U4919DW, CalDigit TS3 dock, usage

@macmizer The TS3 dock is a Thunderbolt dock, not USB-C.  And then you mentioned an external CalDigit hub.  Are you still talking about the TS3 dock there even though you switched from calling it a dock to a hub?  If so, then in terms of connecting the display to the TS3, given that the TS3 has a USB-C port that supports USB data and video output and the U4919DW has a USB-C input that allows it to receive video and exchange USB data to make its USB ports available, the simplest solution would be to connect those two devices with the USB-C cable that came with the display.  If you need additional USB ports beyond the ports already available on the dock and the display, then buy an external USB 3.0 hub.  I have an Anker 14-port hub sitting on my desk, which should be ample capacity for most people.  As for USB-C peripherals, those are admittedly trickier.  There aren't very many USB hubs on the market that give you more USB-C ports.  It would also depend on what capabilities the devices in question require.  USB-C devices that require (or would use) USB 3.x Gen 2 and/or video would be even harder to deal with, since those capabilities are very infrequently found on hubs.

Thank you for responding.  Sorry for confusion.  

I do see I referred to the “device” as a hub and a dock.  I had actually had a very long conversation on the phone with the CalDigit folks two days before I bought the Dell 49inch monitor.  I was calling it a hub, they called it a dock and he said they are basically the same.  I know there are things called docks and hubs and they are usually referred to as completely different.

Either way let me clarify what I am hoping to do.

I was looking at the TS3 based on a call I had with the CalDigit folks.  I wanted to reduce my setup of multiple hubs, 3 monitors and wires everywhere so I bought the Dell monitor U4919DW with the hopes to hook up 2 out of 3 laptops and share all my peripherals.  I just happened to have a Logitech MX vertical mouse (Bluetooth or USB dongle) that can be used to connect up to three laptops/computers, which I have 3 laptops.  All I needed to get was a Logitech keyboard that was also Bluetooth/USB dongle.  The beauty of the mouse and keyboard is it has a tech they call FLOW.  It allows me to scroll from one computer to the next without flipping any switches or changing anything.  Just flow/scroll from one to another. So that keyboard mouse setup reduced a USB port. The back of the Dell as you know does not have too many connections.  Matter of fact, with the new Logitech Brio webcam and the Blue Snowball microphone, the two usb ports on the back are used. That leaves a single usb that I think is only for maybe charging something.  There are two ports on the front bottom of the monitor but I don’t plan on using those as I don’t want anything dangling.  Hence my need/want to have an external dock.  I knew I have two laptops that are all USB-C so the mac I plug into the Dell USB-C port and the TS3 or something like it I would plug in the other laptop (Dell) that is USB-C.  I bought the Ts3 but it did not arrive yet.  In my previous setup with two 27 inch monitors I was using a Dell usb dock (D3100).  I am trying to find a way to get that dock or the soon to arrive TS3 dock connected to the Dell laptop.  I get that you have an Anker 14 port hub so which port on the Dell U4919DW do you have it connected to and can you share/use the peripherals attached to that Anker hub on any of the computers you have attached to the Dell monitor? I assume you have cables going from the computers to the two USB upstream ports as well?

On your reply you made the statement “the simplest solution would be to connect those two devices with the USB-C cable that came with the display”

I have the Macbook pro 2020 connected to the Dell monitor USB-C and the Dell laptop 9500 attached to the display port on the Dell monitor.  I also have a surface pro I tested connecting to the HDMI 1 port. So are you saying that I could or should be able to connect the TS3 to the Dell monitor via the USB-C port? Which in turn would mean I would need to move the Mac to say the HDMI 2 port?

I have a soundbar I was trying to get connected with a 3.5 mm or optical cable but the Dell does not support it.  With a TS3 I could hooked up the soundbar to it as long as I can get that TS3 connected to the Dell monitor.

Thanks again for replying

@macmizer  Ok, trying to process all the additional information you just brought in.

Just as a quick initial note, I'm aware of Logitech Flow, but it requires you to have that software installed on all systems and for all of them to be on the same network.  The other option would be to use a keyboard and mouse that have multiple "pairing slots".  The MX Keys keyboard and MX Master 3 mouse both support 3 slots.  Each pairing slot can be used to pair to Bluetooth or the Logitech Unifying Receiver, so you use one slot for each device you want to pair with, and then there's a switch or button on the keyboard/mouse to choose which slot is active, and that's the device that the keyboard/mouse will work with.  No software required on any systems (at least for basic functionality) and no requirement for all systems to be on the same network talking to each other.

