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satechi-hub-1.jpg

Good grief. Look at that convoluted setup! Why would anyone use a laptop for what is clearly meant to be a workstation? Get a desktop PC and unchain your laptops!
 
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To my knowledge, there are only a few that have a separate cable (i.e. so that you can put the hub below your desk) and these are all docks (and priced like docks). Amongst them is the CalDigit USB-C dock. There's a handful of Thunderbolt 3 docks that will be comping out soon, like the one from OWC.

There's one (cheaper) hub that has a separate cable but it's not out yet:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1303376337/powerhub-juices-up-your-usb-c-more-ports-more-char

Thanks, very helpful.
 
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Smart idea. It's sad you buy a third party device to access all the features in your already over-priced MBP though. I was at the Apple store yesterday and pricing out the dongles I'd need for a new MBP and it was more expensive than this dock. Trying to convince myself to buy a new MBP, I pretty much said "eff this" and decided to keep my 2012 cMBP anti-glare (which has two removable SSD drives).

I've had an apple gift card since Christmas but couldn't find anything to spend it on because there's nothing worth buying at Apple right now. It's a sad time for Apple IMO and I'm quite disappointed in them these days. Instead I bought a USB-C to thunderbolt2 for my hackintosh which was still a ripe $59. Ugh.
 
I think they did a great job with this helping those that need the ports. Ethernet probably would have been a welcome addition, but I guess a dongle for your dongle is life with any newer MacBook these days.
 
This is better than the hyperdrive et al for the simple reason that it claims to pass 87W. Nothing else out there does that right now. No dock, no dongle. This became a huge deal for me because when I edit video frequently I'll use 85+W of power. With 60W pass through the battery will die, even when plugged in.

If you have a 5K screen that uses two ports however, this would still not work for me, even with 87W pass through, because it uses two ports.

At home I had to use a Caldigit TB3 dock, so that I could expand one port to USB 3.0 and TB for a RAID, another port for charging, and two more for dedicated USB-C to DP cables so my 5K monitor would work at 5K.

Ironically, using this would not improve on that setup, because it uses two TB ports with only one pass through. The dock works better because you use only one port. You keep your TB3 port (there are two, so one plugs into the computer), get your 4K hdmi or DP, gain Ethernet and sound, and keep your 5Gbit USB (two ports).
 
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Couldn't they have made it so it didn't fit directly to the Mac. It looks really ugly IMO. I can see there is a market for something like this but please give us the option of tucking it away somewhere out of sight.

I'm sure that you can just stick a USB extension cable on it.
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It's stuff like this that just makes me want a modular Mac Pro already -_-

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder 'what on earth is Apple thinking!?'
 
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Never been a fan of these all in one hubs that snug right up against the side of the MacBook body.

Not only is it being attached via one flimsy USB port, but visually it looks really bulky and unbalanced.

It almost seems more appropriate to have a single cable coming out of the USB-C and have the hub attached to that.
Correction: Attached via two rigid USB-C ports. USB-C ports, at least on the Apple MacBook, take a lot of effort to attach and detach. And the video on the article clearly shows the device connects to two ports for each side (for a total of 4). Not one as you claim.
 
I would prefer if the hub used only 1 thunderbolt 3 port. I don't see how this is any different from getting a USB-C hub that takes up 1 port.
 
I think they did a great job with this helping those that need the ports. Ethernet probably would have been a welcome addition, but I guess a dongle for your dongle is life with any newer MacBook these days.

Newer MacBook being anything from what, 2012 onward? There isn't a MacBook Pro with a Retina display that has Ethernet. Nothing new there.

I agree some people need all of the above mentioned ports, but that picture in the article (even just one dock), is probably not general use case.

I see probably 20-30 2016 MacBook Pro's daily and I don't think I've ever seen much more than a USB-C -> Lightning cable plugged in.
 
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I'm with you. We are required to use Ethernet when available on my work MacBook Pro. So between that Thunderbolt to Ethernet cable, the dongle for my wireless phone headset (would Bluetooth be too much to ask?) and the thunderbolt to DVI adapter, and the Mag Safe, it takes so much away from the aesthetic.

This. I really like Apple (and a disclaimer I do own Apple stock) but as you state they want the laptops/phones svelte looking and then you have all of these ugly dongles hanging everywhere. Thin is in but at what price?
 
Yep. This one from the same company is the one I purchased for the same reasons you mentioned. It also includes an Ethernet port...

http://www.satechi.net/index.php/co...-micro-card-reader-3-usb-3-0-ports-silver-597

Never been a fan of these all in one hubs that snug right up against the side of the MacBook body.

Not only is it being attached via one flimsy USB port, but visually it looks really bulky and unbalanced.

It almost seems more appropriate to have a single cable coming out of the USB-C and have the hub attached to that.
 
This. I really like Apple (and a disclaimer I do own Apple stock) but as you state they want the laptops/phones svelte looking and then you have all of these ugly dongles hanging everywhere. Thin is in but at what price?

My opinion is that I'd rather carry a than and light machine (I own a 2016), and possibly have to carry a dongle or two, as opposed to hefting around something that has a bunch of ports I'll never use.

It seems that some people would like Apple to go back to the pre-Retina days with the unibody style. No thanks!
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Only 30hz at 4K.... neeext!

It's weird right, that even the official Apple adapter only does 30hz.

I guess they expect you to use HDMI only for presentations?
 
Never been a fan of these all in one hubs that snug right up against the side of the MacBook body.

Not only is it being attached via one flimsy USB port, but visually it looks really bulky and unbalanced.

