Macbook 2015 12inch Retina with USB-C

[paultzirides]

So I was gifted with a new MacBook from work (thanks boss!), and decided to try my luck with the following setup:

1. DVI monitor > Anker USB 3.0 Dual Video dock > USB port on Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter
2. Monitor > HDMI port on Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter
3. Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter > MacBook

I tried it two ways

1. Everything connected and plugged in, then turning MacBook on.
2. ONLY Monitor > HDMI port, turning MacBook on, THEN connecting USB 3.0 Dock.

The first way (everything connected BEFORE turning on MacBook) yielded some inconsistent results. Sometimes everything would light up great and performance would be fine. Other times, the internal display on the MacBook would remain dark and performance would be flaky, with lots of horizontal "tearing" occurring with any interaction.

The second method produced much more reliable results. Apparently, having everything plugged in FIRST makes the OS behave strangely.

I tried the same experiment with a Plugable USB 3.0 Dual-Head Graphics and Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Amazon link here), and it worked fine either way (or maybe it worked fine the few times I tried it, I don't use that one very often).

Either way, I can confirm that it generally does "work" the way I expected, but not consistently enough to feel 100% confident.

Additionally, we have been using this Dell USB-C dock at the office for all of the XPS laptops that we have, and it behaves very strangely. The MacBook recognizes the device, and the displays light up, but both external displays are mirrored, no matter which port they are connected to. I believe this is due to some proprietary Dell software that they are using to divvy up the displays properly. I will test to see if the following setup works as expected:

1. Monitor > Dell Dock > USB-C port Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter
2. Monitor > HDMI port on USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter
3. USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter > MacBook

There's a lot of circuitry in there, and I don't have high hopes that it will work properly, but I will test anyway.

Let me know if you need anything from me in re: testing/logs, etc. to help out.