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OWC's Upcoming Thunderbolt 5 Hub Adds Three More Thunderbolt 5 Ports to Latest Macs

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OWC today announced its new Thunderbolt 5 Hub, one of the first accessories to support Intel's latest Thunderbolt standard, and offering Thunderbolt 5 compatibility with Apple's new Mac mini and MacBook Pro Models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.

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The hub converts a single Thunderbolt port into three Thunderbolt 5 ports and one USB-A port, and delivers up to 80Gb/s bi-directional data transfer speeds. It can achieve speeds up to twice as fast as Thunderbolt 4, with bandwidth up to 120Gb/s available for display connections, and supports connecting up to three 8K displays at 60Hz with Display Stream Compression, making it suitable for demanding visual workflows.

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In terms of charging output, the hub provides up to 140W power delivery, which is enough for a 16-inch MacBook Pro, while the aluminum enclosure features passive cooling for silent operation.

OWC is keen to emphasize backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3/4 and USB-C devices, allowing users to connect both newer and legacy peripherals. The hub also enables the creation of three separate device daisy chains that can operate independently.

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The OWC Thunderbolt 5 Hub opens a new world of workflow possibilities and performance with compact perfection. By turning a single cable connection into three Thunderbolt 5 ports and one USB-A port, the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Hub breaks the connectivity handcuffs of host machines not offering enough Thunderbolt 5 ports. With up to 80Gb/s of bi-directional data speed – up to 2x faster than Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 – and up to 120Gb/s for higher display bandwidth needs, the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Hub redefines productivity. Connect portable SSDs exceeding 6000MB/s, up to three 8K displays @ 60Hz with DSC, today's USB-C connector compatible devices, and yesterday's USB-A desktop accessories. All while keeping modern notebooks powered and charged up for mobile use with 140 watts.
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The OWC Thunderbolt 5 Hub is available for pre-order at $189.99 from the company's website and will begin shipping in December. OWC announced a new Thunderbolt 5 external SSD earlier this month.

Article Link: OWC's Upcoming Thunderbolt 5 Hub Adds Three More Thunderbolt 5 Ports to Latest Macs
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/11/12/owc-thunderbolt-5-hub-unveiled/
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Reactions: eva2000
I was hoping for something like this to complement the MBP M4 Max I just bought, but I still prefer their Thunderbolt Pro with the CFExpress slot, it’s more versatile than this one, albeit slower of course.
 
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Reactions: Tetra84
They were supposed to be coming out with the Mini Stack Studio which never materialized, and wouldn't ever give an answer to what happened to it.
 
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Reactions: drrich2
To be honest...when I read the headline, I thought it was going to cost $350. I'm actually pleasantly surprised. Like all docks and hubs, everyone has their own opinions on the size, color, shape, number of various ports, etc - but this is a fair price for expanding TB5 ports.
 
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Reactions: bxs, zapmymac, _Mitchan1999 and 7 others
Three more Thunderbolt 5 ports that’ll be constrained by the onboard port they flow through. 👌 This is why, for users who actually need high bandwidth, it’s better to throw the money at a better equipped Mac than a dock.
 
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Reactions: zapmymac and marstan
wait, does this dock finally allow for pseudo daisy-chaining of Apple Studio displays? i.e. 2 cables into dock -> 1 output (or input i guess) cable that plugs into the computer?
 
I recently discovered my external thunderbolt drives are all connecting as usb 3 devices instead (Mac m1 ultra). After looking into it it appears to be a design problem where Apple didn’t provide enough power for all the ports to be used at once, so they knock down to usb-c? Maybe this would solve that problem for me as currently my programs lag for a second when they save to these drives.
 
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Reactions: zapmymac, LelandHendrix, Xarl-li and 1 other person
CarAnalogy said:
This is kind of what I was thinking. Is it possible to still get full speed when only one port is actually connected to the motherboard?
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Yes. Thunderbolt has always shared its bandwidth (earlier with daisy chaining, since 4 it’s had hubs). Since it’s shared it can also go full speed on one device.
 
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DunedinD said:
Three more Thunderbolt 5 ports that’ll be constrained by the onboard port they flow through. 👌 This is why, for users who actually need high bandwidth, it’s better to throw the money at a better equipped Mac than a dock.
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It depends what devices you want to connect - there are not many individual TB devices that will saturate an 80 or 120 Gbps TB5 port in their own - this allows you to connect 3 slower TB devices (such as multiple 5k displays or TB3 storage) to one of your 3 ports leaving two more host ports for your super-fast TB5 devices.

The main caveat is that since TB 4, these devices rarely provide for more than one or two USB3 streams shared between the ports, so unless you’re connecting at least one true Thunderbolt or DisplayPort device to the hub, a plain old USB3 hub would work just as well for your USB A or USB-C/3.2 devices.
 
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At first I thought you'd bottleneck the dock but then realized TB5 is 80Gb/s and so some super-fast TB4 SSD drives (40Gb/s) makes sense here.
 
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