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Apple MacBook

Update (11/9/2016): We've heard from Plugable that there are some Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapters that use the TPS65982 solution and yet piece of work in the MacBook Pro. Akitio has too published a list of which devices work with the MacBook Pro — and over again, information technology'southward not clear why some hardware with the 82 solution work, while others don't. We have removed the quote from Plugable that unsaid no devices with the 65982 solution could connect to the new MBPs.

Original Story:

Well, this is a touch on embarrassing. When Apple unveiled its latest MacBook Pro hardware a few weeks back, it declared that USB-C-compatible Thunderbolt 3 ports (and lots of dongles) were the hereafter of the company's Mac partition. We disagreed with that decision, while acknowledging that yes, Apple does have a long history of sunsetting onetime standards and introducing new ones ahead of the rest of the industry (whether or not this situation is coordinating is a topic we discussed). Now, news has surfaced that Apple tree's newest MacBook Pro hardware may not be compatible with Thunderbolt 3 peripherals already on the marketplace.

First, some context: Thunderbolt three is the tertiary iteration of Intel's Thunderbolt interconnect standard and is the get-go version of that standard to be physically compatible with USB Blazon-C connectors. It debuted in early on June 2015, and support began shipping with Skylake hardware towards the terminate of terminal year. Thunderbolt 3 is used in the external GPU XConnect standard jointly developed by Intel, AMD, and Razer. It'south USB-C compatible (an extremely smart move from Intel) and should be a plug-and-play solution for Apple's MacBook Pro. Later on all, Thunderbolt 3 is Thunderbolt 3… right? Apparently, no — not when Apple deploys it.

Thunderbolt-External

Co-ordinate to peripheral manufacturer Plugable, Intel'south Thunderbolt 3 standard specifically calls for sure TI chips to handle ability delivery and alternate mode negotiation. The chip specified by Intel, and used by Plugable (and possibly the entire residue of the manufacture) is the TPS65982. Information technology's described by Texas Instruments as: "a stand-solitary USB Type-C and power delivery (PD) controller providing cablevision-plug and orientation detection at the USB Type-C connector. Upon cable detection, the TPS65982 device communicates on the CC wire using the USB PD protocol. Afterwards successful USB PD negotiation is complete, the TPS65982 enables the appropriate power path and configures alternate fashion settings for internal and (optional) external multiplexers."

According to Plugable, none of its existing hardware currently on the market is compatible with the MacBook Pro because OS 10 expects all devices to apply the 2nd-generation TPS65983 solution. Here's how the visitor describes the problem:

The version of Bone X on the new MacBook Pros (late 2016) will not piece of work with existing Thunderbolt iii docks and adapters that were certified for Windows prior to the release of the MacBook Pro. These existing devices use first generation of TI USB-C chipset (TPS65982) in combination with Intel's Thunderbolt 3 chipset (Alpine Ridge). Apple requires the 2nd generation TPS65983 chipset for peripherals to exist compatible. Certification of solutions across different device types is still in-progress for this 2nd generation chipset. From the Plugable production line, our dual display graphics adapters for DisplayPort and HDMI (TBT3-DP2X and TBT3-HDMI2X) are affected… Nosotros've also postponed our TBT3-UD1 Docking Station to update to the TPS65983 chipset and re-certify to brand this docking station MacBook-compatible. Our Flagship TBT3-UDV dock with Ability Commitment/Charging was already planned to use the adjacent generation controller flake from TI, and volition be compatible with the 2016 Thunderbolt 3 MacBooks.

Answering compatibility questions

We've got questions in to Intel about this, simply here's what we know thus far. Get-go, this problem appears to be specific to Thunderbolt 3 peripherals. If you have a Thunderbolt 2 device plugged into a Thunderbolt 3 port via an adapter, it seems to work fine. That limits the corporeality of hardware likely to exist incompatible, since non that many Thunderbolt 3 peripherals accept been congenital yet.

The flip side to this, all the same, is that Apple appears to have asleep at the switch when it comes to the hardware already on the marketplace. It'south i thing to exist on the cutting-edge of engineering science, simply declaring that your users are all expected to convert to a new cable standard while simultaneously releasing hardware incompatible with all of the Thunderbolt 3 hardware currently on the marketplace is really, really dumb. What happens to Apple buyers who pulled the trigger on a MacBook Pro and some new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals at the aforementioned fourth dimension?

What makes all of this even stranger is that the hardware Apple tree isn't supporting isn't some random Thunderbolt 3 controller fabricated past a third party. These are chips that are part of Intel's own reference blueprint for Thunderbolt 3 devices. A footling excavation on TI's forums turned up 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 equally tablets, notebooks, and workstations.)" That may be true, but Intel'southward own release notes for its Thunderbolt 16.2.52.250 driver, released on 9/30, land: " Added support for TI TPS65983 PD Controller in SW, SDK API and samples." Other comments from various places in TI suggest that the TI TPS65983 controller wasn't bachelor until Jan 2016 at the very primeval. Development back up for the chip was nevertheless limited to by request but equally of Apr, and the configuration tools TI offers for other chips weren't available until the very end of March.

In short, the bulk of the evidence suggests that full back up for the TPS65983 controller has taken 6-10 months to announced and was only recently added to Intel'southward own SDKs. It's also unclear what the bodily departure is betwixt the two chips. I'chiliad certain TI is correct when it calls the 983 flake a "special production," but I've paged through the information sheets for the 982 and the 983 and establish zilch at all to distinguish them. They take identical circuit diagrams, identical layouts, and one time y'all correct for some small variation in verbiage, identical features.

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