Thunderbolt 3 splitter?

Question

Thunderbolt 3 splitter?

Hello!
I am looking for a Thunderbolt 3 splitter dongle, just a Thunderbolt 3 male cable that splits the signal to two other Thunderbolt 3 female plugs so that I can plug in my Apple Thunderbolt Display to my computer and an EGPU simultaneously.

My computer only has one Thunderbolt 3 plug as you can guess. Basically I need two Thunderbolt 3 entrances.

I have seen there are docks, but they include an awfull lot of other plugs I don't need (like the "Belkin

Thunderbolt™ 3 Express Dock HD" or the CalDigit docks). Plus they are terribly expensive.

Is there not any Thunderbolt 3 splitter anywhere?

Posted on Apr 13, 2018 6:13 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 13, 2018 7:43 AM in response to JohansonMaikel

I took another look at one (less than US $40) and it only had one Thunderbolt 3 port, so that would likely just be for connection to the computer. Even the more expensive ones with two Thunderbolt 3 ports would be good just for one as a pass through after connecting the other to a Mac. You would really need something with at least 3 Thunderbolt 3 ports.

I looked up the ExpressDock HD and CalDigit TS3. They won't even do what you're looking for. They only have two Thunderbolt 3 ports. So you might be able to plug in one port to your computer and then use the other one for something that needs Thunderbolt 3. Those are primarily designed to connect to USB 3.0, SD, DisplayPort, etc. while providing one available Thunderbolt 3 port for an external peripheral.

I don't believe there's any kind of "splitter" that would do what you're looking for either. It would have to be an active hub with electronics to route the signals. A passive splitter wouldn't work.

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Answer 2

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 13, 2018 6:38 AM in response to JohansonMaikel

Mostly what's inexpensive will be USB-C hubs. There might be some relatively inexpensive docks with a single Thunderbolt 3 capable port along with USB-C and USB-A ports.

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Answer 3

Apr 13, 2018 7:02 AM in response to y_p_w

Well thank you, but they don’t do the trick.

I need Two Thunderbolt 3 plugs. But my computer only has one.

The dongles that you mention have only one Thunderbolt 3 and maybe another USB 3 plug, but it is not Thunderbolt plug.

Im beguining to think that there are none, I’ve desperetly searched the internet and the only thing I find is the unnecessarily expensive docks 😔

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Answer 4

Apr 13, 2018 7:36 AM in response to JohansonMaikel

One reason ThunderBolt-3 is fast is because electrically, it is point-to-point. It was originally intended for fiber-optic connection, and using 'only' expensive copper cabling (rather than stops-your-heart-expensive fiber optic cabling) is already a compromise. You will not find splitters available.

Unless/Until you find a dock that appeals to you (and more are appearing every week) that is the only solution other than buying a more-capable Mac.

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Thunderbolt 3 splitter?

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