Satechi Debuts USB-C Multi-Port Adapter With 7 Ports

[PickUrPoison]

Dongle-bells, dongle-bells... dongle all the way

Get over it. iPad Pro is too thin to have Ethernet and other legacy ports. Even ones that would fit would take away too much space from the battery.

Most people don’t need those ports when they’re out and about anyway—or at all for that matter. If you do, carry an adapter 🤷‍♂️

 

[Kulfon]

2015 MBP was too thick?

Get over it. iPad Pro is too thin to have Ethernet and other legacy ports. Even ones that would fit would take away too much space from the battery.

Most people don’t need those ports when they’re out and about anyway—or at all for that matter. If you do, carry an adapter 🤷‍♂️

 

[star-affinity]

You need a thunderbolt 3 dock to support 4k60, USB ones don’t have the bandwidth, when you include other ports as well. The price of thunderbolt 3 chipsets are still quite high, so the docks won’t come down in price until intel comes out with a cheaper chipset.

This one isn’t too expensive:

Elgato

A leader in audiovisual technology for creators and WFH pros, Elgato builds premium webcams, microphones, Stream Deck controllers, capture cards, and more.

www.elgato.com

Just one USB-A port, though.

 

[PickUrPoison]

2015 MBP was too thick?

You tell me. Maybe too thin. The highly acclaimed and much revered 2015 MBP needed an adapter for Ethernet.

In any case, Apple thinks the internal space consumed by all those ports could be better used filled with battery. You might disagree, and that’s fine.

Apple seems to think run time is more important than having ports that most will never use on the go. Not necessarily true for you, but Apple has to consider the needs of all.

 

[Kulfon]

Just to be clear. I am not arguing with you. Nothing negative. But if I am nit mistaken, many-many people find it problematic. I just do not remember the time when it was the need to carry all these dongles. I have great headphones and also need a dongle to use them with an iPhone. Seriously crazy.

You tell me. Maybe too thin. The highly acclaimed and much revered 2015 MBP needed an adapter for Ethernet.

In any case, Apple thinks the internal space consumed by all those ports could be better used filled with battery. You might disagree, and that’s fine.

Apple seems to think run time is more important than having ports that most will never use on the go. Not necessarily true for you, but Apple has to consider the needs of all.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Just to be clear. I am not arguing with you. Nothing negative. But if I am nit mistaken, many-many people find it problematic. I just do not remember the time when it was the need to carry all these dongles. I have great headphones and also need a dongle to use them with an iPhone. Seriously crazy.

I hear ya. Some people find it convenient to leave the adapter connected to the headphones.

 

[smirking]

I just do not remember the time when it was the need to carry all these dongles.

The last time I never carried any kind of adapters with me was... never. None of my devices have ever had enough ports or all of the right ports to allow me to never have to deal with adapters and dongles. Even my G4 Ti Powerbook had a couple of dongles. I needed one for the DVI out and a USB-A splitter for all of my devices.

I still run into situations when I need to plug into a VGA projector. Having an HDMI out port isn't going to help me in that situation. The 2015 MBP might have an SD card slot, but it's a slower old tech SD card slot. If you have UHS-II or even XQD cards and you want to make use of their speed, you're gonna need... a dongle or otherwise known as card readers before people started the annoying habit of calling all of their peripherals dongles.

 

[baryon]

Remember when you could plug things directly into your computer, at no extra cost? Those were the days.

No matter how space grey or multi port these things get, I still hate having to use them And to bring them with me everywhere I go. And it doesnt seem like USB-A is going away anytime soon.

 

[Dominicanyor]

Why did apple get rid of the USB ports on the 💻

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[baryon]

Ah yes, those were the days of 1" thick notebook computers that weighed 4-5 pounds or more. My beloved 13" MacBook 2007 had a bunch of ports (even an optical drive!) and weighed 5.2 lbs.

People value the lighter weight these days at the expense of cost.

What is better? Carrying around

1. a 5.2 lbs. notebook computer with a bunch of ports or
2. a 2.75 lbs. notebook computer and a 0.175 lb. USB-C multifunction hub (maybe $30-40)?

That's not quire right though. My Late 2013 MacBook Pro is pretty much exactly the same weight and size as my 16 inch MacBook Pro. The 2013 has 2 USB ports, an SD card slot, an HDMI port and a MagSafe port. My 16 has none of that. Except with the 16 inch, every day, everywhere I go, plugging literally anything into my computer has become an issue. Whereas before it was a non-issue, simple as that. And no, 2 USB ports and an SD card slot won't add 2.45 lbs in weight to your computer. The reduction in weight was mostly due to other things, hardly the ports, which we use every single day. We don't use CD drives today, so it's not a fair comparison. We still very much use USB-A and SD cards, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable useful life of the computer (and more).

