Plugable would like to introduce you to the TBT3-UDC3 Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station with 100W Charging. A compatible companion to most Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C laptops, the TBT3-UDC3 is designed to power your productivity potential. 

The TBT3-UDC3 solves two problems common with modern laptops: power (and lots of it) and connectivity. The power problem is solved with 100W Power Delivery (96W Certified), making it one of only a few options that can charge a powerhouse like the MacBook Pro 16” in a speedy 110 minutes. The TBT3-UDC3 complies with the USB-C Power Delivery standard to ensure the optimal charge for your laptop is negotiated. This means your battery stays charged no matter how taxing your workload and you don’t have to worry about overcharging. 

On connections, the TBT3-UDC3 offers a thoughtful array of ports. 40Gbps bandwidth lets you extend dual 4K 60Hz displays through 1x HDMI and 1x DisplayPort with Thunderbolt 3 systems.  USB-C systems can extend a single display at 4K 30Hz, or dual 1080p 60Hz displays. Users can also connect to two HDMI displays with the included active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. The TBT3-UDC3 also provides ports for peripherals. The two USB-C (10Gbps) ports let you transfer large files quickly, so even editing 4K video won’t slow things down. Three USB 3.0 ports mean your legacy peripherals won’t be left out. And a combination audio jack, Gigabit Ethernet connection, and 100W charging let you stream, listen, talk, and watch on a full battery. It’s worth noting that Apple M1 powered Macbooks will only support one 4K 60Hz display. Learn more about Apple M1 screen limitations and how to get around them. 

Using the Intel Titan Ridge chipset, this dock is built with tomorrow in mind. It’s compatible with most USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 laptops today and with USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 laptops of the future. Perfect for work-from-home or office environments utilizing both Windows and macOS.

The Plugable TBT3-UDC3 is available on Amazon, Newegg, and Walmart for $219 with a $20 launch coupon on Amazon.com.

All Plugable products are backed by a two-year limited parts and labor warranty as well as Seattle-based email customer service and technical support.

Questions on connections, or comments about anything else? Reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com, or comment below. We’re always glad to help. 

Plugable TBT3-UDC3 HDMI/DisplayPort Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Dock with 96W Host Charging

MSRP $304.99

Select Market

Apple’s new Mac Mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro 13″, the first Macs to feature the Apple-designed M1 CPU, are showing a lot of potential across the board in comparison to their Intel-based counterparts. But there is one thing that caught our eye: a reduction in the number of external displays you can connect. 

Per the specifications, the Mac Mini will natively support up to two external monitors (One via the HDMI port and a second via USB-C), while the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13″ only support one external display. Naturally, we wanted to see how accurate that was. 

Sure enough, out of the box, these new computers work as described: one external screen on the MacBook Pro and Air when connected to our Thunderbolt docking stations that support 2 displays on Intel-based Macs. But when have we ever been satisfied with what it says on the box? 

We found the trick for connecting multiple displays to your M1 powered Mac is a Plugable DisplayLink docking station. 

In our initial testing, we used the Plugable USB-C Triple Display Dock (UD-3900PDZ). On both of our computers, M1 powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, we successfully extended our video output to three external displays running at 1920×1080. 

We were able to repeat the results on the Plugable USB-C Triple 4K Display Dock (UD-ULTC4K) across DisplayPort and HDMI ports.

Note: These multi-display docks use a combination of USB-C Alternate Mode (native “Alt Mode” video output) and DisplayLink technology (requiring a driver to be installed). This combination of technologies serves as a workaround to the M1 platform only supporting a single external display via USB-C. For additional information about DisplayLink and macOS, please see our post here.

Questions on connections, or comments about anything else? Please let us know in the comments, we’d be happy to help.

On November 7, 2020, Apple officially announced the new M1 powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13-inch, and Mac Mini. These systems use the Apple-designed M1 CPU, meaning that for the first time in over a decade, you can buy a Mac with something other than an Intel processor.

Switching to a new chip with a new architecture can mean new performance possibilities. It can also mean new compatibility issues.

We wanted to know how our products would work with Apple’s new chip, so we picked up the new MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air and starting testing away. Thankfully our test results thus far have been overwhelmingly positive, and this is what we’ve found so far. We’ll update this list as we continue to test our products.

It’s important to note one big change: the M1-based Macs do not natively support dual displays over Thunderbolt, a big departure from previous Thunderbolt 3 Macs (but more on that topic soon).

Thunderbolt Devices

Thunderbolt 3 Docking Stations
Note: All M1 2020 MacBooks support a single external monitor when connected to Thunderbolt docking stations, even if that docking station has multiple video connectors. Intel-based Macs support between 2-4 displays over Thunderbolt.

• Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Display Dock with 96W Host Charging (TBT3-UDZ): Compatible – Single Display Only
• Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Display Docking Station (TBT3-UDC1): Compatible – Single Display Only
• Thunderbolt 3 Dock with Host Charging (TBT3-UDV): Compatible – Single Display Only

Thunderbolt 3 Storage

• Thunderbolt 3 512GB NVME Solid State Drive (TBT3-NVME512): Compatible
• Thunderbolt 3 1TB NVME Solid State Drive (TBT3-NVME1TB): Compatible
• Thunderbolt 3 2TB NVME Solid State Drive (TBT3-NVME2TB): Compatible

USB-C Docking Stations

Multi-Display USB-C Docking Stations with PD Charging
Note: These multi-display docks use a combination of USB-C Alternate Mode (native “Alt Mode” video output) and DisplayLink technology (requiring a driver to be installed). This combination of technologies serves as a workaround to the M1 platforms supporting a single external display. For additional information about DisplayLink and macOS, please see our post here.

• Triple Display Dock with 3x HDMI and 60W Charging – Horizontal (UD-3900PDZ): Compatible
• Triple Display Dock with 1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, and 60W Charging – Vertical (UD-ULTC4K): Compatible
• Triple Display Dock with 2x HDMI, 1x DVI/VGA, and 60W Charging – Vertical (UD-ULTCDL): Requires disconnect/reconnect when system rebooted

Single-Display USB-C Docking Stations with PD Charging

• USB-C Mini Docking Station with 85W Charging(UD-CAM): Compatible
• USB-C Docking Station with 60W Charging(UD-CA1A): Compatible

USB-C Hubs, Video Cables, and Dongles

USB-C Hubs with Pass-through Charging

• 7-in-1 Multi-function Hub with HDMI(USBC-7IN1): Compatible
• 3-in-1 AV Adapter with HDMI(USBC-MD103): Compatible

Single-Display USB-C Dongles and Cables

• USB-C to DisplayPort Cable (USBC-DP): Compatible
• USB-C to HDMI Cable (USBC-HDMI-CABLE): Compatible
• USB-C to VGA Cable (USBC-VGA-CABLE): Compatible
• USB-C to DisplayPort Travel Dongle with Flat Cable (USBC-TDP): Compatible
• USB-C to HDMI Travel Dongle with Flat Cable (USBC-THDMI): Compatible
• USB-C to VGA Travel Dongle with Flat Cable (USBC-DVI): Compatible
• USB-C to DVI Dongle (USBC-T): Compatible
• USB-C to HDMI 2.0 Dongle (USBC-HDMI): Compatible
• USB-C to VGA Dongle (USBC-VGA): Compatible

Please comment below to share any additional compatibility information or with questions — thanks!

Unfortunately, there continue to be performance issues with this driver and we still do not recommend these Beta drivers for most users. During testing of AX88179 devices with the Beta 2 driver compared to other Gigabit adapters and our own 2.5G Ethernet adapter, we were only able to observe roughly 130-200Mbps downloads and 200Mbps uploads on a Gigabit fiber connection. Other Ethernet adapters were able to get the expected ~750-950Mbps download/upload speeds on the same Gigabit connection.

**Update 1 – December 8, 2020
ASIX has provided a Beta DEXT driver that is not notarized and signed by Apple which requires various Terminal commands and disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP). We do not recommend these steps for most users as there are significant security implementations to disabling SIP and enabling Developer tools for system extensions that can result in system instability and kernel panics (hard system crashes) that may be unrecoverable or cause data loss. As always, we recommend full Time Machine backups before proceeding further. If you accept the potential risks inherent with Beta/development software, you can find instructions by clicking the button below.

Additionally, there are known issues with Network Transmit (TX packets/data) discovered by Plugable and escalated to ASIX. This can be observed while the adapter is under full load during speed testing during the upload process using online speed tests or tools like iperf. Details on how to reproduce this issue can be found in the instructions below.

Big Sur AX88179 BETA Driver 2 – 12/14/2020

Background
Last year, we wrote that older macOS drivers, known as System Extensions (KEXTs), would begin to be deprecated as of the macOS 10.15 Catalina release. This week, as macOS 11 Big Sur is released, KEXTs have officially been deprecated and are no longer functional.

Instead, Apple is now enforcing the requirement for devices that require third-party drivers to operate as DriverKit Extensions (DEXTs). This change affects many products across the consumer electronics industry, including Docking Stations, USB peripherals, Security/Anti-Virus software, and Networking adapters.

Luckily, most platform vendors and integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers have been prepared for this change and began working on their DEXT implementation after Apple released pertinent documentation at their WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) in June 2019.

Unfortunately, some vendors could not begin their full transition from KEXT to DEXT until this year. Not all pertinent DriverKit documentation was released at the 2019 event as expected, but, instead, was released at WWDC 2020 in June. Specifically, for Plugable and many other brands, this applies to ASIX-based USB Ethernet Adapters like our USB3-E1000, USBC-E1000, USB2-E1000, and USB2-E100, which we wrote about here for the release of macOS 10.15 Catalina:
https://plugable.com/2019/10/04/usb-ethernet-adapter-not-working-after-macos-catalina-10-15-update-we-can-help/

Current Status for ASIX-based Ethernet Adapters [Novemeber 13, 2020]
We began removing macOS support from our most popular wired network adapters (USB3-E1000 and USBC-E1000) in October 2019. We saw the continued potential for a poor or broken user experience with ASIX-based adapters on macOS and could not in good conscience market the adapters as fully compatible in the long-term as long as ASIX was unwilling to commit to continued development and support of their ICs on macOS.

We have continued to push ASIX for a DEXT beta driver to validate and test internally in the past year. Unfortunately, ASIX has been unable to deliver this solution as requested in anticipation of this significant macOS milestone. We expect a Beta driver from ASIX by the end of November for AX88179 products like the USB3-E1000 and USBC-E1000. Once the driver is validated, we will update this blog post and product driver pages with links to download the driver.

If a wired Ethernet connection is critical to your workflow, Plugable recommends not updating to macOS 11 Big Sur from macOS 10.15 Catalina.

At this time, Plugable is unable to provide a DEXT driver for the following products:
USB3-E1000 IC: AX88179
USBC-E1000 IC: AX88179
USB2-E1000 IC: AX88178 (ASIX has discontinued the IC in this product, and they have not committed to a compatible driver for macOS 11 Big Sur)
The USB2-E100 IC: AX88772 ASIX-based product continues to function, utilizing the in-box drivers in macOS.

We understand this news can be frustrating for our customers and is a situation we have been working to avoid for over one year. We will update this blog post as new information is available to us.

While we cannot promise a functional DEXT driver at any point in the future, if you would like to be notified of that news should it occur, please sign-up on the form below, and we will email everyone as soon as it is available.

FAQs

Are Ethernet Adapters from other brands affected by this OS update?
Yes, all brands of USB Ethernet Adapters that use ASIX chips and drivers are affected. This includes Amazon, Anker, Dell, Uni, UGREEN, Cable Matters, etc. Regardless of brand, if the adapter uses ASIX USB to Ethernet technology for a network connection, it will no longer function as expected after updating to macOS 11.

Has Apple permanently disabled ASIX Support?
Not that we know of, but ASIX is required to develop and release a DEXT that is notarized and approved through an Apple Developer certification process.

What is ASIX doing?
While the core issue is a change to low-level macOS processes that are out of ASIX’s hands, they have ultimately failed to deliver a compatible DEXT solution promptly for consumers.

We have continuously requested progress reports and Beta driver candidates for internal testing with the intention of a public release for macOS 11 Big Sur since June 2019. Still, we have not been provided with a viable solution for consumers as of November 13, 2020. We expect a viable and compatible driver by the end of the month.

ASIX has provided a temporary solution that requires end-users to disable macOS System Integrity Protection (SIP) to install their DEXT candidate, but this is not a friendly user-experience in addition to the risk to overall system security and protection from physical and digital threats. Thus, we will not be actively promoting this solution to our customers.

Suppose a customer requires continued usage of this adapter for a mission-critical scenario and would like to install this driver while simultaneously disabling SIP. In that case, a minimally-tested driver is available from ASIX here. The usage of this driver is not recommended by Plugable and is at your own risk.

Is there a way for users or organizations to request that Apple or ASIX fix the issue?
Apple’s change was delivered with plenty of notice and time for the development of compliant DEXT drivers, so there is nothing for Apple to “fix.”

ASIX provides multiple support channels, including direct contact and support forums here, but we would not recommend reaching out to them directly. We are in continual conversation with them and are pushing for a viable solution as soon as possible.

Is this a temporary or permanent situation?
We don’t know. We understand that the current situation will be extremely frustrating for our customers. We are taking every step we can with ASIX. We will update this blog post with updates as we have them.

Are there any other options to add a wired network connection to my macOS 11 system?
Yes! Wired Ethernet solutions utilizing common Realtek ICs are fully functional as they rely on drivers built into the OS and require no further installation from an end-user.

Our USBC-TE1000, USBC-E2500, and USB3-HUB3ME adapters are all based on Realtek ICs (RTL8153B or RTL8156) and are fully integrated, tested, and validated for macOS 11 Big Sur.

If you have any additional questions, please let us know in the comments below.

On Thursday, November 12th, 2020 Apple released the macOS 11 Big Sur operating system for supported Apple laptop and desktop systems. With this release we expect that many of our customers using a Mac in conjunction with our DisplayLink-based products (such as the UD-3900 and our other UD-series docking stations) will update to this new version.

Based on our internal testing, testing from DisplayLink, and user feedback, the newest DisplayLink drivers and Big Sur provide a positive user experience (though there are a couple of features like screen rotation and “clamshell mode” we hope to see enabled with future macOS and/or DisplayLink driver updates). We will continue to test and validate performance on Big Sur when we receive our new MacBooks based on the new “Apple Silicon” M1 CPU architecture in the coming weeks, and as always we deeply appreciate any user feedback as well.

As of this writing, there are two different versions of the macOS driver that have been released by DisplayLink (the separate company that makes the primary chip within our DisplayLink-based products, and who also develops the software driver).

A ‘legacy’ version which uses a kernel extension in order to provide its functionality, and a newer ‘DisplayLink Manager Graphics Connectivity’ App which utilizes a new architecture that does not rely on a kernel extension to provide its functionality:

DisplayLink Manager Graphics Connectivity App version 1.2.0 –> Link
(compatible with macOS Catalina 10.15 and macOS 11 Big Sur)

This is the recommended version, however please see the comparison table below for important information

Installation instructions –> Link

Legacy kernel extension driver version 5.2.5 –> Link
(compatible with macOS Mojave 10.14 and macOS Catalina 10.15)

The legacy version is only recommended for those users running macOS Mojave 10.14 and macOS Catalina 10.15 and who are not planning to upgrade to a newer version of macOS. Please see the comparison table below for important information about certain limitations

Installation instructions –> Link

Driver comparison

The choice of which driver to use is ultimately determined by one’s OS version and individual specific requirements, since each version offers different capabilities and operating system compatibility. We have provided a comparison table below that highlights their differences in an effort to help our customers make an informed decision.

macOS DisplayLink Driver Type Comparison Table

Summary

Plugable’s DisplayLink-based products work well for most users and workflows on Macs with 10.14 and newer, with some limitations and difference noted in the table above. There are two different versions of the macOS DisplayLink driver, each with different functionality and operating system version compatibility. We want to provide background and context to our customers using our DisplayLink-based products with the Mac with regard to the different driver versions available and their respective capabilities.

If you are using a Plugable branded DisplayLink-based product with macOS and are having problems getting things working, please keep the Plugable product connected to your system (even though not working as expected) and send the output of our diagnostic utility PlugDebug –> http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will do our best to try and help. Also, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!

Plugable is proud to introduce the latest and most anticipated addition to our line of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Dual Display Dock with 96W Host Charging, the TBT3-UDZ.

The TBT3-UDZ is our most versatile, powerful, and accessible docking station yet and offers unrivaled flexibility, with 14 ports for maximum connectivity. Its unique, exclusive design using the Intel Titan Ridge chipset allows users to connect up to two HDMI and DisplayPort port displays without the need for external adapters – one of the first Thunderbolt 3 docking stations to offer this flexibility of display types and industry maximum charging up to USB’s maximum charge rate of 100W (96W certified). The dock also includes a USB-C 10Gbps port, a USB-A 10Gbps port, 5 USB 3.0 5Gbps ports, SD/Micro SD ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and a headset audio port, making way for extreme flexibility and more connectivity options. The dock allows for both vertical and horizontal orientations, meaning users can arrange their desks in any way they choose. Our custom design offers the widest Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C PC and Mac compatibility with laptops of any dock on the market.

The TBT3-UDZ solves compatibility pain points that consumers have been dealing with for a long time now. These include the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C ports, HDMI versus DisplayPort, USB-C or USB-A peripheral ports, and different levels of charging wattage offered. These common confusions lead to consumers purchasing incompatible devices and even deterring consumers from purchasing at all. With the TBT3-UDZ’s inclusion of both HDMI and DisplayPort ports, the variety of USB ports, Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C compatibility, and the power to charge up to 100W, consumers no longer need to guess if the docking station they’re purchasing has enough power to charge their laptop or if they have an HDMI or DisplayPort monitor before making a purchase. The TBT3-UDZ eliminates confusion between these different types of technologies and relieves the consumer of being a computer accessories expert – we have done the work for you.

Using USB-C’s smart Power Delivery standard, the TBT3-UDZ charges any compatible laptop at the maximum supported rate. The theoretical maximum of USB-C Power Delivery is 100W. However, the practical maximum for IEC safety standards is 96W sustained charging (100W peak). With Apple now releasing laptops with 96W chargers, such as the new 16” MacBook Pro, the TBT3-UDZ is the best docking station to pair with these devices for unrivaled performance.

