CES 2023: Plugable's New Thunderbolt 4 Dock for MacBook Pro Features 16 Ports

[EugW]

Docks like the one in this article are designed for people who need the dedicated so-called "legacy" ports - if you don't need legacy ports but have multiple TB/USB4 peripherals to connect, get a hub designed for that which doesn't divert bandwidth to an assortment of dedicated ports - Caldigit and OWC both offer them and here's one (Plugable) that doesn't have any of those pesky USB-A sockets that offend some people's eyes so (pity, because they're still incredibly useful).

I don't understand that Plugable hub you linked, because they also sell one with the same number of Thunderbolt 4 ports but which has another single USB-A port as well and costs less. See below:

I have the much simpler Plugable Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 5-in-1 hub. I'm very pleased with it to expand the number of ports on my M1 Mac mini. I run my USB-C monitor off of it.

The Plugable 5-in-1 hub I bought seems to be built around a standard Intel Goshen Ridge circuit board design, since the OWC, Club 3D, Sonnet, Anker, and other models have an identical configuration, just with different housing.

The CalDigit Element Hub has a different configuration, but people have complained about overheating issues with that one, so I personally specifically avoided the CalDigit.

 

[theluggage]

No FireWire, No Sale.

I want RS232. Localtalk and Firewire you insensitive clod!

Except - I really don't - because you know what those things have in common? Their successors were an order of magnitude faster (or greatly superior in other ways) and often led to cheaper devices, so a few years after they appear, everybody who could upgrade did upgrade and they really were "legacy" standards (i.e. if you did need them it was because you were snookered by some industrial gear the size and/or price of a house etc.)

Know what USB-C doesn't do unless you pay a huge premium for TB/USB4? Outperform USB 3.1 or DisplayPort over traditional connectors, because in most cases that's exactly the protocol it is using just wrapped up in a different connector. For consumer devices and lower-end pro devices, USB-C has mostly just replaced MicroUSB (which was horrible, esp. the USB 3 version) for mobile devices and peripheral-side connectors.

Maybe - just maybe - the fact that 7 years after the arrival of USB-C so many new devices are still coming out with USB-A doesn't mean that there's something wrong with all the people still buying them, but rather that there's something wrong with the idea of USB-C?

...meanwhile I really need more top-level USB ports on my Mac to connect audio interfaces etc. without the lag from hubs, so why do I have to "block" two of the USB-C ports by connecting DisplayPort displays? The DisplayPort streams come from the GPU and should be completely independent of USB/Thunderbolt so what genius decided to make them contend for the same hole in the case?

 

[DailySlow]

Plugable today unveiled a new Thunderbolt 4 dock that is ideal for use with the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The dock features 16 ports and will be available to purchase for $299 on Amazon starting January 17.

The dock is equipped with six USB-A ports (three 10 Gbps, two 5 Gbps, and one 480 Mbps), two USB-C ports (one 10 Gbps and one that provides up to 100W of charging to a MacBook Pro or other device connected), two HDMI ports, two DisplayPorts, an Ethernet port (2.5 Gbps), SD and microSD card readers (UHS-II), and an audio in/out jack. The dock has a separate power supply and connects to a MacBook Pro with a Thunderbolt 4 cable.

The dock can be used to connect up to two 4K displays at 60Hz to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.

A variety of brands have released Thunderbolt 4 docks for the Mac over the past few years, including OWC, CalDigit, Belkin, Satechi, and others. The selection of ports and pricing varies for each dock, so it may be worth shopping around.

Plugable also introduced an 11-in-1 USB-C hub, available now for $79 on Amazon. The hub can be used with the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and other Apple devices equipped with USB-C ports. Plugable will showcase both the Thunderbolt 4 dock and USB-C hub at the CES 2023 event Pepcom in Las Vegas later today.

Article Link: CES 2023: Plugable's New Thunderbolt 4 Dock for MacBook Pro Features 16 Ports

Lots here in thread on lack of more usb c ports and too many usb 3 type 4 ports on these hubs. There are simple and inexpensive female usb c to male usb 3 type adaptors that let you plug your usb c device into a type 4 female socket. Advantage is usb 3 type 4 is a mature standard that can manage a BUNCH of in/outputs while usb c is not there yet. Yes, you’ll suffer a speed drop for devices going this route but it’s fine for lots of stuff.

