Dock recommendation for Macbook Thunderbolt2 and Dell Thunderbolt 3 laptops

Question

I'm looking for a dock that will allow my gf and I to connect 2 HDMI monitors and 2 USB mouse/keyboard devices to both a Macbook Air (2015) with thunderbolt 2 and a modern dell laptop with thunderbolt 3. The laptops would not be connected at the same time, I just want the capability to dock either one. Also charging capability for the laptop would be ideal, although I'm aware this probably might not be possible with the macbook over thunderbolt 2 -> 3 conversion.

My thought was to buy a dock that supports tb3, for the dell and then use a tb2 -> tb3 adapter to connect the macbook to the dock.

Something like this:

Macbook (TB 2) ---> Converter (tb2 -> tb3) -----> TB3 Dock

AND:

Dell TB3 (TB3) ----> TB3 Dock

• https://www.amazon.com/DisplayPort-MacBook-Surface-Devices-Bi-Direction/dp/B07ZD3B89T/ref=asc_df_B07ZD3B89T/

• https://www.amazon.com/TOTU-Display-Docking-Charging-Thunderbolt/dp/B07Z53139N/

Would this even work? What would be our cheapest option here?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The adapter you linked is not bi-directional, and may not work for your application. This adapter is bi-directional and should work for your application. Note: This adapter does not allow power pass-through, so you will need to have the dock or dongle connected to its own power for this to work.

The dock you linked is a good choice. I think it will work well for you. Because you asked for a cheaper option, you can use a "dongle" with power passthrough instead of a "dock." Here is one that has the ports you asked for.