MacRumors Giveaway: Win a 7-in-1 USB-C Hub for Apple's Macs From Choetech

[nicho]

More likely just a rebranding of a hub made by a single factory that slaps the internal components into a variety of slightly different cases and silkscreens them with the names of countless companies. If you search Alibaba for "USB C Hub 7-in-1," you will find dozens of them that are nearly identical to those sold by Satechi.

Moving to China opened my eyes to this so much.

Some things, obviously, are designed by foreign companies and then copied.

A huge amount of things aren't, which is why there aren't lawsuits flying around left right and center. They're made by a Chinese company, designed for nobody in particular, and then bought by companies around the world who slap branding and wide-ranging markups on them.

There are companies here in China who do well out of it. There's a brand called Miniso who sell all sorts of stuff, including power banks. Especially in their early days, I noticed that it was really hard to buy something, test it out, find out it was good and then return to the store to buy in bulk for others. By that time, the design had changed. I'm pretty sure they were buying bulk/overstock and selling it at reasonably cheap prices with their name printed on it.

 

[silvetti]

Yes, tell me when they will catch up though? It has been four years. there are too many peripherals and cheap USB sticks that only need USB-A.

There's even cheaper USB 2.0 external hard disks.
What's your point?

 

[tallscot]

Shouldn't even need this. The damn thing should come standard with all these ports. SMH

but it’s thin!! Lol. It just makes me laugh. It’s so pathetic. A “pro” laptop.

 

[femike]

A laptop, a device thats meant to be portable, should have the most common used ports built-in, not the need to carry and pay more for an additional item. It boggles the mind how people can unquestioningly accept this and for the price they are paying for it.

 

[ruka.snow]

So we look two useful ports and gain nothing of value in return. Its about time we got USB-C port hubs, maybe even a CF Express and Display port on it, not more useless USB-A ports and legacy memory card slots.

 

[Tech198]

Seriously? This happened nearly 4 years ago. Time to get over it, and move on with life. Professional counseling may help.
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It's very likely if you grab the macbook by the hub and shake it up and down. Normal usage? Not likely at all.

Angry user. If you want your Macbook working only, i could see people wanting to do this.

I guess the hub using TWO ports, doesn't really concern, as regardless of the power it needs, you would't be able too get access to second port anyway.


Personally i always liked those mini-hubs separate with USB cord. I sill have one around here.

 

[thevault]

Laptop should come with these ports and I don't have to get over it. With that said I would of liked if this add on interface to have a Firewire port.

 

[willmtaylor]

@arn This is a company that routinely circumvents Amazon’s rules and system by offering free/discounted products in exchange for positive reviews. Are you sure this is a company you want to partner with?

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Is the industry catching up? When I go to buy an external drive or flash drive, they are almost all USB-A, and the rare USB-C ones have a huge premium on the price!

I am suspecting that USB-C is more expensive and complicated to produce, partly because there are so many options to have to deal with: data, power, HDMI, etc. It also seems to be a less reliable physical plug, as I've heard mixed reports of connections dropping out due to loose plugs, including on macs. I remain unconvinced that USB-C is a superior port.

Apple did backpedal on it's keyboard, even though it took 3 or 4 years. There is still hope it will backpedal on ports and the jack (on the phone + iPad, as obviously, Apple has yet to decide that the jack is too outdated technology for the mac)

Exactly.

It's been 4 years since Apple put out USB-C only Macs, and that's not going to change. The keyboard situation is quite different: they did not work right.

The entire industry is moving towards USB-C; it's not just Apple, folks. I don't agree with Apple's USB-C-only decision either.

You can continue to hold your breath regarding this, but all you'll get is blue in the face.
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A laptop, a device thats meant to be portable, should have the most common used ports built-in, not the need to carry and pay more for an additional item. It boggles the mind how people can unquestioningly accept this and for the price they are paying for it.

Agreed, but when has Apple not done whatever the hell they want and charge dearly for it?

Apple customers SHOULD be used to this by now and they are, which is why they keep buying. The benefits have always outweighed the drawbacks for most (keyboards being the exception, but still... 4YEARS!)