But back to your setup.  My first question is about this sentence:

I knew I have two laptops that are all USB-C so the mac I plug into the Dell USB-C port and the TS3 or something like it I would plug in the other laptop (Dell) that is USB-C.

Are you trying to have multiple laptops connected to this U4919DW simultaneously?  If so, that's a very different goal, and that was not remotely clear from your initial post, which didn't mention multiple PCs at all.

Additionally, you say you have a "Dell 9500 laptop".  Is that an XPS 15 9500?  The reason I ask is that Dell uses the same model numbering across multiple product lines.  But if you have an XPS 15, then the dock you really want is Dell's own WD19TB.  The reason is that the XPS 15 9500 is designed for a 130W power source, which is above the USB PD max of 100W.  Dell did something proprietary to stretch the spec to push 130W over USB-C/TB3 and implemented it on certain systems and docks they make, but as of this writing they haven't done that on any of their USB-C displays, and it definitely won't be found on the CalDigit dock.  So if you do NOT use the WD19TB, you'll have to choose between either keeping the XPS 15's power adapter directly connected alongside the dock, or else putting up with slower battery charging and reduced performance because you'll be relying on the dock serving as an undersized power source.  Bottom line: Neither the TS3 nor the U4919DW will supply the amount of power the XPS 15 9500 is designed for -- UNLESS your XPS 15 9500 configuration does NOT include an NVIDIA GPU.  If it has ONLY an Intel GPU, then it will be designed for a 90W source, in which case both the dock and U4919DW can supply that.

But that doesn't change the cabling setup.  If you're trying to achieve a setup where both systems can be connected simultaneously and all of your peripherals are switchable between them with minimal effort, then do this:

• Connect all of your USB devices to the U4919DW.  If you don't have enough USB ports on the display, then buy a USB 3.0 hub with the number of ports you want and connect THAT to one of the USB ports on the U4919DW so that anything connected to that USB 3.0 hub still ultimately flows through the U4919DW.
• Connect one of your systems to the U4919DW's USB-C input using a USB-C cable.
• For the TS3 dock (or WD19TB if you decide to get that instead it), use a DisplayPort cable to connect the DisplayPort output of the dock to the DisplayPort input of the U4919DW.  That will cover video.  Then connect a USB 3.0 cable from one of the upstream USB 3.0 ports on the bottom of the display (either one) to one of the USB-A "regular USB" ports on the dock.  That will allow USB peripherals connected to the U4919DW (or to the hub that runs through it) to get down to the dock, and therefore to the system that you'll use with the dock.
• In the U4919DW's on-screen menu, go to the USB Selection menu and map the DisplayPort input (connected to the dock) to whichever USB upstream port you connected to the dock.  That way, whenever the DisplayPort input is selected, the display will "expose" all of the USB peripherals connected to it to the docked system.  And when you select USB-C, the USB peripherals connected to the display will be visible to the system plugged into USB-C.  (The U4919DW manual has more information about this setup.)

There are two significant things to be aware of here:

• If you have any peripherals that should always be connected to a specific machine, such as an external hard drive that you only use with one system, that device absolutely should NOT be connected to the display, because otherwise it will be switched back and forth.  If that type of device needs to be persistently connected to the docked system, plug that device into the dock.  If it needs to always be on the USB-C system, it would have to be directly connected to that system (or to a USB hub that was directly plugged into the system, not the display).
• For systems connected to the USB-C input, your USB data speeds will be limited to USB 2.0.  This has to do with how USB-C works, the fact that the display only supports DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2 over USB-C rather than DP 1.4/HBR3, and the amount of video bandwidth required to run 5120x1440 resolution.  If being limited to USB 2.0 speeds isn't acceptable to you, then I believe you'll have to connect the non-dock system to a different video input and the other USB 3.0 upstream port.  But not using the USB-C input of course means you will no longer receive power from the display.  Note that I may be wrong about this part.  It MIGHT be possible to connect a system to the USB-C port and ALSO connect a USB 3.0 cable from the display to that same system so that the display uses that cable for a USB 3.0 data path, while using the USB-C connection only for video and power.  But I'm not sure that's possible, because for that to work, you'd need to be able to "map" one of the upstream USB 3.0 ports to the USB-C input, and the screenshot of the display's USB Selection menu in the U4919DW doesn't seem to offer a way to do that.  If that isn't possible and you need power and USB 3.0 data for both of your systems simultaneously, you might have to get TWO docking stations, one for each system, and then run video and USB 3.0 cables from each dock into the display.

