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CalDigit's Latest Dock Features Four Thunderbolt 4 Ports and Four USB-A Ports

Neat little gadget...

I think the marketing "No hub can do this" is a bit mean... I man, of course no other hub can consonantly charge while ac is unplugged because thats why you have the big power brick.. (btw: everyone does that don't they?.. Show off this dinky little thing then make everyone upset by showing them the big power brick thatit needs to stll draw power if you want to use a "convenient" feature.
 
I have the Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub on pre-order. I'm wondering if it have full functionality if I use a 2m "active" TB3 cable from the host Mac? In other words, will the USB-A ports function?

I assume the answer is "yes" because this is a full hub, vs. a TB3 endpoint/sink. But the differences between TB3 active and passive is a bit unclear to me.
 
oWoMo said:
I had been waiting for the OWC hub but I think I'm going to go for this one instead - its about £100 cheaper (and I don't actually need the LAN or headphone socket on OWC). Wish this one had SD card socket, but I can get a cheap USB -> SD adapter. Also this one supports superdrive (apparently the OWC doesn't) which I need. So thanks to macrumors for posting this article!
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I own the OWC one. The only thing I don't like about it is the front USB-C port to connect to my M1 MacMini. Maybe that port's front position is designed for laptop users? Also the OWC can charge a laptop vs. the CalDigit.

I certainly like the price of the CalDigit and as the OP points out easy to add an SD card reader. Though I will say the OWC's SD card reader is fast!
 
jazz1 said:
I own the OWC one. The only thing I don't like about it is the front USB-C port to connect to my M1 MacMini. Maybe that port's front position is designed for laptop users? Also the OWC can charge a laptop vs. the CalDigit.

I certainly like the price of the CalDigit and as the OP points out easy to add an SD card reader. Though I will say the OWC's SD card reader is fast!
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I’m pretty sure the Caldigit will charge laptops too...

The Element Hub not only offers versatile connectivity options, it will also charge a Tablet or Ultrabook at up to 60W through the [Computer] port.
 
BeatCrazy said:
I have the Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub on pre-order. I'm wondering if it have full functionality if I use a 2m "active" TB3 cable from the host Mac? In other words, will the USB-A ports function?

I assume the answer is "yes" because this is a full hub, vs. a TB3 endpoint/sink. But the differences between TB3 active and passive is a bit unclear to me.
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Any Thunderbolt 3 cable should work, allowing 40 Gbps. A USB-C cable will only allow 20 Gbps.
 
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I thought this was shipping mid-February. Anyone received a shipping notice from CalDigit?
 
When I ordered shipping was mi-February, as noted now March/April. No communication or updates from Caldigit on my order. They also took full payment on Feb. 4. Not happy with the lack of communication.
 
Inquired with Caldigit. They incorrectly claim they always posted a mid-March to April estimated shipping date. This is not correct as it was clearly stated as mid-February when I ordered. I also resent processing the charge in advance and then letting the ship date slip. May have to cancel.
 
Upon further inquiry Caldigit has now told me they only had 300 units initially and sold out quickly before they updated their web site to the March/April estimated ship date. They ignored the fact that they also sold out their 2nd shipment as well. I ordered the first day they were announced and offered, but somehow missed out on the first and second shipments. Curious. And they have updated their site again to state now that shipping is mid-April. And they still have full payment. So they've collected in full and have my money for 2 ½ months by their estimate with no guarantee on a shipping date at that. Extremely pathetic and rude customer service.
 
oWoMo said:
Website said March / April when I ordered
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Hoo Doo Dude said:
When I ordered shipping was mi-February, as noted now March/April. No communication or updates from Caldigit on my order. They also took full payment on Feb. 4. Not happy with the lack of communication.
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My email confirmation from Feb 3 at 2:57pm CST shows shipping in mid-February.
Screen Shot 2021-02-17 at 4.18.37 PM.png
 
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This looks great but I fear that if I finally buy one after 4 years of waiting for a decent dock, Apple will bring out a new magsafe connection this year and screw me over!
 