The TBT3-UDZ joins our existing family of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations (TBT3-UDV, TBT3-UDC1, TBT3-UD1-83, TBT3-UD1-85W), all designed to meet the varying needs and price points of today’s modern user, all of which are backed by our reputation for excellent support via our U.S. based customer support team. The Plugable TBT3-UDZ is available today in the United States and Canada on Amazon, Newegg, and Walmart for $299 with a $50 launch coupon on Amazon.com. Availability in the UK/EU, Australia, and Singapore will be open in the next few weeks due to COVID-related production and shipping delays. If you would like to sign-up to be notified of availability, please visit the product page here: https://plugable.com/products/tbt3-udz.

All Plugable products are backed by a two year limited parts and labor warranty as well as Seattle-based email customer service and technical support. If you have any additional questions, please comment below or reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Plugable TBT3-UDZ Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Dual Display Dock with 96W Host Charging

MSRP $349.99

Select Market

More details about the update are available here –> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/10/20/whats-new-in-the-windows-10-october-2020-update/ and Microsoft has more information on how to obtain it here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/10/20/how-to-get-the-windows-10-october-2020-update/

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Windows 10 May 2020 Update’ for Windows 10 on May 27th, 2020 (https://plugable.com/2020/05/28/windows-10-may-2020-update-with-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

As it pertains to Plugable’s USB video adapters and USB docking station’s based DisplayLink technology, our products should continue to ‘just work’ after the update has applied but as with any major update there is always the possibility for problems. If after the update having been applied things are not working as expected, the best practice is as follows:

1. Disconnect your USB video adapter or USB docking station (if using a docking station please also disconnect the power adapter) from your system and keep it disconnected until the last step.
2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
3. Download and run the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner from here
4. Reboot the system, even if not prompted
5. Download and install the latest DisplayLink driver from here
6. Reconnect your docking station (after reconnecting the power) or USB video adapter and your displays should become active

In summation, while in most cases things should ‘just work’ as with any major update to an operating system things may not go as expected. If any of our customers apply the update and the above instructions do not help, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com with the output from our PlugDebug utility –> https://plugable.com/support/plugdebug/ and we will be happy to assist.

Plugable is excited to introduce two unique and innovative display adapters to our USB graphics adapter family, the USBC-6950U and USBC-6950UE Dual 4K Display Adapters. Each adapter was designed to reduce connector confusion and maximize compatibility with support for virtually all modern Windows systems and monitors. Each adapter has the same wide-ranging compatibility with systems and monitors, while the USBC-6950UE also has a built-in gigabit Ethernet connection for workspaces without WiFi and those whose workflow benefits from wired network connectivity.

Easily connect two external monitors of virtually any resolution from 1080P to 4K to your Windows computer without worrying about having the USB port specifications on your laptop or types of video ports on your monitors. Our USBC-6590U and USBC-6950UE adapters are equipped with two DisplayPort and HDMI combination ports so you can choose which 2 connections to use depending on the available ports on your monitor.

Additionally, the adapters are designed to support your laptop, regardless of which type of USB ports it has. Whether you have Thunderbolt 3, USB-C, or USB 3.0 (“Type-A”) ports on your computer, these graphics adapters have you covered, with a native USB-C connector and an included USB-C to USB 3.0 Type-A adapter. This additional adapter is easily stored within a compartment on the underside of the USBC-6950U and USBC-6950UE housing so it is always with you when needed. The adapters’ cables can also be folded into the device, providing a lower profile on your desk while they’re not in use, and can be transported easily without the risk of the cable being tangled or damaged while on-the-go.

The adapters utilize the DisplayLink DL-6950 chipset which supports two external displays up to 4K 60Hz (3840×2160 @ 60Hz) resolutions on modern Windows systems. If you’re planning on running 4K displays connected to the adapter please check out our product pages (USBC-6950U & USBC-6950UE with Ethernet) for additional details about recommended system requirements.

The flexibility of these devices open doors that simply aren’t available from other standalone USB graphics adapters on the market. While these adapters are effective on their own, they can also be easily added to an existing docking station for expanded capabilities. By doing so, Windows users can expand their workspace with up to six 1920×1080 displays using 3 separate adapters, or even build their own quad or triple display setup by combining the device with a single display USB-C dock, promoting even more productivity and efficiency. However, we only recommend a maximum of two external monitors if they are 4K resolution. 

Both adapters are available today globally on Amazon, as well as Walmart, NewEgg, and eBay in the US. And as a special thank you for our blog readers we’re offering a limited time launch discount on Amazon; simply clip the coupon before checkout to apply (discount amount varies by region). If you have any additional questions, please comment below or reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Plugable USBC-6950U 4K DisplayPort and HDMI Dual Monitor Adapter for USB 3.0 and USB-C

MSRP $124.99

Select Market

Plugable USBC-6950UE 4K DisplayPort and HDMI Dual Monitor Adapter with Ethernet

MSRP $139.99

Select Market

Plugable is proud to introduce the latest addition to our line of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station with 85W Charging known as the TBT3-UD1-85W.

Incorporating changes based on feedback from our customers, the TBT3-UD1-85W docking station provides powerful expandability for users of Thunderbolt 3 Macs and Windows systems who want to take advantage of Thunderbolt’s bandwidth and 85W charging at an affordable price point.

The TBT3-UD1-85W will charge a compatible host system with up to 85W of power, provides the ability to connect a single external 4K 60Hz resolution monitor, provides three additional 5Gbps USB 3.0 ports (two USB-A and one USB-C), a wired Intel Gigabit Ethernet port, and separate 3.5mm analog audio input and output jacks.

The TBT3-UD1-85W connects to a compatible Thunderbolt 3 Apple or Windows system using the included 0.8 meter / 2.6 ft long 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable. The included cable is longer than what most other manufacturers included with their docking stations, so it provides greater flexibility when arranging things on your desk.

The TBT3-UD1-85W has a built-in DisplayPort video output for connecting a single DisplayPort display. Plugable includes a passive DisplayPort to HDMI adapter to allow for the connection of a HDMI display if necessary (up to 4K 30Hz), an additional accessory that other manufacturers require you to purchase separately.

The TBT3-UD1-85W dock provides a second ‘downstream’ Thunderbolt 3 port that can be used to connect additional Thunderbolt 3 devices or connect a second external display (when used with a compatible system) in conjunction with a separate purchase of a USB-C video cable or adapter like our USB-C to HDMI or our USB-C to HDMI cable.

The TBT3-UD1-85W’s three additional 5Gbps USB 3.0 ports allow for the connection of external USB peripherals, such as a keyboard or mouse, or external storage drives and mobile devices. The dock provides one USB-A port and one USB-C port on the front of the unit and one USB-A port on the back in order to provide physical flexibility when connecting external USB devices.

The TBT3-UD1-85W’s Intel-based Ethernet port provides high-performance wired network capability, while the two analog audio input and output jacks on the back allow you to connect stereo headphones or a microphone, ideal for video conferencing setups.

The dock’s space-saving horizontal orientation and audio port’s location on the back of the unit puts the focus on having most of the cables routed behind the device, which provides for a ‘clean’ desktop setup.

The TBT3-UD1-85W joins our existing family of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations (TBT3-UDV, TBT3-UDC1, TBT3-UD1-83), all designed to meet the varying needs and price points of today’s modern user, all of which are backed by our reputation for excellent support via our U.S. based customer support team. The TBT3-UD1-85W is available from today for 199$ From Amazon in the U.S, and for a limited time we are offering a coupon for an additional $10 off of the purchase price.

All Plugable products are backed by a 24-month limited parts and labor warranty as well as Seattle-based email customer service and technical support.

Today we are excited to announce our first USB-C hub! Our new USB-C 7-in-1 Hub is a sleek aluminum hub that provides 7 ports and features a single USB-C connection. Through years of product development and supporting thousands of customers, we’re proud to be launching a hub that shows our commitment to quality.

Our mission statement is “Better Products, Better Information, and Better Support,” and this ethos is baked into our hardware development process. During product development, we not only apply what we learn from direct customer feedback gathered by our US-based support team, but also leverage our technical roots as members of the standards body that creates USB specifications themselves (the USB-IF/).

Building on the latest USB specs and unmatched hardware testing and validation processes, we’ve developed a USB-C hub solution that actually delivers on its promises, with better compatibility and consistent, reliable functionality. Not only that, we’ve also implemented better safety features to protect your laptop and devices, with a design that reduces risk of over-drawing power while also offering aggressive over-current protection when using USB-C pass-through charging.

Our new USB-C hub includes 7 additional ports of connectivity to your USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 laptop via just one USB-C connection. Keep your favorite USB devices connected with three USB 3.0 ports, transfer files quickly to SD or microSD cards, extend a 4K monitor via the HDMI output, and keep your system charged with the USB-C power pass-through port.

Equipped with updated and latest chipsets on the market, our adapter has been tested and tweaked thoroughly to deliver a “it just works” user experience on compatible USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 laptops. No need to worry about overdrawing power, display flakiness, and other common issues that other USB-C hubs on the market experience.

As more of the world’s workforce is working from home, the peripherals we use to connect our devices become vastly more important, and we see this importance every day working with our customers. We’ve set out to release a portable, affordable, comprehensive solution that can be used to fit your unique setup.

The USBC-7IN1 is available today on Amazon, NewEgg, Walmart, and eBay. And as a special thank you to our blog subscribers, we’re offering a limited time $5 launch discount on Amazon.com, simply clip the coupon before purchase and it will be applied during check-out.

If you have any questions about our USBC-7IN1 please comment below or reach out to our team via email at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Plugable is excited to announce the launch of our newest USB-C docking station, the Plugable USB-C Triple HDMI Docking Station with 60W Charging. This docking station integrates DisplayLink USB Graphics Technology in combination with cutting-edge USB-C features to connect up to three external displays, six USB devices, network, audio, along with charging capability to compatible USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 Windows 10 systems — all through a single cable.

Our new UD-3900PDZ docking station builds upon the technologies first introduced with Plugable’s UD-ULTCDL Triple Display Docking Station, applying direct user feedback, and leveraging new advancements in USB-C technology. This docking station’s lay-flat design fits under a monitor or other tight spaces on the desktop, and provides two front facing USB 3.0 ports and a 3.5mm headset port (combined microphone/headphone, 4 conductor TRRS jack) for ease of access. Four rear-facing USB 3.0 ports provide connectivity to external hard drives, printers, scanners, or any USB 2.0 or 3.0 devices that you would normally leave connected to the computer. The docking station also provides a gigabit Ethernet port, three HDMI outputs, and is capable of providing up to 60W of USB Power Delivery to charge the connected computer.

This dock provides the ability to connect up to three HDMI displays in extended mode. One output is directly controlled by the computer’s internal graphics processor using the “DisplayPort Alternate Mode Over USB Type-C” specification (“Alt Mode” or “DP Alt Mode”), which is then converted internally to HDMI for maximum flexibility. This connection operates at full native performance and supports resolutions up to 4K UHD (3840×2160 at 30Hz refresh rate) and 1920×1080 monitors (“1080P”) at 60Hz. The second and third HDMI ports are controlled by the DisplayLink USB Graphics Technology and support independent displays at 1920×1080 resolution.

Please note that USB-C Power Delivery charging and “Alt Mode” technologies in this docking station rely on the computer supporting these features. Unfortunately some USB-C ports are “data only” and do not support these technologies. Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB-C ports typically do support these features, and your system manufacturer’s specifications may provide additional information. Sometimes even laptop manufacturers don’t do a great job of documenting these features, so please feel free to check out our product page for additional details and contact our support  team support@plugable.com with any questions and we’ll be happy to help with compatibility questions.

The UD-3900PDZ is available today in North America on Amazon, NewEgg, Walmart, and ebay. And as a special thank you to our blog subscribers, we’re offering a limited time $10 launch discount on Amazon.com, simply clip the coupon before purchase and it will be applied during check-out.

Plugable UD-3900PDZ USB-C Triple HDMI Display Docking Station with Charging Support Power Delivery

MSRP $209.99

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Should that occur, this quick tutorial will demonstrate how to access the ‘hidden’ resolution options for external displays within macOS that in some cases will help make the image more pleasing. If you would rather see a video demonstration, click on the video link below to see the process in action.

Step 1

From within the desktop of your Apple Mac system that has an external display connected to it, access the ‘System Preferences’ application (gear icon within the macOS Dock at the bottom of the screen) and then click on the ‘Displays’ option.

Step 2

When the Display Settings application appears, it will place separate application windows within each external display connected to the system. When this is done on a laptop system, the ‘primary’ application window will appear within the laptop’s built-in internal display. Secondary application windows will appear on each external display connected to the system.  

The ‘primary’ application window is shown in the example screenshot below. The ‘Resolution’ section has two options, ‘Default for display’ and ‘Scaled’.  The ‘Default’ option is as the name implies, the default resolution that Apple decides is appropriate for the laptop’s built-in internal display. The ‘Scaled’ option allows you to make choices that can make content within the display appear to be bigger or smaller as desired.

Step 3

If you wish to make changes to the external displays connected to the system, you can move the mouse pointer to the secondary Display Settings windows that opened within each of the external displays. The intent of having the windows open on all of the displays is to provide an obvious physical relationship between the secondary application windows and the display that is being changed.  However, a quick tip that can save you from having to move the mouse across all of the displays is to click on the ‘Gather Windows’ button at the bottom of the primary application window, as shown below.

Step 4

Once the application windows have been gathered together, select the secondary window that represents the external display that you wish to adjust.  The secondary application windows have the external displays’ names on the tops of the windows to help you identify which window represents which display.

Step 5

You will notice that you have similar options to what you saw when changing the settings for the laptop’s internal display, however when you click the ‘Scaled’ option you will see a list of resolution choices.  This list of choices may not provide an option that results in the image within the display appearing to your liking.  

Should that prove to be the case, a trick is to hold down the ‘Option’ key on your keyboard while clicking on the ‘Scaled’ option. This will show all of the possible resolution options available for the display, some of which may prove more pleasing to the eye when chosen.

In summary, when connecting external displays to an Apple Mac system the image within the display may not always appear as desired.  Should the default resolution options for the external displays not be to your liking, you can access all of the resolution options by holding down the ‘Option’ key while clicking on the ‘Scaled’ option within the ‘Display’ System Preferences application. 

We hope you find this information useful!  If you have any questions or need help using any of our Plugable products, please reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com or comment below and we will be happy to help.

As more of us are working remotely on laptops or have undertaken a hybrid home-and-office schedule, many of us are disconnecting and reconnecting to the devices and workspaces we use on a daily basis. And as our laptops have become thinner and lighter, they often have fewer available ports to connect their devices. In fact, many new laptops like Apple MacBooks and the Dell XPS series include only USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports, without the dedicated video and “standard” USB ports that used to be included. While USB-C is incredibly versatile, when it’s the only type of connector on your new laptop it can be difficult to easily connect peripherals that used to have dedicated ports, like HDMI monitors and USB 3.0 (“USB-A”) devices.

We’ve set out to solve these problems with the Plugable USB-C Multiport Adapter, the USBC-MD103 (an updated version of our popular USBC-MD101), which lets you connect an HDMI monitor, USB device, and your USB-C Power Delivery (“PD”) charger to a single USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 port on your laptop. This type of 3-in-1 multiport adapter has become an essential way to simply and affordably get your ports back and increase your ability to multitask.

The Plugable USB-C Multiport Adapter is a cost-effective, all-in-one solution that provides an HDMI port with support for monitors up to 4K 30Hz resolution, a USB 3.0 port that supports up to 5Gbps transfer rate, and up to 60W of pass-through charging from your USB-C power supply.

While offering similar baseline functionality as the USBC-MD101, the USBC-MD103 introduces updated internal chipsets supporting cutting edge features from the USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 specification like “Fast Role Swap” (to minimize disruption plugging or unplugging your pass-through charger), while also enhancing compatibility with a broader range of laptops with Thunderbolt 3 ports or USB-C Alternate Mode (“Alt Mode”) and USB-C PD ports. And better still, we’re able to bring you this updated technology at an even lower price.

The Plugable USBC-MD103 is available now on Amazon, Walmart, ebay, and other electronics distributors. As a special thank you to our blog subscribers we’re offering a limited time $5 coupon for customers on Amazon.com; simply clip the coupon prior to purchase to receive that 25% discount.

If you have any questions about our USBC-MD103 please comment below or reach out to our team via email at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Plugable UD-3900Z Docking Station

Plugable is pleased to announce the North American launch of our two newest USB docking stations, the Plugable Dual HDMI Display Docking Station (UD-3900Z) and the Plugable Dual 4K DisplayPort or HDMI Display Docking Station (UD-6950Z). Both docks use DisplayLink USB graphics technology for maximum compatibility and ease of installation on virtually any modern Windows system with Windows 10 Home or Pro.

The UD-3900Z is a close cousin to our best selling UD-3900 docking station, with a few changes based on feedback we have received from our customers over the years such as built-in support for dual HDMI displays without the need for external adapters. This dock works with virtually any modern Windows PC, and we’ve included USB-A (USB 3.0) and USB-C cables in order to provide maximum flexibility.

The UD-3900Z provides the ability to connect up to two 1920×1200 resolution (also known as 1080p, lower resolutions are also supported) HDMI displays via the dock’s two built-in HDMI video outputs. It also provides six additional USB ports (two USB 3.0 5Gbps ports on the front and four USB 2.0 ports on the back) as well as a wired Gigabit Ethernet connection and a combination 3.5mm audio jack for speakers, headphones, or a headset.

Plugable UD-6950Z Docking Station

The UD-6950Z is a close cousin to our UD-6950 docking station, again incorporating a few changes based on customer feedback such as support for both DisplayPort and HDMI displays for broader monitor compatibility. Whether your Windows system has USB 3.0 ports, USB-C, or Thunderbolt 3, we’ve got you covered with included USB-A (USB 3.0) and USB-C cables to provide maximum flexibility.

The UD-6950Z provides the ability to connect up to two 3840×2160 resolution displays (also known as 4K, lower resolutions are also supported) via the dock’s built-in DisplayPort and HDMI combination video outputs. The ‘combination’ video outputs allow you to connect any combination of two DisplayPort and HDMI displays providing flexibility in terms of display selection while minimizing the need for external video converters. If you’re planning on running 4K displays connected to the docking station, please check out our product page for details about recommended system requirements.