Ahh yeah the fact that I have two or three laptops to hookup.  Didn’t think about mentioning it because while shopping for the ultrawides that have the kvm switching and built in USB hub functionality, I have been hung up on the multi-computer setup.

Thank you for the detail on the mouse/keyboard.

Part of my main reason to buy the monitor was for better productivity, although having three 27 inch monitors before and 3 laptops in my face allowed me to be more productive.  Here was my issue prior to setting up the flow software option.  When I was checking the keyboard/mouse options I saw that if I wanted to switch the keyboard there are 3 preset buttons I can use to switch from one computer to the other.  But with my current issue with not being able to connect/share my soundbar, I have a lot of switching to do when I need to jump on a conf call and share a screen. Here is why.  The soundbar can be connected to via Bluetooth.  So whenever I want to use the soundbar, I would have to disconnect and reconnect the speaker from Bluetooth on the laptops.  Then I would have to switch the keyboard then flip the mouse over and switch to the correct computer as well.  I know I know, first world problems.   If I run a 3.5mm cable to each laptop, remember I am slipping in a third laptop in my setup, I would have to physically switch that as well as the mouse and keyboard setttings.  I was trying to see if there is an adapter to convert 3.5mm to USB and connect it to the Dell monitor.  The adapters I see seem to mention they don’t work with an amplified speaker.  So still looking at that option.  If I did get that USB adapter for the soundbar, that would max out my USB ports, hence my investigating ways to expand.  I thought if I could get a dock that has USB-C and can power my Dell over USB-C and hang the soundbar off it, my problems would be solved. So the idea would be run a USB-C from dell laptop to dock that will charge USB-C, then run another USB-C from the dell laptop to the display port like I have it now.  Not sure if that is doable.  But see my notes below to see if I understand correctly one of my options.

I think I get it now.

1. If I want to use video on the Dock I have to hook up the display port from the dock to the display port of the Dell monitor? I am asking if it is a must connection in order to be able to use all the other ports on the dock?
2. Let’s say I plan on keeping the Mac on the monitor USB-C.  Then hookup the usb upstream cable to an open USB port on the dock.No dock display port to Dell monitor display port.  The Mac should be able to see USB peripherals on the Dell as well as peripherals on the dock?  Right now I have the dell xps 9500 USB-C connected to the DisplayPort of the Dell monitor.  All current USB devices are accessible when I flip the USB Switch on the monitor. So if I need to do a conference call on the Dell, I can hit the USB Switch function on the monitor or use a short key to flip the dell to use the USB webcam, Snowball microphone. However, I cannot use the soundbar as it is 3.5mm.  I do not want to run cables to each laptop to use the speaker. My hope was if I can get the hub, even my current D3100 connected to the Dell monitor as you suggested, I could plug the soundbar back into the old D3100 hub I was using and share it.  What I love about the single USB-C cable is that on that Mac I can send video and access all the USB devices.  I switch the USB selection on the monitor and the Dell laptop will then take control of all the USB devices.
3. When you stated “For systems connected to the USB-C input, your USB data speeds will be limited to USB 2.0.  This has to do with how USB-C works”  Does this mean the speed limit of USB 2.0 is going to be an issue even if I do not introduce an external dock.  Or do you mean I will only get USB 2.0 speeds for those devices hanging off the external USB dock when trying to access via the USB-C device/macbook?

I never planned on having to even use or buy another USB dock.  But since the ports on the Dell monitor are almost maxed out, plus I want room for some growth and the soundbar is not available yet to my laptops connected to said monitor, I wanted to see what my options could be.  At the end, I could just plug the darn Dell monitor into the surge protector.  But then I still have the issue of running out of ports and no connection to the soundbar.  Looks like I may be able to ressurrect my use of the Dell D3100 dock I just disconnected over the weekend.

I love your very thorough replies.  Most people never put that effort into it.  Even I did not include as much as I could have initially.  I am usually very detailed.

@macmizer  One thing I forgot to mention above. I'm almost certain that the D3100 will not run 5120x1440 resolution, at least not at the standard 60 Hz.  That's a pretty old dock.  In fact I'm not even sure the newer D6000 would do that.  But the Dxxxx docks really aren't a great choice anyway, especially now that you've got systems that support USB-C/Thunderbolt 3.  The Dxxxx series docks rely on "indirect display" technology called DisplayLink -- not to be confused with DisplayPort.  That's how they're able to get video out of regular USB connections, which do not natively support video output, but that technology comes with drawbacks that can be significant in some use cases.  I wrote about those in the post marked as the answer in this thread.  By comparison, the TS3 and the WD19TB dock I mentioned are Thunderbolt 3 docks that tap into native GPU outputs wired to those ports on the source system, and both of the systems you have support Thunderbolt 3.  So they would not be subject to those DisplayLink issues.

