Powered USB hub recommendation for Mac Studio

[spacecadet1968]

HI,

I've just gotten the Mac Studio and am trying to fan a powered USB hub that will connect with the Thunderbolt ports.

I've got the Xcellon 10 port powered hub,

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1496360-REG/xcellon_sh10_7h3hc_2_10_port_powered_usb_3_0.html/specs?ap=y&ap=y&smp=ba_f1_lar&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt_qgBhDFARIsABcDjOcNDol7b50S379gtCX0GsG_ylOMGK42a-lR4NdSeIx-1wq_odcsSckaAvb8EALw_wcB)

but it's connection to the Mac is USB C, not Thunderbolt, so ti'll work, just not a the data rates of Thunderbolt. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!
Michael

 

[theluggage]

but it's connection to the Mac is USB C, not Thunderbolt, so ti'll work, just not a the data rates of Thunderbolt. Anyone have any suggestions?

If you want lots of USB ports with reasonable bandwidth & latency then a plain old USB 3 hub may be your best bet: even with a far more expensive Thunderbolt 3/4 hub, the downstream USB ports are usually still just sharing out the bandwidth of a single USB 3.1 channel so you wont see much improvement. Its tempting to think that you can plug an 8-port TB-to-USB hub into a 40Gbps TB socket and get 8 simultaneous of 5Gbps USB 3, but it usually doesn't work that way. Newer TB4/USB4 hubs tend to just create a "tunnel" to the USB 3 controller behind the port in the Mac (which isn't even the fastest USB implementation in the world) but even with more traditional TB hubs that have internal USB controllers, if you dig down through the technical specs and KB articles to find the details, the downstream USB ports are still sharing limited bandwidth. You might then get an advantage if the USB controllers are better than the Apple Silicon ones, but YMMV.

(Sorry - complicated thing is complicated!)

In most cases, the benefit of a TB hub/dock over plain old USB is the ability to run USB devices alongside proper Thunderbolt devices, or DisplayPort displays which can share the TB bandwidth with USB.

My suggestion would be to use cheap USB 3 hubs to aggregate your non-performance critical devices and free up the USB-C and USB-A ports on the Studio for exclusive use for speed-critical devices.

There is this device: https://www.startech.com/en-gb/usb-hubs/tb33a1c - which might be closer to what you want, but its kinda expensive and I don't have any personal experience.

 

[BitBLT]

I like the CalDigit Element Hub a lot, but it was rather expensive and doesn't have a large number of ports. https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/

 

[theluggage]

I like the CalDigit Element Hub a lot, but it was rather expensive and doesn't have a large number of ports. https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/

Yes, but to re-iterate my previous point, there's no advantage to that unless you're going to use it to connect displays or Thunderbolt devices. Any USB 3.1 devices are still going to share a single USB 3.1 port's worth of bandwidth - in that respect it is no different from a USB hub.

(Not saying "don't buy" - just be aware of what you are paying for).

What I'm not sure is whether a "better" (but still a lot cheaper than Thunderbolt) USB hub with USB 3.1 gen 2 (10Gbps) support would help USB 3.1 gen 1 (5Gbps) devices. Obvious no-brainer if you've got any gen2 devices...

 

[spacecadet1968]

If you want lots of USB ports with reasonable bandwidth & latency then a plain old USB 3 hub may be your best bet: even with a far more expensive Thunderbolt 3/4 hub, the downstream USB ports are usually still just sharing out the bandwidth of a single USB 3.1 channel so you wont see much improvement. Its tempting to think that you can plug an 8-port TB-to-USB hub into a 40Gbps TB socket and get 8 simultaneous of 5Gbps USB 3, but it usually doesn't work that way. Newer TB4/USB4 hubs tend to just create a "tunnel" to the USB 3 controller behind the port in the Mac (which isn't even the fastest USB implementation in the world) but even with more traditional TB hubs that have internal USB controllers, if you dig down through the technical specs and KB articles to find the details, the downstream USB ports are still sharing limited bandwidth. You might then get an advantage if the USB controllers are better than the Apple Silicon ones, but YMMV.

(Sorry - complicated thing is complicated!)

In most cases, the benefit of a TB hub/dock over plain old USB is the ability to run USB devices alongside proper Thunderbolt devices, or DisplayPort displays which can share the TB bandwidth with USB.

My suggestion would be to use cheap USB 3 hubs to aggregate your non-performance critical devices and free up the USB-C and USB-A ports on the Studio for exclusive use for speed-critical devices.

There is this device: https://www.startech.com/en-gb/usb-hubs/tb33a1c - which might be closer to what you want, but its kinda expensive and I don't have any personal experience.

Hey -
Thanks very much - you're right. I'm going to stick with the USB hub until I upgrade my external drives. The stuff I've seen is pretty pricey and doesn't exactly have what I'm looking for.
Cheers!

 

[spacecadet1968]

I like the CalDigit Element Hub a lot, but it was rather expensive and doesn't have a large number of ports. https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/

I see what you mean. It is rather nice looking though.
Cheers!