The UD-6950Z also provides six additional 3.0 5Gbps ports (two ports in the front and four ports on the back) as well as a wired Gigabit Ethernet connection and a combination audio jack for speakers, headphones, or a headset.

Both docking stations are available starting today on Amazon, Walmart, NewEgg, and eBay in the U.S. and Canada. As a special thank you to our blog readers, we’re offering a launch discount on your choice of these new docks on Amazon.com, just be sure to clip the coupon on Amazon before purchase.

If you have any additional questions, please comment below or reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

• Double the minimum video and data requirements of Thunderbolt 3
• Video: Support for two 4K displays or one 8K display
• Data: PCIe at 32 Gbps for storage speeds up to 3,000 MBps
• Support for docks with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports
• PC charging on at least one computer port (for laptops that consume 100W or less)
• Wake your computer from sleep by touching the keyboard or mouse when connected to a Thunderbolt dock
• Required direct memory access (DMA) protection (such as Intel VT-d and others) that helps prevent physical DMA attacks
• Availability of longer Thunderbolt cables (both passive and active)

Thunderbolt 4 provides a superset of USB and Thunderbolt functionality and standardizes important features, which is a huge compatibility benefit. Whether with coming USB4 devices, or using any prior generation of USB device — with a Thunderbolt 4 laptop, all USB devices can “just work.”

Much of this is due to Intel and Apple’s leadership of Thunderbolt 4, and Thunderbolt 4’s stricter testing and compatibility requirements. USB4 provides many exciting new technology features, some of which are optional in ways that devices may not always work together. Thunderbolt 4 builds on Thunderbolt 3 and USB4 to guarantee a common set of functionality. So, for example, if you’re looking for a laptop dock that provides two 4K 60Hz displays for gaming — a Thunderbolt 4 laptop will always be capable of driving both displays, where a USB-C or USB4 (and even many popular Windows Thunderbolt 3) laptops may only support one.

For comparison, on some Thunderbolt 3 PCs, certain Thunderbolt features are optional and can vary from model-to-model and even from port-to-port depending on design choices from your computer manufacturer — check out the compatibility tables on ourTBT3-UDV product page which reflect how complicated these optional feature implementations can make things. (Apple Thunderbolt 3 systems don’t have this varience; all Mac Thunderbolt 3 ports are full-featured. Hallelujah.)

Plugable Technologies is a leader in USB, Thunderbolt 3, and now USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 devices. Our breakthrough line of USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 products is launching in 2020 and 2021, and we’ll have product announcements soon along with additional technical details on our Thunderbolt 4 page here.

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below and we’ll be happy to help!

UPDATE 9/30/20: Covid19 continues to disrupt global supply chains and logistics, and we’ve encountered multiple delays that unfortunately have affected our intended launch schedule. In addition to continued international shipping delays for all goods, increased online shopping has caused massive delays with units checking in to Amazon and other distribution centers. (Products that used to be available within 5-7 days are now taking 2-4 weeks.) Factoring in these unpredictable delays as best we can, our anticipated launch window for North America is early November. The window for release in Europe is unclear, but we will update this post as we learn new information.

We’re of course disappointed by these delays, but also excited to be in the home stretch. Apologies for any frustrations, and thank you for your patience!

At CES 2020 we announced our flagship Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station, the TBT3-UDZ. This dock’s exclusive design allows users to connect up to 2 additional 4K displays using either HDMI or DP without the need of external adapters – the first Thunderbolt 3 docking station to offer this functionality.

The TBT3-UDZ is built upon the latest Intel Titan Ridge chipset, enabling the widest compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C laptops on the market. Its dual connectivity removes frustrations from having to pick a docking station for either type of laptop while delivering unrivaled performance.

After months of supply chain disruptions and finalizing product features we are excited to share some new updates!

Based on customer feedback, we’ve updated our design to include an extra USB-C 10Gbps port on the front of the dock for easy access. USB-C peripherals are more common now than ever before and we want to make sure that TBT3-UDZ allows you to connect all of your devices.

To ensure compliance with IEC power regulations, we’ve updated the dock to provide 96W to the host device. The small change to 96W will not negatively affect any laptop charging behavior and will allow customers to purchase the docking station worldwide. With Apple also releasing laptops with 96W chargers, such as the new 16” MacBook Pro, the TBT3-UDZ is the best docking station to pair with these devices for unrivaled performance.

The TBT3-UDZ has passed Thunderbolt 3 certification and is in its final stages before launch. We are expecting the dock to be available globally in September. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we navigate the effects of the pandemic, while also working to bring you a top of the line Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C dock.

For more information on the TBT3-UDZ and to sign up to be notified when units are available, please visit our product page here.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and we will be happy to help!

Today we’re unveiling a new line of 4 new flat-cable USB-C adapters, designed for flexibility and durability. With 4 different models spanning our most frequently requested connector types (HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and Ethernet), we have the right adapter for your USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 system. Each model features a flat printed circuit cable that adapts to the bends and twists of daily use. With extreme flexibility, the cable on each adapter is sturdy and less likely to break than traditional round cables. The lightweight, compact, and durable design makes these adapters a great fit for any desk or space, no matter how small, to keep you connected when it matters the most.

Whether you want to add a reliable Gigabit Ethernet connection or connect to another screen with a compatible Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C desktop or laptop, we’ve got the right adapter for the job. With drivers already built-in to all modern operating systems, these adapters provide a true plug-and-play experience that is perfect for systems with IT policies that prevent external driver installations. These new flat cable USB-C adapters provide high performance at a modest price to help you enhance your workspace with ease, and without clutter.

Please note the USB-C video adapters require your host system to support “DisplayPort over USB-C Alternate Mode” (“Alt Mode”), which provides a direct pipeline to your system’s graphics processor, for uncompromising performance without the need for additional drivers. All Thunderbolt 3 hosts support Alt Mode, as do many popular USB-C devices without Thunderbolt such as the Surface Book 3 and Surface Go, Dell XPS, HP Spectre, and even Samsung USB-C phones like the Galaxy S10 series.

USB-C to HDMI Adapter (USBC-THDMI)
Mirror or extend your desktop to an HDMI monitor, projector, or TV. Supports Ultra HD 4K video via HDMI 1.4 at resolutions up to 3840×2160 @ 30Hz, and 1080P @ 60Hz.

USB-C to DisplayPort Adapter (USBC-TDP)
Add a DisplayPort 1.2 port to connect to a monitor with fast, high-quality video via DisplayPort over USB Type-C Alternate Mode. Enjoy clear, crisp visuals with up to 4K @ 60Hz resolutions.

USB-C to VGA Adapter (USBC-TVGA)
Connect a VGA monitor, projector, or legacy TV to your USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 laptop with clear resolutions up to 1920×1200 at 60Hz.

USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (USBC-TE1000)
If your wireless network is slowing you down, switch to a fast, reliable Gigabit Ethernet connection that keeps up with your needs. With driver-less installation in modern versions of Windows, Chrome OS, and macOS, users can quickly get online securely.

Whether it’s multimedia editing, productivity, networking, or other tasks, Plugable has an adapter solution for you. We’ll keep you connected with these adapters that are built from the ground up using cutting edge materials for durability, convenience, and high performance. These adapters are available immediately for purchase at Amazon as well as other channels (links available directly below this post). As a limited-time thank you to Plugable fans, we’re offering a $2 discount per adapter on Amazon.com — simply clip the coupon on the Amazon listing to apply these savings.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and our US-based team of experts will be glad to help!

Plugable USBC-THDMI USB-C to HDMI Adapter

MSRP $19.99

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Plugable USBC-TDP USB-C to DisplayPort Adapter

MSRP $19.99

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Plugable USBC-TVGA USB-C to VGA Adapter

MSRP $19.99

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Plugable USBC-TE1000 USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $19.99

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More details about the update are available here –> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/05/27/whats-new-in-the-windows-10-may-2020-update/ and Microsoft has more information on how to obtain it here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/05/27/how-to-get-the-windows-10-may-2020-update/

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Windows 10 November 2019 Update’ for Windows 10 on November 12th, 2019 (https://plugable.com/2019/11/13/windows-10-november-2019-update-with-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

As it pertains to Plugable’s USB video adapters and USB docking station’s based DisplayLink technology, our products should continue to ‘just work’ after the update has applied but as with any major update there is always the possibility for problems. If after the update having been applied things are not working as expected, the best practice is as follows:

1. Disconnect your USB video adapter or USB docking station (if using a docking station please also disconnect the power adapter) from your system and keep it disconnected until the last step.
2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
3. Download and run the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner from here
4. Reboot the system, even if not prompted
5. Download and install the latest DisplayLink driver from here
6. Reconnect your docking station (after reconnecting the power) or USB video adapter and your displays should become active

In summation, while in most cases things should ‘just work’ as with any major update to an operating system things may not go as expected. If any of our customers apply the update and the above instructions do not help, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to assist.

We’re excited to launch a new powerhouse into our docking station lineup, the Plugable Thunderbolt and USB-C Docking Station (TBT3-UDC1). The Plugable TBT3-UDC1 dock is built upon the latest Intel Titan Ridge chipset, casting a wider net of compatibility with both Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C laptops that are on the market today, while still delivering powerful performance.

A Dock For Both Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C

Let’s face it—Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C compatibility can be confusing, especially when they share the same connector. With previous Thunderbolt 3 docking stations, they had to be used exclusively with computers that supported Thunderbolt 3. Now, with the Plugable TBT3-UDC1, you can simplify your environment without the need to worry about whether your laptop hosts support Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C. When connected to a Thunderbolt 3 system, you can leverage that massive 40Gbps bandwidth for up to 2 4K DisplayPort monitors, push heavy I/O to multiple 10Gbps USB devices, and charge your laptop up to 60W, all through a single included 80cm Thunderbolt 3 cable. And when connected to a compatible USB-C system that isn’t Thunderbolt-enabled, you can still setup a productivity powerhouse (with some reduced display and USB bandwidth capabilities).

That means this dock is perfect for those offices or households with multiples users and computers. Whether it be a MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3, or your newer Surface laptops with USB-C, this dock is designed with host flexibility, able to provide functionality* to both types of Windows or macOS hosts without the need for additional drivers or adapters. It even works with the newest iPad Pro models with USB-C, though please note ipadOS currently supports a single monitor.

Unlock and Expand Your Connectivity

With a single included 80cm Thunderbolt 3 cable connected to your Thunderbolt 3 host:

• Drive up to two 4K monitors at 60Hz via DisplayPort
• Charge your laptop battery with up to 60W of power
• Connect up to two USB-C peripherals at up to 10Gbps
• Connect up to three of your legacy USB peripherals (“USB-A”), with the front USB port supporting 10Gbps and BC 1.2 charging
• Stay wired with a fast, reliable gigabit Ethernet connection
• Keep your audio in check with a combined analog audio input and output jack for connecting stereo headphones and microphone

*USB-C systems without Thunderbolt will have reduced display and USB bandwidth functionality; see product page for additional specification details

The Plugable Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station is available both in Amazon US and Amazon Canada. For our US customers, we’re offering a limited time $20 off coupon to celebrate this launch. Don’t miss out by using the code TBT3UDC1 during checkout!

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and we will be glad to help!

Plugable TBT3-UDC1 Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Display Docking Station

MSRP $279.99

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Ashlee, our E-commerce Marketing Specialist, was using her MacBook Pro at home so we put together a new work from home workspace that allows her to be just as productive at home as she is in the office.

Products used on Ashlee’s desk setup:

• Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station
• 13” MacBook Pro: https://apple.co/2ROTDS7
• 2 Acer Monitors: https://amzn.to/2JXMUke
• Keyboard: https://apple.co/2XrYk7U
• Mouse: https://apple.co/2yXC9MD
• Mouse Pad: https://amzn.to/3a4uNDO
• Bright Ideas Notebook: https://amzn.to/3b14zn3
• Blue Light Glasses: https://amzn.to/2JXOKBM

If you’d like help putting together your work from home desk setup, please comment below or reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com and we’d be happy to help!

Step by step walkthrough:

We make a lot of different products that allow you to add multiple displays to your system and in the course of helping our customers, we get questions that are not necessarily related to our products themselves, but to functional and usability aspects of having multiple displays. And one of the things we’ve helped customers with in the past that I’d like to demonstrate today are some of the multiple display options within Microsoft’s PowerPoint.

What I have right now is the PowerPoint application opened on my display on the left and I’ve got nothing open on my display on the right. I’ve got one of the built in PowerPoint example presentations open, and what I want to do is click on Slide Show where I can see certain settings about how the presentation will run when I start up. What’s interesting here is this section that’s called Monitor. Right now, the monitor is set to primary monitor.

Now my display on the left is my primary monitor. So what that means is when I start the presentation, the presentation runs on my primary display. I can go through it like I would any presentation using the arrow keys and when I’m done I can press escape to go back to PowerPoint. Well that’s pretty expected and standard, but there’s other options you have when you have more than one display. If I click on the dropdown for Monitor, I can pick the second display I have connected to the system so that when I start the presentation, PowerPoint will stay open on my one display, but the actual slideshow and we’ll start on the other.

Now why would you want to do this? I have a desktop with just two displays connected to it, but this could just as easily be a laptop with a projector connected to its video output. So while I’m working in my PowerPoint or presenting, I can still see all of the slides in the display outside of the actual presentation.

Okay, that’s pretty useful. But what else can we do? Let me stop the slide show and click the option: Use presenter view.

What this does is when I start the presentation that only shows the output of the presentation on my right display, but it also shows a timer, the slides themselves, what my next slide will be, if there’s any notes for the individual slide and handy tools that will allow you to manipulate information outside of the view of the audience while working.

Now, again, not the most exciting thing in and of itself, but pretty handy if you’re using a laptop and presenting. It allows you to have more control over your presentation and review any notes if you need to all at the same time.

If you have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com.

With working from home becoming the new normal for office-workers everywhere, I wanted to find out what tools would help people with this transition, and even increase their productivity. 
So I went to the experts. I spoke with three Plugable staffers that handle a range of different duties to find out more about the equipment that helps them do their best work while away from the office. The biggest surprise? All had the same can’t-live-without-it equipment at the top of their list…

Dual Monitors

Ubiquitous in offices everywhere, the low price for displays combined with their purported ability to increase productivity has made them a workstation standard. And once you get used to them, there’s no going back.

“Due to the number of application windows and tabs I typically have open, I would be lost if I didn’t have two external displays.”

“While I love working in coffee shops, I dread only using my laptop and feel like I get a ton more work done when I can extend my screen space. Especially with projects that really require me to put my head down and multitask across a handful of different windows at once.”

Connectivity is Key

Working with different systems and using different software, their needs diverged a bit. But they faced other hurdles that were similar.

“With newer laptops having so few ports, it makes it difficult to connect everything you need on a daily basis. Invest in the right dock for your needs so that you can streamline your workflow and keep your laptop charged without using your laptop charger. My dock allows me to have wired ethernet, meaning I never have to worry about lagging video meetings or data security issues.”

One feature that’s often overlooked when considering a home office is flexibility. If you travel for work or need to attend meetings at a client’s site, then building your system around a laptop is key.

“I love having the ability to take my laptop on the go and then being able to come back and plug a cable directly into the docking station. It definitely makes life easier.”

The Time-Savers

Other recommendations for ways to improve your WFH set-up? In short, anything that makes your life easier.

Using a surge protector is a great way to help protect your investment. Even when using a dock that powers a device or two you’re still likely to wind up short on space if you rely on traditional wall outlets.

“My laptop needs power as well as my monitor and phone when they run low on battery power. It all starts to add up when trying to scramble outlets in our home or finding out some outlets don’t have a three-prong outlet.”

Another key component for many employees: an external hard drive. Keep this plugged into your dock and backing up your work will be a breeze. Perhaps even better? It will help keep you organized, and with external solid state drives getting smaller and smaller, your data is ultra-portable too.

“My hard drive enables me to keep my personal and office work separate.”

Set Yourself Up for Success

Final words on making the most of your WFH experience:

“It’s easy to just work off your laptop when working remotely, but it’s worth it to invest in a desk set up that you’re comfortable and productive in. You’ll be surprised how much work you’ll be able to get done in less time.”

“Someone working remotely should invest in a good quality external keyboard, mouse and at least two external displays, and a comfortable desk chair.”

And as for keeping some separation between your work and home life?

“Set guidelines for when you are ‘in the office’ and ‘out of the office’ and stick to them. If you don’t you may find yourself constantly working in the off-hours.”

Extras to Super Power Your System

Thunderbolt 3 512GB NVMe Solid State Drive

Great for content creators requiring blazing fast external storage, no-compromise gamers who want the fastest possible portable Steam library, or as a secondary/portable OS boot drive on supported host systems.

• Portable aluminum design
• No external power needed
• Transfer speeds of 2400+ MB/s 
• 36-month warranty
• TBT3-NVME512

Surge Protector Power Strip

Tired of always searching for the charger for your phone or tablet only to find it won’t fit in your surge protector? Frustrated at surge protectors with short power cables or inadequate space between outlets? Our 12-outlet power strip with USB charging aims to solve many of these common issues.

• 12 AC Outlets
• 10.5W 2-port USB charging for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows devices
• 6′ extension cord (also available with 25’ cord)
• PS12-USB2B

Plugable Mechanical Keyboard

Mechanical keyboards offer more precision, improved typing feedback, and what many consider to be a more satisfying sound and feel when compared to traditional rubber dome/membrane style keyboards that can often be described as “mushy” or “lifeless”.

• Adjustable white backlighting
• Click style for improved feedback
• Full-size 104-key
• Available in other colors and key configurations
• USB-MECH104BW

Performance Gaming Mouse

Master the way you interface with your PC. This light and nimble mouse feels great in the hand and tracks movement even with the quickest flick of the wrist. Compatible with any device that can use a USB mouse.

• Super sensitive tracking means pixel-perfect control
• Contoured design for maximum comfort and ease-of-use
• Driver-less: plug-and-play ready 
• USB-PM3360

Today we’re launching our first next-generation 2.5 Gigabit networking device, the Plugable 2.5Gbps USB Ethernet Adapter (USBC-E2500). With USB-C and USB 3.0 (USB-A) connectivity included, you can quickly and affordably upgrade nearly any modern workstation or laptop with more than double the performance of a traditional Gigabit Ethernet connection.

