Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

CalDigit Launches Element 5 Hub With Thunderbolt 5

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,728
38,262


If you own one of Apple's latest Mac mini or MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max processors, you may be interested to learn that CalDigit today announced its first Thunderbolt 5 product, the Element 5 Hub.

caldigit-tb-5-hub.jpg

The Element 5 Hub boasts nine ports, including four Thunderbolt 5 ports capable of up to 120Gb/s bandwidth, two USB-C ports at 10Gb/s, and three USB-A ports also running at 10Gb/s. The hub delivers consistent 90W charging to host devices, regardless of connected peripherals, thanks to its compact 180W power supply.

Display support includes dual 8K monitors at 60Hz or dual 4K at 240Hz refresh rates, leveraging Thunderbolt 5's new Bandwidth Boost feature. CalDigit notes that Windows machines can handle up to three displays through a single Thunderbolt 5 connection, but unfortunately Mac users are limited to dual displays due to macOS limitations, even when using Apple's latest M4 chips.

The hub doubles PCIe bandwidth to 64Gb/s compared to its predecessor, allowing it to accommodate faster storage devices. Meanwhile, power delivery remains stable at 90W for host charging, with 15W available from each downstream Thunderbolt 5 port and 7.5W from USB ports.

caldigit-tb-5-hub-1.jpg

The Element 5 Hub is available now direct from CalDigit in the United States for $249.95, with UK and EU availability expected in mid to late February 2025. Pricing is set at £249.99 in the UK and €249.99 (minus VAT) in the EU.

Article Link: CalDigit Launches Element 5 Hub With Thunderbolt 5
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/31/caldigit-element-5-hub-with-thunderbolt-5/
  • Like
Reactions: drrich2
MacRumors said:
The Element 5 Hub boasts nine ports, including four Thunderbolt 5 ports capable of up to 120Gb/s bandwidth, two USB-C ports at 10Gb/s, and three USB-A ports also running at 10Gb/s.
Click to expand...
The Thunderbolt 5 ports should be able to also support USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) when connected to an Intel Thunderbolt 3 Mac. For Apple Silicon Macs, to get USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20 Gbps), you need to disable USB tunnelling by placing a Thunderbolt 3 device between the Mac and the hub but that would bottleneck the performance of the Thunderbolt 5 ports - limiting them to 40 Gbps.

I like that this has one more port than the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, two USB-C ports replacing a USB-A port.

hajime said:
Why there are MacOS limitations?
Click to expand...
Because Apple did not give the Apple Silicon Thunderbolt 5 host controllers 3 DisplayPort inputs like the Intel Thunderbolt 5 host controllers have.

tomekwsrod said:
And why USB-A ports when all the shiny things now are made with USB-C.
Click to expand...
Because some devices may still be USB-A. 5 out of 8 ports is not bad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimthing, platinumaqua, drrich2 and 4 others
CalDigitDalton said:
Hey, I'm the CalDigit Community Manager.
The macOS limitations (I assume in regards to the lack of triple monitor support), is a hardware limitation of current M4 computers to my understanding.
No Thunderbolt 5 dock will be able to drive triple monitors on macOS until there's an update to allow it.
Click to expand...
No option to run two cables from the M4 device and get 3 monitor outputs?
 
  • Like
Reactions: jaymc
tomekwsrod said:
And why USB-A ports when all the shiny things now are made with USB-C.
Click to expand...

Because there are abundant, less shiny things ALREADY in people's homes & offices that still function and probably will for the next 5 or 10 years that are USB-A. And there is still abundant brand new stuff shipping in 2025 for USB-A connections.

And yes, one could buy cheap adapters but dongles for dongles is not exactly a joyous proposition.

Note that CalDigit won't be selling this to only us Apple people. The Wintel crowd will be customers too. USB-A and all kinds of older accessories are in greater abundance there than all of the shiny new Macs sold worldwide in the last few years.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Sad
Reactions: Tozovac, freedomlinux, eifelbube and 9 others
neuropsychguy said:
No option to run two cables from the M4 device and get 3 monitor outputs?
Click to expand...
You can do this across multiple docks, but not conventionally from a single dock.
My understanding is that any kind of single dock solution like that would necessitate another Thunderbolt chip (as in, each Thunderbolt "host" connection to the dock requires its own chip, even if it's just one dock). This kind of solution would add cost and increase complexity.
It's simpler across the board right now to just use a second dock if you're already needing to plug in a second cable. Maybe 3 monitor support will come natively in the future for macOS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimthing
Why are we not talking about this snippet from the product page?
Many docks and hubs are not compatible with the Apple SuperDrive since it requires extra power from the connected USB port. In fact Apple recommends to connect it directly to a computer. CalDigit has solved this problem by creating a driver that will allow the SuperDrive to work through the Element 5 Hub.
Click to expand...
This is huge! (for the dozens of people that care 😂)
 
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Love
Reactions: jimthing, Alameda, Galley and 10 others
joevt said:
Because Apple did not give the Apple Silicon Thunderbolt 5 host controllers 3 DisplayPort inputs like the Intel Thunderbolt 5 host controllers have.
Click to expand...
@joevt do you know if this is a hardware limitation or software? You're probably the most knowledgeable person I could think of on this topic.

I was under the impression that this was spelled out in the Thunderbolt 5 specification but apparently not. First became aware of it from this video:
 
US$250 seems like a reasonable price for a TB5 hub as described. Good for M4 Pro Mac minis and MacBook Pros.

For myself though, I’ll be satisfied with my two TB4 hubs for now, esp. considering my recently purchased M4 Mac mini doesn’t support TB5 anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thefrost
Cheesehead Dave said:
My Logitech keyboard and mouse still use the little USB dongle. I'm sure my next one will be regular Bluetooth, but for now I still need USB-A.
Click to expand...
Which Logitech mouse and keyboard I have the Mx keys and Mx master mouse and they are compatible with both the dongle and Bluetooth.
 
CalDigitDalton said:
Hey, I'm the CalDigit Community Manager.
The macOS limitations (I assume in regards to the lack of triple monitor support), is a hardware limitation of current M4 computers to my understanding.
No Thunderbolt 5 dock will be able to drive triple monitors on macOS until there's an update to allow it.
Click to expand...

Why Apple placed such limitations? Since the M1, their Silicon Macs have been lacking in the video department.

So although Apple advertises that their M4 Pro and Max support TB5, it is actually a limited version of the standard TB5 that TB5 equipped Windows PC are using?
 
  • Like
Reactions: mdnky and Stenik
Have reviewed several CalDigit Docks in the past and they've always been of a high quality and work really well. I generally use them for drive connectivity over anything else TBH, so I do wish they had an option with USB-C front ports rather then USB-A, but I understand the reasoning.
Guessing OWC will be hot on their heels with their own version shortly!
 
  • Like
Reactions: drrich2
hajime said:
Why Apple placed such limitations? Since the M1, their Silicon Macs have been lacking in the video department.

So although Apple advertises that their M4 Pro and Max support TB5, it is actually a limited version of the standard TB5 that TB5 equipped Windows PC are using?
Click to expand...
TB5 mandates 2 monitors but allows 3 if I'm remembering correctly, so they're within spec, just not supporting it as much as they could yet. Why they are doing it, I could not say. It is the Apple way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dricci
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back