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otternonsense

Suspended
Jul 25, 2016
2,213
6,303
Berlin
Why? Because Apple prioritizes form over function in their Macbooks. Everything in life is a trade-off of course, and Apple accepts an ultra thin laptop plus bag of dongles over a slightly thicker laptop.

It's not just the thinness. The 16" is both thicker and more rigid than other devices mentioned above. It's that they'd rather eat a dongle than invest in new tooling and designs, even if they are direly needed, and their ego won't let them admit and rectify a failed design.

Just look at how much negativity and litigation were necessary to roll back from the butterfly keyboard abomination that's been around since 2015.
 
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d0nK

macrumors 6502
Nov 4, 2011
392
209
UK
"Vegan leather pouch"...
[automerge]1589199727[/automerge]
Imagine if someone made a laptop with HDMI, USB 3.1 ports and an SD-card reader built-in. That would be genius. Magsafe for power would be next level.
 

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,486
7,337
Hmm, the 40 Gbit/s mention is interesting indeed. Perhaps they're multiplexing the two ports, in which case it still wouldn't be Thunderbolt.

Nah - one of the ports says 40Gbps, one says 5Gbps. Pretty sure the first is just a passive through-connector for the MPS TB3 port.

The only ways USB can do 40G is with USB 3.2 x2 (which I've never heard of anything supporting, including the Mac) or with USB4 (very new unlikely to silently debut in a sub-$100 dock).

Looking at their similar products: they forgot to airbrush out the Thunderbolt logo from the photo in this one:

...and there's a non-redacted reference to Thunderbolt here:

Maybe I'm doing them an injustice - but that's what happens if you dumb your product literature down until it is ambiguous.
 

NobodyOwens

macrumors newbie
Mar 6, 2013
29
14
So now we need dongles for dongles. Let it be noted that these are all solutions to problems that Apple chose to create.

I have a similar dongle for my all USB-C MacBook Pro. It wriggles like crazy. The amount of large file transfers failed due to moving the laptop slightly to one side or reaching out and accidentally touching the cable is annoyingly staggering. If you have an all USB-C Mac, invest in a hub that connects with a wire, not one that sits firmly on one side. You'll have a more reliable setup. However, stable or not, sometimes when connecting a USB/3 drive, my wireless connection will erratically drop until I disconnect the dongle. It's really touch and (no) go. Thank you Apple. I know, "It's your fault for getting a ****** dongle. Serves you right for being stingy on good accessories," some of you might want to say, only that the dongle was actually a rather expensive one, had good reviews and was not advertised as "******," otherwise I'd not buy it in the first place. You only find out when it's too late, usually when it's too late to return the dongle or the Mac. Once upon a time, there was a laptop that you took out of the box, and "it just worked." Alas, many believe nowadays that this was just a myth. Again, thank you Apple.

Luckily for me, I got my old MacBook Retina 13" model with integrated USB-3 ports and HDMI and additional storage expansion though a nifty drive repaired and working again. I'm keeping this baby until one of us drops dead (I still prefer it to be my Mac, for all the love I feel towards it). I just hope I can find a sucker to buy my "New" MacBook Pro 13. Should't be too hard, after all, it's newer, thinner and shinier. After all, I got doped into being it, and I'm not the dumbest kid on the block. It's hardly been used at all (as soon as I got my old Mac repaired, I preferred using it instead). I'll even throw the dongle and the MagSafe workaround cable into the mix for free (yeah, workaround is the name of the game with the new generation). Be my guest.
 

elfxmilhouse

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2008
606
144
Northeast USA
...because implementing advanced USB-C features like DisplayPort and improved power delivery in a hub is complicated and you'd just be left with 4-6 USB-C shaped USB 3.1 ports that offered no advantage over regular USB-A (...and pretty much every USB-C peripheral not made by Apple comes with a USB-A cable or adapter anyway).

Remember, these devices are primarily about restoring the ports that should have been there all along on a pro laptop.
I would be totally fine with a USB C hub that has 4-6 "Normal" USB C ports that only did usb 3.0/3.1 data/power.
I understand there would be no advantage in terms of speed and advanced features but it would enable me to use all my USB C cables/devices without having to carry a USB A version of the cable or another adapter.
I've been moving to all USB C cables for my devices and its annoying when I run out of USB C ports.
 

1146331

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2018
258
551
Overpriced Chinese junk.
$100 for this Chinese junk? No.
You were saying?
1589205205256.png

Isn't that an oxymoron?


*American.

Sanho is an US American company, situated right in Silicon Valley, California.

I don't know where they are manufacturing, though.
 

BGPL

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2016
933
2,562
California
Ethernet would be nice on something like this. Some of us still require Ethernet, so not having it on a hub makes it a complete no-go. The 7-in-1 and 8-in-1 hubs on Amazon are great but they don't last long, and about one in three fail within the first month.
 

chucker23n1

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2014
8,531
11,284
Why though? You carry your computer and this thing in your bag. Why not just have computers with connectors built in? Oh, yeah, they used to, didn’t they. Then they got rid of them to make the computers lighter. Now they are lighter, but you have to carry the hub around too, so, er. Why?

There are plenty of scenarios where you don't need any of that connected and benefit from the lighter, thinner, and more robust case.

