7 ms·

$40? https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-4-Port-USB-C-Hub-Compatible/dp/B09BNXMHSL https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-4-Port-USB-C-Hub-Compatible/d... Found it bouncing

$40? https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-4-Port-USB-C-Hub-Compatible/dp/B09BNXMHSL https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-4-Port-USB-C-Hub-Compatible/d... Found it bouncing through https://www.amazon.com/USB-C-Gen-Hub-Adapter-7-Ports/dp/B09M7W9MZ7 https://www.amazon.com/USB-C-Gen-Hub-Adapter-7-Ports/dp/B09M... Left hub out, googled "USB-C 4 port" to get there.

jedberg 5y ago
That's data transfer only. I want it for my iPad and phone, so I want charging too.
- maxerickson 5y ago
  Okay, well that doesn't seem surprising that it wants to be plugged into the wall then (because people will ignore the real limitation on power input from the supply device and complain).
  - vxNsr 5y ago
    Yup, that's always the answer. The customer doesn't give you the full specs, complains about why this isn't available already. When you deliver your proposed solution it turns out they had some extra physically impossible to fulfill requirements. Reminds me of "The Expert" skit.
    - ryanbrunner 5y ago
      The promise of usb (any version) is that you could have one port that everything plugs into. Usb-a isn't perfect in that regard, but it's mostly there. Usb-a backslid considerably on that promise.
    - notreallyserio 5y ago
      The customer is used to being able to plug all of their stuff into a lot standard wall outlet and their headphones in any standard 3.5mm jack so it's not at all surprising that they don't automatically provide all the specs. And frankly customers shouldn't have to care. USB engineers and PMs completely botched the design of USB-C.
      - brazzledazzle 5y ago
        I think it’s interesting how a lot of knowledgeable people will chime in on here on certain feature compromises and limitations with USB-C and it always sounds reasonable in isolation. But you only have to take a step back and look at the specification in its totality to see that it’s a shit show. It’s like this thing was designed by a bunch of subcommittees and no one had a clear understanding of or oversight over the big picture.
        _carbyau_ 5y ago
        I am ok with various devices having various capabilities. Not too surprising given they are made from various bits. But I want one damn cable to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. And a way to know what cable that is.
        lozenge 5y ago
        Sure, that'll be $129 for a 1.8m cable. Will you be buying one to power your wireless charger? https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-pro-cable-18-m https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-p...
        microtonal 5y ago
        That's a bit dramatic. It's a longer active cable. You can get a certified passive Thunderbolt 4 cable for 25 Euro including VAT: http://shop.caldigit.com/eu/Adapters%20And%20Cables/Cables?product_id=209 http://shop.caldigit.com/eu/Adapters%20And%20Cables/Cables?p... Short answer to the grandparent: buy a certified Thunderbolt 4 cable. They have clear markings (a Thunderbolt logo, along with the digit 4). They are backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, USB 4, USB 3.2/3.1/3.0, USB-C Gen 1/2, USB 2.0 and can charge 100W.
        Bud 5y ago
        Well, that exists, it's called Thunderbolt 3 (or 4, since PC makers decided to try to get away with a shitty half-version of TB3). And the cable exists too, but you have to pay through the nose for it, and people expect all cables to be $5 at Monoprice. Turns out that 40Gbps and supporting any and all monitors at the same time and 100W of power isn't an easy spec. Everyone mocked Apple for going with Thunderbolt so early, but it turns out they had it exactly right, just like they did with FireWire, another standard that was super-fast for its time and also included robust power delivery.
  - Pxtl 5y ago
    Okay, but old powered USB hubs were still under $30 and the power cable was optional.
    - MBCook 5y ago
