USB Hubs For Mac Explained: Don't Be Fooled!

[@justbeingadad2599]

Docks sometimes scare me especially when you don't know much about how they affect your battery. Thanks so much for the video.

[@zackerymcpherson9409]

That’s why you have to get thunderbolt standard

[@TheMrboombostic]

I only trust Dell docks. In the IT world, Dell is the standard (without getting overly expensive or complicated) for pc, laptop and dock. They support their products, have software updates…sometimes even when the product is no longer sold. When in doubt, go with Dell.

[@bassyey]

Yeah. All these fancy ones focus too much on appearance and are overpriced. Dells docks are already proven in the corporate world - used and abused by employees everyday. That speaks quality to me and cheap too.

[@edwardstaszko]

Very good information. Might suggest an explanation of Thunderbolt vs. USB and compatibility between them. Thanks for the recommendations.

[@eyadkourdi2325]

As an Anker adapter user (the 7 in 1 that is 100$), there is 1 issue am finding with all of them (I charge my Mac on a different port than the port I plug in the adapter to) I connect my mouse, keyboard, HDMI cable and an ethernet cable to the adapter and charge the macbook directly, the adapter becomes very hot after an hour or so and the keyboard and mouse starts to disconnect, it's not robust enough as you might think.

[@onecleangti]

I’ve also gotten a few doa units to which Anker is a pita about getting replacements

[@the_diamant]

yes pleace the stl file for the ts4 face plate. so much cleaner than the original

[@paulhorn24]

03:18 I'm afraid I have to disagree. At work, for my family and some of my friends, we recently (July and August 2024) bought many different thumb drives (USB memory sticks). And although the packaging often only had USB 3.0 printed on it, the USB memory sticks from SanDisk, for example, actually have USB 3.2 Gen 1

[@Watchandlearn91]

USB 3.2 gen 1 is the exact same thing as USB 3.0. I don’t blame you for being confused though. The USB forum should be fined for misleading consumers by renaming specs.

[@_TT90]

Have you tested how the hubs/docks perform when utilizing several ports at once? Like display output, webcam on, Ethernet on, mouse, keyboard, and transferring files.

[@JasonLorette]

I recently bought a Ugreen hub that has usb-c pass through power, hdmi, 1 usb-c, 2 usb-a, sd card slot, and micro-sd card slot. Good build quality, works fast enough, and does its job. I think it was like $60. 📸😎

[@williamtopping]

Absolutely recommend uGreen. I have a $50 Displayport KVM from them. Switching between my Mac and my Gaming PC. It has HDR passthrough, VRR passthrough, 4k @ 160 MHz, into my LG 38" ultra wide. Absolutely fantastic. I have connected to it, a Scarlet External USB sound device, Native Instruments Maschine, KK 61 Keyboard, Razer Keyboard, Razer Mouse, and a Stream Deck. It has a remote. It's THE BEST! Works flawlessly.

[@muhammadabdullah8563]

I have a ugreen usb hub idk about your experience but mine particularly is very bad Usb hub is advertised and labeled as 3.0 but in settings it shows as 2.0 My battery health degraded from 97% to 90% with 100 battery cycles only and there was like a static current on the usb hub

[@twest344]

I like my Hiearcool hub that I bought 3.5 years ago- 4k HDMI out, 2x usb a 3.0, sd card and micro sd card reader, and a usb c 100 watt pass-though (no data, just power). It is $18 on amazon, and I use it everyday. I'm sure hardware snobs will call it a cheap POS but it has worked really well for me.

[@ABeriault]

Hello Kyle You do good work, very clear and simple! However I have yet to find a techy that is able to explain how to make a real docking station that will allow multiple computers to reach multiple SSD drives without wifi! I have three computers, 1 IMac and 2 Macbooks, but all my data is stored on three IMac connected drives: 1 Thunderbolt 2 LaCie 4T main drive + 2 Transcend SSD 5T each that are used as Backup 1 and Backup 2. I have yet to find a hub that would allow to connect my Macbooks simultaneously without using WIFI or AirDrop..(too slow and not practical for backups). Am I asking for some miracle or is there a simple solution out. there? Cheers Andre

[@tomdearie5165]

Make sure not to buy a hub without a solid no-questions return policy and make sure to stress test it for your use case immediately on purchase. As a working professional, I’ve had hubs from a lot of these brands fail in the field whenever they were used in anything outside the most relaxed conditions. Many have been particularly sketchy on large file transfers.

[@totalselfhatred7498]

I have a question, how to do the stress test to them? thanks.