While most Ethernet adapters only support 1 Gigabit link rates, this USB adapter supports wired speeds up to 2.5 times faster than the 1Gbps standard when used with Cat 5e cabling (commonly found in existing network environments), and a 2.5Gbps-capable router or switch. With 2.5Gbps routers still somewhat rare in home environments, users who would benefit from the increased network throughput—but don’t wish to yet invest in a 2.5Gbps router or switch—can use 2 of these adapters to create a direct peer-to-peer network between 2 systems. With this increased performance, users can take advantage of advances in high-speed networking and storage technologies, without requiring a difficult or expensive setup. 

We are only in the early stages of the shift to 2.5Gbps network equipment arriving in our homes and workplaces, but you’re likely to see much wider adoption of 2.5Gbps network equipment supporting the 2.5GBASE-T / 802.3bz standard in the year ahead. Our 2.5Gbps USB Ethernet adapter allows you to future-proof your setup while also being backwards compatible with current 1Gbps network environments. This adapter is ideal for early adopters—and IT professionals—to modernize their network environment with higher network throughput, without needing to run new cables. It also benefits users such as content creators whose work may be bottlenecked by 1Gbps network transfer rates.

Our USBC-E2500 2.5Gbps USB network adapter can connect to a system with USB-C ports, and also includes an attached USB-C to USB 3.0 (USB-A) adapter, allowing you to easily use it with any type of USB port you may have (USB 3.0 required for full performance). The adapter is backwards compatible with earlier networking standards such as Gigabit (10/100/1000) networks, and supports key features such as jumbo frames, auto-negotiation, and is compatible with both full-duplex and half-duplex networks, making it an ideal choice for current and future network connectivity. 

The 2.5Gbps USB network adapter works with all modern versions of Windows (10, 8.x, and 7), macOS (10.12 and above), and Linux (kernel 3.2 and above). Please be aware a driver download and installation (using an existing network interface, or with a USB flash drive) may be required on some OS and kernel versions.

The Plugable 2.5 Gigabit USB Ethernet Adapter is available in the US on Amazon.com (with a limited time $10 off coupon), NewEgg, Walmart, and globally on Amazon Canada, UK, EU, Australia, and Japan. For business buyers, it’s also available through distribution via Ingram Micro.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and our experts we’ll be glad to help!

Plugable USBC-E2500 2.5Gbps USB Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $54.99

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Powerful technology grows more portable by the year. Gone are the days of 12-pound laptop computers that could heat a small apartment in winter. Today’s devices are sleek, light, and streamlined–fantastic for life beyond the confines of an office, but keeping the form-factor that compact comes with some sacrifices. Reducing connections down to a few USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports lets a computer chassis stay thin but restricts options for connecting to additional hardware. 

Even tablets and mobile phones are becoming powerful enough to connect to outside hardware and function like a full-featured computer. Docking stations specific to these devices, such as Plugable’s own USB-C Phone Docking Station (UD-CUBE-15W), enable them to become the brain of a versatile workstation.

Docking stations and USB hubs provide the solution for organizing and connecting diverse sets of peripherals. While these devices share functionality, they are ultimately separate categories of hardware. Depending on how and where you do your work, you might enjoy one, the other, or even both. 

Quick Links

Who needs a docking station or USB hub?

Widespread wireless technology has reduced the need for physical connections. Powerful USB 3.1 or 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 ports can provide more bandwidth than their predecessors. With our tech getting better and more agile all the time, is there still a place for a docking station on your desk?

Even with connectivity improving all the time, many devices either require or benefit from a wired connection. Plugging in is faster, more stable, and more secure. If you work with external storage drives, additional displays, a full-sized keyboard, and more, you may find you need more ports than what your computer is equipped with.

A hub or docking station is a valuable piece of equipment for:

• People who use a laptop as a desktop replacement
• Remote workers or people who divide their time between home and the office
• Regular travelers
• People who take work with them but don’t want to juggle working across multiple machines
• Multi-taskers or power users who need visibility to several windows or programs simultaneously
• Anyone that uses many peripherals that need to be plugged in

The next question to answer is what specific device will best meet your needs.

What is a docking station?

To begin with, the docking station unites many types of connections in one device. The number and type varies from station to station, but you can expect to find more variety in ports than you’ll see along the edges of your ultralight computer. Your laptop becomes the brain of a full-featured workstation and the docking station handles all the adapting and converting so you don’t have to worry about hauling around several different stand alone adapters. 

Docking stations can provide a variety of video output types (such as VGA, DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort) for connecting external displays, as well as additional USB ports. You may also find Ethernet ports to support fast, hard-wired network connections and the ability to charge or power one or more devices. Meanwhile, all you have to do is plug in your laptop.

A system like this is both tidy and makes connecting everything easy. Set your desk up with all your big devices where and how you like them: multiple monitors, a good full-sized keyboard, and a mouse that will be easier to use compared to a laptop’s built-in pointing device. You can sit down, plug in, and get to work, rather than fighting cords and digging in your bag for that one last adapter you always forget at home. 

However, a docking station is more than just a cable minder. Laptops may not be equipped to deal with various kinds of signal output. Connecting devices like displays and digital cameras often requires the use of a converter to translate between the computer and the device. Grabbing the nearest cable that connects plug A to port B often won’t allow you to use a powerful external display. A docking station takes care of the conversion internally. Some can even charge your laptop, further reducing the need for cords and clutter. 

Proprietary versus universal docking stations

While computers have continued to shrink, the need for expansion has only grown. Early laptop systems often had proprietary connection ports on the bottom of the laptop. These proprietary ports connected to so-called ‘mechanical docking stations’ or ‘port replicators’ which provided for expansion. While some current laptop models still offer these proprietary connection ports, such models are becoming rare.

As laptop manufacturers have stopped including proprietary connections to mechanical docking stations within their products, many have made the transition to faster standardized connection types such as USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports in order to both facilitate external expansion and remove the need to purchase a laptop specific dock.

Proprietary docking stations are more common alongside laptops designed for business users. When paired with a compatible computer, installation and driver issues aren’t typically a problem. However, proprietary docking stations tend to be compatible with only one (or at best a few) specific laptop models. If you upgrade to a new laptop that is not compatible with a proprietary dock, an alternative solution must be found.

USB 3.1 or 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 connections offer enough speed to manage multiple devices, which has given rise to a new generation of universal docking stations. These are third-party devices not tied to a single model or brand of laptop. They offer power and flexibility to home or office workstations. 

What to look for in a docking station

The first step in determining a suitable docking station product is to determine what type of expansion ports are built-in to the host laptop. These range from USB 3.0 Type-A ports, to USB 3.1/3.2 Type-C ports to Thunderbolt 3 ports.  

In the past if you wanted to add more devices to your laptop such as additional monitors, a wired network connection or USB devices you had to purchase a proprietary mechanical docking station from the maker of your laptop, assuming they even made one in the first place. 

With advances in laptop connectivity you are no longer limited to those antiquated devices and Plugable offers a variety of solutions that can allow you to expand your system to enhance your productivity. Every laptop can have different types of connectivity options, so the first step in determining which of our products is right for your needs is to determine what specific type your system offers. 

In general, every modern laptop can offer one of three types of connectivity technologies and those are:

• USB 3.0 Type-A
• USB 3.1 Type-C
• Thunderbolt 3

GOOD – USB 3.0 Type-A is the most common, and just about every laptop sold today offers one of these ports. One downside to a system that only has these types of ports is that the laptop cannot be charged via these ports (they were not designed to take in power).  

BETTER – USB 3.1 Type-C is a newer type of connection that can provide faster data speed, video output, and the ability to charge the laptop.

BEST – Thunderbolt 3 is the latest connection type that allows for the fastest speeds, multiple video outputs, the ability to charge the laptop, in addition to backwards compatibility with USB-C devices.

As a general approach when choosing a dock picking one of our products, it is ideal to pick a device that makes use of the fastest connectivity option your laptop provides.

Monitor support

One of the most important dock features for many users is the ability to quickly connect to one or more big displays. Even if you’re comfortable typing on the limited keyboard of a laptop computer, having more screen real estate and displays at eye level can make work easier, more efficient, and less of a (literal) pain in the neck. 

Modern docking stations can usually support one, two, or even three displays depending on the resolution. Check to see that the dock you’re considering has the right type and quantity of ports for your monitors. 

Video standards

Once you have selected a docking station, an important element to consider is how to connect your displays to the unit and what video cables or adapters may be required. There are several different types of video connectors available and it can get confusing, so let’s break them down individually and simply:

VGA (Ok) – The oldest style video connection available, carries an analog video signal up to 1920×1200 resolution. A standard VGA cable has a VGA connector on both ends of the cable (also referred to as a VGA to VGA cable).  In general cannot be converted to other video types unless a proprietary adapter is used. 

DVI (Good) – First digital video connection used for PCs, carries a digital video signal up to 1920×1200 resolution. A standard DVI cable has a DVI connector on both ends of the cable (also referred to as a DVI to DVI cable). A DVI-I output can be converted to VGA using an adapter. All Plugable products that have a DVI output are of the DVI-I variety, and include a DVI to VGA adapter in the box.

DVI can also be converted to HDMI by using a separate adapter, or there are cables that have a DVI connector on one end and an HDMI connector on the other. A DVI to HDMI cable is bi-directional. 

HDMI (Better) – Most common type of video connection for modern televisions, also featured on many modern monitors. Carries a digital video signal up to 3840×2160 (as well as audio) depending on the version of HDMI specification in use by both the source (output) and receiving device (input). Can be converted to DVI by using a separate adapter, or there are cables that have a HDMI connector on one end and an DVI connector on the other. A HDMI to DVI cable is bi-directional. 

DisplayPort (Best) – A common type of video connection used in modern monitors, similar in many ways to HDMI but uses a fundamentally different protocol (typically not found in televisions). Carries a digital video signal up to 4096×2160 (as well as audio) depending on the version of DisplayPort (DP)  specification in use by both the source (output) and receiving device (input).

Can be converted to HDMI, DVI or VGA using adapters, of which there are two possible types, Active and Passive. An active adapter is as the name implies, it ‘actively’ converts the video signal to a different type. A passive adapter only provides for the conversion of the physical connector type, and does not change the video signal itself. 

The type of adapter required depends on the capabilities of the source DisplayPort output. A ‘Dual Mode’ DisplayPort (also known as DP++) can use passive adapters while a ‘pure’ DisplayPort port requires Active adapters. Plugable offers products with both types.

In general, the best approach is to first determine what types of video inputs are available on the displays you wish to attach to the dock. Once that information is in hand, you can compare that to the available video outputs offered by our various docks. With both ‘ends’ of the connection known, you can determine what types of video cables and adapters will be needed to connect your displays. 

Audio

Virtually all docking stations are available with stereo headphone and microphone ports.

Ethernet

A wired network connection is faster, more stable, and more secure than WiFi, but many ultra-slim laptops don’t have an Ethernet port. An Ethernet port on your docking station fills the void and comes in handy if there’s Ethernet available where you’ll be working.

Host charging

Some docking stations can power your laptop. If you’re looking for this feature, make sure your laptop can charge with the method offered by the dock, such as charging via Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C ports. If the docking station does not have host charging, you will need to plug in your laptop’s power adapter in addition to connecting it to the dock.

Quantity and standard of USB connections

There’s no point in getting a docking station set up if you’re just going to run out of ports and have to juggle which devices are plugged in all the time. Make sure your dock has plenty of USB ports to connect your storage and other peripherals plus one or two to spare for incidentals. 

Additionally, if you plan to power any of your devices through USB ports you’ll need to determine if the dock supports certain charging standards (such as BC 1.2) in order to charge compatible devices.

Form factor

You deserve equipment that fits into your workspace and looks good, too. Docking stations are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some docking stations have the ability to function in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, and can be adjusted depending on the need. Look for a dock that will fit into your desktop setup and can be tucked out of the way. 

But what if you don’t need quite that many bells and whistles? 

What is a USB hub?

A USB hub is like the little brother of the docking station. They range in complexity and expense. Higher-end USB hubs include power and an ethernet connection, and they scale down all the way to simple splitters that turn one USB port into two or more. Additional features or no, the focus, as the name suggests, is on USB connections. 

Like a power strip for your computer, a USB hub’s main purpose in life is to let you plug more stuff in. While today’s ultra-slim laptops often starve for want of USB ports, a hub is also useful with a desktop computer. Some desktops just don’t have enough built-in ports, while others may not locate them in a convenient place. Attaching a quality USB hub means you can keep those ports right on your desk in arm’s reach.

Who needs a USB hub?

In a world of ever-multiplying gadgets, having a few more ports available is useful for almost everybody. USB has become the go-to connection for powering, charging, and communicating with a huge variety of devices in our digital lives. From giving your smartphone some juice to backing up your hard drive to transferring vacation photos off your camera, you have many uses for a USB connection. 

A USB hub is especially helpful alongside a super slim laptop that’s only equipped with a few USB-C or Thunderbolt ports. Chances are, you have devices in your kit that are still looking for a USB-A port to call home. 

What to look for in a USB hub

USB standards

USB keeps getting better and better. It can transfer more data faster than ever before. But you have to have devices that support the newer, superior USB standard on both sides. 

USB 3.0 is newer and faster than USB 2.0. Fortunately, in almost all cases, USB 2.0 devices are compatible with USB 3.0 ports, though they’ll only perform at the speeds they were designed for. USB 3.0 has a lot of benefits if you’re going to be transferring a lot of data through your hub, such as working with a newer external hard drive or digital camera. 

Quantity and type of ports

Go for more ports than the bare minimum you need. Eventually, that extra flash drive will end up in your pocket, and there’s no reason to juggle when you’re investing in a USB hub, anyway. 

Additionally, some USB hubs come with a couple of dedicated charge-only ports in addition to the regular ports that will transfer power and data. Charge-only ports can charge with more power than data transfer ports, which are limited to transferring a maximum of 500 mA for USB 2.0 ports. Usb 3.0 ports provide up to 900 mA. If you’re planning to use your workstation as a charging center for things like phones and tablets, having a couple of these will keep your batteries nice and full. 

Power

USB hubs can be bus-powered or self-powered. Bus-powered USB hubs only plug into your computer and deliver the electricity flowing through the host port. Bus-powered USB hubs are powered completely by the electrical power provided by the host laptop’s USB port. The benefit is that you only need one connection in order to use the device, however the downside is that it limits the maximum number of USB ports within the hub and by extension the amount of power provided to USB devices connected to the hub itself. This is fine for expanding one port to accommodate a keyboard and mouse simultaneously, but it can get dicey when you’re dividing that charge between a bunch of power-hungry devices.

Self-powered hubs are, as their name implies, powered by their own external power adapter. While this means that there will be two cable connections necessary in order to use the device (power adapter, USB cable to the host laptop) the benefit is that a larger number of USB ports can be provided and each port can provide the maximum amount of power.They can deliver the maximum current to each of their ports, regardless of what’s plugged in. Some USB hubs combine these features and are designed to alter their functionality based on whether the unit detects that it’s plugged in to dedicated power or not. 

Form factor and additional features

The size, weight, and configuration of your USB hub will have some impact on how you use it. Look for one that fits into your workspace and connects to your computer in a way that won’t be inconvenient. Some USB hubs come designed with extra features like status lights, on/off switches, or an ethernet port. 

If you’re looking for more connections or ways to boost the functionality of your equipment, a docking station or USB hub may be the key to integrating all the tools and peripherals you need. Our devices and connectivity standards are evolving all the time, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all standard between all manufacturers. For this reason, it’s essential to check specifications carefully to ensure that all your equipment can play nicely together. A reputable manufacturer should make this information clearly available. Investing in solid build quality will help ensure your connections are safe and everything functions as intended.

Thank you for your support during this time. Our thoughts go out to those who have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak. 

Our US based support team has shifted to working from home to keep our employees healthy and able to support you. As some of you start to work from home as well, we’re here to help you figure out the best setup at support@plugable.com and http://plugable.com/. 

Unfortunately, we have had some products go out of stock and that may happen with additional products in the coming weeks. New products are also experiencing delays because of supply chain disruptions. 

We appreciate your understanding and look forward to solving your connectivity needs!

Best,

The Plugable Team

If you’re curious to learn more, here’s a great video done by The Verge that shows behind the scenes of what’s happening to all tech manufacturing and our supply chain during the novel coronavirus outbreak:

What is Thunderbolt 3? 

Thunderbolt 3 is the latest version of the hardware interface that has been co-developed by Intel and Apple since early 2011. In its third iteration, which was launched in 2015, Thunderbolt adopted the USB-C connector. This replaced Mini DisplayPort (MDP), improving its interoperability and general compatibility.

Thunderbolt was created to replace the obsolete “FireWire” serial bus communications interface, and also to offer a simple yet versatile solution for the consumer. To achieve this feat, it combines the PCI Express (PCIe) bus standard with the DisplayPort digital display interface into a single cable. In addition to data, Thunderbolt is also capable of delivering DC electricity to power-up devices that need up to 100 watts of power. And while Thunderbolt 3 can provide power, that doesn’t mean manufacturers support it in all instances: check before you buy to ensure what you buy will meet your needs.

Thunderbolt 3 supports bandwidth rates up to 40 Gbps, so it’s easily the fastest port available in the market right now. This translates to transferring a 4K movie in under 30 seconds. It supports 4-lane PCI Express, DisplayPort 1.2, and now DisplayPort 1.4 (using Intel’s latest Thunderbolt 3 controller known as Titan Ridge).  Thunderbolt 3 is also backward compatible with the two previous generations of Thunderbolt, although one would need to use adapters for this purpose. 

To see Plugable’s lineup of Thunderbolt 3 products, click here

What Can I Use Thunderbolt 3 For? 

The short answer would be to connect stuff on your PC or laptop. That could be docks where you can hook up keyboards and mice, data devices such as whole RAID arrays of external disks, or even up to two 4K displays (at 60 Hz) on the same port. Thunderbolt can send high-fidelity audio and 4K video simultaneously, so you won’t need anything else to get media playing on a screen. Thanks to the unprecedented data transfer rates of Thunderbolt 3, it is also possible to enjoy seamless gaming on an underpowered laptop by connecting an external graphics card on the port. As for “daisy-chaining” (connecting devices together in a line), you can link up to six devices and finally hook them all on a single Thunderbolt 3 port.