 

[smirking]

Remember when you could plug things directly into your computer, at no extra cost? Those were the days.

When was that? I've always had to get extra cables and adapters my entire computing life. The reality is that for a lot of us, we never had enough ports either in the type of ports or the number of them and until everything is wireless, we never will.

Having to supplement your computing device with peripherals and adapters is nothing new. I have large bucket of adapter cables and compatibility devices in the garage. It's in the garage for a reason. I never have to dip into it anymore. Instead I just have a bunch of different endcap adapters for my USB-C cables. That's way better than having to keep around separate cables and/or adapters for DVI-D, VGA, FW800, FW400, SCSI, RS232, Parallel, and on and on.

No matter how space grey or multi port these things get, I still hate having to use them And to bring them with me everywhere I go. And it doesnt seem like USB-A is going away anytime soon.

Don't blink. Things change faster than people realize. I already avoid buying anything that doesn’t come in USB-C unless I absolutely have no other option. For those legacy devices, a handful of USB-A to USB-C endcaps cost as little as $1 each. Problem solved.

 

[toke lahti]

I'm amazed that "just usb-c-hubs" seems to not exist.
I'd like to buy an usb-c-hub, meaning one usb-c out and 4-8 usb-c in, with external power supply and at 3.1g2 ie. 10G.
Anybody found something like that anywhere?
Usb-s-ports in devices are getting popular, 10G also, but industry expects us to buy a-c-cables and be happy with 5G speeds for few years more?
[automerge]1580554039[/automerge]

As far as I can tell, there are no chipsets that can do 4K/60 at this price point. At this current time.

I will replace my Keychron hub with a 4K/60 unit when those become plentiful and available at a competitive price.

I'm sure it will happen eventually. Just not today, not tomorrow.

4K/60Hz, Gigabit Ethernet, 4+ USB 3.1 ports at $40-50 seems to be the Holy Grail for this type of consumer peripheral in early 2020.

It is amazing how hard it is to predict when something goes mainstream.
Hdmi 2.0 specs were released in 2013 and 2.1 in 2017.
TV's adopted new versions just fine, dongles didn't. Why?

 

[theluggage]

In any case, Apple thinks the internal space consumed by all those ports could be better used filled with battery.

Seriously?
From everymac.com:

2015 15" rMBP Battery: 99.5 W h
2016 15" MBP Battery: 76.0 W h

...and don't start on the supposedly increased "run times" which were based on web browsing/iTunes - on a machine aimed at, and priced for, graphics and video work. Because everybody was so impressed with the 2016 MBP's battery life... not. Anyway, that advantage came from the new gen Intel CPUs...

I’ve got it from the usual, reliable sources here on MR forums that the purchase of a USB-C MacBook Pro also requires you to buy hundreds of dollars worth of something called “dongles”.

Guess what though - its over 3 years since the USB-C MBP was released and the price/availability/choice of USB-C devices has improved. My ~$500 estimated dongle/dock/spare PSU bill in 2016 was perfectly valid at the time (I was seriously pricing-up a possible purchase) but would probably be less now (...and I've had another 3 years of use out of the peripherals I wanted to re-use). Meanwhile, common sense has prevailed and - up to and including the Mac Pro - Apple has kept a mix of TB3 and USB-A on its desktops.

But, hey, you decided to start baiting people in this thread...

 

[PickUrPoison]

Seriously?
From everymac.com:

2015 15" rMBP Battery: 99.5 W h
2016 15" MBP Battery: 76.0 W h

...and don't start on the supposedly increased "run times" which were based on web browsing/iTunes - on a machine aimed at, and priced for, graphics and video work. Because everybody was so impressed with the 2016 MBP's battery life... not. Anyway, that advantage came from the new gen Intel CPUs...

Guess what though - its over 3 years since the USB-C MBP was released and the price/availability/choice of USB-C devices has improved. My ~$500 estimated dongle/dock/spare PSU bill in 2016 was perfectly valid at the time (I was seriously pricing-up a possible purchase) but would probably be less now (...and I've had another 3 years of use out of the peripherals I wanted to re-use). Meanwhile, common sense has prevailed and - up to and including the Mac Pro - Apple has kept a mix of TB3 and USB-A on its desktops.

But, hey, you decided to start baiting people in this thread...

Just because you don’t understand what I wrote to Kulfon doesn’t mean I’m baiting you 🙄 I would prefer you block me because it’s such a waste of time responding to the odd post of yours I happen to see.

Users (not Ive btw, like some imagine) wanted a lighter MBP. Apple gave them what they wanted in 2016. Imagine if all the ports with their internal space requirements were still there in the 2016 model. That 76 Wh battery could be 60 or 65, with 15-20% shorter run times than with a 76Wh battery. That’s the difference having a bunch of ports would make. (The battery size of the heavier, thicker 2015 is not relevant in the least.)