[@tomdearie5165]

@@totalselfhatred7498 Great question. Before I take a unit into the field (usually) I connect it and do multiple very large sustained file transfers on the device setup you’ll use them with. On one time I broke my rule, I had purchased a CalDigit hub just before heading out on expedition to photograph wolves. I had no time to test it before leaving. Each day, I’d have to transfer large amount of image data from an external SSD drive to an iPad Pro. But every time I would go away and leave the transfer running, I’d come back and found the transfer stalled. Eventually I gave up and did transfers directly from the camera, which was much slower, and meant I couldn’t t get back out into the field until it was finished.

[@tomdearie5165]

@@totalselfhatred7498 Sorry - I thought I had answered this earlier, but I guess I didn’t hit “send”. Great question. I put the device in the setup I’ll be using it (e.g., on my laptop with whatever devices I’ll attach to it for use) and then I’ll do multiple very large transfers of data. For me, that means hundreds of gigabytes. But for others, it might not be so much. As an example, I was on expedition photographing wolves and I had brought an untested CalDigit hub that I had purchased just before departure. I found unexpectedly that, when I was transferring large amounts of image data to my iPad, the transfer would inevitably fail part way through. I ended up having to transfer directly from the camera to the iPad, which was time consuming and took the camera out of action during the process. Hope that helps. Cheers

[@dplj4428]

13:03 did wonder about that ts4 caldigit 😂 i felt cheated.

[@the_guybenjamin]

Please share your stl files for the dock faceplate and the ssd enclosure! Great video!

[@ayush_raj1326]

Loved the review. What about Spigen ArcDock USB Hub? And does heating of usb hubs a bad sign?

[@Ca12367]

just in time for prime day

[@grahame8032]

Excellent information thanks. I have previously purchased so many hubs that are slow and useless.

[@Photobuffeddy_AGS]

I agree as well - 100 % 😅

[@mntwana64]

USB 3 👍

[@NathanMilkie1]

Still no Thunderbolt 5. 😫😭

[@poetryinstitution4368]

Great vids love them

[@yenrab26]

Very informative, thanks :)

[@lightskamaraaction48]

So I have a desktop PC for gaming then I have a Macbook Pro for editing but What is the best hub for 2 monitor that support both? KVM?

[@sickycao1713]

I think the first thing is what do you need to connect to what features do you need?

[@GarrettBM]

Thanks, use-full video!

[@integralhighspeedusb]

What's that battery health app you are using please?

[@KyleErickson]

I think you might be looking at Clean My Mac!

[@pietromir]

I have a question, if I had a monitor with a resolution lower than 4k ( 1080p 144hz ) to reach at least 120hz should I buy a hub specially or the first one in the list which is 4k 30 hz is still ok ?

[@KyleErickson]

I would verify that the hub you're looking at can output what you want - dig into a spec sheet, see what version of HDMI or DisplayPort it supports, and see if that version supports what you're looking for.

[@SoftwareManiacLSM]

Based on ur recommendation, I just ordered the HyperDrive TB4 hub. I have Caldigit and love it but that monster power adapter and cords simply suck. Thank you. Are you Canadian or something? It would be nice if you did one of your videos with a Southern US accent so that people like me would understand.

[@TheManXL]

Hmmm a Thunderbolt 5 docking station would be nice, but that means that my M2 mac mini won't support it...

[@alondinbar6193]

Which hub you recommend for Apple Studio 5k (thunderbolt cable) for 3 computers?

[@TravisBasson]

What do you mean for 3 computers? Do you want to use 3 different computers outputting to 1 studio display and be able to switch between the computers?

[@alondinbar6193]

@@TravisBasson yes, support thunderbolt. And maybe can use also as docking hub

[@KjellKarlsson1]

I did it the other way around, bought new cables and accessories with usb-c instead of buying a hub. We're moving to usb-c anyway so why spend money on a usb-hub?

[@PolluxChung]

Hub or dock is something people shouldn't go cheap with as it's a huge link that you have to rely on full time for years.

[@tom_123]

Power delivery + display port output with clamshell closed seems to be a bottleneck, in my experience.

[@MohamadAlSabban-x2o]

😁Thanks!

[@KyleErickson]

Thank you!!

[@scottfrost317]

The only problem with the anger is that the connection cable is not replaceable

[@justin-sane]

90210 👌

[@AC-lt5ro]

Remove one of the USB A ports and give us one HDMI port and it's perfect

[@insertaverygenericnamehere]

I won't