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Hub + refunded...disappointed

mdbradigan

mdbradigan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 28, 2014
125
227
Nashville, TN area
So - my pre-order of the Nonda Hub + for Macbook got booted from October 2015...to February 2016...to an email I got this morning saying they are refunding all customers' orders. Seriously disappointed to find out that this is vaporware. Anyone have any luck with an actual (real, tangible, *currently* available) product? If not - guess I will get the $79 Mac adapter...but it more than a little ridiculous in terms of feature set for price. I'm looking for a good way to ocasionally set up my macbook with external screen/mouse/keyboard.
 
Kickstarter is such a scam, sorry. It's not really a bunch of hungry startups, it's large companies getting free market research. It's really terrible, should be shut down.

I'll be in Hong Kong next week and I'm sure I'll find the identical item. I'll report back when I do.

BJ
 
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driftless said:
Not good, I was thinking of ordering one.
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There are several models that look similar that are being released by factories in China, I'm sure that's why these guys shut their project down. If it ever existed.

BJ
 
On their website, they have an email sign-up for updates for the hub; the rest of their products remain on their site. Perhaps they ran into production problems.

boltjames - I, too, would be interested in hearing what you find in HK.
 
This is what they said in their e-mail:

The Key Issue at Hand

For the past months after the end of our Kickstarter campaign, our hardware team has been working with all major chipset manufacturers such as Cypress, TI, VIA, and Etron. We've tested all engineering samples with the promise of USB 3.0 and mDP and we’ve developed PCB boards based on those samples. After the last few months of thorough testing, we are finding continuous problems.

A few chipsets work but via our various testing, we are finding out that they don't work 100% reliably and not at the standard that we want. Despite our efforts to secure working and stable chipsets, the chipset manufacturers don't appear to have viable solutions based on our testing and they do not know when they will. This is the key reason why no one else have been able to produce a USB-C hub for mDP and USB 3.0 for the new MacBook.
Click to expand...
 
boltjames said:
Kickstarter is such a scam, sorry. It's not really a bunch of hungry startups, it's large companies getting free market research. It's really terrible, should be shut down.

I'll be in Hong Kong next week and I'm sure I'll find the identical item. I'll report back when I do.

BJ
Click to expand...

Personally I think that they were too ambitious with the functionality of the Hub + which is why I never got involved from the start. There are multiple hubs available in China (taobao.com), however non have the same feature set of the Hub + There is good reason why so few powered multifunctional hubs are available very much a case of "easier said than done"

You may get lucky in HK, personally I go to the electronics district in Shenzhen, if you can't find it there, like as not is not been produced :) Much will depend on the level of functionality you want.

Q-6
 
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At least they are giving refunds. They had gone so long without a word so people thought it was a scam. Hydradock still claims to be on schedule to ship something before the end of the year and have given detailed updates, but that's really more of a desktop docking station (assuming it ever ships, as well).

Given how enthusiastic Apple was about USB-C, and how it is gaining traction with newer Android and Windows Phone devices, it's surprising that there haven't been more products from established companies yet.
 
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KPOM said:
At least they are giving refunds. They had gone so long without a word so people thought it was a scam. Hydradock still claims to be on schedule to ship something before the end of the year and have given detailed updates, but that's really more of a desktop docking station (assuming it ever ships, as well).

Given how enthusiastic Apple was about USB-C, and how it is gaining traction with newer Android and Windows Phone devices, it's surprising that there haven't been more products from established companies yet.
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When you dig into the new "standard" it`s magnitudes more complex than previous iterations of USB, notably if you want to provide power to the system on top of data in/out (data, video, audio etc.). It`s also a reason why Apple`s mini hub is priced as it is. Given this, currently Apple`s own adaptor is the safest bet, personally I would be a little wary of a cheap no name brand hub that involved charging the rMB.

The one thing I would like in a hub is DP, however I am struggling to find one that also reliably provides the charging facility to the Notebook.

Q-6
 
Not surprised. Ever since beginning to read into what they were trying to do vs. what everyone was working on, I had a suspicion this project was going nowhere.

Buy the Apple adapter. It's not perfect in terms of form factor but it's by far the best thing available at the moment.
 
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zhenya said:
Not surprised. Ever since beginning to read into what they were trying to do vs. what everyone was working on, I had a suspicion this project was going nowhere.

Buy the Apple adapter. It's not perfect in terms of form factor but it's by far the best thing available at the moment.
Click to expand...

OP, like me wanted a Display Port. There is no Apple adaptor that includes a Display Port.

Such a disappointment that the Hub+ has been deployed or become vapourware.
 
Mattymoocow said:
OP, like me wanted a Display Port. There is no Apple adaptor that includes a Display Port.

Such a disappointment that the Hub+ has been deployed or become vapourware.
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This dock from Microsoft looks promising, but not sure if the DP port supports 4K, might be only 1080p and may only work with Lumia phones. "Coming soon" at $99. Not sure why MS went with USB 2.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/accessory/hd-500/
 
You cannot use a hdmi to dp cable. The only possibilities right now of connecting a DisplayPort monitor is using the usbc to DisplayPort cable. Hydradock or Microsoft display hub is the only ones so far and both are unreleased.
 
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The only problem with the Microsoft Dock is that it does not supply the necessary power to charge the macbook. It does to charge a phone but not a notebook.
 
oGu said:
The only problem with the Microsoft Dock is that it does not supply the necessary power to charge the macbook. It does to charge a phone but not a notebook.
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Tend to agree the Microsoft Dock may charge the rMB, equally it would be at a glacial pace, and like as not only when the Mac was sleeping.
  • Charger input current3: 3000 mA
  • Charger output current: 2000 mA
  • Charger output voltage: 5 V
Q-6
 
I forgot about the fact that you can easily go displayport --> hdmi but not the other way around. There are, however, several active converters on Amazon from reputable names for under $100. If I had to keep a displayport monitor, that seems like a better option than waiting around for a kickstarter project that may never materialize.

You aren't going to get 4k from displayport on this computer ever, though.
 
boltjames said:
There's also this which was previewed in Germany about a month ago. Supposed to be released this month.

BJ
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Do you know how or where the Minix Neo V2 will be sold? I Googled it and did not find the main website. For my needs I need a hub that has a SD card reader in it.

I suspect that the Nonda Hub+ will be a good product when it is available. February seems awfully far away though!
 
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