USB-C Video adapters for MacBook Pro
Monday, May 25. 2020
In professional life, I stopped being a Windows-guy and went back being a Mac-man. The tool-of-trade provided by me is a MacBook Pro 2019. Those new Macs are notorius for having not-so-many ports. My Mac has two (2). Both are USB-C. In my previous MBP (that was a 2014 model), there were ports all over the left side and a bonus USB on right side.
The problem remains: How to hook up my external monitor to increase my productivity by the macigal 30%? Actually, I believe any developer will benefit even more by having a lot of display real estate on his/hers desk.
So, new Mac, new toys needed for it. I had one USB-C to DVI -converter before, but for this Mac, I went on-line shopping to get the good stuff:
From left to right:
- HyperDrive PRO 8-in-2: A pricey alternative offering a lot of connectivity, disappointing initial quality.
- HyperDrive USB-C Pro Video: An already obsoleted product. Small and does the job. This is my recommendation!
- No-name StarTech.Com CDP2DVI: Cheap thing working perfectly on a Lenovo PC. Unusable with a Mac!
HyperDrives:
Obsoleted HyperDrive shop screenshot:
The pricey alternative looks like this (on top of a complimentary leather pouch):
Cheap no-name one won't even blink in a MBP. The simple HyperDrive works like a charm! Mac sees it and monitor auto-detects the signal. The expensive one blinks when connected to a Mac. It blinks a lot. All the other ports work perfectly, but HDMI and mini-DP not-so-much. Hyper has a support article about 8-in-2- flickering. Lots of discussion in StackExchange about Apple being picky about cables and converters, examples: Dual monitor flickering: the secondary monitor does the flicker and External monitor flicker / signal loss. With the HyperDrive fix, I'll write an another post about the suggested firmware upgrade, it's complicated enough to deserve an own topic.
For me, the expensive HyperDrive works as a tiny docking-station. I have the USB-C charger connected to it among monitor cable. When I want to roam free of cables, all I have to do is detach the dual-USB-C dongle and that's it! Done. Mobility solved.
Final words:
With a Mac, do a lot of research beforehand and choose carefully, or alternatively make sure you'll get a full refund for your doesn't-work-in-my-Mac adapter.