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TracesOfArsenic said:
This looks great but I fear that if I finally buy one after 4 years of waiting for a decent dock, Apple will bring out a new magsafe connection this year and screw me over!
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Umm well I have the OWC T3 dock and for my setup ( running a maxed-out 2020 iMac) it is a very decent dock!
 
My order arrived just about 15 minutes ago. Have everything hooked up and running, no problems, very smooth and easy. I'm running a couple of Samsung external SSD's, a scanner, my LG Ultrafine 4K monitor and it was all plug and play. Nothing not to like here. And in the end the order arrived exactly as promised when I placed the order so the drama was unnecessary.
 
TheMode said:
What is the point of making it small then? Should at least have an integrated power supply
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I fully appreciate your thinking here. I would say the same for a simple 3.1 usb set of ports. However, It seems that 3.1 Gen 2 / TB4 runs hotter. In some cases, various hubs can get quite hot. Adding a power supply might require putting in some way to keep the bus of the hub and the power cooler. Thoughts?
 
phrehdd said:
I fully appreciate your thinking here. I would say the same for a simple 3.1 usb set of ports. However, It seems that 3.1 Gen 2 / TB4 runs hotter. In some cases, various hubs can get quite hot. Adding a power supply might require putting in some way to keep the bus of the hub and the power cooler. Thoughts?
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What I do not like is the "nothing or all" approach taken with thunderbolt docks. it is either a monster with a 200W power supply or a mostly useless hub with an integrated cable of 10cm
 
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I got mine yesterday and I have to say I’m disappointed. My T7 Samsung SSD is read/write-ing slower (about 200mb/s difference) when plugged in to the hub. My Ravpower and AData SSD’s run the same speed as if they were plugged directly but they are speed rated lower than the T7. Plugged in a portable monitor using a spare TB/USB C Cable and worked just fine. This is before and after i installed the driver pkg 2-20-21 from their site. I hope it’s a firmware issue. BTW used on a base M1 Mac Mini.
 
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I got mine today, it looks nice :)

My speeds are great via ACASIS TB enclosure w/1TB WD SN750 drive. Identical to directly attaching to my Mac mini M1.
SSD speed via TB4 Element.png
 
BeatCrazy said:
My email confirmation from Feb 3 at 2:57pm CST shows shipping in mid-February.
View attachment 1731534
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Thanks for pointing this out. I was wondering why I hadn’t seen any movement on my order. The web site did say February when I ordered (later in the day on Feb 3); but upon reviewing my order confirmation, the email does say “second shipment mid-March”. Guess I’ve got a few more weeks to wait. Probably show up right about the time WFH ends for my job 🤣

Interestingly they are still selling it on “preorder” at that aggressive price— shipments are backed out until May though apparently.
 
This may sound crazy, but...

Does anyone know whether you'd be able to daisy chain this to the CalDigit TS3 Plus hub, which has a lot more ports but is Thunderbolt 3? Mac to Thunderbolt 4 on the Element Hub; then connect that to the Thunderbolt Host port on the TS3?

Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 hubs can be connected, but I don't know if that's something that has to be built into the hardware or if (I'm hoping) it's fundamentally possible because of how Thunderbolt works.

I just got my TS3 and really dig it.
 
john123 said:
Does anyone know whether you'd be able to daisy chain this to the CalDigit TS3 Plus hub, which has a lot more ports but is Thunderbolt 3? Mac to Thunderbolt 4 on the Element Hub; then connect that to the Thunderbolt Host port on the TS3?

Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 hubs can be connected, but I don't know if that's something that has to be built into the hardware or if (I'm hoping) it's fundamentally possible because of how Thunderbolt works.
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Any Thunderbolt device with two or more Thunderbolt ports can have Thunderbolt devices chained to it. OWC says some problems may happen if the OWC hub is not first in the chain. CalDigit says you can connect the Element hub after any dock such as the TS3 Plus in the video at
. I believe the CalDigit and OWC hubs should behave the same, so either they'll both have a problem or they'll both not have a problem.
 
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