All that said, there’s a wide spectrum of real-life everyday applications where Thunderbolt 3 can make a huge difference for the user. Maybe you are a photographer who needs to transfer large volumes of image data from a removable media to a laptop. Or maybe you are a gamer who needs “power on the go” and likes to use a removable graphics card. Or you may do graphics work and you need to hook up the laptop on a 4K screen, and even two of them side by side. Potentially you could also want to ensure that your smartphone can be charged quickly through the laptop’s ports. Thunderbolt 3 can shine in any of the above, and many other possible applications. Things that were previously impossible due to the bottlenecks that underpin other standards are now possible by using the third generation of Thunderbolt. 

How Does Thunderbolt 3 Compare to Other Options? 

First of all, it is important to highlight the characteristic and most crucial difference between Thunderbolt 3 and anything else, and that is its versatile nature. Thunderbolt 3 can be used to transfer all forms of data and also power, and can do it in rates that compete directly with connectors that specialize exclusively in one type. 

For example, the VGA or the DVI video port standards can carry only video signal, transfer at maximum bitrates of 8 Gbit/sec, and support up to 2K resolutions. The story is more or less the same with FireWire and Ethernet technology. The latter supports up to 1 Gbps, and can’t transfer power at all.  

When it comes to choosing between HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) and Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 1.3 offers a throughput of 8.16 Gbps. Version 1.4 also supports audio, and the second generation of HDMI increased the bandwidth to 18 Gbps. As for resolutions and refresh rates, HDMI 2.0 can output 1080p at 144Hz, whereas Thunderbolt 3 supports up to 240Hz on FullHD, or 120Hz on 4K. So, HDMI 2.0 can’t even compete with Thunderbolt 2, let alone Thunderbolt 3. 

Even compared to Thunderbolt 2, the third generation has double the transfer rate (40 vs 20 Gbps), features the more ubiquitous USB-C connector, supports higher video resolutions, and can transmit ten times more power (100 watts vs 9.9 watts). 

Considering the performance of the omnipresent USB 3.0 and 3.1 serial bus standards, Thunderbolt 3 still fares much better. USB 3.0 features a data transfer rate of up to 5 Gb/sec, while 3.1 takes that up to 10 Gb/sec, still four times less than what Thunderbolt 3 can do. The most recent USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 is another incremental improvement, sporting 20 Gbps of bandwidth, still far behind Thunderbolt’s 40 Gbps. USB 3.0 can deliver power transmissions of a maximum of 7.5 watts, while USB 3.1 and above support up to 100 watts–enough to charge most laptops–using a new standard known as USB Power Delivery, or “USB PD”.

USB4 is the only specification that can compete with Thunderbolt 3, and the reason for this is that USB4 is actually based on Thunderbolt 3. Intel decided to make the Thunderbolt 3 a royalty-free standard to OEMs and hardware manufacturers, and they released its specifications in 2018. A year later, USB4 was released by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). And while the specs for USB4 and Thunderbolt 3 may look the same, Thunderbolt 3 always carries PCI Express (PCIe) signaling, whereas with USB4 it’s up to the manufacturer whether to support PCIe traffic. As a result, USB4 hosts, depending on their design, may or may not support Thunderbolt devices.

Thunderbolt 3 Compatibility with Other Standards

In terms of compatibility with other standards and protocols, Thunderbolt 3 is backward compatible with the previous two generations as long as an adapter is used since the ports are different. As for the USB protocol, Thunderbolt 3 can work with USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1 Gen 2, 3.2, and, in some cases, USB4. Of course, the speeds are limited to the quickest protocol that is supported by the connecting cable, and the quickest protocol supported by the connected device. For example, a USB 3.0 stick connecting to a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port will work on USB 3.0 speeds. 

What Devices Support Thunderbolt 3? 

Being the creation of Apple and Intel, the devices of both of these manufacturers have been supporting Thunderbolt 3 since December 2015. That said, the Apple MacBook Pro of 2016 features two or four Thunderbolt 3 ports (depending on the model), while the iMac line that was refreshed in the summer of 2017 also includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The iMac Pro which was released later, in December 2017, offers a comfortable four Thunderbolt 3 ports. Until today, Thunderbolt 3 remains (mostly) the de facto standard for the connectivity ports of Apple products, so even the most recent, 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro is equipped with four Thunderbolt 3 ports. There are exceptions among the Apple line, so please check your specific model to see if it is one of the few models that does not have Thunderbolt 3 ports. Intel’s products like the “NUC” computers released since 2015 are compatible with the standard and have at least one Thunderbolt 3 port. 

When it was announced that Thunderbolt 3 was to become royalty-free, other manufacturers besides Apple and Intel didn’t hesitate to adopt it on their products. At this time there also weren’t any alternatives that could compete with it. In addition, Thunderbolt 3 enabled laptop manufacturers to make their products thinner. Acer, Asus, Clevo, HP, Dell, Dell Alienware, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, and Sony all released notebooks that supported Thunderbolt 3 almost immediately, while Gigabyte rushed to throw the first Thunderbolt 3 motherboard in the market as well. 

Naturally, we have gone a long way since 2015, and today there are hundreds of products that support Thunderbolt 3, and many types of hardware manufacturers who have adopted it as well. There are notebooks, laptops, computers, storage devices, motherboards, docks, eGFX units, cables, camera/surveillance storage devices, add-in-cards, displays, docks of all kinds, adapters, expansion interfaces, and more. 

Because both the USB and the Thunderbolt 3 standards use the same USB-C port, it can be confusing as to which of the two is supported by a specific product. If you don’t have access to the vendor’s technical specifications look for the characteristic Thunderbolt 3 symbol, a small lightning symbol. If you don’t see it then it’s a USB port. 

Will Thunderbolt 3 Be Compatible with Devices in the Future?

The big question you may be asking: is Thunderbolt 3 future-proof, and up to what point?

By making the standard royalty-free and releasing the technical specifications for it in 2018, Intel has laid the groundwork for boosted adoption rates. USB4 is coming as a confirmation of this, and while Thunderbolt didn’t manage to dethrone the USB standard all these years, it is good to see the potential for increased compatibility. However, this will actually come down to whether or not the USB4 manufacturer uses PCIe. This missing piece is the difference between whether or not two products will even be compatible.

Intel refreshed Thunderbolt 3 to bump the support from DisplayPort 1.2 up to 1.4, but unfortunately chose not to support this standard on Macs, even though the hardware is capable of it. Devices with support for DisplayPort 1.4 will see maximum video resolutions increase from 4K at 60Hz to 8K at the same refresh rate, plus HDR. Also in version 1.4, 4K video can reach up to 120 Hz. With Thunderbolt 3 already prepared for a continual climb in the video resolutions and refresh rates preferred by consumers its position as the standard is fairly secure for the next few years. 

Thunderbolt 4 was confirmed by Intel during its CES 2020 presentation. There’s not much known about the upcoming fourth generation of Thunderbolt, other than the fact that it’s going to have the same bandwidth as the previous version, and may be based on PCI Express 4.0. It is suspected that Intel will attempt to maintain compatibility with Thunderbolt 3, USB4, and USB 3.x. With Thunderbolt 4 expected to hit the market together with USB4, a new wave of devices is going to take over larger chunks of the market share, so Thunderbolt 3 will become even more relevant. 

If you’re wondering whether or not you should skip the Thunderbolt 3 offerings and wait for USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 devices, you shouldn’t be. Thunderbolt 3 is well positioned to hold onto its lead as a connectivity standard. It continues to win the speed race at 40 Gbps alongside USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, and with its minimal compatibility hurdles it may well remain in this position for a few years. There continues to be some confusion over USB-C and Thunderbolt 3, and some manufacturers even contribute to this. And while the benefits outweigh the hurdles when it comes to Thunderbolt 3, take our tech team’s advice and do your homework before you buy.

If you have any questions about Thunderbolt 3 compatibility between your laptop and Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 products, please reach out to us at support@plugable.com — we’re here to help!

As Windows continues to update and evolve, many system actions like changing power settings, formatting partitions, and connecting devices have been relocated to the new Settings menu. The traditional Control Panel is still available, and is a tried and true method for many users to modify these and other settings. But, what if you could have these useful Control Panel features listed out nicely in a folder, and right on your desktop? Well, you can! Referred to as, “God Mode“, this ability is handy for putting essential Windows functions at the ready.

God Mode is an interesting name, and I’d like to believe that this is a nod to cheat codes used in old PC games. Maybe you’ve just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and are adjusting to the new menus, or perhaps you want to create some easy access to important functions. Whatever the case, setting up a God Mode folder is a great way to add some powerful tools to your belt.

Here is a quick video to show you how to get this all set up, and written instructions as well:

1. Right Click on your desktop, and create a New Folder
2. Then, right click on the folder and choose, “Rename”
3. Copy and paste the following into the naming box, GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}, and then press Enter to create the utility. (Please don’t try to type this. This is a very long string, and if it isn’t correct it won’t work.)

That’s it, just three easy steps and you’ll create the God Mode folder on your desktop for easy access.

Feel free to rename the folder to whatever you’d like, and get ready to unleash a new power on Windows! (Below is a picture of just a small portion of the 213 Windows functions available)

We hope this was helpful and fun. Do you have any tips to share or questions? Feel free to reach out to us directly at: support@plugable.com, or leave us a note in the comments below!

Learn how to record your screen on MacOS in this step-by-step tutorial. Screen captures are a quick and easy way to record your presentations, a new process, or even capture B-roll. No video editor software needed!

“Hi, this is Bob from Plugable Technologies. What I’d like to do today is give a quick demonstration of a handy feature built into macOS that allows you to take still image screenshots of things on your desktop or even record video of actions you take on your desktop. Now what I’m going to show you is only available for macOS version 10.14 Mojave and 10.15 Catalina.

So let’s jump right in. To access this feature, you press the Shift, the Command key, and the 5 key on your keyboard and macOS brings up this little picker that allows you to pick which option you wish to use. If I hover over, these options by default saying that it’s set to capture the entire screen.

Meaning if I click this capture button, it’ll take a still image picture of everything on my desktop. I can change this to capture the selected window. For example, if I had a specific window open such as a browser or another application to just take a picture of that, or I can capture a selected portion of the screen by drawing a box around the area I wish to capture and dragging the handles to resize it as necessary.

So for example, if I wanted to take a screenshot of just what I’ve selected here and click the capture button, just a moment, I’ll see a thumbnail image of that file that was created and in a moment that will disappear and it should show up as a file on my desktop. Well, that’s pretty handy and we bring that back up: Shift + Command + 5.

These options allow me to record the entire screen or record again a selected portion of the screen in a video. It even allows me using the options button to even pick a microphone to record audio along with this. Useful for say, recording demonstrations of certain tasks.

So, for example, if I click record now and say open up a web browser, I could demonstrate accessing a certain website and then when I was done, I can come up here and click the icon for the screen recording feature to stop it and it creates this thumbnail.

Again, if I click on this thumbnail, it actually lets me review a closed Firefox to get this out of the way, review the video I created so I can play it back, see the tasks that I was doing, but it also allows me to trim this and that if I click this button, it then brings up this small selection dialogue that allows me to cut portions off from the beginning of the video as well as at the end of the video and then click done and I’ve got the trimmed video for use later.

Hopefully, you find that useful and thank you for watching.”

If you have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com!

Plugable has received recent reports of mouse or keyboard inputs being delayed (also described as ‘lagging’) or the entire image within a display momentarily freezing while using a DisplayLink-based product such as our UD-3900 docking station with a Windows 10 system.

For the customers we have helped that reported this behavior, we have found the cause to be an out of date Intel graphics driver. Updating the Intel graphics driver with the latest version published by the laptop manufacturer or from Intel directly resolved the problem.

Detail:

In the course of helping our customers, we often observe trends that help us identify solutions. Over the past two months we have noticed a trend in a small portion of our customer’s systems running Windows 10 that have an internal Intel graphics adapter while using a DisplayLink-based product such as our UD-3900 docking station.

** Important – The information presented below does not apply to all cases. We wanted to share our findings for the benefit of others, as well as to highlight some best practices when using our DisplayLink products. **

In the cases reported to us, customers would describe a delay of approximately 5 to 10 seconds between physically moving the mouse and the position of the mouse pointer on-screen reflecting the change, or a keypress on a keyboard being reflected within an application.

In other cases, customers would describe that the entire image within the display would ‘freeze’ momentarily, and then return to normal after a few seconds.

Using our PlugDebug diagnostic utility, we started to notice a pattern. Almost all of the systems were made by Dell or HP. The systems were relatively new models that contained Intel ‘Ice Lake’ processors (CPUs) with either integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics adapters or Intel UHD graphics adapters.

The Intel graphics driver versions we recorded that resulted in the problem behavior were:

‘Problem’ driver versions
———————————
25.20.100.7007
25.20.100.7012
25.20.100.7060

After updating the Intel graphics driver to one of versions listed below, the problem behavior stopped and the issue was resolved:

‘Solution’ driver versions
———————————
26.20.100.7463
26.20.100.7584

** Important – It is important to note that each specific problem case is different, and that the solution described above will not apply to all instances (even those with similar behavior). It is for this reason that we have not provided direct download links to the driver versions listed above. **

For general reference, here are links to the major Windows laptop manufacturer’s support pages:

Dell – https://www.dell.com/support/
HP – https://support.hp.com/
Lenovo – https://support.lenovo.com/
Asus – https://www.asus.com/us/support/
Acer – https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support

We wanted to post this information to highlight the symbiotic relationship between a DisplayLink-based product and the drivers for the host system’s internal graphics adapter in order to encourage best practices when troubleshooting problems.

In brief, our DisplayLink-based products are ‘virtual’ graphics adapters that rely on the host system’s CPU and internal physical graphics adapter to generate the image shown on the attached displays. In some instances, it is the driver for the physical graphics adapter (and not the DisplayLink device) that can cause problems.

As a result, when unexpected behavior occurs the best practice is to update to the latest version we recommend of the DisplayLink driver and at the same time ensure that the latest version of the host system’s internal graphics adapter driver is installed.

Our recommendation for updating a system’s internal graphics adapter driver is to access the original laptop manufacturer’s website in order to download the latest version of the graphics driver that the laptop manufacturer recommends for a specific system.

This is important for two reasons. The first is that a laptop manufacturer may not provide technical support for a system that is not using the specific driver versions they recommend.

The second is that in some cases a laptop manufacturer may have ‘customized’ in some way the graphics adapter driver that was installed on the system from the factory.

As a result, a ‘generic’ graphics adapter driver downloaded directly from the graphics adapter manufacturer (for example Intel, Nvidia, or AMD) may not install automatically and require a manual installation, the details of which are outside the scope of this blog post.

Summary:

In summary, Plugable noticed a recent trend that certain Intel graphics adapter driver versions caused unexpected behavior when using a DisplayLink-based product on Windows 10 with a small number of new systems. For those affected in these specific cases, updating the Intel graphics adapter driver resolved the problems.

** Important – The specific details in this post will not apply to all cases, as each case is different. **

In general, when things are not working as expected with our DisplayLink-based products and a Windows system, the best practice is to update to the latest version we recommend of the required DisplayLink driver and the latest graphics adapter driver version published by the system manufacturer to help rule them out as possible contributors to problem behavior.

Should any customer using a Plugable DisplayLink-based product run into problems, please contact us directly via support@plugable.com with the output of our diagnostic utility PlugDebug (insert link) so that we can help.

The USB-C connector is increasingly appearing on more and more of our devices, and that potentially means great things for the future of device connectivity. Wouldn’t it be dandy to use the same USB-C cable to connect your phone, computer, and other peripherals?

Unfortunately, there are issues to contend with that make it difficult to achieve the dream of universal connectivity without doing a bit of research first. This post goes into just one of those factors: the features supported by the USB-C cables themselves.

Are All USB-C Cables Created Equally?

No! To most consumers, we naturally might look at a cable, observe the USB-C connector on both sides, and conclude that this is a USB-C to USB-C cable. We’d be right, but there’s a bigger, more complicated picture here. While historically users could count on a cable and device working if both ends fit (and a driver was available, when needed), unfortunately it’s no longer this simple. It’s crucial to note that USB-C only represents the shape and type of connector, and says nothing about the kind of specifications and transfer speeds a cable supports.

A USB-C cable could support the following specifications:

1) USB 2.0 (480Mbps)
2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps)
3) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps)
4) Thunderbolt 3 (20Gbps)
5) Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps)

There are additional variations as each of the USB-C cables supporting a specification above can be rated and “electronically marked” to support either 3 Amp or 5 Amp charging (using a tiny embedded “e-marker” chip that tells the attached devices what features the cable supports), and complicating things further, “Active” Thunderbolt USB-C cables have even more unique characteristics, but for the purposes of this post, we will omit these variations.

Why Do These Specifications and Transfer Speeds Matter?

These matter because there are physical differences in a USB-C cable depending on what specification it supports, and as a result, different cables that look identical can behave in very different ways.

The USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum, an official authority over USB) defines USB-C cables that support either USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) or USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) as “Full-Featured” USB-C cables (Page 28 of USB-C Spec).

Full-Featured USB-C cables actually have 10 more wires compared to USB-C cables supporting USB 2.0 only (Page 68, 69 of USB-C Spec).

8 High-Speed Data wires and one pair of USB 2.0 Data wires are not implemented for USB-C cables supporting USB 2.0 only

Why do these extra wires matter? One reason is “high speed” wires support the extra bandwidth of USB 3.2 versus USB 2.0. However, you also might be familiar with the fact that compatible USB-C systems can support displays, and it’s important to understand that Full-Featured USB-C cables are required for many USB-C docking stations, because they use a standard known as VESA DisplayPort Alternate Mode (“DP Alt Mode” or “Alt Mode”). DP Alt Mode and any devices that utilize it, like most USB-C docks relies on several of the extra wires in these Full-Featured USB-C cables to function as expected (VESA).

