Which 40Gbps m4 Mac mini dock?

[active8]

Which 40Gbps dock do people recommend for a Samsung 990 pro SSD?

I’ve been looking at the ORICO MiniLink, UGREEN and Raycue 40Gbps docks.

Thanks.

 

[SalisburySam]

My Acasis is working well with both the M4 Mac mini and Samsung 990 Pro. I have only one SSD in the unit, at 4TB. Space exists for two at 8TB each.

 

[axantas]

Just my personal experience with docks for the MacMini:

I have the Orico and UGREEN laying around here. They caused massive problems for WiFi and probably also Bluetooth if they were placed underneath the Mini. Now I just use some external case for the external SSD and everything works like it should.

I coud not get a stable wireless connection with AirPlay anymore (monitor AVP), a 5GHz connection to my router was almost unusable. No problems with the connection to the SSD itself, but the UGREEN backplate got very hot all the time, so I also doubtted a suffucient cooling.

 

[bapegg]

I have the Orico and UGREEN laying around here. They caused massive problems for WiFi and probably also Bluetooth if they were placed underneath the Mini.

That seems to be a common issue no matter what brand of dock you get when they are placed under the M4 Mac mini.

I 've looked into the Beelink dock that can be placed under or on the mini. But decided to just stick with my OWC 11 port hub instead.

 

[Ben J.]

My Acasis is working well with both the M4 Mac mini and Samsung 990 Pro. I have only one SSD in the unit, at 4TB. Space exists for two at 8TB each.

I have two of these:

Acasis 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure​

I got the first one a few years ago, and another last year. Both on sale for around $60 each. I've used them with different sizes and brands of NVMe chips, with no problem whatsoever. They're now loaded with two Kingston 4TB and gives me ~2800MB/s r/w speeds. They do get hot to the touch, they have no fans, which I like, but I don't worry about that anymore. TG Pro says they're around or under 50 celsius, and these chips are supposed to handle up to 100. Just be sure you have good thermal pads on the chip.

Highly recommended.

 

[turbineseaplane]

My RayCue has been excellent.

Got it at the start of 2025.

 

[808?]

I am using a BeeLink dock on top of my M4 Mini, no issues so far.

 

[dmccombs]

I researched enclosures about a month ago and this seemed to be a good blend of reasonable cost, and good reports of reliability. It's worked perfectly for me so far. The OWC 1M2 40G enclosure.

OWC 1M2 40G Enclosure

 

[P K]

I researched enclosures about a month ago and this seemed to be a good blend of reasonalbe cost, and good reports of reliability. It's worked perfectly for me so far. The OWC 1M2 40G enclosure.

OWC 1M2 40G Enclosure

I've had the same for the last year and it's been rock solid.

 

[Che Castro]

I was looking for a dock with extra thunderbolt ports

The only one that’s close is the satechi cubedock
Is basically 2 in 1 , a thunderbolt 5 hub with 3 extra tb ports
And a nvme thunderbolt 5 enclosure
It’s shaped like a Mac mini but I’m not sure if putting the Mac mini on top of it is a good idea
Also the price $399

Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock™ with SSD Enclosure

Shop the Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock. Built-in NVMe SSD, 140W charging, multi-display up to 8K for Mac. Free US shipping $50+.

satechi.com

 

[awsom82]

OWC is good, but I always recommend just order Mac mini with desired specs

 

[Ben J.]

Just ordered another one of these:

Acasis 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Compatible with Thunderbolt 4/3

Best M.2 NVMe SSDs List for the ACASIS 40Gbps Enclosure ACASIS The Most Cost-effective SSD Enclosure - TBU405Air This Acasis NVME M.2 enclosure offers lightning fast file transfer and storage at a fraction of premium models' price. Perfectly solves the memory limitation issue of Apple's M4 Mac...

www.acasis.com

"mother's day 14% off" and free shipping makes it ~$51 in total.

 

[enricoclaudio]

I’m using the Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with a WD SN850p installed in the CubeDock internal M2 drive socket and I’m getting speeds of 5950 MB/s read and write when plugged into my MacBook Pro M5 Pro. With a 40GBPS dock the speed will be limited to 2800 MB/s which is wasteful having a 990 Pro which could run up to 7500 MB/s speeds.

 

[enricoclaudio]

I was looking for a dock with extra thunderbolt ports

The only one that’s close is the satechi cubedock
Is basically 2 in 1 , a thunderbolt 5 hub with 3 extra tb ports
And a nvme thunderbolt 5 enclosure
It’s shaped like a Mac mini but I’m not sure if putting the Mac mini on top of it is a good idea
Also the price $399

Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock™ with SSD Enclosure

Shop the Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock. Built-in NVMe SSD, 140W charging, multi-display up to 8K for Mac. Free US shipping $50+.

satechi.com

That’s the one I have and recommend 100%.

 

[Soondae]

I have this slide in model by Qwiizlab UH61 M4 Been very happy with it's performance.

Mac mini M4 Stand & Dock with SSD Enclosure

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Qwiizlab Mac mini M4/M4 Pro Stand Hub with 40Gbps NVMe SSD Enclosure, Docking Station with 2 USB-A 10Gbps, TF/SD 4.0 Card Readers 312MB/s, USB-A 2.0, Fits M.2 PCIe up to 8TB About this item： Ultra-Speed SSD Enclosure: It supports storage expansion with M.2 NVMe SSD up to 8TB...

qwiizlab.net

 

[Ben J.]

With a 40GBPS dock the speed will be limited to 2800 MB/s which is wasteful having a 990 Pro which could run up to 7500 MB/s speeds.

I don't worry about that. ~2800MB/s is plenty fast enough for my use. Thunderbolt 5 is not worth the cost for me, yet. One should also keep in mind that to take advantage of the speed capabilities of TB5, there should be TB5 on both ends, which will often not be the case.

When TB5 prices come down in a few years, I will still have my NVMe chips capable of 6-7000MB/s r/w.

 

[Che Castro]

That’s the one I have and recommend 100%.

View attachment 2628614

do you think it would be ok to put the mac mini m4 on top even with a nvme running inside the satechi dock ?