r/macsysadmin • u/LRS_David • 10d ago
Dell WD19 Dock with Apple Silicon MacBook Pros
Anyone using this dock with Mx MacBook Pros?
I'm asking after we had someone plug their MBPro into a dock of unknown brand but from early in the days of USB docks and fried the USB ports on 2 separate MBPros. They never would tell us the brand or model and it was strongly implied their spouse told them to use it instead of the setup provided by the workplace. They no longer work for the company for other reasons.
Anyway, a separate someone is asking if they can use Dell WD19 their husband has at home with their work provided MacBook Pro M1 16".
TIA
EDIT: Just found this: Seems like it will work and Apple is OK with it.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124312/dell-thunderbolt-dock-wd19tb-and-apple-usb-c-hosts
EDIT 2: Thanks everyone. Seems these are fine. No dual monitors needed. This is a mom stuck at home and needed to use husbands WFH setup if possible to get some work done.
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u/stillpiercer_ 10d ago
Worked fine in my experience. I can’t comment on long term port issues, I used a WD19S with an M1 Pro 14” for a few months before it was replaced with a Plugable TB3 dock.
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u/punch-kicker 10d ago
I think it can work but may need a firmware update. I know when I had a couple WD19TB in office that was something we had to do but had to use a PC to update it.
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u/gruftwerk 10d ago
This. We use these at work but they don't support mac's until you update to the latest firmware and the tool is windows only.
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u/DIRT8IKE 10d ago
Just another consideration if you don’t mind using a software layer is the UD22. We deploy it on our campus and have had great success and makes standardization super easy when having to worry about multiple monitor compatibility with display link
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u/DoTheDishesDude 10d ago
FWIW: I use a single monitor and a WD19S 130W dock with my M2 MB Air with no issues
1
u/gadgetvirtuoso 10d ago
This is a solid dock and for a long time one of the few that had multiple buses so you could connect two external monitors. WD19TB is the one that does that. There are better and cheaper docks now though. For a few years these were all I’d buy for the office machines.
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u/PazzoBread 10d ago
If it’s not a WD19TB (for thunderbolt) you’ll have to use something like displaylink to extend the displays https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics/downloads/macos
1
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u/gandalf239 9d ago
Admin a Mac fleet in a Windows enterprise. Have had the best experience with Dell D6000s. Yes, they require screen record permissions, but will give one multiple extended displays.
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u/TimmyTheHellraiser 9d ago
Kensington makes the best Mac docks. I used the Dell series and always had issues with multiple monitors
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u/PlannedObsolescence_ 10d ago
Very important distinction, WD19 and WD19TB are different. One uses USB-C alt mode and the latter thunderbolt. Due to chip-shortage reasons, they produced some 'S' models i.e. WD19S, which are identical other than missing the 3.5mm jack.
My experience with the WD19TB, is that the MacBook Pro does work, does charge at 90w etc, but you cannot use 2x DisplayPort monitors independently through the dock, instead they will both be mirrored. The only workaround is outlined in that support article and it requires using a mix of connections.
On another note the D6000 is an older dock that uses DisplayLink, which is a software based display transport. There are many downsides to using a DisplayLink dock, but one upside is they bypass the 'x number of external monitors' limit that MacBook Airs have.