      They didn’t provide dozens of watts per port.
      - derefr 5y ago
        I don't need dozens of watts per port. I'm not trying to charge my laptop. I just want to power e.g. a spinning-rust 2.5" external USB hard drive. Which USB ports are able to do at their default line voltage, pre USB-PD negotiation; but which these "data transfer only" USB-C hubs cannot do for some reason.
        maxerickson 5y ago
        It wasn't intentional on my part, but it appears the hub I link will provide 3.5 watts of power to each port: https://support.satechi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405450897435-Can-I-charge-multiple-USB-C-devices- https://support.satechi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405450897435-... And I'm again not familiar with power requirements for external drives, but it appears that is sufficient for at least some 2.5" USB drives?
        gog 5y ago
        Not being able to power spinning external drives from USB A ports on laptops is a known issue for a while. Some manufacturers even provided you with a double USB A ports on the laptop side to make sure there is enough power for that.
        derefr 5y ago
        You're thinking of 3.5" drives. 2.5" drives are a bit easier to power.
- kuschku 5y ago
  So you want to get 4 × 10W out of a single 2.5W (at most 10W) upstream port?
  - jedberg 5y ago
    From what I've read the MacBook can output 15W on a port, so I'd expect a hub to be able to output 15W when one device is plugged in, 10W+5W with two, etc.
    - vxNsr 5y ago
      The macbook is using thunderbolt, not pure usb-c.
      - jedberg 5y ago
        This is also a good point. Even I use the terms interchangeably when I shouldn't, and I should know better.
      - Snc 5y ago
        Note that these terms are not strictly comparable. USB-C is just a connector specification. There are many protocols that utilize USB-C: USB 3.2, USB4 and Thunderbolt being some of them.
    - sebk 5y ago
      Not having ports with constant capabilities is a source of customer dissatisfaction when devices work when plugged in independently but not together. Consider for instance the new 14" and 16" MacBook pros: They got rid of the 4th Thunderbolt port in favor of an HDMI port, likely because of internal bandwith constraints. They could have kept Thunderbolt and HDMI, and only have one Thunderbolt port on the right side work when HDMI is plugged in, but they didn't, because having your external drive work only when your monitor is unplugged is unintuitive.
      - Gigachad 5y ago
        They were right originally when then went usb-c only. You could output hdmi on any port or do anything else with the port. We had gotten to the point where most offices had a usb-c adapter on the end of every loose hdmi cable so it wasn't an issue.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  That's the issue really. There are so many features that you will never get a device that does exactly what you want and no more. So you either get the basic usb3 only or you get the fully featured thunderbolt dock which costs a lot.
- ace2358 5y ago
  I’m pretty sure for my 7 port usb-a hub (usb 3) I have to plug it into the wall power too. My max pro doesn’t send enough current to to hub so if I want to to be power stable I have to supply extra power…
- blacksmith_tb 5y ago
  Spendy but capable-looking: https://plugable.com/products/usb4-hub3a https://plugable.com/products/usb4-hub3a (I haven't tried it, but I have had good luck with some of their other products, they take Linux support a little more seriously than most... though not on this hub, apparently...)
rektide 5y ago
Alternatively, any old existing usb3 hub plus usb-a to usb-c adapters will give you a lot more flexibility. I finally went ahead & bought a decent quantity of adapters- they're tiny, cheap, and add lots of flexibility. They have helped me consolidate my cable collection significantly while retaining a bunch of charging devices I already had installed. Once you start trying to layer in usb-pd things get much much more complex. But, as a bus for peripherals, longstanding usb hubs do more than fine.