I'm STILL on 2011 hardware because of this, by the way, but I venture to say that the Mac users that legitimately need to plug in today are few.

Even my company's Thinkpads are primarily used with a dock that has all the necessary connectivity. We connect via USB-C cable to the dock.

Once I decide to replace my current hardware (either later this year or the next), everything I'll need is already USB-C.

A $10 dongle will take care of the rare scenario, but I doubt I'll need it.

 

[Cycling Asia]

Can these ports work on the other side of the MacBook? I always see them pictured on the left side. Do they sell a left /right side model?

I've got a Satechi one of these and they can work on the right as well, you just need to have them upside down. They're also pictured on the left as not all Macs have the ports on the right.

 

[icerabbit]

Reminded me to buy the old plug into one port version. Cheaper. Short cord. No worries about pass through power. Can just plug in as usual, and plug into the free port if extra ports are needed. Plus future proof, no worries about the port spacing if Apple decides to move the ports a bit on the next model.

 

[3xBoom]

What are the chances that future MBPs will be sporting these ports as the new awesome feature? I am being sarcastic here but the whole idea of attaching peripherals via a flimsy USB-c is stupid. One wrong move and boom - all you have connected is gone. I have a Macbook 2015 and use an Apple dongle to hook up external drive, monitor and power and it is a bitch since it requires having about 10 inch flat sturdy space on one side to support it. Try to use it elsewhere and you are ****ed. Perhaps, we will move to all wireless solutions but we aren't there yet so why force us to live through hell, Apple? Sorry for being grumpy on the weekend, folks...

 

[TiT38]

I have one on my MacBook Pro, very useful because my right USB C ports are getting loose. I installed it and secure the connection using some Sugru below

No more plug/unplug now

A second one for the left Hand side would be great

 

[Daum]

This kind of hubs will very likely bend the ports in your MacBook which might result in replacing whole motherboard at the Apple Store. I'd pass this one if I were you guys.

How so?? I have this one so I'm concerned.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Exactly.

It's been 4 years since Apple put out USB-C only Macs, and that's not going to change. The keyboard situation is quite different: they did not work right.

The entire industry is moving towards USB-C; it's not just Apple, folks. I don't agree with Apple's USB-C-only decision either.

You can continue to hold your breath regarding this, but all you'll get is blue in the face.

I'm not holding my breath, and it's not a deal breaker. I'm just saying I'm not convinced USB-C is actually superior.

The jack, however, sheesh, I'm still on an iPhone 6, and not even the SE has tempted me to go jackless.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

I'm not holding my breath, and it's not a deal breaker. I'm just saying I'm not convinced USB-C is actually superior.

The jack, however, sheesh, I'm still on an iPhone 6, and not even the SE has tempted me to go jackless.

The USB -C port is the gateway to e-GPUs on the Mac (FINALLY), and other expansion peripherals. The fact they're ALL TB3 ports is great.

As far as headphone jacks, I have an adapter for when my kids plug into the Aux port in my cars (I have a Note8 that still has the jack), but I recently bought these JLabs for $15 and they're all I need (and sound great to boot). Even OK Google functionality is there:


I don't need $150-$250 AirPods, Beats, Bose or whatever. The above are harder to lose, cheap to replace, comfortable in my ears (and stay there), and do what they're supposed to with no problems: pump audio to my ears. Simply perfect for me.

I wasn't ready 4 years ago, but today I'm good.

I even mourned MagSafe hard until (because 2 of my 3 Macs are cMBPs) I had to replace a charger and found out they cost $70-$80 a pop. Charging a laptop with USB-C makes more sense, especially now that is almost ubiquitous.

 

[haganah]

Yes, tell me when they will catch up though? It has been four years. there are too many peripherals and cheap USB sticks that only need USB-A.

Yeah Zip drives and CD-ROMs go for almost nothing on eBay. We should ask Apple to revert to those too.

 

[ShawnyRHarvey]

I was one of the multiple winners of the 7 they gave away.

Physical build is fine, but the whole hub disconnects whenever I try to unplug any USB-A device connected to the hub. Somehow doesn’t stay securely affixed to MacBook...