newb question: just got me a dell wd19tbs dock, seeking advice on proper cabling to use for which devices. - eviltoast

Tbf, all of the usb c cable standards are quite confusing. As of now, I believe my only thunderbolt device is my laptop and the main cable will handle that.

I have a galaxy 21 ultra but have no clue what is the best and proper cable for such phone? Or should phones be charged separately with its own cable and Gan chsrger or whatever?

I will be using the usb a ports, just not sure what model to be looking into, like standard wise.

I dont know what display port is yet and I’ll surely dive into it down the road. Im more concerned with which standard HDMI cable to get. I think the spec is 2.0b?? I dont really know

Ethernet port is ethernet port, not sure if brand of cat6 cable matters? No idea

I even have spare thunderbolt ports, how can I best put those to use? I just dont quite know the ins and outs of cable standards and their uses and capabilities

I feel like a dunce, but I needed to get my port usage off my laptop and onto a dock. Been having very annoying usb c port issues on my dell xps13 9310 laptop. So I have all these ports with different standards and dont really know what I need cable wise for proper use and performance of devices smh hope you all can help

  • Impossible@partizle.com
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    1 year ago

    A Thunderbolt cable will handle the required bandwidth from the dock to the laptop.

    Your phone, do you expect to pass data via the phone and your laptop (eg photos/videos?) If you do then a USB 3.2 10 Gbps cable would be the most you would need (€25), costs may stear you towards a simple charging cable something around 60w (€10) would be ample BUT you phone may not fast charge due to Samsung’s charging preference.

    HDMI 2.1 would be ample for a your monitor (4k resolution at 120fps) and the cost difference between this (€13) and 2.0 (€10) is minimal nowerdays

    Ethernet is easy, CAT5e in the colour/length of your choice would supply the potential max 2.5gb Ethernet port you have (€8 for 10meters). Higher the CAT rating the more costly the cable.

    Additional Thunderbolt ports would be best used/reserved for high-speed external storage or even a gaming GPU.

    The fact your asking about these items shows you should be pretty much covered for the next few years of ‘fitire proofing’

    • Ladies5821@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      1 year ago

      Thanks a lot! As of now I dont think I plan for extra usb features, more so interested in the Samsung super fast charging. I believe thats a 65 watt cable? And as far a flash drives go, upgrade to the 3.1?

  • Vinny_93@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Charging your phone through any usb port is fine, fast charging will only work with your supplied charger. USB-C adapts to supply the proper voltage. Beware of underpowering though.

    DP is the best way to connect a high refresh rate monitor as it supports more bandwith. HDMI reserves a part of the bandwith for content protection. If you intend to use a 4k 120Hz monitor HDMI 2.1 is fine, anything higher I’d recommend DP. HDMI cables don’t use the number spec, that’s device dependant. To make it more confusing, 2.0b no longer exists and 2.1 doesn’t necessarily mean the same on any device. Again, only if you need the full spec, for high refresh rate high resolution stuff, you need 2.1. Ultra High Speed HDMI is the best cable for that.

    The ethernet port on the WD19 is 1000 spec, meaning it can do 1Gbps, or 1000Mbps. Cat5E, cat6 cat7 are all fine at handling that. If you intend to shrink the connector on yourself, make sure to pay attention to the order and if you follow correct procedure. Otherwise you might end up with 100Mbps.

    • Ladies5821@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      1 year ago

      Thank you. I dont even have a display as I use my laptop for all my computing needs lol I guess the HDMI worry is more about connecting to my TV. And what is a good wattage for phone charging? The super fast Samsung protocol I guess? And it should be 3.1 gen 2?

      • Vinny_93@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You don’t need to worry about that. Wattage and the fast charging protocol have little to do with each other. And usb 2 charges just as fast as 3.2.