CalDigit TS3 Plus freezing MacBook Pro 13" 2020

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Level 1

6 points

CalDigit TS3 Plus freezing MacBook Pro 13" 2020

I recently bought a CalDigit TS3 Plus dock so I can set up a dual monitor display working station (triple, including the MacBook itself). A few problems occured in series:

The dock couldn't detect the input through the Thunderbolt port. After a few days of communicating with CalDigit's support, they told me I had to update to Big Sur. Kind of strange, considering Big Sur is so new, so has this been fault to every Catalina user for the past year? After updating to Big Sur, the external monitor connected to the Thunderbolt port works as expected.
The whole MacBook freezes up when I try to connect an external display via the DisplayPort on the dock. I've tried resetting the NVRAM, SMC, and it hasn't been working. I even bought a variety of cables/adapters to make sure it wasn't the cable's fault: an active DP to HDMI adapter, a DP to HDMI cable, and after another SGD50 after a SGD340 purchase, this set up still isn't working.

Has anyone encountered this problem before? This has been my worst experience with Apple thus far, which prides itself on a seamless user experience. Why would they list something so faulty on their official store as an accessory? The CalDigit customer service officer stopped replying to my inquiries 4 days ago, and I'm reaching the time limit on returns. I contacted Apple support too and they said my best solution would be to return the item. I really want this dual monitor setup to work, which was why I readily invested in it. Was it a mistake?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Nov 20, 2020 9:35 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2020 5:28 AM in response to thetiny1

I’ve seen many reports of issues with CalDigit docks. I recommend docks from Brydge (Stone Pro), Elgato, or OWC. Personally, I have the first two and have no issues with multiple Macs.

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Answer 2

Nov 25, 2020 3:20 AM in response to LTParis

I come with an update; Might be really tangential but this is what tricked me:

In my case, the TS3+ is actually working fine in Big Sur.

What is not okay is the way the Mac reads mouse movements at high polling rate. I saw a Reddit post of someone having a similar complaint about a Logitech mouse (I happen to have a G303) and was suggested to reduce his polling rate from 1000 to 250.

I did that myself and it's much better (despite obviously the lower polling rate). Probably a bug in the way Big Sur captures that kind of interrupt.

The fact that the mouse, connected through the dock, was really sluggish (and in term, all the slow UI interactions generated by that) made me think the dock is slowing down the whole machine, when in fact, if used from the internal trackpad worked great.

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Answer 3

Nov 24, 2020 5:05 AM in response to thetiny1

I have had some random issues with my CalDigit TS3+ since upgrading to Big Sur. No issues on Catalina.

As soon as I upgraded to Big Sur, the dock works perfectly until the computer goes to sleep.

When waking up, I noticed that computer becomes really sluggish, and that feeling is somehow amplified by the USB mouse connected as such: Mouse -> my Monitor's USB 3.0 hub -> The CalDigit TS3+ -> My MacBook Pro 16" 2019;

The mouse is way more sluggish than the internal trackpad, but only after a wake from sleep. The only way I found this fixed is rebooting the laptop. NVMAM and SMC resets didn't do much for me either.

I was told by CalDigit's support that this has been noticed by other users immediately after upgrading to Big Sur, and it's an issue on Apple's side that should be fixed with a macOS update. I hope that will happen soon.

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Answer 4

LTParis

Level 1

9 points

Nov 24, 2020 4:02 PM in response to neuroanatomist

I'm having some random CalDigit issues myself, specifically when it's hooked up and I use an application that utilizes an external drive (Virtual DJ 2021), when I close the app I go into a full kernel panic crash. It does not even matter if the external drive is hooked directly to my laptop (late-2018) with the CalDigit in play it causes the issue.

very odd.

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CalDigit TS3 Plus freezing MacBook Pro 13" 2020

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