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USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness - Dennis Schubert
(overengineer.dev)
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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Also if anyone has recommendations, I'd appreciate those too!
Note that the last hub inspected in the Article is a Anker product which also seems to be rebranded one from another third-party producer. It has some better components, but nothing fundamentally better about it.
Thank you! I had an Anker hub in the past, but had some trouble with the Ethernet dropping when using it heavily (ex. during a zoom meeting or when moving large files). I'm not sure if that was an Anker issue or just something with hubs in general. I'm still open to another Anker one, but I was looking for other options as well
We use UGREEN ones at work, and they seem to do the job well so far. 100W PD, HDMI and ethernet working well.
I have a small Ugreen I bought a few years ago and while I'm not using it anymore it did its job well while I needed it and afaik it still works well. Initially I got it for the detachable usb-c cable.
And I think it's authentically Chinese, doesn't pretend to be a German company or anything like that.
+1 for ugreen hubs. The one I bought last 2018 still works though it has a quirk when I plug it on my XPS 13, the USB mouse and mech keyboard stops responding periodically until I replug it. This happens after every first plug.
+1 for UGREEN. My workplace uses them for everything, I've used many of their products over the years and they work great.
My UGREEN came with a dead ethernet port, so they are also a hit and a miss.
Everyone can have duds, it's how they handle it. I've found their support to be good.
Anker is a great brand for anything power related (chargers, cables, batteries, etc). Everything else, not so much
Anker is in fact mentionned in that article as the resell products from china company that it is. You might be going "there's nothing wrong with that" since they do have additional staff and put in work for aditionnal quality control, but ultimately their products aren't really better than shovel hardware you can find on AliExpress.
(Note that the autho basically only has a problem because he uses a Mac and the realtek chip in all those cheap (actually $100 when dropshipped to you nice) hubs says it's Mac compatible but it isn't.
Lenovo USB C hubs. I went with them specifically because of the issues in this article, and I trust them to at least thoroughly validate their designs. Can’t speak for MacOS but mine works well with a thinkpad. The product lineup is confusing but they publish complete specs and the products generally perform as advertised. There’s also a decent used market at fair prices, presumably because they’re widely used and subsequently sold off by businesses/employees.
Rebadging OEM stuff is the name of the game for pretty much all low and mid tier companies. D-Link and their ilk. They presumably employ a small team to tweak the designs and ensure they’re compliant and safe(or maybe they outsource that too). But designing stuff from scratch is the preserve of the mega corps.
Docks in particular surprised me because I expected them to be fairly simply devices routing signals. They’re not and the portable ones are pushing the limits in terms of throughput and current draw possible in a small package. Hence, even if you’re not going to buy from a large company, you should use them as a guide to determine what’s practically possible. If Lenovo or Dell or whatever aren’t shipping a comparable device to the one your eyeballing from some random company then the chances are it’s because it’s simply not practical or possible.
This one might interest you.
Not a standalone hub or dock, but Dell makes some pretty solid docking monitors. I’m using the U2721DE model daisy chained to another monitor.
I've tried a few and landed on the "VaKo 12 Ports Dockingstation". Most reliable hub I used so far. I bought it 3 years ago and it's still working flawlessly.
Thanks for posting the article. I’ve been holding off buying a usb hub recently because I couldn’t find any decent ones, even from retail stores. All I’m after is a USB-C hub with USB 3.2 ports (A and C), impossible apparently. At the end of this article he linked what he is currently using which, despite being expensive, is exactly what I’ve been looking for.
The CalDigit Element Hub. Their products all look quality.
Not mobile but I love my TS3+ for CalDigit. I know they have a TS4 now but the TS3+ has served me well since my 2019 MBP and my M1 Max MBP. I even bought a second one this year for another location I work at.
I have one of these and it is amazing:
https://tobenone.com/products/15-in-1-tobenone-usb-c-docking-station-dual-monitor-dock-with-150w-power-adapter-uds032
Highly recommend for a fixed workstation docking station. They have both Thunderbolt and USB-C options.