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CES 2024: Satechi Debuts Thunderbolt 4 Hub, 145W USB-C Charger and More

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Alongside Qi2 wireless charging stands, Apple accessory maker Satechi this week unveiled new hubs and charger options for Apple's Mac lineup.

satechi-stand-and-hub-for-mac-studio.jpg

The upgraded Stand & Hub for Mac mini and Mac Studio fits under one of Apple's slim desktop machines, and it includes an NVMe SSD enclosure that supports NVMe and M.2 SATA SSDs. There are USB-C 3.1 and USB-A 3.1 ports for file transfers, with support for speeds up to 10Gb/s.

An SSD added into the hub can be used for Time Machine backups, plus there are also two additional USB-A 3.0 ports, micro/SD card readers, and an audio jack for headphones.

Satechi's Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub Pro has three Thunderbolt 4 downstream ports that support data transfers at up to 40GB/s, plus it can deliver up to 15W of power to connected peripherals. It supports up to two 4K displays or one 8K display, and it offers 32Gb/s native PCIe support for external GPUs and Thunderbolt-based SSDs.

satechi-thunderbolt-4-slim-hub-pro.jpg

The 145W USB-C 4-Port GaN Travel Charger has two USB-C 3.1 ports that can provide up to 140W and two USB-C 3.0 ports that can provide up to 45W. The 145W max power is split between devices when more than one device is plugged in, with the charger providing smart power distribution that automatically adjusts wattage for optimal charging.

satechi-145w-travel-charger.jpg

All three devices are available today from the Satechi website. The Stand & Hub for Mac mini/Mac Studio is priced at $100, the Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub Pro is $200, and the 145W Travel Charger is $120. A 20 percent discount is available with the promo code CES20.

Article Link: CES 2024: Satechi Debuts Thunderbolt 4 Hub, 145W USB-C Charger and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/11/ces-2024-satechi-thunderbolt-hub/
I love the one they currently have the Slim for the iMac. If they ever update that and make it Powered I would snap it up to replace my current one.
 
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Why is the stand & hub not Thunderbolt? What's the first thing you want to add to your new mac mini or studio? Well, a studio display, but the *second* thing is fast storage at less than apple's abusive prices, and wouldn't it be nice if it wasn't dangling out of the back in an untidy mess. Like, why would you have an nvme enclosure and cap it at 10GB/s?
 
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Reactions: tigerintank, nottorp, J.J. Sefton and 6 others
if I bought I mini I would absolutely buy that stand just for the nvme. you could get a big drive and the priced you save over apple storage upgrade would make the stand free
 
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In looking at reviews for the previous mini hub, it seemed like people had problems with the hub just not turning on. Anyone here dealt with that? I’m interested in buying one, but want it to work correctly most of the time.
 
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coachgq said:
In looking at reviews for the previous mini hub, it seemed like people had problems with the hub just not turning on. Anyone here dealt with that? I’m interested in buying one, but want it to work correctly most of the time.
Click to expand...
I have the current hub on my Studio M2 and both the SSD and attached USB keys drop off the bus on a regular basis. Pretty annoying, especially since I was using the SSD for media storage during editing.
If I knew the issues had been fixed on this version I’d get one to replace it.
 
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bsbeamer said:
Just buy a TB NVMe enclosure.
Click to expand...
I have one but these things are ugly.
There's a wire, it brings dust on my desk, and I did have it sit on my Mac Mini M2 Pro and it scratched it.

The Hub from Satechi is such a better solution, especially with all the ports and the SD Card reader.
 
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I ended up buying the Mechanical keyboard. [Getting Delivered next Tuesday!!]

I do love the 145W charger, but i do prefer my 150W Anker charger. Plus my 250W portable charger.

I'm waiting for their 3-1 folding MagSafe charger.
 
Finally something useful from CES. I thought that hideous cat collar was going to be all the show had to offer. /s
 
We get excited about the NVMe drive slot but speeds at 10GB make it a waste. It is just like having a big external drive that sits under the Mac mini or studio instead of an external plugged into the back. I have one of the older ones with a SSD bay inside. It is ok. It sometimes cuts off and transfer rates are slow at times (even for the ports).