It almost seems more appropriate to have a single cable coming out of the USB-C and have the hub attached to that.

It uses two USB-C ports to connect.
 
Correction: Attached via two rigid USB-C ports. USB-C ports, at least on the Apple MacBook, take a lot of effort to attach and detach. And the video on the article clearly shows the device connects to two ports for each side (for a total of 4). Not one as you claim.

I must have been fooled by MacRumours reporting...plus it's still ugly.

The new hub is similar in design to the Type-C Hub compatible with Apple's original 12-inch Macbook, but includes two Thunderbolt 3 dongles that take up both ports on either side of the new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar. The hub is compatible with the non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro as well.
 
It's weird right, that even the official Apple adapter only does 30hz.

I guess they expect you to use HDMI only for presentations?

Only 30hz at 4K.... neeext!

It's probably because this is a USB-C dock. The TB3 port already does 4k@60, and for two you need a powered TB3 dock.

I must have been fooled by MacRumours reporting...plus it's still ugly.

The new hub is similar in design to the Type-C Hub compatible with Apple's original 12-inch Macbook, but includes two Thunderbolt 3 dongles that take up both ports on either side of the new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar. The hub is compatible with the non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro as well.

The 13" non-touchbar's two TB3 ports are on the same side, so it'll still work.
 
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Oh look, this gives a PRO laptop ALL THE PORTS IT SHOULD HAVE HAD IN THE FIRST PLACE.
The 2015 MBP doesn't have Ethernet either, you should have got over that already.
Just because they dropped Ethernet doesn't mean the use and usefulness of Ethernet has gone away - if you're making a device from scratch to add back ports that a "pro" machine should have, ethernet is worth including.

Nobody, NOBODY outside of Apple headquarters was saying "what I really want above all in my next PRO laptop is for it to be thinner". By all means, make a MacBookAir/ManagerBook machine that has very few ports. But for a can-handle-all-tasks machine for "professionals", build in all sorts of ports and put back a decent keyboard like they had a few years back.
 
Oh look, this gives a PRO laptop ALL THE PORTS IT SHOULD HAVE HAD IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Just because they dropped Ethernet doesn't mean the use and usefulness of Ethernet has gone away - if you're making a device from scratch to add back ports that a "pro" machine should have, ethernet is worth including.

Nobody, NOBODY outside of Apple headquarters was saying "what I really want above all in my next PRO laptop is for it to be thinner". By all means, make a MacBookAir/ManagerBook machine that has very few ports. But for a can-handle-all-tasks machine for "professionals", build in all sorts of ports and put back a decent keyboard like they had a few years back.

Thank you for deciding that you speak for the entire "pro" community. They're are obviously people that don't the mind using a dongle or finding other (wireless) ways around storage issues, because they are selling.

If you had your way, everyone wanting a "pro" machine would carry around a 6lb laptop full of ports they may or may not use, right?

USB-C allows every user, pro or not, to choose how they wish to outfit their machine. I don't need SD, HDMI, OR USB-A, but yet I'm considered a pro user. So in your opinion, I should have to carry all of the things YOU need with me at all times.

Would you like to carry around my Pantone color chip set, and CMYK bridge? Probably not, so why does everyone else have to carry your Ethernet, HDMI, SD, DisplayPort, etc?

Answer: They don't. That's the beauty of USB-C, and Apple giving us ALL the choice to carry what, and only what, we need.
 
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No mini display port or Ethernet port? But they have 2 more USB C ports which are useless because MBP already has 4! Dammit I'm looking for an all in one bus powered solution, and no one has gotten it right.
 
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Sucker! this is a HyperDrive knockoff AND ITS MORE EXPENSIVE! LOL!


Why is MacRumors advertising a knockoff? HyperDrive has been around... These guys just took their idea and repackaged it.

You can still get one on Indiegogo from HyperDrive for $79. I have mine in-hand, I got in on the Kickstarter and was delivered months ago for $69. Love it..

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hyperdrive-thunderbolt-3-usb-c-hub-for-macbook-pro#/

"Knockoff" is a stretch. There are dozens of similar models on the market.
 
Looking at that picture , to me says , buy a desktop :)

Good grief. Look at that convoluted setup! Why would anyone use a laptop for what is clearly meant to be a workstation? Get a desktop PC and unchain your laptops!

Is it that hard to imagine someone wanting to benefit both from the portability of a laptop and the versatility of connecting devices at a desk?

Nobody, NOBODY outside of Apple headquarters was saying "what I really want above all in my next PRO laptop is for it to be thinner".

I was saying it should be lighter. I carry it on my bike, I use it at home (typically without anything attached), I use it at my work desk (typically with screens, etc. attached), in conference rooms, at customers' desks, etc. Thus, making it a little lighter to carry around is welcome.

(Wouldn't mind more RAM, wouldn't mind HDMI, and so forth.)

By all means, make a MacBookAir/ManagerBook machine that has very few ports. But for a can-handle-all-tasks machine for "professionals", build in all sorts of ports and put back a decent keyboard like they had a few years back.

I'm absolutely a professional.

As are managers, by the way.
 
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The 4K @ 60hz issue is still a big one with these. You have to have a dedicated dongle for it. Pumping a bunch of things through a port plus an HDMI doesn't leave enough capacity for 60hz it seems. It kind of makes you wish the HDMI was an ethernet instead since you'd have to get another dongle just to get 60hz

This video helped me out a lot with getting the 4K@60hz though
Thanks for sharing the video, I was just gonna write a post that said I'm out till hdmi 2.0, 4k, 60hz
 
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