10 vs 5 Gbit/s connection: how much of a compromise?

[jupiterbee]

Thank you for a comprehensive answer. This then explains, why I'm not seeing much of a difference (beyond placebo perhaps) between having the dock directly attached to a MacBook Air M1 at 10 Gbit/s, versus daisy-chaining it behind a TB3 display with an integrated 5 Gbit/s USB-C hub.

Knowing this, I might revert back to the daisy-chained configuration. There's beauty in connecting a whole orchestra of devices with one cable. A few months ago I had doubts, whether that would work, but in practice it has worked very well.

There are no bandwidth-intensive drives attached at the moment. But it worked fine even when I had a spinning USB3 disk and a Samsung T5 attached. I think of it a bit like a flight of a bumblebee: it should't be able to fly, it's too much, yet it does.

I checked out the new MacBook Pros with multi-display capabilities, but knowing what I know now about using DisplayLink, and getting the power out of M1 that I do ... there's just no compelling reason to get a new Mac, especially when my main usage scenario is multiple displays connected to a clamshell laptop.

A new 30+ inch iMac with M1 Max might make me upgrade though, especially if it's mini-led at 120 Hz. Until then, DisplayLink it is. Thanks again for the answer.

A quick follow-up though: is there a way to make 120 or 144 Hz work via DisplayLink, using conservative resolutions? If I my side-wing DisplayLink-attached monitors would natively support 100+ Hz, would I actually get that refresh rate to work using an M1 Air and ThinkPad Hybrid USB-C with USB-A Dock?