@macmizer  The best way to deal with the soundbar is to get one that supports receiving power and audio over USB, such as Dell's own AC511M or AE515M.  That way it will become just another switchable USB peripheral, which means it will switch back and forth when you switch inputs on the display along with all of your other USB devices.  If you wanted to use 3.5mm conveniently, you would have needed a display that had a built-in 3.5mm audio output jack, in which case the display itself would have shown up as an audio target because you could send audio over HDMI, DisplayPort, or USB-C, and then the display would have passed that raw audio out over the 3.5mm jack.  Some of Dell's U Series displays have that, but apparently not this one.  So USB is the way to go here.  Or if you want an adapter, yes those exist.  Here is one that even includes a mic input.  So you could plug that into one of the USB ports on the display (or a hub attached to the display) and you're good to go.  To my knowledge it works fine with a speaker receiving external power.  And then you don't need to deal with 3.5mm cables from each source system, because again this just becomes one more USB device that gets switched back and forth, and this device will appear as an audio output device on each system.

You seem to be getting hung up on maxing out USB ports.  Given the quantity of peripherals you have and your desire to maintain future expansion, I think you just need to come to terms with getting a USB 3.0 hub.  They're not that expensive.

In terms of this sentence:
So the idea would be run a USB-C from dell laptop to dock that will charge USB-C, then run another USB-C from the dell laptop to the display port like I have it now.

If you're referring to the same Dell laptop in both parts there, then there's no point in doing that.  The USB-C connection between the Dell laptop and the display's USB-C input will carry power, USB (2.0) data, and video.  So making another connection from a different USB-C port on that same laptop to the DisplayPort input on the display would be redundant.

In terms of your other questions:

1. Yes, you should connect a DisplayPort cable from the dock to the display so that you can connect a system to the dock and it will be able to send video to the display (through the dock).  You don't HAVE to have that video connection for the REST of the dock to function, but why would you NOT want that?  It makes no sense at all to connect a laptop to the dock and then connect to the display through some other way.  That means 2 cable connections to that laptop with no additional benefit, because if you connect the dock to the display, then you can just have a single cable connection for the laptop (the single cable going to the dock) and then the system can get video to the display.
2. In terms of this: "The Mac should be able to see USB peripherals on the Dell as well as peripherals on the dock?"  No, that isn't how it works.  If you have the Mac connected to the display's USB-C input, then it will see any USB peripherals plugged into the display's USB ports, but it will NOT see peripherals plugged into the dock -- just as a laptop connected to the docking station wouldn't see USB peripherals directly connected to your Mac laptop that's plugged into USB-C.  The dock is connected to the display through a USB upstream port.  The display's USB-C input also works as a USB upstream port for USB data path purposes.  So each host device connected to a USB upstream port gets to see any downstream USB devices, meaning anything plugged into the display's USB peripheral ports.  But they do not get to hop over each other's upstream ports to talk to each other.  The reason the USB 3.0 hub I've been talking about for a while now would work is that the hub would plug into one of the downstream USB-A ports and therefore will be seen as a peripheral by the host devices plugged into the upstream ports (or USB-C).  But a docking station plugged into an upstream port is not going to work as a "port expander" for a device plugged into a different upstream port.  That's not how USB works.  The reason you'd use USB ports on the dock would be if you had certain USB peripherals that you wanted to be used ONLY by the system plugged into the dock -- and of course if you didn't have a display that incorporated USB ports, in which case the dock serves as a USB hub for the system that's directly attached to it.
3. As for USB 2.0, if you connect a laptop to the display's USB-C input and don't make any other connections between that laptop and the display, then you will only experience USB 2.0 speeds for any USB peripherals connected through the display, including perripherals plugged into a USB 3.0 hub that is plugged into that display.  The reason is that there is only a USB 2.0 data path running over that USB-C connection between the display and the system plugged into its USB-C port.  Whether that's an issue depends on whether USB 2.0 speeds would be acceptable based on the peripherals you plan to use.  If it's just things like a keyboard, mouse, USB audio adapter, and webcam, that might be fine (unless the webcam benefits from USB 3.0?)  If you plan to have things like an external hard drive connected, that might be an inconvenience.  If you want USB 3.0 speeds, you'd need to connect the source system to one of the display's USB 3.0 upstream ports, but you've only got 2 of those to work with.