Personally, I'd probably prefer a slightly thicker design that includes HDMI and USB-A, but even with my Retina MacBook Pro which does, I connect a hub or dock anyway. (At work, I connect a Thunderbolt dock for various USB devices, Ethernet, audio, and one of the screens, and an HDMI cable for the other screen. At home, I connect one screen via mini-DisplayPort, a USB dock, and another screen via HDMI. On top of that, in both cases, I also have to connect MagSafe separately. With the newer MBPs, I actually no longer have to do that!)

It's not all worse.
 

Ronlap

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2007
269
202
San Francisco Bay Area
Why there's no simple USB-C hub, like with 4 USBC ports or 6 USBC ports. Like we have in regular USB hubs. Every type-C hub is the same as every other shoved with ports I don't want or need. They all are the same. There's pretty much no variations from brand to brand. Are there some underlying technological limitations?

Ethernet would be nice on something like this. Some of us still require Ethernet, so not having it on a hub makes it a complete no-go.

I agree with both of you. For my 2019 Mac Pro I have to daisy chain a 7-port USB 3.1 hub off of my CalDigit Thunderbolt hub to run all of my older peripherals. I cannot afford to upgrade everything at once but I certainly don't need two memory card slots or an HDMI out -- and for security, we run Ethernet in the office and don't allow Wi-Fi.
 

ouimetnick

macrumors 68040
Aug 28, 2008
3,552
6,341
Beverly, Massachusetts
Imagine if one day a portable computer had the ports that these ugly ass expensive adapters, singles and docking stations have. Oh wait, the first generation retina MacBook Pros from 2012-2016 do.

“Can’t innovate anymore my ass”

Phil Schiller
 
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FightTheFuture

macrumors 68000
Oct 19, 2003
1,876
3,029
that town east of ann arbor
Wow! For the price of $100 and some awkward bulkiness, you can now add the same, necessary functionality** to your computer that used to be standard several years ago, and is still standard on cheaper computers!
Wow! Instead of beating the same drum over and over again as you and the “dongles brigade“ have done the past 4 years. Perhaps instead go to mono price and replace your precious USB-A cables with USB-C ones for the low price of $5-8/each.
 
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MKevin3

macrumors member
Aug 10, 2016
33
144
My worry is it is locked down to the current distance between the two USB-C ports on the side of the MacBook. If the next MacBook spaces them differently then I am hosed.

I bought a powered USB hub due partially based on my fears and partially because it will just sit on my desk. Still mobile enough to haul about it needed. It has a lot more ports, which I still managed to nearly fill. but just has one USB-C cable to the MacBook so they can shift the placement of the ports around all they like and I would still be good.
 

Tim Giersch

macrumors newbie
May 11, 2020
1
0
In the description most of these hubs say the USB port doesn't work with Apple Superdrive. Does it just need the correct adapter plugged directly into the MacBook Air? Or into the USB-C port of the hub?
 

bronksy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2006
725
459
London
I've had a couple of their products bought via kickstarter.
They're ok but as people has said - lousy for support.

They released the USB hub for iPad - which looks ike this model- had a firmware update for it BUT you needed a windows PC to do the update. Seriously?

Anyway -I have both, they are handy BUT I moved away from having things plugged in directly to the side and bought an anger one that has a short flyleaf - the weight on the MacBook wasn't good with the adapter, especially when using ethernet/HDMI when there's a more hefty cable coming out of the side.

oh and the HDMI out didn't work properly but they didn't want to know the issues.
 

T-R-S

macrumors 6502
Sep 25, 2010
455
280
Silicon Valley
$100.00 for that ??? that's pretty funny. Even expensive $65.00 Hubs I've seen are way better than this one....
This is at best is a $25.00 hub
 

Abombito

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2017
43
34
Great, I just ordered the previous version 2 days ago and it arrives tonight. At least my new MBP doesn't arrive for another 2 weeks or so (although of course I'd rather have the MBP now and the dock later).

I guess I'll be sending it right back. I was gonna follow this by saying "and order this new one" but after reading this thread I'm not feeling overly confident on this one.
 

sideshowuniqueuser

macrumors 68030
Mar 20, 2016
2,833
2,842
"Vegan leather pouch"...
[automerge]1589199727[/automerge]
Imagine if someone made a laptop with HDMI, USB 3.1 ports and an SD-card reader built-in. That would be genius. Magsafe for power would be next level.
The cows didn't eat or use any animal products :cool:
 
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baryon

macrumors 68040
Oct 3, 2009
3,877
2,924
Wow! Instead of beating the same drum over and over again as you and the “dongles brigade“ have done the past 4 years. Perhaps instead go to mono price and replace your precious USB-A cables with USB-C ones for the low price of $5-8/each.

Why can't I complain about something that I find stupid, unnecessary, and costs me even more money without any benefit? I can't buy a cable for my USB-A dongle for my Wacom tablet, wireless mouse, expensive card readers, etc... they all need adapters and become a bulky mess. And one cable per USB-A device means two dozen cables which is a lot of money even if the cables are cheap. Add to that the recurring occasions when you forget your special adapter or cable and need to work from someone else's hard drive.
 
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