Multiport adapters were available from the beginning, and were certainly not $500.

I don’t know what you mean by common sense prevailed. Common sense tells me desktops have no issue with ports taking space better used for battery. MacBook was USB-C only in 2015, 13/15” MBP in 2016, MBA in 2018 and 16” MBP in 2019.

USB-C only laptops are here to stay. Apple’s not going to remove battery to add back a bunch of legacy ports that most don’t need on the go, and some never use at all.

If/when you ever buy a 2016+ MBP, deal with reality. Get over it and buy a $50 multiport adapter if you need older ports. Or not, suit yourself.

 

[jdiamond]

(Love that this generated the most excitement about the monitor in the background.)

I seriously don't understand why people (including Satechi's own marketing department) don't understand why a real Ethernet port is a NECESSITY. Sure, it's definitely nice to be able to vastly exceed the 200 megabit limitation of most WiFi*, but the reason it's mandatory is for people who work at corporations. Most corporations for security reasons REQUIRE use of the wired internet for most functions (my work included). Even using the corporate VPN merely gets you access to internal webpages, not internal network features. Ironically, I've confirmed this is even true at Apple. So when I look at any dongle for a Mac, a gigabit Ethernet port is #1.

#2 - why does everyone only support 4K@30Hz on multi-dongles? Seriously? Still? What the heck, people. And why no Displayport? I get that at your own desk, you can buy a TB3 to HDMI/DP cable, but in office meetings or presentations you have to hook up to whatever video they provide.

* I'm lucky enough to have Google Fiber at home and decent internet speed at work, but I realize most people don't. Why do I need this much bandwidth? Mostly for uploading and downloading large files.

 

[gnasher729]

You tell me. Maybe too thin. The highly acclaimed and much revered 2015 MBP needed an adapter for Ethernet.

I bought one on eBay for £2.50

 

[smirking]

I seriously don't understand why people (including Satechi's own marketing department) don't understand why a real Ethernet port is a NECESSITY.

I don't know, but I sure make use of my Ethernet port once in a while. Trying to perform an initial backup to Time Machine or NAS over WiFi when you have close to 2 TB of data is quite a humorless joke. Anytime I need to move a huge amount of data over a network, I opt for Ethernet.

 

[theluggage]

I seriously don't understand why people (including Satechi's own marketing department) don't understand why a real Ethernet port is a NECESSITY.

WiFi is brilliant when you can't/don't want to run cables anywhere, but I can't comprehend what combination of misconceptions leads people to use it in a situation where a cable is available.

#2 - why does everyone only support 4K@30Hz on multi-dongles?

Because ye cannae change the laws 'o physics cap'n: A USB-C cable only has 4 high-speed data pairs, and the vast majority of current laptops and displays only support DisplayPort 1.2 which needs all 4 of those to support 4k@60Hz - which would leave just the "legacy" USB 2 super-slow lane for any other ports on your multi-dongle. I think a few of the larger desktop USB-C hubs can be configured to support 4k60 + USB2 if that's your pleasure - but most of them just use 2 pairs for displayport and 2 pairs for USB 3 up/down.

...which is also why the USB-C 'out' port on most multi-dongles doesn't support video.

If you want to use 4k@60Hz on your hub/dock you'll have to fork out the premium for Thunderbolt 3.

I think the 2019 MBP 15"/16" models have the latest TB3/USB-C controllers, along with discrete GPUs, which support DisplayPort 1.4 and can potentially do 4k@60Hz over two lanes - but only if you connect a DP 1.4 capable display. Meanwhile, nothing with Intel integrated graphics can support DP 1.4.

Most of these multi-dongles use 'USB-C DisplayPort alt mode' plus a DisplayPort to HDMI converter - which probably doesn't support DisplayPort 1.4 either. There is a 'native' HDMI mode for USB-C but I don't think its been spotted in the wild yet...

NB: I don't know the exact figure but there are probably only one or two actual 'multi-port adapter' chipsets in existence and a few 'standard' PCBs using them - so most of these devices are just variations on the same basic product, sometimes in different cases, but often just re-badged. I'm not sure why this particular one was deemed news worthy.

 

[PickUrPoison]

I bought one on eBay for £2.50

Yes, adapters are quite inexpensive. Even new

 

[toke lahti]

I think the 2019 MBP 15"/16" models have the latest TB3/USB-C controllers, along with discrete GPUs, which support DisplayPort 1.4 and can potentially do 4k@60Hz over two lanes - but only if you connect a DP 1.4 capable display. Meanwhile, nothing with Intel integrated graphics can support DP 1.4.

Mac mini 2018 does support dp1.4.
I guess every computer that has Titan Ridge chip supports dp1.4.
EDIT: And that's what you wrote. I read something wrong.