We at Plugable offer many USB-C docks that are able to drive video over a compatible USB-C connection. This is accomplished in one of three ways:

1. Docks that use USB-C Alternate Mode (Alt Mode), where a native video stream can be sent over the USB-C cable. These require a “Full-Featured” USB-C cable, because the extra wires are needed to carry the video stream over USB-C
2. Thunderbolt 3 docks require a computer with a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port. And because of their extremely fast connection to the host (40Gbps), these docks require Thunderbolt 3 certified USB-C cables
3. Docks that use “DisplayLink” technology compress video data and use a driver and send it over almost any USB port and cable. USB-A, USB-C, USB 2.0, USB 3.0; a Plugable dock with DisplayLink can be made to work on most systems without any special USB cable considerations

So for docks that rely on USB-C Alt Mode, what if you try to use a USB-C cable supporting only USB 2.0 (and therefore lacking those 10 physical wires) rather than a Full-Featured USB-C cable? You would be in for a bad time, as any displays through the USB-C cable (and even possibly charging) will not work.

A Common Mistake With Your Plugable USB-C Graphics Solutions
You might have one of our Plugable USB-C docking stations, such as our Plugable USB-C Mini Docking Station (UD-CAM), and are thinking “The included USB-C cable is a bit short. Why don’t I swap in my Apple 2m USB-C cable?”. This will not work, since this cable supports USB 2.0 speeds only (so no video), and therefore is not compatible with our USB-C docking stations.

Not all third-party USB-C cables support video or charging, and whether or not they do boils down to what specification the cable supports. Sellers don’t always make this clear however.

Plugable offers a USB-C cable that is USB-IF certified for those looking for a USB-C cable that supports 10Gbps transfer rate with video and charging support. If a longer cable is needed, Plugable offers a Thunderbolt 3 cable (Thunderbolt 3 Certified) at a length of 2 meters or 6.6 feet, which is compatible with all of our USB-C docks.

USB-C, although revolutionary in many aspects, can still frustrating when things don’t work. For those who may be running into issues with your Plugable USB-C device and/or its cable, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com and we’d be glad to investigate further.

What has been your experiences with USB-C cables? We’d love to hear your comments below!

Learn how to customize the display settings and resolution for your Mac laptop. We’ll also teach you a quick trick to access the hidden display resolutions for your external monitor.

If you have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team at support@plugable.com!

The new 512GB model is available globally for just $199 in addition to the previously announced 1TB model ($299) and 2TB model ($499). For those in search of ludicrous speed on a budget, our newest 512GB drive is a great choice if higher capacities aren’t required.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and we’ll be glad to help.

Plugable TBT3-NVME512 Thunderbolt™ 3 512GB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $279.99

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Plugable TBT3-NVME1TB Thunderbolt™ 3 1TB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $419.99

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Plugable TBT3-NVME2TB Thunderbolt™ 3 2TB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $699.99

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Plugable TBT3-NVME480 Thunderbolt™ 3 480GB NVMe Solid State Drive

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Today, we are excited to announce a few of our upcoming 2020 products at CES. The TBT3-UDZ Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station with 100W Power Delivery; the 2.5Gbps USB Ethernet Adapter; and the USB-C DisplayPort 1.4 MST to Dual HDMI 2.0 Adapter. These products take advantage of the latest advances in Thunderbolt 3, USB-C and Ethernet technologies.

Plugable TBT3-UDZ Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station with 100W Power Delivery
Available: 2nd Quarter 2020

Sign-up to be notified when the TBT3-UDZ is available!

The Plugable TBT3-UDZ is the most versatile, powerful and accessible docking station in 2020, exceeding limitations of other docking stations on the market. Its unique and exclusive design allows users to connect up to 2 additional 4K displays using either HDMI or DP without the need of external adapters – the first Thunderbolt 3 docking station to offer this functionality.

The TBT3-UDZ is built upon the latest Intel Titan Ridge chipset, enabling the widest compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C laptops on the market. Its dual connectivity removes frustrations from having to pick a docking station for either type of laptop while delivering unrivaled performance.

The TBT3-UDZ’s 100W power delivery is the highest charging wattage to be implemented in Plugable’s line of docking stations. With Apple now releasing notebooks with 96W chargers, such as the new 16” MacBook Pro, the TBT3-UDZ is the best docking station to pair with these devices for unrivaled performance.

The docking station features 14 ports (Video, USB, SD/MicroSD, Ethernet, Audio), making it one of the most comprehensive docking stations available, ideal for the most demanding of professions that require multiple inputs and peripherals.

Plugable USB-C DisplayPort 1.4 MST to Dual HDMI 2.0 Adapter

Sign-up to be notified when the USBC-HDMI2X is available!

The Plugable USB-C DisplayPort 1.4 MST to Dual HDMI 2.0 Adapter lets users connect 2 4K 60Hz HDMI displays at full native GPU performance to USB-C Windows systems which support DP 1.4 like the new Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 for the first time.

By leveraging DisplayPort 1.4 High Bitrate 3 (HBR3) data path, The Plugable USB-C Adapter can transmit at speeds up to 25.9Gbps over USB-C, surpassing HDMI 2.0’s 18Gbps. This enables higher resolution dual displays over a single USB-C cable. The combination of DisplayPort 1.4 and MST capabilities lets users maximize bandwidth and convert the signal to HDMI 2.0 outputs to maximize compatibility with advanced 4K displays. This enables dual HDMI 2.0 displays with HDR from a single USB-C port with DisplayPort 1.4 at the full native performance of the system’s graphics processor.

The Plugable USB-C Adapter is ideal for creative professionals who need to expand their setups without sacrificing quality. Thanks to this specific combination of DisplayPort and HDMI technologies, users can extend their laptops or phones to two 4K displays at resolution and refresh rates that were previously unattainable thanks to its DisplayPort 1.4 capabilities.

Product Specifications

• DisplayPort 1.4 connection to host laptop
• 2x HDMI 2.0 output ports
• Supports 2x 4K@60Hz HDMI monitors via Multi-Stream Transport (MST) with compatible DisplayPort 1.4 host laptops

Plugable 2.5Gbps USB Ethernet Adapter
Available: Spring 2020

Sign-up to be notified when the USBC-E2500 is available!

The Plugable 2.5 Gigabit USB Ethernet Adapter is the best way to upgrade laptops and desktops with faster wired connection speeds.

The Plugable 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet adapter is the only 2.5 Gigabit USB solution to launch with an attached USB-C to USB-A adapter, making it possible to easily upgrade any USB SuperSpeed (USB 3.0/3.1) laptop or desktop.

Most devices and networks currently use Gigabit Ethernet. This 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet adapter more than doubles that performance over existing Cat 5e or better cabling, with supporting hardware (switches and routers).

The adapter is backwards compatible with earlier networking standards such as Gigabit (10/100/1000) networks, supports auto-negotiation, and is compatible with both full-duplex or half-duplex networks, making it an ideal choice for current and future network connectivity.

Product Specifications

• Realtek RTL8156 Chipset
• USB Connection: USB-C or USB 3.0 with attached adapter. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 Gen 1
• Transfer Rates: 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T, and 2.5GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz) with Auto-Negotiation
• Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.x, and 7, macOS 10.7 and above, Linux Kernel 3.2 and above

We hope you are just as excited as we are to launch these products! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

So, you’ve purchased or received a new Windows computer? Awesome! But, you’ll need to transfer those important documents, pictures, videos, and other files, right? We can help! Your data is important to you, and we want to help you transfer it with confidence. Our Plugable USB Transfer Cables give you the power to transfer, drag & drop files, and sync files between two Windows computers.

Compatible with desktops and laptops running Windows 10, 8x, 7, Vista, and XP:

Available in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, our Transfer Cables provide a direct USB to USB connection between two Windows computers at a time.

There are a few important details to note:

• The transfer program doesn’t currently work on computers which use Windows 10 “S Mode” but, most systems that come with this version of Windows allow you to switch to “Windows 10 Home” at no cost, which is compatible.
• Additionally, please be aware that our Transfer Cables and software are great for transferring data, but they do not move the programs themselves. Full programs must be installed using the original discs/installation files. Feel free to reach out to us directly for more information.

Includes everything you need:

Your Plugable Transfer Cable order includes everything you need to perform transfers! Below, is a video with a full set of step-by-step instructions showcasing the following topics:

• • Product compatibility
  • Product un-boxing and description of contents
  • Full installation process of the Bravura Easy Sync software
  • Steps to perform your first transfer

The tools you need to transfer:

We hope this video was helpful! Our Plugable USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Transfer Cables provide you with the tools you need to transfer your documents, music, pictures, videos, and other files. You can also download the Bravura Easy Sync software from this direct link: Download Bravura Easy Computer Sync. After downloading, double click the installation file to begin.

Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below, and feel free to reach out to us directly at: support@plugable.com.

Plugable USB-EASY-TRAN USB 2.0 Windows Transfer Cable

MSRP $34.99

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Plugable USB3-TRAN USB 3.0 Windows SuperSpeed Transfer Cable

MSRP $54.99

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More details about the update and how to obtain it are available here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2019/11/12/how-to-get-the-windows-10-november-2019-update/

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Windows 10 May 2019 Update’ for Windows 10 on May 21st, 2019 (https://plugable.com/2019/05/22/windows-10-may-2019-update-with-plugable-usb-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

As it pertains to Plugable’s USB video adapters and USB docking station’s based DisplayLink technology, our products should continue to ‘just work’ after the update has applied but as with any major update there is always possibility for problems. If after the update having been applied things are not working as expected, the best practice is as follows:

1. Disconnect your USB video adapter or USB docking station (if using a docking station please also disconnect the power adapter) from your system and keep it disconnected until the last step.
2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
3. Download and run the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner from here (https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin/DisplayLink/DisplayLink+Installation+Cleaner+9.1.1462.exe)
4. Reboot the system, even if not prompted
5. Download and install the latest DisplayLink driver from here (https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink/)
6. Reconnect your docking station (after reconnecting the power) or USB video adapter and your displays should become active

In summation, while in most cases things should ‘just work’ as with any major update to an operating system things may not go as expected. If any of our customers apply the update and the above instructions do not help, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to assist.

Both new 1TB and 2TB models have upgraded NVMe SSD media, which, combined with the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3, offer insane speeds of up to 2400+ MB/sec read and 1800+ MB/sec write, all without the need for an external power connection. In addition, we’ve upgraded the original 480GB model with this newer media as well. SSD drives are significantly more durable than traditional mechanical hard drives, and combined with a compact anodized aluminum chassis, they’re perfect for uncompromising on-the-go storage. Weighing only 6.2oz and with a minimal profile of 108mm x 65mm x 14.5mm, they can be tucked in a pocket or bag without hassle. We even included a carrying bag to protect their anodized aluminum finish and your other devices from scratches.

Intel Thunderbolt 3 technology offers blistering transfer speeds up to 40Gbps and is the perfect connection to take advantage of highly-performant storage technologies. Unlike traditional external storage solutions that are limited by the SATA III interface, NVMe technology allows solid state media to interface directly with your CPU via PCI Express, allowing vastly improved performance as well as lower latency and reduced CPU usage. With the TBT3-NVME1TB and TBT3-NVME2TB external solid state drives, you can experience performance like never before, often as fast (or faster!) than your computer’s built-in storage, and roughly 5x faster than traditional SATA III solid state drives connected with USB 3.1 Gen 2.

Our benchmark testing with a 2019 MacBook Pro 15″ with a PCIe x4 lane Thunderbolt 3 connection reveals massive performance numbers:

Here’s a benchmark of the same drive on an Windows 10 desktop system with Thunderbolt 3:

An important note that’s true of all Thunderbolt 3 devices: Although this drive will fit in any USB-C port, it’s a Thunderbolt 3 device. It will only work with Thunderbolt 3 ports, and not all USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3 capable. So, for example, it will work on the Late 2016 and newer MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, but not the non-Thunderbolt 12″ MacBooks with USB-C. Or, even more confusingly — on some Windows PCs, the USB-C ports on the laptop are a mix of Thunderbolt 3 and non-Thunderbolt capable ports. So just make sure you’re plugging into a Thunderbolt 3 port before buying one of these drives.

As a special thank you to Plugable fans, we’re offering a limited time launch discount of $50 off the 1TB SSD and $100 off the 2TB SSD for those who purchase on Amazon.com. Simply clip the coupon on Amazon prior to checkout.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and we’ll be glad to help.

Plugable TBT3-NVME2TB Thunderbolt™ 3 2TB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $699.99

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Plugable TBT3-NVME1TB Thunderbolt™ 3 1TB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $419.99

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Plugable TBT3-NVME480 Thunderbolt™ 3 480GB NVMe Solid State Drive

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** Update 12/3/2019 – With the latest update to the DisplayLink macOS driver, the ‘additional’ instructions provided by DisplayLink on their support site (to be executed within Recovery Mode) that were required in some instances should no longer be necessary, and as a result DisplayLink has removed the information from their website. We have kept the information within the blog post for historical reference, but have struck it through to indicate it is no longer required. **

On Monday, October 7th Apple released macOS Catalina 10.15 for supported laptop and desktop systems. As with any other major operating system update, there is also the possibility for existing peripherals and applications to not work as expected.

We speak to some of these issues in recent blog posts:

BIG CHANGES UNDER THE HOOD IN MACOS 10.15 CATALINA

PLUGABLE MICROSCOPE NOT WORKING AFTER MACOS 10.15 CATALINA? WE CAN HELP!

USB ETHERNET ADAPTER NOT WORKING AFTER MACOS CATALINA 10.15 UPDATE? WE CAN HELP!

In this post we want to speak to how macOS Catalina affects Plugable products that use DisplayLink USB video technology, which at present include the following products:

UD-6950 Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-6950
UD-5900 Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-5900
UD-3900 Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-3900
UD-3900H Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-3900h
UD-6950H Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-6950h
UD-ULTCDL Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-ultcdl
UD-ULTC4K Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-ultc4k
UD-PRO8 Docking Station – https://plugable.com/products/ud-pro8
USBC-6950-DP Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usbc-6950-dp
USBC-6950-HDMI Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usbc-6950-hdmi
USB3-6950-DP Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usb3-6950-dp
USB3-6950-HDMI Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usb3-6950-hdmi
UGA-4KDP Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/uga-4kdp
UGA-4KHDMI Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/uga-4khdmi
UGA-2KHDMI Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/uga-2khdmi
UGA-3000 Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/uga-3000
USB3-3900DHE Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usb3-3900dhe
UGA-165 Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/uga-165
UGA-VGA-165 Display Adapter – https://plugable.com/products/usb-vga-165

In brief, our DisplayLink-based products can be made to work with an Apple Mac system running macOS but this is not something Plugable officially supports at this time and we do our best to call this out in our product listings.

While DisplayLink (the separate company that makes the chips used in our DisplayLink-based products and does the driver development –> https://www.displaylink.com/ ) have released driver versions that work with macOS that some have reported work with our products, this is not officially supported by Plugable.

With the recent release of macOS Catalina 10.15, Apple has made changes to the operating system that require an updated beta DisplayLink driver and a few special steps during the installation process in order for any DisplayLink-based device (Plugable brand or otherwise) to work properly.

As a courtesy we have provided detailed installation instructions (and a video walkthrough) for removing any existing DisplayLink drivers and installing an updated DisplayLink driver on a macOS Catalina 10.15 system here –> https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink/mac/#install_catalina

* Please pay particular attention to the security processes shown in steps #11, #12 and #13 of the install guide. These need to be completed in order for the process to work.

** We have had reports that even after following the installation instructions the DisplayLink device is still not working. Should that prove to be the case, first ensure you have a full system backup using Time Machine as a precaution. Once the backup is verified, please follow the instructions provided by DisplayLink here –> https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/1916602-macos-catalina-10-15-screen-recording-permission

In summation, while Plugable does not officially support using our DisplayLink-based products with macOS most likely things can be made to work. Customers updating from macOS Mojave 10.14 to macOS Catalina 10.15 may see their DisplayLink device stop working. Removing any existing DisplayLink drivers and installing an updated DisplayLink beta version driver may help, and we have provided a detailed procedure for doing so.

If you are using a Plugable branded DisplayLink-based product with macOS Catalina 10.15 and are still experiencing issues using the device after having followed all of the procedures referenced above, please keep everything connected (even though not working) and send the output of our diagnostic utility PlugDebug –> http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will do our best to try and help.

**UPDATE 2: ASIX has provided a final release driver for use with macOS 10.15.3 (Catalina) only due to updated notarization requirements from Apple as of February 2, 2020. After thorough vetting and testing in coordination with ASIX, we have updated our download links to this 2.16.0 final release build from the previous 2.15.0 and 2.15.0-Beta 1 builds both on this blog post and our driver page for affected devices.

(Please note, these drivers and instructions are intended only for our Plugable manufactured adapters. If your adapter is from another manufacturer, we would suggest to reach out to that company directly for support.)

**UPDATE 1: ASIX has provided a final release driver for use with macOS 10.15 (Catalina) only. After thorough vetting and testing in coordination with ASIX, we have updated our download links to this 2.15.0 final release build from the previous Beta 1 build both on this blog post and our driver page for affected devices.
 

USB3-E1000 & USBC-E1000 AX88179 macOS 10.15 Catalina Drivers v2.16.0 Final Release – 01/30/2020
For use with macOS 10.15 only and with support for February 2020 Apple Notarization Requirements

Synopsis

The installation of macOS 10.15 Catalina will disable older drivers for some devices and devices which rely on these drivers will no longer function until a compatible driver is reinstalled. Most Plugable products are not affected by this, with the exception of our USB Ethernet adapters that use ASIX Gigabit Ethernet chips (models: USBC-E1000, USB3-E1000, and USB2-E1000).

For instructions on how to restore functionality of your ASIX-based Plugable Ethernet Adapter after updating to macOS 10.15 Catalina, you can jump right to our step-by-step instructions here:
ASIX driver installation guide for macOS Catalina

For those who’d like more detail about the underlying behavior, keep reading!

Background

macOS 10.15 (Catalina), is nearly here, and with it come some new Application and driver requirements. For additional details about the new DriverKit model and the transition to 64-bit application requirements, check out our other Catalina blog posts here and here.

