Originally Posted By: mlord
Having now read a lot more on these topics, I like the idea of the ThunderBolt-3 ports which use a USB-C type connector.

Agreed. It's nice to see it include the power capacity to charge laptops. Thunderbolt 1-2 had a 10W limit, and was meant to power devices downstream. The jump to TB3 over USB-C makes it possible for one cable docking solutions.

Originally Posted By: mlord
(2) The hub could instead use PCIe protocols, again with or without a DisplayPort overlay. This increases total cable bandwidth up to 40gb/sec for all attached devices. In order to provide one or more USB ports, a PCIe USB host adapter chip (XHCI for USB3) would be needed inside the "hub". Other PCIe host adapters could also be incorporated, giving additional "native" SATA/eSATA for example using an AHCI chip. And/or even some physical desktop machine style PCIe or PCI slots.

This is the option I like the most even with the additional cost. The Razer core linked earlier has my interest as a way to drive a VR headset from a notebook due to the PCIe slot. And the prior TB1 monitor from Apple worked in this way. The display has it's own USB 2 root hub and controller, along with a firewire controller, and a gigabit NIC. Off the monitor USB bus is a sound device for the built in mic and speakers, along with a webcam. It's been a nice solution for my laptops since 2011 and I'm glad to see it hitting more widespread adoption with TB3. (Was hit with a bit of nostalgia seeing the old LightPeak thread back then.)


Originally Posted By: Dignan
That TB15 would be perfect if they could just get it to work!

Back when TB1 was rolling out on the Apple side and a few PCs, there was a few months of various firmware and driver updates to stabilize the new tech. TB3 is likely going through similar as more vendors come online and also sorting out the details of running over a new connector. Out of the box, an early adopter friend of mine had to get through a number of updates for the Razer Core before it worked. Things will likely stabilize for most vendors and devices by the end of the year or sooner.