Thunderbolt 3

VESA has announced today that its DisplayPort 2.0 specs are coming to USB4/USB-C that will bring a jump in the capabilities of video output. The standard will support up to 16K displays with video data throughput of up to 80 Gbps.

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Glyph, perhaps better than any other external drive maker, has a knack for creating solidly-built SSDs that do a great job of passively dissipating heat. These factors are what made me a fan of the original Glyph Atom, and it’s what continues to make me a fan of the company’s latest external SSD offering: the Glyph Atom Pro SSD. Watch our hands-on video review for the details.

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One of the great things about the Mac Pro, and the primary reason why I’ve been anticipating it so much, is its ability to accommodate PCIe expansion. With the Mac Pro we finally have a modern Mac that can be expanded, not only via external Thunderbolt 3 peripherals, but via internal PCIe cards like the OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD.

OWC’s newest Mac Pro-friendly accessory allows users to add a significant amount of fast solid state storage to their machines in just a few minutes. But the Accelsior 4M2 may also a viable option for MacBook Pro users looking to add external external storage to their laptops via a simple Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
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The successor to Thunderbolt 3, aptly named Thunderbolt 4, will arrive alongside new Tiger Lake mobile processors, said Intel during its CES 2020 keynote. The CPU-integrated Thunderbolt 4 will make its debut in a yet-to-be-named thin and light hardware release later this year.
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While there are many Thunderbolt 3 docks on the market already, OWC has designed its latest release for professional creators and producers. It includes 10Gb Ethernet, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, CFast 2.0 and SD 4.0 card readers, an eSATA port, and more.

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Today Universal Audio took the wraps off of two new Thunderbolt 3 desktop audio interfaces, which are ideal for Mac audio creatives. Universal Audio’s Apollo Twin X features two high quality Unison-enabled microphone preamps and is available in either a duo or quad core real time UAD plugin-processing configuration. The more substantial Apollo x4 brings four Unison-enabled preamps to your desktop and comes with quad core real time UAD processing, which makes it perfect for tracking larger projects.

We previously did a review of the smaller UA Arrow, a single-core bus-powered Thunderbolt 3 audio interface that’s ideal for traveling and/or working on smaller projects that don’t demand as many preamps or plugin-in overhead. The Apollo Twin X and Apollo x4 are significant steps up from the UA Arrow, but bring the same vast library of plugins to the table that makes these interfaces so beloved among Mac users.
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We all know that the UltraFine displays from LG are some of the best out there for those looking for a high-end Mac display, but if you’re looking for something more tailored for graphic design or a display with more port flexibility, the 27-inch 4K BenQ Thunderbolt 3 display is worth looking into.
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If you’re looking for an easy-to-use bus-powered 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution for Mac, then Sonnet’s Solo 10G Thunderbolt 3 adapter may fit the bill. This portable unit affords quick connections to high-speed networks via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. Watch our hands-on Sonnet Solo 10G video review for the details.
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After discontinuing the smaller 21.5-inch UltraFine Display, LG has released a new larger 24-inch UltraFine-labeled monitor in its place at the same $699 price point. If the launch of the new display flew under your radar, that’s probably because much of the spotlight was centered on Apple’s new 2019 MacBook Pro models, which launched alongside LG’s new display.

This new UltraFine Display is like a combination of the UltraFine 5K and the older UltraFine 4K Display, and for the most part that’s an okay thing. The biggest feature is the inclusion of not just one, but two Thunderbolt 3 ports. That’s an improvement over LG’s previous Apple-centric displays, as you’ll see in our hands-on video review.
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Today we went hands-on with Razer’s new $399 Core X Chroma eGPU enclosure. The Chroma is based closely on the original Razer Core X, but there are several new enhancements, such as RGB lighting, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB ports. Watch our full video walkthrough for the details.
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In this hands-on video walkthrough, I show you how to put together a dual 4K video capture enclosure for saving ProRes videos directly to a Mac. In order to do so, I utilize Sonnet’s Echo Express SEIII and the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K. Watch the full video for the details behind the setup.
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One of the biggest complaints about recent Mac laptops is their lack of ports. Elgato’s Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, like other docks we’ve seen over the years, seeks to solve that issue by making it possible to connect to a wide variety of accessories via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
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While most ultra wide monitors on the market with Thunderbolt 3 go for well over a thousand dollars, Samsung offers an interesting option with a 34-inch curved display, Thunderbolt 3, and a more affordable price. The CJ791 doesn’t bring a 4K resolution to the table, but it does come in at $800 with a compelling overall package. Read on for our full review of this ultra wide Thunderbolt 3 monitor that works well with the MacBook Pro and other MacBooks.

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If you’re looking for a Thunderbolt 3-enabled external display, then LG is pretty much where it’s at. Not only does the Korean company produce the 34-inch 5K2K UltraWide Display, which is great for creative professionals, but it also produces an LG UltraFine 4K Display with Thunderbolt 3 in tow.

Not to be confused with the 21.5-inch 4K UltraFine Display that’s sold in Apple Stores, this 32-inch display comes with Thunderbolt 3, and features the familiar LG design language found on many of the displays within the company’s lineup.

Is the LG UltraFine 4K Monitor worth considering for those looking to add an external display to their desktop setup? Watch our hands-on video review for the details.
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Less than a week after it announced the ridiculously confusing naming system for USB 3.2, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has announced the spec for USB 4.

Essentially, this mimics the current spec for Thunderbolt 3 …

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There are external SSDs, and then there is the ThunderBlade. This is the crème de la crème of fast external storage, and it’s produced by OWC, a company at the forefront of storage and Thunderbolt 3 accessories for Mac.

The ThunderBlade is OWC’s fastest offering — a single drive provides storage up to 8TB and speeds up to 2800 MB/s read — and they can be daisy chained, set up in a RAID configuration, and they are silent.

It’s admittedly overkill for some users, but if you’re a creative professional who needs the best of the best, then the OWC ThunderBlade is one of the most impressive external storage offerings available today. Watch our hands-on video review for more details.
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PowerColor, a Taiwanese-based graphics card manufacturer, launched a brand new eGPU at CES 2019: The PowerColor Mini Pro — a pint-sized eGFX chassis powered by an included small-form-factor Radeon RX 570 graphics card.

Aimed specifically at Thunderbolt 3-enabled machines, the PowerColor Mini Pro provides a healthy graphics lift for GPU-starved Macs like the 2018 MacBook Air and Mac mini.

Should the PowerColor Mini Pro be on your radar if you’re looking for a smaller external graphics solution for the Mac? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.
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After several delays, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro is now available for purchase at Apple’s online and retail store locations. The Pro version of Blackmagic’s external graphics chassis is an upgraded version of 2018’s initial release.

The original Blackmagic eGPU was a limited device for several key reasons: it was expensive at $699; it couldn’t be upgraded; and with Radeon Pro 580 graphics, it lacked the punch of higher powered cards. Some of those problems carry over with the release of the new Blackmagic eGPU Pro, but it’s unquestionably a better device than its predecessor. Watch our hands-on video review for the full lowdown.

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