While these are positive changes for the Mac ecosystem, the new driver requirements in Catalina will take time to get used to for some driver developers. In the short term some products will have a less user-friendly installation process as driver developers adapt to these changes. The vast majority of Plugable products that work in previous versions of macOS will continue to do so without incident in Catalina. However, USB Ethernet adapters (from Plugable and others) that use ASIX chips can pose the following challenges:

1. Drivers that worked for users in macOS 10.14 and earlier will no longer function after updating to macOS 10.15 Catalina until updated, compatible drivers are installed
2. Attempting to reinstall an older driver version will trigger a message stating: “The installation failed. The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.”
3. The updated macOS 10.15-compatible beta driver from ASIX has a persistent on-screen dialog box which makes the driver installation more challenging than usual

This message occurs when trying to install drivers incompatible with 10.15

Because of challenges with the beta ASIX driver installation process in 10.15, we will not be officially recommending our ASIX-based Gigabit Ethernet adapters on macOS Catalina until ASIX has developed an updated driver version with a less cumbersome installation process. Note that these challenges all pertain to software; the hardware remains compatible. This includes the following USB to Ethernet adapters models: USB3-E1000, USBC-E1000 and USB2-E1000. Apple is expected to release the final version of macOS Catalina, on or around Friday October 4, 2019.

Installation Instructions

Below are a download link and step-by-step instructions documenting driver installation and the macOS Gatekeeper approval process for our USB3-E1000 and USBC-E1000 adapters, which both use the ASIX AX88179 chipset in both written and video formats.

USB3-E1000 & USBC-E1000 AX88179 macOS 10.15 Catalina Drivers v2.15.0 Final Release – 11/19/2019
For use with macOS 10.15 only

(The process should be the same for the USB2-E1000 based on the AX88178 chip, though this adapter uses a different driver version, found here: USB2-E1000 AX88178 macOS Catalina Drivers v2.3.0)

Step 1: After downloading, open the folder downloaded and run the AX88179_178A_v2.15.0_beta1.pkg file

Step 2: This window will open for the installation process. Please continue through the process as guided by the installer.

Step 3: During this process, you will be asked to input your account password to allow the installation to continue, please do so and click “Install Software” to continue.

Step 4: You’ll be prompted with this message below stating that the extension cannot be loaded. Please note, clicking OK, won’t actually start the driver installation. When you click OK, the message will pop up continually.

Step 5: Click and drag this error dialog box out of the way, while keeping it on your monitor for later access (do not close this dialog box). Now, please go to the Apple Menu (on the toolbar at the top of your screen) > System Preferences. When System Preferences opens, visit Security & Privacy > General tab. Here, we see the extension signature listed but cannot allow it to install yet. Please click on the lock at the bottom as we need to allow the process for Gatekeeper.

Step 6: You’ll be prompted for your password, please enter it to unlock the option to Allow the extension to install

Step 7: After unlocking the options with your password, click the button to “Allow” the installation of the extension

Step 8: Now you have permission to open the package for installation. Please click, OK on the System Extension notification you moved out of the way which will close the window this time, and allow the installation to begin

Step 9: Now, the installation has begun

Step 10: Installation complete. Now that everything is finished, go ahead and click Restart

Step 11: You’ll be asked if you want to move the installer package into the trash. This is up to you, and won’t affect the installation process. Please note, once you pick an option your Mac will restart

Final Step: After installation and restarting you may wish to turn off your WiFi temporarily while you check the connection. Go into System Preferences > Network, and you should see the wired adapter with a green, connected status! (Please note, your network information will show up here)

FAQ

I have this adapter, and it no longer works after the Catalina update. What are my options?
Installing an updated version of the ASIX drivers will restore functionality. Click here for step-by-step instructions

Has Apple disabled support for ASIX-based network adapters?
No, Apple has not disabled support for these products. But the currently-available drivers from ASIX have an installation process which doesn’t meet our requirements for ease of use for our customers.

Are adapters from other brands affected by the Catalina update as well?
Yes, the latest macOS Catalina update will affect any adapters with ASIX chipsets as drivers are not included in macOS and require installation by all customers upgrading to Catalina

Will users who upgrade to Catalina with the older ASIX drivers installed get an error message?
Unfortunately, no, the drivers will silently fail to load and no error messages will be presented to any user of incompatible drivers.

What happens if I try to install older drives on Catalina now that I’ve updated?
The installation process will attempt to go through, but will ultimately fail with the following message: “The installation failed. The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.”

We do apologize for any inconvenience, and are here to help. If you have any additional questions, please let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us directly at: support@plugable.com.

One of the biggest changes in macOS 10.15 (Catalina) is support for 32-bit legacy applications has been phased out. Catalina and future versions of macOS operating system support only 64-bit applications. (You can read more about this in our Catalina blog post and on Apple’s site if interested.)

As a result, if you’ve recently updated your macOS version to 10.15 (Catalina), you may have noticed that your 32-Bit applications no longer launch. The software we’ll be focusing on here is the 32-bit version of Plugable’s Digital Viewer, used by the Plugable USB2-MICRO-250X and USB2-MICRO-800X microscopes. The 32-bit version of Digital Viewer will show an error when attempting to run in Catalina, stating “Digital Viewer needs to be updated.”

Thankfully, we’ve been working on a solution! Just in time for Catalina, we’ve got an updated version of the Digital Viewer software which fully supports Apple’s 64-bit application requirements and includes several other usability improvements. Read below for step-by-step instructions on how to upgrade to this new version.

Please note, our Digital Viewer software and troubleshooting steps are intended only for use with the USB2-MICRO-250X and USB2-MICRO-800X microscopes that we manufacture. If your microscope was made by another manufacturer, we would suggest to reach out to that company directly for support.

Step-by-step instructions are presented below. For those seeking a quick summary: we suggest uninstalling the current 32-Bit version of Digital Viewer on your Mac and restarting. After uninstalling and restarting, download Plugable’s 64-bit Digital Viewer software here and install: Plugable Digital Viewer v3.3.30.pkg.

Installation Instructions

Step 1: Uninstall the current 32-Bit Version: Go to your Applications folder, click and drag the 32-Bit version of the Digital Viewer into your trash bin, and delete it

Step 2: Download the new 64-Bit Package Installer, launch, and click “Continue” to proceed

Step 3: Click “Install” to begin the installation

Step 4: Enter your password, and then click, “Install Software” to continue

Step 5: You should receive this message about successful installation. Go ahead and restart your Mac

Step 6: After restarting, open up the new Plugable Digital Viewer application, and make sure to set the, “USB Microscope” as the default device in the Settings. Click “Apply” to save this change.

Please feel free to comment below, or reach out to us directly at: support@plugable.com

The two changes we expect to have the highest user impact offer benefits while also posing challenges for developers: the requirement that all applications must be 64-bit (and as a result, the loss of legacy 32-bit application compatibility), and the requirement that drivers must utilize the new, more secure, DriverKit framework. While these changes are all-around positive for the future of macOS from performance, security, and stability standpoints, they affect millions of lines of code across the planet, fundamentally changing the way that software and drivers must be created in order to work on macOS.

Transition to 64-bit application requirements has been in the works for quite some time, as the sunset for 32-bit app support has been in the works for over a year. Beginning with the release of macOS 10.13.4 High Sierra in March 2018, macOS has been presenting warnings to users of 32-bit apps, encouraging users to contact to application developers concerning the app’s future. We’ve encountered this frequently while supporting our USB microscopes, as the software we provide to go along with those products has been 32-bit right up to the Catalina deadline. And though warnings have been present for some time, the applications in question could still be run. After installing Catalina, when you attempt to launch a 32-bit application, users will see a warning that “{Application Name} needs to be updated”, and the app will simply no longer run.

The move away from 32-bit is a good one, but it does create some roadblocks. Newer, more efficient APIs such as Metal are 64-bit only, and 32-bit apps by nature can’t leverage as much memory space as a 64-bit app. On the downside, many legacy apps that no longer have active development teams behind will be stuck on older versions of macOS eternally, forcing users to choose between keeping their system out-of-date to retain compatibility, or upgrading their OS and potentially having to purchase new software. In the not-so-distant future, this could mean keeping an insecure operating system on hand just to retain compatibility with a crucial piece of software.

Users run applications on their systems constantly, so the above changes will be quite noticeable for affected users. Drivers — small pieces of special software which enable hardware devices to work — are something users consciously interact with much less frequently. With Catalina, Apple is now requiring that these drivers use a framework called DriverKit, which represents a huge shift in how drivers interact with the core of the operating system (known as the kernel). Drivers developed with DriverKit run in user space, rather than as kernel extensions (.kext), which offers immensely improved security and stability.

What this has meant for developers is that legacy “kext” drivers have had to be re-written, and that can bring some challenges. As it currently stands, many devices on the market with legacy drivers simply won’t function on Catalina until newer drivers are released. Our USBC-E1000 and USB3-E1000 are two such devices; the chipset manufacturer for this device has only produced a beta driver to meet the deadline for Catalina release, which is more challenging to install than typical drivers. (We’ve got a blog post coming shortly after this one with instructions on how to install this new beta drivers for affected users.)

These changes are likely to signal the end for many legacy applications and devices that no longer have active developers behind them. Devices that rely on kernel extensions, and applications that were never updated to 64-bit before desertion will be forced off of macOS with these changes. In many cases, this will raise some difficult decisions for users and organizations who rely on specialized legacy applications or hardware.

Today, most consumer electronics are manufactured in China. However, all of Plugable’s full-time employees, including designers and support engineers, work in Redmond, WA. Founder and CEO of Plugable Technologies, Bernie Thompson states, “15% to 30% tax shifts are greater than the profit margins for most electronics and effectively determine market winners. Moving factories from country to country is a multi-year process and raises costs and prices. They make compliant companies vulnerable to companies willing to game the system. And when tariffs might rise or disappear on short notice, planning is difficult. Unpredictability of tariff rates impacts smaller businesses disproportionately.”

One Plugable product already made outside of China saw a decrease in price this week. Plugable’s UD-CA1A USB-C Universal Laptop Docking Station has been manufactured in Taiwan for over two years. With increasing volumes, Plugable was able to decrease the street price by $10 to $119. Plugable has been aggressively moving manufacturing out of China in 2018 and 2019, and expects the results of those efforts to show in new products in 2020 and 2021.”

Learn more about tariff effects on US consumer prices. Prices outside of the USA are unaffected.

About Plugable

Plugable Technologies was founded in 2009 and has a line of over 120 USB products, sold globally in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Plugable offers market-leading laptop docking stations for USB-A, USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3 technologies.

The Raspberry Pi 4 is about the size of a credit card!

Perfect for kids, and kids at heart, Raspberry Pi is a DIY computing platform that provides users with the tools to dream, tinker, and bring exciting ideas to life! With multiple operating systems that you write to a Micro SD card using software like Etcher, and a full suite of available office software from Libre Office, this is a computer that you can truly make your own! The operating systems, and software packages are all free and open source unless otherwise listed!

Raspberry Pi is a great lower cost option to give your kids an edge in computing from the ground up. Connect it to an HDMI port on an existing monitor/TV, and power it with a USB C adapter. Kids can truly get engaged in creating, learning and critical thinking about tech rather than just consuming it. Get ready to learn about various Linux operating systems, explore a world of programming languages, and create websites with HTML/CSS! Or, get creative with art, music, and other crafting projects with great software!

The Raspbian operating system provides a familiar experience!

When their homework is finished, imagine the fun your kids can have in creating a DIY gaming platform with RetroPie, media server with LibreElec, or starting any number of projects for various arts, crafts, music and science with a technical flare to truly stand out!

The newest version of Raspberry Pi features two USB 3.0 ports, the choice of 1,2 or 4GB of ram, and two micro HDMI ports capable of running dual displays at 4K. Add on gigabit Ethernet, built in wireless and Bluetooth functionality, and you have the most delicious Pi yet! Whatever the project, Raspberry Pi has you covered, and Plugable has the accessories to keep you engaged and help you meet your goals!

• Capture Images and Video with our Plugable USB2-Micro-250X microscope using the Cheese application!

Investigating a sponge with the USB2-MICRO-250X Microscope!

• Record Audio with our Plugable USB-Audio adapter and software by Audacity!

• Extend your connectivity with our 16 FT USB3-5M-D, and 32 FT USB3-10M-D extension cables.

For more information on Raspberry Pi hardware, software, and a plethora of projects, please visit: raspberrypi.org. The colorful and kid friendly website has all the tools and knowledge to help get you and your kids started. Feel free to drop us a line at: support@plugable.com with any projects you’ve worked on or created!

Go back to school in tech savvy style with Raspberry Pi 4, and Plugable!

It’s that time of the year again when summer slowly starts to come to an end and it’s time to get ready for back to school. This year we’ve decided to help get your kiddo (or yourself) excited for school with our Back to School Guide. Whether you’re going to school or work these must have deals are only around for a limited time! 

PLUGABLE BACK TO SCHOOL GUIDE 2019

250x USB Digital Microscope ($6 Off)

Learning can be more fun than video games and the Plugable USB Microscope proves it! Enjoy exploring the microscopic world with your students or little one. See things like money, leaves, circuit boards, bugs, skin, and hair up closer than ever before. Take the microscope outside on a nature adventure or in the classroom for the coolest science experiments. Discover new specimen on your computer’s display and even take a photo of your findings with one touch on the microscope. Share your findings with fellow collectors, friends, students, and more. The microscope is all you’ll need to make STEM fun for everyone. 

USB-C Phone Dock ($20 Off)

Ever been stuck without your laptop and really needed to get a project done, but couldn’t? If only your smartphone could turn into a full desktop totally bypassing your laptop. Well for Samsung (x) users, you now can. Using Samsung’s DeX experience through your smartphone you can now connect your phone to Plugable’s Phone Dock and a monitor to get a complete desktop experience. You’ll also get USB ports for connecting a keyboard and mouse, wired ethernet for a safer and faster network connection, and 15W of power to keep your phone charged. Turn your Samsung phone into a desktop with Plugable’s Phone Dock. 

USB-C Mini Docking Station ($25 Off)

When you’re working on multiple projects, sending and checking emails, a laptop can slow you down. Whether you’re going back to school or preparing for Q4 the workload isn’t going to slow down. It’s time to power up your productivity with Plugable’s USB-C Mini Docking Station. Add a single 4K monitor to your laptop with all of the extra connectivity you’ll ever need. Including 4 USB ports, Ethernet, audio input/output, and 85W of power all through a single cable back to your laptop. Forget slouching over small screens or struggling to keep track of 50 windows. Add another monitor and multiple peripherals to tackle the school year ahead. 

Bluetooth Keyboard ($8 Off)

A great back to school accessory that is small, convenient and easy to use is the Plugable Folding Bluetooth Keyboard. Whether you’re texting, sending emails, or writing a report this keyboard is great for planes, coffee shops, and more! Take it on the go by folding it up and throwing it in your bag. When you’re ready to use it pair it with your phone or tablet and get the convenience of typing on a full-size keyboard. If you’re ever on the go or enjoy studying outside the office, the Bluetooth folding keyboard is a must have! 

USB-C NVMe Tool-Free Enclosure ($10 off)

The Plugable tool-free NVMe enclosure is an essential product for storage of all your files this back to school season. From documents, to photos, and videos all in one place with speeds that won’t slow you down. In a hurry? Transfer 2,500 photos in under 30 seconds! The NVMe enclosure can back up and save files faster than before. The tool-free design allows you to quickly and easily switch out media for any project you’re working on. Then take it on the go with it’s portable aluminum design.

With the back to school season upon us, there’s no better time to take advantage of Plugable’s top Back to School items. Even if you’re not a student, Plugable has some essential items for your desk refresh or productivity booster when you’re on the go or in the office. If you have any questions please reach out to support@plugable.com or comment below and we’d be happy to help! 

*Deals are U.S. only. Ends Aug 23rd, 2019.

If you’ve never tried a mechanical keyboard or tested red and blue switches side by side you may be wondering about the difference between the red and blue switch types. In brief, each “color” switch has different mechanical characteristics and performance. Our new red switches provide smooth and lightweight linear (straight up and down) action without the tactile “bump” or audible clicky sound produced by blue switches. This results in red switches producing a speedier keystroke and smoother typing feel with less sound than their blue counterparts. As such these keyboards are much quieter than our blue switch versions making them a suitable option for environments that would not normally allow for a louder, clicky-style keyboard, such as the work place or quiet office.

In addition, because of the lack of any tactile feedback (tactile bump/click), when the switch is actuated, this keyboard will give gamers a competitive edge compared to using clicky switches as the time and effort required to actuate a switch is less than other switch types. This is even more evident when rapidly pressing the same key repeatedly which is common in gaming, sometimes referred to “spamming” a key.

Where to Buy

Both new keyboards are available on Amazon for immediate purchase in the United States and coming soon to Canada. As a special thank you to our customers on Amazon.com, we’re offering a special $10 launch discount for a limited time (simply clip the coupon on Amazon.com and the discount will automatically apply). For more details, please see the product pages here (USB-MECH104RW) and here (USB-MECH87RW).

If you’d like to learn more about our existing mechanical keyboards, check out our original keyboard blog post here for some backstory!

As always, please feel free to comment below or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com with any questions or comments. We’re happy to help!

Plugable USB-MECH104RW Full Size 104-Key Mechanical Keyboard with Red Linear Switches

MSRP $84.99

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Plugable USB-MECH87RW Compact 87-Key Mechanical Keyboard with Red Linear Switches

MSRP $74.99

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A Desktop Experience Through Your Phone

We’re excited to announce Plugable’s first USB-C Phone Docking Station (UD-CUBE-15W) — the Phone Cube! With a compatible DeX-enabled Samsung Galaxy smartphone or tablet, you’ll be able to connect your phone to the dock and hook up an HDMI display to drive a full-on desktop experience. This doesn’t mean just mirroring your phone display (although you can do that too), but you can actually drive an entire desktop, complete with an HDMI monitor and USB ports to connect peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse, and a storage device. Don’t forget an Ethernet port for a wired Ethernet connection, too!

Many of your favorite mobile apps like the MS Office suite, Gmail, Google Chrome, Adobe Sketch, YouTube, and many more are already optimized for Samsung DeX. So when you connect your Galaxy to the Phone Cube and enter DeX mode, these apps are able to take advantage of your larger attached monitor (and even a keyboard and mouse), enabling you to work and play in ways that simply aren’t possible on a (comparatively) small phone screen.

Keep Your Phone Charged and Ready For Use

The Phone Cube provides up to 15W of power to your attached smartphone, keeping your battery charged during use for when you’re ready to disconnect and go. When you’re docked, however, you can enjoy being able to multi-task on your phone while navigating through the desktop experience.

