I had two expensive caldigit docks (TS3 i believe). One was warranty replacement for the first one. Each died after about a year.
After that I had an expensive alogic dock. Seemed great when it was working, but after just over a year it went dead (warranty is for two years).
The dock i had is out of stock. After weeks of “checking” I was offered an exchange for a cheaper version (whatever) that doesn’t include features i rely on (3 screens).
As “compensation” I was offered about 30% of the original price, since “the item was used”.
Thanks but no thanks. Standard amortization time for computer equipment is 5 years. And in either case, who has patience to go for weeks without their familiar computing environment? And my cost is replacement of the item, i did not rent it.
I got a Kensington dock sold by amazon at slightly less than the original price of that one, with better features and a brand name that is worth more than the piece of paper it is written on.
$DAYJOB issues us Mac laptops. (Seems like a waste of money, but it's not MY money.)
So, I've been using a CalDigit TS3 Plus device for the last two or three years. I have USB 3, Ethernet, and DisplayPort going out from it, and a Thunderbolt cable going into it. Other than sometimes having to unplug and replug the DisplayPort cable to get the screen to wake [0], it works fine.
[0] To make this easy, I have an F<->F coupler near the display that doesn't have latches. I just slip out one end of the cable from the coupler and slip it back in. Quick and easy, if slightly annoying that I have to do it at all.
Yep that was my exact story too, before the first sock gave out shortly before warranty, was replaced (at least regarding customer service im happy), and then same exact story with the second one.
Given that i had a third unrelated dock fail recently it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect something on my end might be causing this, but then again that’s the only hardware that failed on me in a while and i don’t do anything that unusual besides having 3x4k screens plugged into it and the occasional mouse charging/flash drive drawing power off it.
In all cases the PSU of the dock died with it (but also the docks themselves) so i suspect current DL chipsets overheat and eventually burn out when pushing clost to their max resolution.
Off topic but why refer to it as $DAYJOB (is it really a variable like that?) rather than just saying “work” or “my job”? I see it all over HN but I’ve actually never understood why people do this. Sorry for veering off topic.
The syntax is written like a bash shell variable, the idea (I assume) is that the actual job itself doesn't matter but the idea of it being something they do for work does (because contextually it means they have less decision power.) So, if it were me, saying I work for Puzzmo is about as useful as me saying I work for $DAYJOB in a sentence like that.
Nah, there's no need to apologize. If folks don't want to read and/or participate in the subthread that changes the topic, then they can just fold up the subthread using the handy "fold up the subthread" button.
And yeah, with the exception of the fellow who called it "HN slang" (or whatever) the folks who replied to you all have good answers to your question.
I'm using a CalDigit TB4. It's two years old and no issues.
I don't push it too often, but when I do, it's fast enough to play six or more concurrent 1080p video layers in Resolume from a single Gen4x4 NVMe. It's not as fast as my M1's internal storage, but it does the job.
I have been using a TS3+ daily for more than 4 years now without any major issues, there was a firmware update a few years ago but since then it's been very reliable ever since.
I had two expensive caldigit docks (TS3 i believe). One was warranty replacement for the first one. Each died after about a year.
After that I had an expensive alogic dock. Seemed great when it was working, but after just over a year it went dead (warranty is for two years).
The dock i had is out of stock. After weeks of “checking” I was offered an exchange for a cheaper version (whatever) that doesn’t include features i rely on (3 screens).
As “compensation” I was offered about 30% of the original price, since “the item was used”.
Thanks but no thanks. Standard amortization time for computer equipment is 5 years. And in either case, who has patience to go for weeks without their familiar computing environment? And my cost is replacement of the item, i did not rent it.
I got a Kensington dock sold by amazon at slightly less than the original price of that one, with better features and a brand name that is worth more than the piece of paper it is written on.
We’ll see how it lasts