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Review on πŸ’» Dell USB-C to HDMI / DP Adapter with Power Pass-Through by Leslie Matlak

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Top notch price and product, but some key features are missing. A deal breaker for some.

I bought this adapter for my 2017 MacBook Pro 13" 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. I knew from the start that it doesn't have an SD card reader like Lenovo's USB-C hub, Type-C aluminum adapter with HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet port, USBC power delivery, 2x USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader . for Macbook Pro 2016/2017 and other USB-C devices or the elegance of a HyperDrive USB-C hub, the best Type-C DUO 50Gbps adapter for Macbook Pro 13" 15" 2017/ 2016 7in2: 100W USB-C Power Delivery, USBC 5Gbps Data Transfer, 4K HDMI, microSD/SD Card Reader, 2 USB 3.1 Ports by SANHO, but I chose it for two reasons.1. It supports 4k. Hyperdrive does not support this. Well, it supports 4K but only at 30Hz via 1 HDMI port. The Dell Mobile USB-C Adapter features HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort connections and also supports 4K and 60Hz via DisplayPort and HDMI and has an available VGA port. HOWEVER, it does NOT support duel monitor settings. If you're buying it for a desktop computer without a monitor and planning to connect two monitors to it, don't worry. It only supports 1 monitor at a time. It supports VGA. I currently have a VGA monitor but wanted to be able to upgrade to a 4K monitor at any time. At the moment VGA is working fine.3. It has basic features like Gigabit Ethernet, USB, and all of the display ports mentioned above. Personally, I wish they would put a USB-C connection on it for a USB-A connection, and I'll explain why below. I already had Apple's USB-C to USB-A adapter to connect to my 2TB Time Machine drive, so I switched it to a USB-C -Could connect port to a hub, but that's not ideal. I don't really like daisy chain adapters unless it's necessary. There are some downsides to buying this adapter: 1. The price is high compared to Lenovo which seems to have more features than this adapter but it's worth comparing it to some other 1st party adapters like Apple adapters buy that only have charging, display and a USB.2. Power passthrough is NOT supported. The USB-C port onboard this adapter is for USB-C data transfer only, not charging. I haven't checked if it can charge devices like iPhone or Pixel/Galaxy phones, but as far as I know it's for data transfer only.3. It doesn't have an SD card reader. If you need SD card reader support, you'll need to use a USB-C/A SD card reader, or I'm AirDroping files from my SD card from my iMac to my MacBook. You can also use a network share to transfer them, but that's all you decide.4. This is not a minus, but it gets a little warm. I'm not sure if it's just because it's a USB-C hub (it's the first one I have), but it's warm to the touch. Also, I'm not sure if it gets warmer if you connect a higher resolution display (again, I only have a VGA display and it's my first hub, so I can't compare very well). Overall I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I think power passthrough and the lack of SD card support or at least an additional USB-A port is a pretty big handicap for some. If I had a 13" MacBook with 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports this wouldn't be a problem as I would have two extra ports but since one is used for my charger and the other for the hub it's like the Lack of power passthrough can be annoying, but I traded it for support for all major display connections. If I had to choose between one of the three products mentioned (Dell Hub, HyperDrive or Lenovo Hub) I would ONLY choose Lenovo Hub if I had an HDMI monitor. I don't have a lot of money to spend on an HDMI monitor right now, so this hub is the best I could do until I upgrade my display. If you have a VGA or DisplayPort monitor, use this adapter. If you have HDMI, use Lenovo. I wouldn't recommend HyperDrive due to the lack of 4K 60Hz video (that's my personal preference, but I've been spoiled by MacBook/iMac Retina/5K displays).

Pros
  • High test scores for support and durability
Cons
  • Not as thick as other options