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

OWC has some that do also.

OWC was the first docking station I tried. But, whenever I plugged my Mac into it, nothing would happen. No light. No chirp from the computer that it was receiving power. Nothing. I tried with two different computers, my company issued MacBook and my personal one. It was very disappointing because I've liked OWC for many years. I have several of their drive enclosures. They make the best looking docking stations. I exchanged a few emails with their customer service, but ended up returning it. I found a CalDigit and it works perfectly. I just wish it had a few more USB ports and that the audio output was on the back.

 

[theluggage]

I don't understand that Plugable hub you linked, because they also sell one with the same number of Thunderbolt 4 ports but which has another single USB-A port as well and costs less.

Looks like they're just selling different models in the US and UK. I love the video for the UK one, they hail it as "the first Pure USB-C hub" and the first thing they show is using the included USB-C to HDMI adapter... D'oh!

 

[EugW]

Looks like they're just selling different models in the US and UK. I love the video for the UK one, they hail it as "the first Pure USB-C hub" and the first thing they show is using the included USB-C to HDMI adapter... D'oh!

I wonder if the one you linked may be discontinued soon. It's no longer available on Amazon.co.uk but the one I linked is available there.

Plugable USB4 Hub, 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Hub with 60W Charging, Single 8K or Dual 4K Display, Compatible with Mac and Windows, USB-C (1x USB-C to HDMI Adapter Included),USB4-HUB3A

Experience the full power of USB4 with the Plugable USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 Hub (USB4-HUB3A) with 60W Host Charging. The USB4-HUB3A stands out for its complement of features, including up to 60W charging for the host laptop, 3x USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 ports-each capable of up to 40Gbps, and up to 15W...

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[JeffPerrin]

No FireWire, No Sale.

😏

Lol There's a dongle for that! (I still use a Firewire audio interface.)

 

[Scott LaPointe]

Why can’t these hubs have detachable connection cables? I have gone through 2 ankers where the cables have split or failed and now they are useless and could be salvaged with only a new cable.

 

[EugW]

Why can’t these hubs have detachable connection cables? I have gone through 2 ankers where the cables have split or failed and now they are useless and could be salvaged with only a new cable.

There are tons of hubs with detachable connection cables, including in the original article.

 

[NY Guitarist]

I like that this has an actual power on/off button.

 

[ajfahey]

Not interested in any dock with USB Type A ports. Type is obsolete. Mostly Type A ports is a complete non starter.

 

[dashinstine]

I'd also like to know why no docks that I can find have a 10g (base10) ethernet port? Are 10g ethernet parts THAT expensive? Looking at 10g Thunderbolt adapters, they are as expensive as this whole dock, some are more. And they are big. How does the Mac Studio have it without having that much hardware inside?

Because 10g would take up lots of bandwidth. Do you really need 10g ? why not a 2.5.

 

[svish]

Seems to be a good dock.

 

[carestudio]

Exactly what I've been looking for. Most don't have 100W power. Reaching out to have one sent my way now.

Sounds like a good dock, but you really can't do 100W if using Thunderbolt dock. I have been looking for 100W dock too. The closest one is Caldigit's TS4 which can do 98W and probably the best TB4 dock on the market now. The rest of Thunderbolt 3 or 4 docks can only do around 94W or less even they claim they can do 100W.

Another important factor is the size of the power supply. tbt4-udz comes with 135W power supply, I just can't justify how it can support 90W+ charging while supporting all the connected USB devices. Probably will drop the host charging to 60W if devices are connected. Pretty much same as all other TB4 docks and hubs except caldigit's TS4 and element hub which can provide full charging power as they claimed.

tbt4-udz is still a good dock for the one who needs 4 displays and some legacy connection.

 

[theluggage]

I wonder if the one you linked may be discontinued soon. It's no longer available on Amazon.co.uk but the one I linked is available there.

Amazon moves in mysterious ways. I'm in the UK, and Amazon UK is showing "my" Plugable hub as in stock and available for next day delivery, but if you look at Amazon UK page for "your" Plugable hub it's shipping from the US and takes a couple of weeks to arrive (and will probably turn out to have a US adapter).