Might be handy for the mini if considering, but not for the studio.
 
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PsykX said:
The new Hub for the Mac Mini supports NVMe...!

Ok now... this is a very compelling for those who don't want to pay the Apple premium for upgraded storage. You can get 4TB of excellent speed for 1/5th of Apple's price now.
Click to expand...
I have the old one and it's a neat device. I wish it would go further and support 2.5" SATA though, which are dirt cheap.

The new hub also doubles one of the 5 Gbps USB-A ports to 10 Gbps, but unfortunately, none of the USB-C and USB-A ports deliver enough power to charge anything worthwhile.
 
The stand and hub would be awesome for me if it were thunderbolt. My work setup consists of a MacStudio on the desk that I run headless, and ssh into, and then I have 2 displays that are mounted behind it, i have a Belkin Thundbolt dock that was mounted in the bottom of the desk (crapped out just last week, but they are send a new one) and a MacBook Pro that plugs into. I have one cable that is visible on the desk, it’s about 3” long and that’s it, only thing that plugs into my macbook when it’s on my desk. It’s a beautiful setup. If the stand and hub was thunderbolt I could have my dock on the desk and still have everything hidden, and access to ports when needed.
 
They dont specify the speed of the internal NVME drive connection so I assume its a slow 10Gbps speed and also a slow SD card. You are much better off with an ASM2464 40Gbps enclosure and good SD card reader. Overall its a nice design but if performance is your game this is not it. I wish they upgraded this with TB4 and USB4, would be a cool product then.
 
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The support of NVMe is awesome, but why don't we get extra USB-C ports?! Yes, I know there is one, but we use one to connect it, so there is no gain. Three USB-A ports? I honestly can't recall the last device I bought that uses that and as this is "new", I am very surprised. And I agree with others, for a new product the lack of Thunderbolt is also surprising.

People suggesting "it's a slow 10Gps" (see above, but their website actually states: "Our Stand and Hub for Mac Mini/Studio with NVMe Enclosure also supports M.2 SATA drives across sizes 2242/2260/2280. With transfer speeds of up to 6Gbps, this setup facilitates storage expansion, system upgrades, file backups, data retrieval, and seamless data transfers. It's a plug-and-play solution requiring no additional drivers."

This has just been released and I am already looking forward to the next version so it can get with the current times.
 
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maximit said:
They dont specify the speed of the internal NVME drive connection so I assume its a slow 10Gbps speed and also a slow SD card. You are much better off with an ASM2464 40Gbps enclosure and good SD card reader. Overall its a nice design but if performance is your game this is not it. I wish they upgraded this with TB4 and USB4, would be a cool product then.
Click to expand...
10Gbps is wishful thinking. Their website states "Our Stand and Hub for Mac Mini/Studio with NVMe Enclosure also supports M.2 SATA drives across sizes 2242/2260/2280. With transfer speeds of up to 6Gbps, this setup facilitates storage expansion, system upgrades, file backups, data retrieval, and seamless data transfers. It's a plug-and-play solution requiring no additional drivers.""
 
Some very good products from Satechi. The hub with an option to add SSD seems to be good. The Qi2 chargers are also good.
 
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I did a few experiments two weeks ago and if you want good speed get the mini expansion hub (1in and 3 out) and a couple of Samsung T9s. Directly on my Studio I measure R/W at about 900MB/s and via the mini hub 850MB/s.
 
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With ASM2464 connected to Studio Display im getting full saturation with 1.2GB/s write and 980GB/s read. But connected directly its 4GB/s write and 3GB/s read. Either way, you are better off with a good dedicated enclosure and skipping the Satechi.
 
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Reactions: Wheel_D
Per their website, the stand has three USB-3 ports and only one USB-C port that doesn't support video or charging, all at 5gbs on the front. Not that impressive but at least it's only $80.
 
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