Is Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub good enough to charge a MacBook Pro 16" 2021 with M1 Max during use?

[hajime]

Can it do fast charging also?

 

[headlessmike]

It can only output 60W, which isn't enough to charge a 16" MacBook Pro under load. It will not fast charge either. The M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro comes with a 140W charger for comparison.

 

[hajime]

It can only output 60W which isn't enough to charge a 16" MacBook Pro under load. It will not fast charge either.

Have you tried it yourself? If it can’t charge the laptop under load, how about when I use the computer just to do office productivity, surfing the web and watching YouTube videos? Can it charge the laptop at reasonable rate?

I am a bit unhappy with Caldigit because a month before they released the TS4, they told me that there was no plan to have such product so I bought the element hub.

The features that I need are: driving two 4K TVs at 4K 60Hz in extended screen mode, does everything including charging with one cable, and fast Ethernet connection. I don’t need that many USB ports. With the Element hub, I only need to buy a TB to Ethernet adapter and two TB to HDMI adapters. Not sure if I should spend the money to buy a TS4 given that I already have the Element Hub.

 

[headlessmike]

Have you tried it yourself? If it can’t charge the laptop under load, how about when I use the computer just to do office productivity, surfing the web and watching YouTube videos? Can it charge the laptop at reasonable rate?

I am a bit unhappy with Caldigit because a month before they released the TS4, they told me that there was no plan to have such product so I bought the element hub.

The features that I need are: driving two 4K TVs at 4K 60Hz in extended screen mode, does everything including charging with one cable, and fast Ethernet connection. I don’t need that many USB ports. With the Element hub, I only need to buy a TB to Ethernet adapter and two TB to HDMI adapters. Not sure if I should spend the money to buy a TS4 given that I already have the Element Hub.

No, unfortunately not. I have one of their TB3 mini docks that I’m happy with. But it doesn’t charge my laptop so I always need a separate charger. I have however tried running my 14” Pro off of a 36W charger and it drained slowly when running Teams meetings.