Pretty much moot since they have the OWC version at a lower price for next day delivery. I linked to the Plugable "Pure USB-C" one for the sake of those people who's eyes apparently bleed at the sight of a Type A port. AFAIK the solitary Type A port uses a "spare" USB 3.1 stream from the chipset so you don't lose anything by having it there.

 

[theluggage]

I'd also like to know why no docks that I can find have a 10g (base10) ethernet port? Are 10g ethernet parts THAT expensive? Looking at 10g Thunderbolt adapters, they are as expensive as this whole dock, some are more. And they are big. How does the Mac Studio have it without having that much hardware inside?

Why do all the Swiss Army Knives I can find have a corkscrew blade but not an RJ45 crimp tool?

Ans: because they're designed to please most of the people most of the time, not to cater for teetotal network engineers (who'd probably own a full size crimp tool anyway).

Hubs like this one are Swiss army knives. They provide a wide selection of the most commonly used ports for convenience. Most people don't have 10G-capable networks in their homes and small offices, because yes it is expensive to replace all your cheap mass-market-grade ethernet switches (and, possibly, cables) with "pro" 10Gb stuff - and pretty pointless if your NAS only has 1G and/or your broadband connection isn't even 1G.

If you're paying the premium for 10G ethernet then you presumably need that extra bandwidth and low latency, so it's probably not a good idea to have the interface in, or connected via, a dock that probably caps its bandwidth and definitely forces it to contend with a bunch of other peripherals. Same goes if you pay for the higher-end PCIe x4 SSDs or RAID systems which can actually exploit more than a few Gb/s of bandwidth: you really want each of your high-performance Thunderbolt devices hanging directly off the TB host ports on your computer or, if that's impossible, one of the newer TB4 hubs with multiple downstream TB4 ports (but do the math on the bandwidth and note that, if you just want to connect multiple USB 3.1 devices, the newer TB4/USB4 hubs are often no better, or possibly worse, than a good old USB 3 hub).

One use for a dock or hub might be to consolidate all of your non-bandwidth-critical devices on a single host port, leaving the other host ports free for your high-end devices.

 

[Artemis70]

Docks like the one in this article are designed for people who need the dedicated so-called "legacy" ports - if you don't need legacy ports but have multiple TB/USB4 peripherals to connect, get a hub designed for that which doesn't divert bandwidth to an assortment of dedicated ports - Caldigit and OWC both offer them and here's one (Plugable) that doesn't have any of those pesky USB-A sockets that offend some people's eyes so (pity, because they're still incredibly useful).

I'm fine with designing one for people that need USB-A. What I don't understand that it is either/or. I am looking for a dock that provides connectivity for USB-A/USB3.0, TB/USB4, and also two HDMI/DisplayPort outputs. I have come up empty handed so far.

 

[kevcube]

Sigh. Another laptop-centric hub where the host port is in the front. AFAIK, Caldigit is the only one who makes a hub suitable for desktop computers - that is - the host port is in the back along with the bulk of the "resident" cable connections.

Why does a desktop need a hub?

And whether the port is in the front or back you can just use adhesive to slap it on the bottom of your desk if your connected peripherals don’t change much.

 

[Realityck]

Today at CES 2023 Satechi has released an affordable Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub that offers fast data transfer rates and external monitor support for Mac owners, and a USB4 NVMe enclosure.

see https://satechi.net/products/usb4-nvme-ssd-pro-enclosure?sscid=11k7_5lpxb&

 

[theluggage]

What I don't understand that it is either/or. I am looking for a dock that provides connectivity for USB-A/USB3.0, TB/USB4, and also two HDMI/DisplayPort outputs. I have come up empty handed so far.

The either/or is "old way" - give me back the sort of mixture of dedicated ports I had on my 2011 PC - vs "new way" - give me as many TB/USB4 ports as possible so I can use adapters to connect whatever I want.

You could get one of the various TB4/USB4 hubs mentioned above that give you 3 downstream TB4s plus 0-4 USB-A ports, then use USB-C to HDMI or DisplayPort cables to attach the displays, leaving a 3rd TB port for a fast storage device or Ethernet dongle.

