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Apple MacBook

Update (xi/nine/2016): Nosotros've heard from Plugable that there are some Thunderbolt iii to 2 adapters that use the TPS65982 solution and still piece of work in the MacBook Pro. Akitio has also published a list of which devices work with the MacBook Pro — and again, information technology's non clear why some hardware with the 82 solution work, while others don't. Nosotros have removed the quote from Plugable that implied no devices with the 65982 solution could connect to the new MBPs.

Original Story:

Well, this is a affect embarrassing. When Apple unveiled its latest MacBook Pro hardware a few weeks back, it declared that USB-C-compatible Thunderbolt three ports (and lots of dongles) were the futurity of the visitor's Mac division. We disagreed with that determination, while acknowledging that yes, Apple does accept a long history of sunsetting quondam standards and introducing new ones ahead of the rest of the industry (whether or non this situation is analogous is a topic we discussed). At present, news has surfaced that Apple tree'southward newest MacBook Pro hardware may not be compatible with Thunderbolt 3 peripherals already on the market.

Start, some context: Thunderbolt 3 is the third iteration of Intel'due south Thunderbolt interconnect standard and is the first version of that standard to be physically uniform with USB Type-C connectors. It debuted in early on June 2022, and support began shipping with Skylake hardware towards the end of last year. Thunderbolt 3 is used in the external GPU XConnect standard jointly developed by Intel, AMD, and Razer. It's USB-C compatible (an extremely smart motility from Intel) and should exist a plug-and-play solution for Apple's MacBook Pro. After all, Thunderbolt iii is Thunderbolt 3… right? Apparently, no — not when Apple deploys it.

Thunderbolt-External

According to peripheral manufacturer Plugable, Intel's Thunderbolt 3 standard specifically calls for certain TI chips to handle power delivery and alternate mode negotiation. The flake specified by Intel, and used by Plugable (and possibly the unabridged rest of the industry) is the TPS65982. It's described by Texas Instruments equally: "a stand-alone USB Type-C and ability commitment (PD) controller providing cable-plug and orientation detection at the USB Blazon-C connector. Upon cablevision detection, the TPS65982 device communicates on the CC wire using the USB PD protocol. Subsequently successful USB PD negotiation is consummate, the TPS65982 enables the advisable power path and configures alternate manner settings for internal and (optional) external multiplexers."

According to Plugable, none of its existing hardware currently on the market place is compatible with the MacBook Pro considering OS X expects all devices to use the second-generation TPS65983 solution. Here'southward how the visitor describes the trouble:

The version of OS X on the new MacBook Pros (late 2022) will not work with existing Thunderbolt 3 docks and adapters that were certified for Windows prior to the release of the MacBook Pro. These existing devices use offset generation of TI USB-C chipset (TPS65982) in combination with Intel's Thunderbolt 3 chipset (Alpine Ridge). Apple tree requires the 2nd generation TPS65983 chipset for peripherals to be compatible. Certification of solutions across different device types is still in-progress for this 2nd generation chipset. From the Plugable product line, our dual brandish graphics adapters for DisplayPort and HDMI (TBT3-DP2X and TBT3-HDMI2X) are afflicted… We've also postponed our TBT3-UD1 Docking Station to update to the TPS65983 chipset and re-certify to make this docking station MacBook-compatible. Our Flagship TBT3-UDV dock with Ability Delivery/Charging was already planned to use the next generation controller chip from TI, and will be compatible with the 2022 Thunderbolt 3 MacBooks.

Answering compatibility questions

We've got questions in to Intel virtually this, but hither's what we know thus far. First, this problem appears to be specific to Thunderbolt three peripherals. If you have a Thunderbolt 2 device plugged into a Thunderbolt 3 port via an adapter, it seems to piece of work fine. That limits the corporeality of hardware probable to be incompatible, since not that many Thunderbolt three peripherals have been built notwithstanding.

The flip side to this, however, is that Apple appears to have asleep at the switch when it comes to the hardware already on the market. It's ane thing to exist on the cutting-edge of technology, only declaring that your users are all expected to catechumen to a new cable standard while simultaneously releasing hardware incompatible with all of the Thunderbolt 3 hardware currently on the market is actually, really impaired. What happens to Apple buyers who pulled the trigger on a MacBook Pro and some new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals at the same time?

What makes all of this fifty-fifty stranger is that the hardware Apple tree isn't supporting isn't some random Thunderbolt three controller made by a third party. These are chips that are part of Intel'southward own reference design for Thunderbolt 3 devices. A trivial digging on TI'due south forums turned upwardly several answers, including one from TI employee Brian Berner: "The TPS65983 is a special product for ThunderBolt 3 devices (for example: hard drives, docks, and monitors) that connect to ThunderBolt 3 hosts (such as tablets, notebooks, and workstations.)" That may be true, but Intel's ain release notes for its Thunderbolt xvi.ii.52.250 commuter, released on nine/xxx, state: " Added support for TI TPS65983 PD Controller in SW, SDK API and samples." Other comments from various places in TI propose that the TI TPS65983 controller wasn't available until January 2022 at the very earliest. Evolution back up for the chip was still limited to past request only every bit of April, and the configuration tools TI offers for other chips weren't available until the very end of March.

In brusque, the bulk of the testify suggests that full back up for the TPS65983 controller has taken 6-10 months to announced and was simply recently added to Intel's own SDKs. Information technology's also unclear what the actual departure is between the two fries. I'm certain TI is right when it calls the 983 chip a "special product," merely I've paged through the information sheets for the 982 and the 983 and found zilch at all to distinguish them. They have identical excursion diagrams, identical layouts, and once you right for some minor variation in verbiage, identical features.

How many people are going to be harmed past this? Probably non very many. Thunderbolt iii is new, the MacBook Pro is new, and new hardware variants will adopt the 983 chip. Nonetheless, this is something Apple tree could've entirely prevented by either supporting the 982 chip in macOS or but telling people from stage that just new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals would be compatible with the MacBook Pro. Merely I suppose information technology was just easier to call the whole matter "courageous" and leave it at that. This isn't going to put a shine on the new MacBook Pro systems, and information technology's an absurd situation all around. The type of controller chip used inside a peripheral interconnect should be of absolutely no regard to anyone looking for a new laptop. Having to juggle which hardware is compatible with which systems when they all support the same standard is cool. Hopefully Apple will patch back up for the TPS65982 fleck into macOS.