Macbook Air dock?

[deadherring]

Hi,

I have an early 2015 Macbook Air 13". I use it in my home office and have a widescreen monitor connected via thunderbolt, a second 25" monitor connected via usb to hdmi, ethernet network via usb, power cable, and external speakers connected via the headphone jack.

I am often mobile with my laptop, taking it to a coffee shop to work in the afternoon, other parts of the house etc. This means that just about every day I have to disconnect and reconnect 5 cables from my laptop.

I'm wondering why Apple doesn't make a dock for these computers? They are making more and more inroads into the enterprise and many that use laptops also use external monitors at their desk etc, especially with the direction they are moving with less and less ports on the laptop. People nowadays move around to meetings back to their desk etc. They could make an amazing dock--with a magnetic connection that slides right in easily.

Either way, I know Henge makes a vertical dock for the Macbook air: https://www.hengedocks.com/pages/vertical-macbook-air
but I want to be able to use the macbook screen when its at my desk, and one of my colleagues at my old company had one and didn't like it. They are working on a horizontal model:
https://www.hengedocks.com/products/horizontal-macbook-air

but have no release timeline. Anyone know of any other options for the dilemma I describe above. I'm pretty mobile so looking for a solution that will make moving around a little easier.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[pkcable]

Well THIS is out now...

OWC's upcoming Thunderbolt 2 Dock puts all other docks to shame | iMore

Here's another option....

Elgato Thunderbolt Dock plugs everything into your Mac with one wire | iMore

 

[deadherring]

Ahhhh. Thanks. I've come over from the Windows world where docks for companies like Dell were standard. It looks like in the Mac world a Thunderbolt dock is how cable consolidation is handled?

Is there any reason why my multi-monitor set up wouldn't work with a thunderbolt dock?

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[pkcable]

Ahhhh. Thanks. I've come over from the Windows world where docks for companies like Dell were standard. It looks like in the Mac world a Thunderbolt dock is how cable consolidation is handled?

Is there any reason why my multi-monitor set up wouldn't work with a thunderbolt dock?

Thanks,

Nathan

Multi monitor is one of the primary reason you would get a dock. Yes the Mac will support it.

 

[deadherring]

Thanks for replying. According to the Amazon description the only way it will support 2 monitors is if one of the monitors is thunderbolt and one is hdmi (see bolded below)


Amazon.com: Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock with Thunderbolt Cable: Computers & Accessories


Connect everything to your MacBook or Ultrabook at once. Two Thunderbolt 2 ports, to daisy chain up to 4 more Thunderbolt devices
Built-in HDMI port: directly connect one display with up to 4K resolution; dual displays only supported when using a native Thunderbolt display and HDMI connector. Built-in Gigabit Ethernet: enjoy increased network performance
Three USB 3.0 ports: high-power device support for iPad, SuperDrive and more. Stand-alone USB charging: keep charging when your computer is not connected. Separate microphone input and amplified audio output
Included software: conveniently eject all storage devices at once.
NOTE : If you have a Thunderbolt monitor, you can connect a second display to the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock using the HDMI connector.

I just called elgato and they confirmed that is the case. My setup is an LG widescreen via hdmi-->thunderbolt and the second monitor is hmi-->usb. So I would have to connect the 2nd monitor to my laptop via usb which means i wouldn't be saving any ports when using this thing.

Do you know of any other options that will work with my setup?

Thanks.

 

[pkcable]

Looks like the OWC has the same issue, one of the monitors has to be thunderbolt. I wonder if the Henge has the same limitation?

 

[deadherring]

I emailed Henge about when they plan to release the macbook air dock and they said they are focusing on the pro right now, it sounds like the air is moe vaporware than anything else.

One thing I discovered over the weekend, though, is that someone in another forum pointed out that the 2nd monitor is not driven by the computer video card, it is driven by the adapter itself (http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUimUvbUpU2744211)

This should mean that the limitation with one monitor may not come into play because the adapter is driving the video not the computer. That made sense to me, I order the elgato, should be here next week, hopefully it all works out.

I wish there was a more elegant solution to all this. I feel like this has to be a growing issue for users out there especially as apple tries to make inroads into the enterprise. You should be able to drop the macbook into a dock, plug no cables at all in, pick it up and go.

Thanks,

Nathan