I just ordered the following from Amazon:
1. Super Thunderbolt 3 Dock for Mac Studio&Mac Mini, Dock Station with NVMe/SATA Slot(Up to 2800Mbps),4X USB 3.1 Port(10Gbps) , CFexpress/TF/SD Card Readers,Support Daisy Chain (up to 5 Unit) (Silver)
2. SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive Memory Card, Maximum Speed, Thermal Control, MZ-V8P2T0B
3. SAMSUNG 870 EVO SATA III SSD 1TB 2.5” Internal Solid State Hard Drive, Upgrade PC or Laptop Memory and Storage for IT Pros, Creators, Everyday Users, MZ-77E1T0B/AM
after looking at the compatibility grid that was posted here.
I plan on using it with an M1 Mac Mini. Does this look like a good combo for performance and reliability?
Also, the manual say that that one of the Thunderbolt 3 ports is for the uplink to the Mac Mini and the other is to daisy chain other docks. However, can you just use that as a regular Thunderbolt 3 port for anything you want?
Thanks
Carl
You're most welcome, Carl. Would love to hear how the testing go about once everything has arrived at your end. Do share. =)
Thanks for the information!
My stuff is supposed to arrive this Saturday but I'm still waiting on my Apple Studio Display so it may be a bit before I can test everything out. :)
Hello Carl,
first off, thank you so much for the purchase~ =)
And to answer your first question, yes, the above combination looks like a good combo for performance and reliability. Although, we'd like to point out to you that Samsung 980 PRO is a Gen4 PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and the PCIe slot that the Mac Mini Dock is having is a Gen3 one. In short, the performance would still be capped at PCIe 3.0 speed (in terms of READ and WRITE speed). However, it's one of the SSDs that its WRITE speed is not affected by the M1 chip computer. And you can certainly use it in a Gen4 enclosure in the future when there's one and harvesting its full potential. So, it's a good choice. As for the 2.5" Samsung 870 EVO SATA III SSD, we'd say the SATA drives / USB protocol has been around for quite some time now. It's pretty stable, you should not face any issue there. Do note, some users has been facing SATA drive not recognizable in Mac OS (only very few people do). So, don't get panic attack if the SATA drive is not getting recognized after you've installed it. There's a link below here that would guide you through on how to update the firmware so that the issue would be resolved. Let us know if you need any further clarification or assistance. =) The answer is YES, you may use the other Thunderbolt 3 port as a regular Thunderbolt 3 port should you're not Daisy-Chaining it. Lastly, I'll be pasting a common Mac Mini Dock after sale message below. Just in case there's something you might have missed or interested in knowing a little bit more about the product that you're getting there. Have a good one there and stay safe, Carl!
Best regards,
Choon Wai Hor | Trebleet.com
+6019 498 3169
Mac Mini Dock after sale message
Are you a Mac Mini Dock / 8in1 Dock / SSD Enclosure customer of ours & also an M1 chip computer user? If you are, you might want to take a look at the SSD compatible list attached. Especially if you're looking to purchase an SSD that would be used in a Mac OS environment / with an M1 computer. As there are numerous reports of M1 computers do somehow limit the WRITE speed of an SSD while the READ speed is normal. We strongly believe that the issue would be corrected in the next Mac OS update, hopefully. Do note, even the SSDs listed as "COMPATIBLE" ones, the WRITE Speed might still be limited / degraded if used with M1 computers. We suggest that you have a look at the forum links below before getting your SSD for storage expansion. Should you decide to try out the "Compatible" ones on the SSD compatible list to see if it works without the WRITE SPEED LIMIT on an M1 chip computer, please do purchase the desired SSD(s) from an SSD seller that allows return if the purchased SSD(s) is somehow under-performing or showing lowered WRITE speed due to M1 chip WRITE speed limitations. We do not accept product return if it's solely for the reason of WRITE Speed Limit on an M1 chip computer. In which it's something that Mac's end should be rectifying. So far, we do know that Samsung 970 Pro, Samsung 980 Pro, Corsair MP400 SSDs are working well and not affected by the WRITE speed limitation on M1 computers. LINKS:
NVMe Slow WRITE speed on M1 computers - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/technical-support/nvme-slow-write-speed-on-m1-computers
DO NOT use Sabrent SSD in MacOS environment - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/technical-support/do-not-use-sabrent-ssd-in-macos-environment
Tested the speed of the internal SSD of a Mac Studio with M1 Max chip - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/tested-the-speed-of-the-internal-ssd-of-a-mac-studio-with-m1-max-chip
Mac Mini Dock User Manual - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/mac-mini-dock-user-manual
What is the allowable SATA drive slot dimension & size on the Mac Mini Dock? - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/what-is-the-allowable-sata-drive-slot-dimension-size
SATA drive NOT Recognizable on Mac OS issue - Firmware Update - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/sata-drive-not-recognizable-on-mac-mini-dock-bug Can I use an SATA M.2 SSD in the Mac Mini Dock? - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/can-i-use-an-sata-m-2-ssd-in-the-mac-mini-dock