Microsoft still refuses to equip its Surface devices with Thunderbolt 3 ports, precluding many compatible third-party docks from being compatible with the likes of the Surface Book 3 or Surface Go 2. The Surface Dock 2, on the other hand, uses the proprietary Surface Connect port, allowing Microsoft to outperform the competition. Microsoft has released a new USB-C Travel Hub too, which is compatible with non-Surface devices.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Surface-Dock-2-is-Microsoft-s-apology-for-the-lack-of-Thunderbolt-3.464207.0.html
Nice additions but not to much of an apology... still no egpu options available on the surface line... still not a solution for multi-device folks that don't go 'all in' with microsoft as their only vendor. Still passing on the surface line for those reasons. Like the hardware, but the proprietary connectivity is a non starter with me.
This is great. It's vastly preferable to have a mag-safe connector that is super easy to connect and disconnect; I really hate having to hyper focus and scratch around metal-on-metal to plug in thunderbolt ports. Kudos to MS for doing the right thing.
I like the magsafe connector... but it just doesn't work for me... I use a lot of different hardware and its never going to be all surface... so I end up having to double up on docks and do a lot of cable shuffling depending on what dock I can use with the equipment i have with me. No Thanks. Give me a TB3 and eGpu dock any day... magsafe would be great... but it isn't worth the compromise.
Quote from: Daniel Ridenhour on May 07, 2020, 02:41:35
I like the magsafe connector... but it just doesn't work for me... I use a lot of different hardware and its never going to be all surface... so I end up having to double up on docks and do a lot of cable shuffling depending on what dock I can use with the equipment i have with me. No Thanks. Give me a TB3 and eGpu dock any day... magsafe would be great... but it isn't worth the compromise.
It's not ideal that it's proprietary but traditional docks were proprietary as well. And they were not cheap either. So it's nothing new to me. If I was designing a docking solution using a cable, I would probably arrive at something like this. Sure, I would try to support TB3. But there might be a good reason why they didn't at the time (not enough PCIe lanes; not being able to meet electrical requirements of TB3 - it has 80 Gb/s total bandwidth; Intel not being in the mood; whatever). And since it's proprietary, I do appreciate the backward compatibility. So that you don't have to buy a new dock with every new generation.
Sure, if you need TB3, this is a problem. Many people don't. There is plenty of choice if you simply want TB3. I imagine this is going to be a temporary problem. USB4 is essentially TB3. Although, it might take a while for USB4 to become relevant. And I'm not sure it guarantees eGPU support. But I would like to see something along the lines of this connector. It's just better than USB-C. I know there are magnetic cables but why isn't there a standardized magnetic USB connector in the first place? It would make sense for docking and charging cables.
If that is a apology.... Then is it an insult to some of us Dock 1 users who've seen our external monitor setup broke by updates pushed by Microsoft in late January which remains unfixed?
I don't think this is an apology at all. I have the first Surface Dock and gave it to my daughter along with my Surface Pro (2017) now that I have the Surface Pro 7. I have yet to find a usb c dock that has more than 1 usable usb c port. They all have a plethora of other ports, but I just want a simple dock I can use when I get home. I am a teacher and do a lot of work from home. The Dock 2 is a great solution for anyone who only has one device, and that device is a Surface.