The downside of Apple’s recent love affair with Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports on the MacBook and MacBook Pro is that users need to buy adapters and cables to interface with just about anything. For those who wish to connect a MacBook Pro to a HD or UHD (4K) TV, that usually means spending $69 on Apple’s USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. Fortunately, Belkin is now offering a USB-C to HDMI Adapter priced at $49.99 so you can save a bit of money on your dongle expenditures without sacrificing quality.
Belkin’s adapter is meant to be used with your own HDMI cable, so it’s perfect for those situations where you already have a HDMI to HDMI cable available and just need some way to plug it into your MacBook or MacBook Pro. The Belkin adapter supports 4K video at a 60Hz refresh rate for High Dynamic Range video at resolutions up to 4096 x 2160, so those who are looking to pull down 4K video from online sources to watch on their 4K UHDTVs are in luck.
There’s another feature built into Belkin’s adapter that is not in a lot of similar adapters: support for HDCP 2.2, so you can play protected content from iTunes and Netflix. The adapter itself is made of a black polycarbonate with 6-layer metallic shields inside to prevent electromagnetic interference. It’s only 5.5 inches (14cm) long, so it won’t take up a lot of space in your bag with all of those other dongles.
The only negative I can see with the adapter is that it doesn’t include a passthrough USB-C port for charging a MacBook while watching video. This could be an issue with the MacBook, which has a single USB-C port. A MacBook Pro has anywhere from 2 to 4 USB-C ports, making charging through another port simple.
I tested the adapter by connecting my 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to our rather old, non-4K plasma TV and it worked beautifully. I could almost get used to working with that big screen TV as my monitor! Of course, it would be so much nicer on a new 4K TV…
