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HYPER's 7-in-2 Hub for MacBook Pro Now Available
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I was really pleased when I realised you can daisychain hubs off a monitor (if you have one with USB ports). It’s really nice just plugging in a minimal number of wires to laptop & getting access to everything else connected to the monitor.
At the moment I have around 5-6 devices plugged into my monitor but I’ve had up to a dozen plugged into it.
(Webcam, USB ethernet adaptor, additional drives, speakers, phone chargers, lights, fans, small secondary displays, other USB-powered gadgets & tools etc)
My current laptop is a 2015 MPB so I have 3 cables plugged into it: power, HDMI, and a USB3 to the monitor. When I upgrade to a USB-C MacBook that’ll go down to just the single cable to monitor for power, display, and everything else.
At the moment I have around 5-6 devices plugged into my monitor but I’ve had up to a dozen plugged into it.
(Webcam, USB ethernet adaptor, additional drives, speakers, phone chargers, lights, fans, small secondary displays, other USB-powered gadgets & tools etc)
My current laptop is a 2015 MPB so I have 3 cables plugged into it: power, HDMI, and a USB3 to the monitor. When I upgrade to a USB-C MacBook that’ll go down to just the single cable to monitor for power, display, and everything else.
People who are criticizing this don’t understand just how hard it is to find a flush USB hub for previous generation Thunderbolt-only MacBooks that can “do it all.”
This is a post I made almost two years ago about this problem:
Despite all the third party devices you see on the market today, are still basically no alternatives today to a device like this.
Things I wish this new device had are a full SD slot and a second USB A port. In my opinion, they could’ve dropped the 3.5 mm jack as MacBooks have always come with that port. This would’ve made it perfect for me.
Still, it’s a marvel of engineering that fills a niche that no other device can even after all these years.
This is a post I made almost two years ago about this problem:
Despite all the third party devices you see on the market today, are still basically no alternatives today to a device like this.
Things I wish this new device had are a full SD slot and a second USB A port. In my opinion, they could’ve dropped the 3.5 mm jack as MacBooks have always come with that port. This would’ve made it perfect for me.
Still, it’s a marvel of engineering that fills a niche that no other device can even after all these years.
I bought one too during the kickstarter (actually, bought 2) and I've had a pretty positive experience with it as well on my M1 Pro and also my wife's M1 Air. I'm not worried about it sticking out and it seems sturdy enough, and like you said there's a very short cable included if that's how you want to use it. But it works nice for having 2 HDMI monitors and easy USB-A connectivity, and my wife uses it more than I thought she would too. I get that it's not for everyone, but then... don't buy it. If you think you could use it, it seems well made and performs well enough for me.
The Ethernet jack is sorely missing from every post 2012 MBP, agreed, but why duplicate a bunch of ports that are already on the machine? Used on the newer MBPs, this duplicates the already existing HDMI, USB-C, and audio jacks, and the SD card slot, leaving only a single USB-A jack and the Ethernet jack as useful additions. For slightly older machines, it has more utility.
The Ethernet jack annoys me, because the times when I want one, it almost always involves having a long moderately heavy Ethernet cable hanging off the side of the machine, and the RJ-45 jack was designed to take that with ease, while the USB-C port was decidedly not (it'll apply a lot of side force to the much less robust connector). Out of all the jacks they could put on the side of the MBP, Ethernet is the least suitable to replacing with a dongle. Sigh.
Yeah customer of mine has these. Some of them have damaged their hubs and many of them cause issues with 802.1x networks for some odd reason. I saw a couple of these damaged with loose/flakey connections, too.
They just scream "bad idea...".
Where exactly is that headphone jack? (yes, it's below this hub).
Where exactly is that Ethernet port at? (no, there isn't one).