The 6 Essential Dongles and Adapters You'll Need With Your New MacBook Pro - Paste Magazine

The 6 Essential Dongles and Adapters You’ll Need With Your New MacBook Pro

Let’s be honest about something: people in the Apple camp have always lived the #DongleLife in some form or another. If you’ve ever owned a MacBook, you know the feeling of showing up to give a presentation and forgetting to bring that mini display port to DVI adapter.

Apple took it to a new level with the release of its new MacBook Pro, which comes with just four Thunderbolt 3.0 ports. Now the good part is that these Thunderbolt ports are super fast (because they use the USB-C architecture) and are interchangeable location-wise. And while that means you could potentially have four USB ports if needed, you’re also going to need these for every other kind of accessory you have as well.

Now that the new MacBook Pro is finally getting into the hands of users, we’ve got a rundown of all those shiny, white dongles you’ll need to get through the day.

1. Thunderbolt 3.0 to USB 3.0

This is the one you’ll absolutely want to grab first. In fact, you may want to pick up two or three of these. If you’ve got accessories like an external hard drive, a mouse, a USB stick, or even a Superdrive, you’ll want to pick up some USB-C to USB 3.0 ports. In a few years, all of these accessories will no doubt be replaced with USB-C ones, but in the meantime you’ll definitely want to put these on your stocking stuffer wish list.

You can pick up a cheap off-brand adapter off Amazon for only $6.99, or you can get the official Apple adapter for $19.

2. Thunderbolt 3.0 to HDMI

HDMI was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. No more connecting both video and audio! No more mini display port to DVI or VGA adapters! Well, it just got one step more annoying with the new MacBook Pro. The solution is a Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter, which will hook you up to things like monitors and televisions.

You can pick up a cheap off-brand adapter off Amazon for $13.99. As for an official Apple option, you’ll need to pick up the “digital A/V” adapter, which comes with a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, and a USB-C port. Unfortunately, this comes in at a steep $49.

3. Thunderbolt 3.0 to Lightning

If you picked up a new iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, you may have noticed that there is now no way to actually connect your iPhone to your new MacBook Pro. While the reasons why you’d want to do something like that are increasingly slim, if you want to do some hardwired syncing or charging, you’ll need a Thunderbolt 3 to Lightning adapter.

You can pick up a cheap off-brand adapter off Amazon for $9.99 or an official Apple option for $19.

4. Thunderbolt 3.0 SD card reader

Not everyone needs an SD card reader, but if you do any kind of photography with a DSLR camera, you’ll want to pick up a Thunderbolt 3.0 to SD Card Reader. This is one of those really annoying adapters that you’ll only need once and awhile, but you’re in a pinch and need it, you probably left it at home.

You can pick up a cheap off-brand adapter off Amazon for $11, or the SanDisk one that Apple recommends for $50.

5. Thunderbolt 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter

What’s that? You already had a USB ethernet adapter because Apple removed the ethernet port from the previous iteration of the MacBook? Well, unless you want to start stringing adapters together, you’ll need to now pick up a different ethernet adapter.

Apple doesn’t have its own version of this, so you can pick up this $16.99 one off of Amazon. The one on Apple’s website is by Belkin, which goes for $26.

6. Thunderbolt 3.0 to Thunderbolt 2.0

Oh you already have a Thunderbolt adapter, do you? Well—if you want to utilize the full speed of Thunderbolt 3.0, you’ll need an adapter to make the jump.

You can pick up a cheap, off-brand alternative on Amazon for $22.99, or the Apple one for $29.

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