OWC Doc review
I preordered this dock back in July of 2015 because I immediately recognized that I was going to want ways of connecting my 2015 Macbook to a variety of devices. Over the next few months, I got emails reporting that it would be out soon, and it arrived in January. I was forgiving of the delay, because by then I had enough experience with Type-C to suspect that the electrical engineering might have been tricky.
My specific wishes were to be able to bring the Macbook home and plug it into a dock that added to it the following components: 1. a backup drive for Time Machine to use 2. a large-screen monitor 3. an Apple Superdrive for reading and writing DVDs 4. some spare USB ports for trying out alternative pointing devices.
The OWC Dock handled wishes 1 and 4 with no sweat.
Wish 2 was a different story. My monitor, a bit long in the tooth, accepts VGA or DVI input. Since the large screen was a requirement from the get-go, back when I bought the laptop, I also bought the Apple format converter that plugs into the Type-C socket on the computer and provides a USB socket, a DVI socket, and a Type-C socket for power input. Back when I preordered the dock, I had no reason to believe I would not be able to combine this converter with the dock by plugging the computer connection of the converter into the Type-C output socket on the dock. But when the dock arrived, the documentation with it warned that such a connection would not work, and sure enough, it didn't.
Of course, if I just had an up-to-date (i.e. HDMI) monitor, this problem would not have arisen, but a new monitor was not in my budget, so I embarked on a number of experiments. Conclusion: If you take a dongle that was designed to plug into the Type-C socket on the Macbook 2015, and instead plug it into the Type-C output socket on the dock, the results are unlikely to be what you had hoped.
Note: Most Type-C dongles have a Type-C plug to go to the computer (thus consuming the Macbook 2015's connection to line power), but do not provide a Type-C socket to restore the ability to connect to line power, as does the Apple converter that I bought with the laptop. The dongles therefore can only be used when the laptop is running on battery power.
There was a solution, however, in a converter that plugs into the DVI socket on the monitor, and converts it to an HDMI socket. Then add a plain old HDMI cable running from the HDMI socket on the dock, and you are in business. Yet there remains a small, intermittent annoyance that is probably not the fault of the dock. The last few OS Xs have had trouble recognizing an external monitor, and have often needed to be burped when connecting by making a hot plug-in.
Whew! That leaves wish 3. The dock provides regular USB ports plus two "high-power" ones for charging devices. I had already learned that the Superdrive is something of a power hog because the laptop won't run it when running on battery. So I plugged it into a high power port on the dock. Still no luck, I got a diagnostic message indicating not enough power. Tech support informs me that for the Superdrive you need a Y-cable, one that plugs into TWO USB ports and provides a socket on the other end supplying signal from one and power from BOTH. OK, I get on Amazon and order one. It takes a few days for it to get from the manufacturer to Beijing and another week or so to get to me. And that did not work either. The only combination of my gear that runs the Superdrive is to use the USB port on the Apple converter that I bought along with the laptop.
So I got three of my four wishes, and I can get the Superdrive by temporarily replacing the dock with the Apple converter. Looks like I got a bit close to the bleeding edge this time. The OWC dock looks great, provides a package of services that a lot of Macbook 2015 owners are going to need, and helps control the tangle of cables. If possible, borrow one and test it on the configuration of devices you had in mind!
"Marketed for USB-C equipped-MacBook users, the OWC USB-C Dock worked splendidly on the HP Spectre - it enhanced my productivity big time." — Michael Lasky, Window Secrets 
"…nothing out there matches it in port options, it could be the perfect companion to a new MacBook…" — Mitchel Broussard, MacRumors 
"The OWC USB-C Dock provides for a superior experience when using a MacBook and helps to turn it from merely being one of the best laptops into one of the most input-savvy ones out there." — Marshal Rosenthal, Examiner 
"For those of you have the 12" MacBook, life is very simple. If you need a dock, this guy is gonna work … $159 is not a bad price to spend." — Lisa Gade, Mobile Tech Review 
"…It will make your computing life more efficient, enjoyable, and productive, especially when at a fixed location...Our MyMac Review Rating is a perfect 10 out of 10. The typical MacBook owner will love it." — John Nemerovski, MyMac.com 