Bear in mind that if you're running two 4k displays then they are already continuously using the lion's share of the host port's bandwidth - so by the time you've connected a fast SSD or 2.5G Ethernet to the third TB port you've pretty much "used up" that host port.

With the "Old school" docks you've typically got either a DP or HDMI port and a single "daisy chain" TB port which will also drive a display with the appropriate adapter. This particular one has probably sacrificed the TB "daisy chain" port in order to provide the extra dedicated display outputs.

I think people tend to assume that a Thunderbolt dock somehow has access to infinite bandwidth (it doesn't) or at least total flexibility and intelligence in how it allocates the 40Gb bandwidth to whatever permutation of devices is connected (it doesn't).

Part of the problem may be that USB 3.1 is "too good" and the vast majority of peripherals (except displays) don't individually hit the limits of 3.1g2 and wouldn't get any obvious advantage by switching to USB4/TB. The non-obvious advantage would be that TB/USB4 peripherals could share TB bandwidth more effectively with other devices on the same host port - but that doesn't necessarily shift boxes. Result: TB/USB4 is still confined to a handful of more expensive peripherals and hasn't spread to cheaper mass-market devices. Instead, even USB-C devices tend to just use USB 3.1 and (if they're not Apple-centric products) often come with a USB-C to A cable.

 

[CarlJ]

I'm guessing $400 when its released.

The link in the article goes to a listing on Amazon where you can buy it today for $299. Ships in less than two weeks.

 

[tvv]

I'd also like to know why no docks that I can find have a 10g (base10) ethernet port? Are 10g ethernet parts THAT expensive? Looking at 10g Thunderbolt adapters, they are as expensive as this whole dock, some are more. And they are big. How does the Mac Studio have it without having that much hardware inside?

It's actually a limitation of Thunderbolt 4. This dock is a Thunderbolt 4 dock.

10Gb Ethernet requires 2 lanes of PCIe Gen3 throughput. The current thunderbolt 4 chipsets only give 1 lane of throughput as a compromise to having the “hubbing” functionality of thunderbolt 4. Thus you will not find any thunderbolt 4 dock/hub with 10GBASE-T. Thunderbolt 3 lacks the hubbing functionality (more than one downstream Thunderbolt port), but provides x4 lanes of PCIe Gen3.

If you're looking for a Thunderbolt 3 dock with 10GbE, OWC has an updated version of their Pro Dock (that is now fan-less and has new ports) here: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-pro-dock

TLDR: you will never find a Thunderbolt 4 dock/hub with 10GbE due to actual thunderbolt limitations. Your best bet is something like the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock from OWC.

 

[saulinpa]

Today at CES 2023 Satechi has released an affordable Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub that offers fast data transfer rates and external monitor support for Mac owners, and a USB4 NVMe enclosure.

see https://satechi.net/products/usb4-nvme-ssd-pro-enclosure?sscid=11k7_5lpxb&

View attachment 2137614

To be clear these are two different products. The NVMe enclosure you pictured/linked to is one. The other is a slim TB4 four port hub with a USB-A port - https://satechi.net/products/thunderbolt-4-slim-hub?variant=40143299674200

 

[EugW]

To be clear these are two different products. The NVMe enclosure you pictured/linked to is one. The other is a slim TB4 four port hub with a USB-A port - https://satechi.net/products/thunderbolt-4-slim-hub?variant=40143299674200

This appears to be the same design as all the other ones in my prior post:

The Plugable 5-in-1 hub I bought seems to be built around a standard Intel Goshen Ridge circuit board design, since the OWC, Club 3D, Sonnet, Anker, and other models have an identical configuration, just with different housing.

View attachment 2137244

 

[nick42983]

Have we learned nothing from long ago in a galaxy far, far away? Keeping old ports around when something newer and better is available will come back to bite us in the (_!_).

If the Empire had not used the ancient scomp link port, a 40-something year old R2 unit would never have been able to access the Death Star's computer network to download the Death Star blue prints.

Dude, go find some Imperial forum to kvetch on, this was the GREATEST reason to keep around old ports in fictional history. I hope USB-A ports are around until after I'm dead, the most influential computer port of all time, the Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonalds and Apple (all-wrapped-into-one) of ports really.