useless to mention.
> As an electrical engineer, I can attest everything in the link is utter garbage and it certainly has nothing to with the price,
Lol. So as an electrical engineer, please tell us how you would design a 2 meter cable to maintain signal integrity while transmitting 40gbps bidirectionally and 5 amps unidirectional. Remeber, this is an active cable with ICs in the connectors on both ends. Then, please tell us how you would mass-produce the cable so that all of them meet spec. Please tell us how many engineering hours it would take to design, test, and certify the cable, and then design, test, and certify the manufacturing process. Please don't forget all of the design, testing, and manufacturing engineering required for the mechanical aspects of the cable as well.
> which was set by an executive who knows its consumers will purchase it simply because it'll have the Apple logo on it.
This cable literally is not marketed to consumers, it's marketed to professionals. (Also if I'm being pedantic which I always am, this cable doesn't have an Apple logo on it.)
>Thunderbird isn't widely used outside Apple,
Well, every professional Dell, HP, and Lenovo laptop would like a word with you, because these manufacturers use Thunderbolt 3 to connect their laptops to external docks. This includes the Dell workstation I'm currently using. Not going to get into the fact that TB is becoming widely adopted for high performance peripheral devices like RAID arrays, etc.
> and though Intel dropped the licensing fee, still competes with the more popular USB format, even if it's less performing than Thunderbolt.
USB literally does not compete with Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt includes USB as part of its protocol, but is specifically designed for higher performance devices.
> Speed isn't a deciding factor with most consumers because they're not caring much at all between shifting data between devices,
Well speed matters to plenty of consumers. But more importantly, Thunderbolt is intended for professionals, to whom transfer rates do matter. (And to whom this cable is marketed.)
> and powering a device can only go so fast to limit heat, which damages electronics.
what.
> Instead, people will find any means to justify the purchase despite the internal voice telling them it's a ridiculous price to pay.
Yeah, the cable is marked up over similar products. But even cheap (unreliable) TB3 cables start at $65. . (Note that this cable doesn't support 5 amps/100 watts of power delivery). But these cables connect a $2000 computer to a $4000 RAID array. Professionals are happy to spend $120 over $60 if it means the cable is built by a quality manufacturer and comes with a 1 year warranty.
> Just as some did to justify the purchase of a $1000 monitor stand.
Very, very few people are actually buying the $1000 monitor stand.
tl;dr, don't flex your "As an electrical engineer" and then be completely wrong with everything you say. You're making the rest of us look bad.
Most of the negatives I found were people that didn't understand their cable or are setting things up incorrectly.
I currently have the cablematters on my TS3+ which is:
Plugged into the same controller (right side) of my MBP 16" that is carrying my 5700xt via Akitio node driving a 3440x1440 and a 4k scaled display.
The important thing to remember is that it is an active TB3 cable and MUST always have a thunderbolt device at each end.
For the failures - most of those reviews are really old (Year+) and Cablematters seems to actively look to get any problems (usb-c port loose or dead cable) taken care of on amazon.
fwiw: i have two of these specific cables.
When I look at reviews, for QA issues I prioritize brand/can i get this fixed if it fails and this one seems to hold up. Not that others don't as well. I would expect monoprice to hold up as well. This was the cheapest one I could find for the length.
looks like razer themselves sell a 2 meter version https://www.razerzone.com/gb-en/Accessories/Thunderbolt-3-Active-Cable-for-Razer-Core/p/RC21-01270101-R3M1, or failing that, amazon https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Thunderbolt-Supporting-Compatible/dp/B01H5QF2TK
That's just plain wrong. You can't do >60W and > ~0.5m with a passive cable. That's part of the spec. Here's another one 100W, 2m cable that works well and is active: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H5QF2TK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You're right about it being only a thunderbolt 3 cable, though. It doesn't support usb-c things alt display mode or usb 3 speeds. But, if you're buying a $60 thunderbolt cable, why do you need it to do usb-c things? Just buy a cheaper usb-c cable.
Source: Common sense and a basic education. It’s how economics works. You make something and sell it for more than the cost of making it. Unless Apple is selling these things at a loss, it literally costs them a fraction of what they’re selling it for. But you want a source? Here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H5QF2TK/
Cable Matters, a third party, is selling the same product for half the price through Amazon, presumably at enough of a profit for ALL THREE companies to get a slice. This means that $135 price tag OP referenced is at least 50% profit.
For $65 I own one of these and it works great https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Thunderbolt-Supporting-Compatible/dp/B01H5QF2TK