Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia Peripherals Thunderbolt 2 or 3?

Just came across a discounted OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock. Given the fact that I could use a dock like this for a late 2014 iMac Retina (Thunderbolt 2), are there any reasons to forgo this one for the newer Thunderbolt 3 version?

Transfer speeds are reaching levels that exceed, probably even far exceed, the needs of mere mortals, so I guess the ultimate answer to your question depends upon whether your workflow/anticipated workflow requires Thunderbolt 3 speed...unless you're a "toy" collector.

Relating that back to Fios, the free upgrade to 100 Mbps that Verizon gave me is nice, but I'd have preferred a $ incentive to remain at 50.

My wife has the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock on her Mac mini and I have the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock on my MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports). On the MacBook Pro the TB3/USB C connection makes a significant difference because it both charges the MacBook battery as well as connect it to a large variety of external devices including a 27 inch Thunderbolt monitor (via a TB3 to TB2 adaptor) and several external drives.

On my wife's Mac mini the TB2 connects a similar variety of devices, but it does not power the Mac mini.

As to the speed, unless you are using a sensitive speed checker it is unnoticeable in day to day use and in fact most current generation HDs are not fast enough to keep either TB2 or TB3 busy. As far as speed goes the quality of the TB3/USB C connecting cable makes a big difference. I went through three or four before I found one that is consistently reliable. Speed testing is pointless as a my external drives are TB2 or USB 3. The BIG difference in my way of thinking is the TB3/USB C combination as opposed to TB2. That should guarantee a longer useful life with future devices. To me the USB C power connection makes the TB3/USB C dock a no-brainer for the MacBook Pro.

I have an OWC TB2 dock at home and at work, and they are functioning just fine with my new retina MacBooks. As an added bonus, the thunderbolt displays that connect over MDP work fine when plugged into the TB2 dock, which works fine when plugged into USB-C ports via apple's thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter. (which, last year, was very hard to get ahold of) Be sure you order 1 or 2 of those adapters WITH YOUR NEW COMPUTER because those get priority. If you order an adapter solo from apple you are low priority, and you may never see one in an apple store because THEY are the very last priority.

When I first got my retina on order, OWC had no idea if their dock would work, but it worked great. This is actually better than apple, because their TB2/3 adapter does not support displays. Everything else is fine, just not displays. Which means Apple has NO solution to connect your retina to your thunderbolt display. (our local AASP carries an adapter that works with displays) But somehow the OWC dock can pass through the thunderbolt display to the computer, no idea why that works when the adapter itself cannot. Usually when you insert gear into a line, it can break something downstream, not fix it...

(it's been awhile, TH2/3 adapters from Apple may be more easily available now)

Thanks to all for your comments, and my apologies for this late reply. Given the fact that I have both TB2 and TB3 Macs, plus the fact that I don’t want/need 2 docks, but need to get adapters for at least one Mac, I might as well go for the TB3 version and stay closest to the cutting edge.