View Apple subscriptions for your family.Subscribe to podcast shows and channels.Sync music, books, and more between devices.Send files between devices with AirDrop.Make and receive phone calls on your Mac.Insert photos and documents from iPhone or iPad.Use a keyboard and mouse or trackpad across devices.Use Continuity to work across Apple devices.Use SharePlay to watch and listen together.Use Live Text to interact with text in a photo.Make it easier to see what’s on the screen.Change the picture for you or others in apps.Install and reinstall apps from the App Store.That said, getting an adapter and plugging it in won't break anything, and worst case is you end up with a USB 3 type-A to type-C cable or adapter, which will probably come in handy. I would be somewhat surprised by that but it's a possibility, at least. It's also somewhat possible that the dock really does use just the display portion of the USB-C connection for all the display outputs (and as such only some will work at a time if you have more than one screen connected). It will literally have an entry for DisplayLink in there if it does indeed have one of those chips. (If you plug it in and nothing lights up, try to check the USB bus - lsusb comes to mind but how specifically you do that depends on how Linux-savvy you are. A lot of just-USB-C docks do that, where some of the outputs are via the computer and some are via a DisplayLink chip in the dock. I would wager that at least one of the display outputs on there is hooked in via a USB display adapter - something like those provided by the DisplayLink company - and is not using the DisplayPort-over-USB/Thunderbolt that's also there.

They're USB 3 on that computer, so you'll need a type-A to type-C adapter or cable, but it should plug in. However, one thing to try would be just hooking it in with one of the normal USB ports. Looking at it, your dock is almost certainly not a Thunderbolt-enabled device, so using that port is probably not going to be workable as you'd now have to get the Thunderbolt output to something that can encapsulate the video signal and provide USB 3 and shove that over USB-C and yadda yadda yadda. It's confusing.) So, the mini-DP port is either Thunderbolt or display. (It doesn't look like the Dell dock is a Thunderbolt dock of any sort either it's just USB-C, which can run DisplayPort over it. Assuming this is the correct machine, that's a Thunderbolt 1.0 port masquerading as a DisplayPort it doesn't carry USB signaling over it like the Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port does. Doubtful with the mini-DP connector, at least.

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