Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Execs
- Compact sufficient for go back and forth
- Cast development
- 95W charging
Cons
- Area of interest product for many customers
- Naming confusion
- Restricted port output
Our Verdict
Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 Slender Professional Hub received’t be related to maximum customers, because it merely splits a Thunderbolt 4 reference to a USB-A port as an advantage. However it places out a hefty quantity of energy, which is helping its case.
Value When Reviewed
$199.99
Absolute best Costs As of late: Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Slender Hub Professional
$199.99
We predict most of the people will want a full-featured Thunderbolt dock. However when you’d like to avoid wasting just a little of cash and area for a Thunderbolt 4 hub that splits the Thunderbolt connection into 4 outputs, Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 Slender Professional Hub is a forged selection.
Like Ugreen’s merchandise, that is some other case the place producers inexplicably can’t get their names instantly: At the field, that is the Thunderbolt 4 Slender Professional Hub. On Satechi’s site, it’s the Thunderbolt 4 Slender Hub Professional. On Amazon, it’s the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Hub Slender Professional. A minimum of the fashion quantity is constant: ST-HT4SHM.
Thankfully, there’s a very simple method to consider the Thunderbolt 4 Slender Professional Hub: It’s the older brother of the Satechi Thunderbolt 4 Slim Hub, a compact Thunderbolt hub with a 65W energy charger. This Professional model has a 95W energy brick, and Amazon no less than is promoting the Slender Professional Hub for a similar value because the Slender Hub. Easy, proper?
Should you’ve been following our evaluations, we admit to a bias: We adore hubs and docks with to be had show ports, to avoid wasting you paying further in time or cash to reserve a Thunderbolt-qualified USB-C to HDMI cable. The one show outputs this hub comprises are upstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, so that you’ll both need to fork over an additional $15 or so for the suitable cable (I personal and counsel those Uni cables) or have one of the crucial small but growing numbers of USB-C displays with a USB-C or Thunderbolt enter (no longer output!) port.
This assessment informs our ongoing suggestions for the best Thunderbolt docks and docking stations.
In a different way, this hub is understated: There’s a 10Gbps USB-A port at the entrance for a mouse or a keyboard, along the downstream Thunderbolt 4 port. At the again, there are 4 Thunderbolt ports, just right for dangling a USB-C dongle off of, charging a smartphone with a rated 15W of charging energy. And that’s all, save for a small energy LED.
Mark Hachman / IDG
So why purchase this hub? Its dimension. Slightly smaller than 5.5×3 inches, this hub suits effectively in a backpack, and the charging brick — typically the ungainliest a part of a powered hub or dock — measures about 4.75×2 inches, plus just a little for the cords. (Amazon shoppers bitch that the charger is greater than the hub, however that’s no longer the case.)
To me, that’s sufficiently small to qualify as a go back and forth product, and Satechi even features a affordable pair of zipped plastic baggage for garage. Sure, the chassis is aluminum, serving to stay the hub cool, however the dock most effective weighs 0.53 kilos — no longer too unhealthy.
And that’s this dock in a nutshell. Since this can be a Thunderbolt 4 hub, every bottom port gives Thunderbolt connectivity, which means that you’ve gotten a collection of the use of every one to power a show (simply as much as 4K, 60Hz in keeping with port) by means of an instantaneous cable, or attach certainly one of our recommended USB-C hubs and dongles to give you the I/O flexibility (SD card slots, say) that this Satechi hub foregoes. Doing so makes the entire association relatively ungainly, but it surely’s imaginable.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Notice that this dock doesn’t come with a devoted smartphone charging port, however every upstream Thunderbolt port places out sufficient energy that it isn’t a subject matter. Oddly, despite the fact that, one Thunderbolt port delivered 7.8W, whilst the others handed 8.95W or on the subject of it. That’s nonetheless sufficient to fast-charge a smartphone, however the discrepancy was once a little bit puzzling.
The front-mounted USB-A port was once too on the subject of the downstream Thunderbolt port to allow a studying with our USB multimeter, and the shut port placement is a little bit needless and demanding. I/O efficiency, differently, was once fantastic.
We measured the dock passing 78W of energy to our check pocket book, which turns out about proper — the dock will all the time take some energy for itself. The cable measures 2 ft, 7 inches — a with ease lengthy duration.
Right here’s the verdict you’ll need to make. If you wish to have a distinct segment Thunderbolt 4 hub just like the Thunderbolt 4 Slender Professional Hub, k — there are different, less expensive, fuller-featured Thunderbolt docks to be had in our recommended list, however purchase what you wish to have. Then again, you’ll shave off $50 or so with our advisable Thunderbolt 4 hub, which (at press time) is the Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub. It’s principally precisely the similar, with one exception: Plugable’s hub most effective ships with a 60W charger, whilst Satechi’s gives 95W.
Pull out your pc’s charger and notice if you’ll in finding what number of watts it consumes: If it’s a 45W tool, purchase the Plugable. However when you personal a extra tough pc that fees from the USB-C port, you must imagine this hub as a substitute.