Additionally, with a detachable 3 ft / 90cm USB-C to USB-C cable, we avoid a lot of issues typical of a USB-C male fixture on cradle-type docks. These force the phone to be stuck sitting fixed on a dock, preventing it from being used efficiently, while often requiring you to annoyingly remove your smartphone case. (Not to mention that a headphone jack on the bottom of the phone is now left inaccessible.) Our Phone Cube with its modular USB-C cable avoids all of this and allows you to be able to multitask smoothly and cleanly, enabling you to remain “docked” (in Dex mode) even while lifting the phone to your ear for a call or laying the phone flat on a desk as a drawing pad.

Samsung DeX and Galaxy Devices

The Phone Cube requires that the smartphone or tablet support Samsung DeX. Samsung DeX is currently supported on the following models:

• Galaxy S10 / S10 5G / S10 Plus / S10e
• Galaxy Note 9
• Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 Plus
• Galaxy Note 8*
• Galaxy S8*, Galaxy S8 Plus*, Galaxy S8 Active*
• Galaxy Tab S5e
• Galaxy Tab S4

*The S8 models require that the phone be updated to Android 9 “Pie” OS. Additionally, these smartphones are not compatible with the Ethernet port on the Phone Cube, so the use of the Ethernet port will not be possible.*

Where to Buy

The Phone Cube is available immediately in the USA, and will be available soon in Canada. As a special thank you to our customers on Amazon.com, we’re offering a special $20 launch discount for a limited time (simply clip the coupon on Amazon.com and the discount will automatically apply).

For further details about the Phone Cube, please see the Phone Cube’s product page. And of course, please feel free to comment below or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com with any questions or comments. We’re happy to help!

Plugable UD-CUBE-15W USB-C Phone Cube Docking Station

MSRP $139.99

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Continuing with their practice of providing frequent large updates to Windows 10, Microsoft released the ‘Windows 10 May 2019 Update’ for Windows 10 on May 21st, 2019 and with this update there are many fixes and enhancements to the operating system. More details about the update and how to obtain it are available here

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Windows 10 October 2018 Update’ for Windows 10 on October 2nd, 2018.

Windows 10 docks should continue to ‘just work’ after the update has applied but as with any major update there is always possibility for problems. If after the update having been applied things are not working as expected, the best practice is as follows:

1. Disconnect your USB video adapter or DisplayLink docking station (if using a docking station please also disconnect the power adapter) from your system and keep it disconnected until the last step.
2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
3. Download and run the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner from here (https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin/DisplayLink/DisplayLink+Installation+Cleaner+9.1.1462.exe)
4. Reboot the system, even if not prompted
5. Download and install the latest DisplayLink driver from here (https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink/)
6. Reconnect your docking station (after reconnecting the power) or USB video adapter and your displays should become active

In summation, while in most cases things should ‘just work’ as with any major update to an operating system things may not go as expected with your Windows 10 docking station. If any of our customers apply the update and the above instructions do not help, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to assist.

For reference, previous updates have been:

‘Windows 10 April 2018 Update’ for Windows 10 on April 30th, 2018 (https://plugable.com/2018/04/30/windows-10-april-2018-update-plugable-docking-stations-usb-video-adapters/)

‘Fall Creators Update’ for Windows 10 on October 17th, 2017 (https://plugable.com/2017/10/17/windows-10-fall-creators-update-with-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

‘Creators’ update in April of 2017 (https://plugable.com/2017/04/06/windows-10-creators-update-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

‘Anniversary Update’ in August of 2016 (https://plugable.com/2016/08/01/windows-10-anniversary-update-and-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

Today, we are excited to release the latest addition to our Thunderbolt 3 cable family: the 2.6ft (80cm) passive 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 Cable with support for 100W charging (TBT3-40G80CM).

Thunderbolt 3’s unparalleled performance has had a trade-off, with short 1.6ft/.5m cables or more costly “active” cables (without USB 3.1 compatibility) required to reach its maximum capability of 40Gbps. However, Plugable’s 2.6ft/80cm cable allows you to take advantage of this new technology, including USB 3.1 compatibility, with nearly a foot longer cable than before, solving the frustration of an overly short cable and limited distance between your laptop and dock.

Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 Cable consolidates data transfer, video output, and charging into a single compact connector. It offers data transfer speeds up to 40Gbps and USB 3.1 Gen 2 data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, along with DisplayPort video output (HBR3) and charging up to 100W. This high quality Thunderbolt 3 Certified cable allows for the connection of all types of Thunderbolt 3, USB, and DisplayPort devices to a Thunderbolt 3 enabled system and provides our customers flexibility in terms of the cable length, increased bandwidth, and a low cost of $24.95.

The Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Cable offers the full performance of Thunderbolt 3, including the fastest connection available at 40Gbps, support for 5A/100W charging for demanding computers, and more pixels at 60Hz. The cable allows these amazing capabilities when connected to Thunderbolt 3 devices such as docking stations, hard drive arrays, NVMe SSD drives, and high resolution external displays, while also supporting USB-C enabled peripherals at USB 3.1 Gen 2 speeds. The Plugable Thunderbolt 3 Cable connects to as many as 6 devices, daisy chained, through a single compact port. Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 cable also has the Thunderbolt logo and number 3 etched on the cable, making it easily distinguishable between multiple cables.

Our new 2.6ft/80cm Thunderbolt 3 cable joins our existing family of Thunderbolt 3 cables and products, such as Dual Display adapters the TBT3-DP2X-83 and TBT3-HDMI2X-83 and will also pair well with our Thunderbolt 3 docking stations TBT3-UDV to provide even more expansion capabilities. For those who prefer a longer cable and don’t require Thunderbolt 3’s maximum 40Gbps bandwidth, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 20Gbps 3.3ft/1m and 6.6ft/2m (TBT3-20G1M & TBT3-20G2M, respectively) cables support twice the speed and bandwidth (20Gbps) of standard USB-C cables. Single 4096×2160@60Hz (4Kp60) video output and up to 60W charging capabilities with compatible systems and Thunderbolt 3 accessories. The cable is electronically marked (e-marker) with an IC to assist in negotiation of charging rates and USB-C alternate modes, and allows for daisy chaining up to six Thunderbolt devices.

Where to Buy

The TBT3-40G80CM is available immediately in the USA, UK, and the EU, and will be available soon in Canada and Japan. As a special thank you to our customers on Amazon.com, we’re offering a special 10% launch discount for a limited time (simply clip the coupon on Amazon.com and the discount will automatically apply). For more details, please see the Plugable TBT3-40G80CM product page. As always, please feel free to comment below or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com with any questions or comments. We’re happy to help!

Plugable TBT3-40G80CM Thunderbolt 3 Cable 40Gbps Supports 100W Charging

MSRP $34.99

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Enjoy Expanded Connectivity

The Cube provides users the ability to connect a single 4K@30Hz HDMI display, three USB ports (1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0) for connecting peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse, and a wired gigabit Ethernet connection, all through a single USB-C cable.

The HDMI port on the Cube is powered through USB-C Alternate Mode (Alt Mode), which allows for native level display performance up to the host system’s graphics capabilities. The Cube is self-powered to function with or without its power adapter. This allows the Cube to be fit for the times its needed on the desk or optionally on the road.

Creating a slim mobile docking station has its tradeoffs, however. In exchange for its flexibility and size, please be aware that the Cube is not able to charge the battery of the host system. You will need to continue to use the power adapter included by your system manufacturer when charging is needed.

Convenient as a Travel Companion

The Cube is designed for laptop and Windows tablet users. Its small, minimalist form factor saves valuable desk space and makes it great for on-the-go professionals. The sleek and lightweight design of the Cube makes it well suited for travel. Other great scenarios include quick setup at conferences or easy connectivity in the meeting room.

The Tiny but Mighty Cube Dock

The Cube is smaller than most smartphones and so keeping it on your desk is a great first step towards eliminating unnecessary clutter. With the Cube, we try to help users streamline their workstations and become more efficient and productive by getting their ports back in a compact and convenient dock.

Where to Buy

The Cube is available immediately in the USA and Canada. If you’re looking for more details about the Cube, please see the Plugable UD-CUBE product page. As always, please feel free to comment below or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com with any questions or comments. We’re happy to help!

Plugable UD-CUBE USB-C Cube Docking Station

MSRP $124.99

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In the course of researching and testing the latest Windows Thunderbolt 3 drivers and software, I managed to ‘break’ one of our Windows Thunderbolt 3 test systems to the point where I could no longer run the Intel Thunderbolt Software management utility that controls the authentication and management of Thunderbolt devices.

Something ‘breaking’ during testing is not unusual, however the solution was not obvious. As a result, we wanted to share what we learned to help others resolve this issue should they encounter it.

At this time, the problem can be resolved by uninstalling the Thunderbolt Host Controller driver and Thunderbolt Software and deleting the associated ‘nhi’ Windows service and then reinstalling matched versions of the driver and utility. A detailed procedure for doing so is provided below.

Detail – DCH versions of the Intel Thunderbolt Controller driver for Windows and associated UWP Intel Thunderbolt Control Center utility are not compatible with earlier non-DCH versions of the drivers or non-UWP utilities.

Since Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems were introduced to the market towards the end of 2015, Intel has provided a ‘Thunderbolt Bus Driver for Windows’ package that installs not only the driver for a system’s internal Thunderbolt host controller, but also the associated Intel ‘Thunderbolt Software’ management utility used to view, manage and authenticate Thunderbolt devices.

This driver/utility package evolved over time to add new features and fix bugs, and updating the software as new versions were released helped ensure the best performance of Thunderbolt devices on Windows.

One of our other support engineers noticed that within our new Dell XPS 13 9380 test system there were new Thunderbolt drivers and utilities provided by Dell that appeared very different to what we had seen in the past.

Intrigued, I downloaded and installed these newer versions of the driver and utility to my own Dell XPS 13 9350 system to see how they performed. They worked as expected, and I thought nothing of it.

Fast forward a few weeks, and Dell posted yet another new version of the Thunderbolt driver and utility for my Dell XPS 13 9350. Wanting to make sure I had the latest and greatest installed, I downloaded and installed the software. However, when I went to launch the Intel Thunderbolt Software I was greeted with this error message:

Application Cannot Run error message

As a result, I attempted to remove both the Thunderbolt driver and software utility from my system and reinstall. But when I did so, I always received the same error message when attempting to launch the Thunderbolt Software.

I had not encountered this behavior before, and a quick Google search turned up a potential solution within this Lenovo support forum thread -> https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/T480-DCH-Thunderbolt-driver-amp-TB3-Dock-Firmware-upgrade/td-p/4352681/

Within the many posts to that thread, it appeared that others had encountered a similar problem albeit with varying origins. Three pages in, a Lenovo representative posted what appeared to be a promising solution -> https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/T480-DCH-Thunderbolt-driver-amp-TB3-Dock-Firmware-upgrade/m-p/4378204#M132320

The Lenovo representative suggested completely removing the system’s Thunderbolt Host Controller driver from within Windows Device Manager, deleting a Windows service called ‘nhi’, uninstalling any Intel Thunderbolt utilities that may be present, and then finally reinstalling both the Thunderbolt driver and utility.

After performing this procedure on my affected Dell XPS 13 9350 system I was able to install the latest Thunderbolt driver and software utility from Dell and successfully launch the Thunderbolt Software utility. Below is a refined, detailed version of the procedure:

*** Before proceeding with this or any other procedure that makes changes to your system, please ensure you have a full system backup of any and all important data and create a fresh System Restore Point as a precaution. Plugable will not be able to help restore any data or return a system to a working state should things not work as expected. If you do not wish to take this risk, please do not follow this procedure ***

*** You will have to be logged on to the system as a User with ‘Administrator’ permissions in order to perform these steps ***

1. Disconnect any Thunderbolt 3 devices from the host system (this is done to prevent Windows Update from automatically loading any Thunderbolt drivers).
2. Right-click on the Windows Start button and select ‘Device Manager’.
3. Click on ‘View’ from the application menu bar, and click the option ‘Show hidden devices’ (this is necessary because the Thunderbolt controller will not be active if no Thunderbolt devices are connected).
4. Expand the ‘System Devices’ category. Scroll down until you find the entry for the ‘Thunderbolt Controller’.
5. Right-click on the ‘Thunderbolt Controller’ entry and select ‘Uninstall device’ from the context menu that appears.
6. From the ‘Uninstall Device’ window that appears, click to place a check mark within the ‘Delete the driver software for this device’ option.
7. Click the ‘Uninstall’ button.
8. Close Device Manager.
9. Click the search button on the taskbar (looks like a ‘O’) and search for the letters ‘cmd’.
10. Right-click on the ‘Command Prompt’ search result and select ‘Run as Administrator’ from the context menu. If prompted, enter your Administrator password.
11. From the Administrative Command Prompt window, enter ‘sc delete nhi’ (without the quotes) and press enter. You should receive a ‘SUCCESS’ indicator. ** Be very careful to type this command correctly ** This command deletes the ‘nhi’ Windows service presently installed on the system.

Deleting the ‘nhi’ service. Image provided by Lenovo.

12. Close the Administrative Command Prompt window.
13. Check within the Control Panel -> Applications and Features to see if there are any ‘Thunderbolt Software’ by Intel entries listed. If any our present, uninstall them.
14. Now download and install the latest version of the non-DCH version of the Intel Thunderbolt software and Thunderbolt driver from your system manufacturer. If you cannot locate this driver, here is a link to such a driver from Intel -> https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28658/Thunderbolt-Bus-Driver-for-Windows-10-for-Intel-NUC-Products
15. Reboot the system.
16. Reconnect a Thunderbolt 3 device to the system, and the Intel Thunderbolt Software utility should launch successfully and prompt you to authenticate the device.

Although I was happy to be back in business after having gone through the process, I was unsure what had happened so it prompted me to dig a little deeper. For those who are interested in such details, please read on…

Information Learned

The original Intel Thunderbolt Controller driver released when Thunderbolt 3 systems were first introduced was based on a different driver model than Microsoft’s new DCH driver model. The single driver download included both the driver and software management utility within the package.

The new DCH version of the Intel Thunderbolt Host Controller driver (as was provided with the Dell XPS 13 9380 system) is provided separately from the software management utility. The driver is intended to be used in conjunction with the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) version of Intel Thunderbolt Control Center utility, available for download from the Microsoft Store -> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/thunderbolt-control-center/9n6f0jv38ph1

This DCH driver requirement is called out on the utiltiy’s download page, but it is subtle and very easy to miss (requirement highlighted in the screenshot below):

Thunderbolt Control Center Application listing from Microsoft Store

The non-DCH and DCH driver versions and utilities cannot be mixed. If a system is updated to the DCH Thunderbolt driver, the non-DCH version of the software management utility will most likely no longer work and produce the aforementioned error message or other unexpected behavior.

Removing any type of DCH version software driver (not just Thunderbolt drivers) from a Windows 10 system can cause problems. In addition to Thunderbolt drivers, Intel is also starting to provide DCH drivers for Intel graphics adapters. Intel speaks to the potential problems that can occur with their DCH graphics drivers (and DCH drivers in general) in the following links:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000031572/programs/intel-corporation.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000031275/graphics-drivers.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000032309/graphics-drivers.html

More information from Microsoft on DCH drivers in general is available here -> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/develop/getting-started-with-universal-drivers

The ‘nhi’ service refers to the ‘native host interface’ service that is installed in conjunction with the Thunderbolt controller driver. The native host interface (NHI) is used for software protocols and device discovery, and is added to the system during the Thunderbolt host controller driver installation. A good reference to this (and the lower-level workings of Thunderbolt technology) is available here -> https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thunderbolt-performance-z77a-gd80,3205-4.html

Manually attempting to uninstall DCH drivers in the usual/typical manner to rectify this issue (in essence a roll-back) does not work. In order to restore a system affected by this specific problem to a working state, at the time of this writing the procedure described above is necessary.

Summary and conclusion

The different driver standards used for the Intel Thunderbolt Controller driver and associated management utilities can cause problems if the different version types are mixed. Should such a condition occur, completely removing the current Thunderbolt controller driver, utility and associated Windows service will allow for the installation of a properly matched driver and utility.

Hopefully this information proves useful for others. As always, if you are encountering any problems with your Plugable branded product please reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will be happy to assist.

Previously when adding these devices to a Windows 10 system, the attached displays had to be configured via the built-in Windows Display Settings application. Some of our customers find this utility somewhat confusing, and alternative third-party software configuration utilities from other manufacturers such as AMD, Intel and Nvidia were not designed to recognize or configure DisplayLink-connected displays, so they could not be used.

This previous limitation has been removed with the Intel’s recent release of their new ‘Intel Graphics Command Center’ application for Windows 10 version 1709 or higher (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/intel-graphics-command-center/9plfnlnt3g5g)

When using the Intel Graphics Command Center application, DisplayLink-connected displays are recognized in addition to any other attached displays:

Intel Graphics Command Center

In the example screenshot above, display number three and display number two are displays directly connected to my desktop system while display number one is a HDMI display connected via our UGA-3000 adapter.

Besides the new ability to recognize DisplayLink-attached displays, the Graphics Command Center application appears to be better organized compared to the Windows Display Settings Application.

The resolution, refresh rate and scaling settings are laid out in a logical manner within a single window, while the Display Settings application makes these harder to find across different windows. In addition, Intel has made it easier to change which display is the Primary (or ‘Main’) display and the whether the displays are extensions or duplicates of the desktop by clicking on the ellipsis button (three dots) on each display:

Individual display options via the ellipsis button within Intel Graphics Command Center

The photo below of my home office desk setup shows this in action. In this case, the small portable red display identified within the utility as display number one is connected to the UGA-3000 adapter, and the ‘Identify’ function of the Intel Command Center is being used to display numbers on each screen to indicate which display is which.

Intel Graphics Command Center in use with ‘Identify’ button pressed

There are some caveats of which to be aware – some of the features within the Intel Command Center utility that are specific to Intel graphics adapters may not work on a DisplayLink-attached display. In the example images shown above, this is called out specifically in the warning message in red which states, “Some features are not supported on non-Intel adapters”

In conclusion, while not the most exciting thing in and of itself, that Intel has added the ability to recognize DisplayLink-attached displays provides our Windows 10 customers with more display configuration options, and the new application is in some ways easier to understand and configure compared to the Windows Display Settings application. We can only hope that AMD and Nvidia follow the same path, as more configuration options will allow everyone to use the ‘right tool’ for their specific environment.

Thank you for reading, and please let us know if you have any questions in the comments!