jedberg 5y ago

That's data transfer only. I want it for my iPad and phone, so I want charging too.

maxerickson 5y ago
Okay, well that doesn't seem surprising that it wants to be plugged into the wall then (because people will ignore the real limitation on power input from the supply device and complain).
- vxNsr 5y ago
  Yup, that's always the answer. The customer doesn't give you the full specs, complains about why this isn't available already. When you deliver your proposed solution it turns out they had some extra physically impossible to fulfill requirements. Reminds me of "The Expert" skit.
  - ryanbrunner 5y ago
    The promise of usb (any version) is that you could have one port that everything plugs into. Usb-a isn't perfect in that regard, but it's mostly there. Usb-a backslid considerably on that promise.
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    The customer is used to being able to plug all of their stuff into a lot standard wall outlet and their headphones in any standard 3.5mm jack so it's not at all surprising that they don't automatically provide all the specs. And frankly customers shouldn't have to care. USB engineers and PMs completely botched the design of USB-C.
    - brazzledazzle 5y ago
      I think it’s interesting how a lot of knowledgeable people will chime in on here on certain feature compromises and limitations with USB-C and it always sounds reasonable in isolation. But you only have to take a step back and look at the specification in its totality to see that it’s a shit show. It’s like this thing was designed by a bunch of subcommittees and no one had a clear understanding of or oversight over the big picture.
      - _carbyau_ 5y ago
        I am ok with various devices having various capabilities. Not too surprising given they are made from various bits. But I want one damn cable to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. And a way to know what cable that is.
        lozenge 5y ago
        Sure, that'll be $129 for a 1.8m cable. Will you be buying one to power your wireless charger? https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-pro-cable-18-m https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-p...
        microtonal 5y ago
        That's a bit dramatic. It's a longer active cable. You can get a certified passive Thunderbolt 4 cable for 25 Euro including VAT: http://shop.caldigit.com/eu/Adapters%20And%20Cables/Cables?product_id=209 http://shop.caldigit.com/eu/Adapters%20And%20Cables/Cables?p... Short answer to the grandparent: buy a certified Thunderbolt 4 cable. They have clear markings (a Thunderbolt logo, along with the digit 4). They are backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, USB 4, USB 3.2/3.1/3.0, USB-C Gen 1/2, USB 2.0 and can charge 100W.
        Bud 5y ago
        Well, that exists, it's called Thunderbolt 3 (or 4, since PC makers decided to try to get away with a shitty half-version of TB3). And the cable exists too, but you have to pay through the nose for it, and people expect all cables to be $5 at Monoprice. Turns out that 40Gbps and supporting any and all monitors at the same time and 100W of power isn't an easy spec. Everyone mocked Apple for going with Thunderbolt so early, but it turns out they had it exactly right, just like they did with FireWire, another standard that was super-fast for its time and also included robust power delivery.
- Pxtl 5y ago
  Okay, but old powered USB hubs were still under $30 and the power cable was optional.
  - MBCook 5y ago
    They didn’t provide dozens of watts per port.
    - derefr 5y ago
      I don't need dozens of watts per port. I'm not trying to charge my laptop. I just want to power e.g. a spinning-rust 2.5" external USB hard drive. Which USB ports are able to do at their default line voltage, pre USB-PD negotiation; but which these "data transfer only" USB-C hubs cannot do for some reason.
      - maxerickson 5y ago
        It wasn't intentional on my part, but it appears the hub I link will provide 3.5 watts of power to each port: https://support.satechi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405450897435-Can-I-charge-multiple-USB-C-devices- https://support.satechi.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405450897435-... And I'm again not familiar with power requirements for external drives, but it appears that is sufficient for at least some 2.5" USB drives?
      - gog 5y ago
        Not being able to power spinning external drives from USB A ports on laptops is a known issue for a while. Some manufacturers even provided you with a double USB A ports on the laptop side to make sure there is enough power for that.
        derefr 5y ago
        You're thinking of 3.5" drives. 2.5" drives are a bit easier to power.
kuschku 5y ago
So you want to get 4 × 10W out of a single 2.5W (at most 10W) upstream port?
- jedberg 5y ago
  From what I've read the MacBook can output 15W on a port, so I'd expect a hub to be able to output 15W when one device is plugged in, 10W+5W with two, etc.
  - vxNsr 5y ago
    The macbook is using thunderbolt, not pure usb-c.
    - jedberg 5y ago
      This is also a good point. Even I use the terms interchangeably when I shouldn't, and I should know better.
    - Snc 5y ago
      Note that these terms are not strictly comparable. USB-C is just a connector specification. There are many protocols that utilize USB-C: USB 3.2, USB4 and Thunderbolt being some of them.
  - sebk 5y ago
    Not having ports with constant capabilities is a source of customer dissatisfaction when devices work when plugged in independently but not together. Consider for instance the new 14" and 16" MacBook pros: They got rid of the 4th Thunderbolt port in favor of an HDMI port, likely because of internal bandwith constraints. They could have kept Thunderbolt and HDMI, and only have one Thunderbolt port on the right side work when HDMI is plugged in, but they didn't, because having your external drive work only when your monitor is unplugged is unintuitive.
    - Gigachad 5y ago
      They were right originally when then went usb-c only. You could output hdmi on any port or do anything else with the port. We had gotten to the point where most offices had a usb-c adapter on the end of every loose hdmi cable so it wasn't an issue.
Gigachad 5y ago
That's the issue really. There are so many features that you will never get a device that does exactly what you want and no more. So you either get the basic usb3 only or you get the fully featured thunderbolt dock which costs a lot.
ace2358 5y ago
I’m pretty sure for my 7 port usb-a hub (usb 3) I have to plug it into the wall power too. My max pro doesn’t send enough current to to hub so if I want to to be power stable I have to supply extra power…
blacksmith_tb 5y ago
Spendy but capable-looking: https://plugable.com/products/usb4-hub3a https://plugable.com/products/usb4-hub3a (I haven't tried it, but I have had good luck with some of their other products, they take Linux support a little more seriously than most... though not on this hub, apparently...)

rektide 5y ago

Alternatively, any old existing usb3 hub plus usb-a to usb-c adapters will give you a lot more flexibility. I finally went ahead & bought a decent quantity of adapters- they're tiny, cheap, and add lots of flexibility. They have helped me consolidate my cable collection significantly while retaining a bunch of charging devices I already had installed. Once you start trying to layer in usb-pd things get much much more complex. But, as a bus for peripherals, longstanding usb hubs do more than fine.