OWC unveils Thunderbolt Hub with multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports

OWC's new Thunderbolt Hub is compatible with all Thunderbolt 3 Macs running Big Sur including the newly launched Apple Silicon Macs, and will give you three Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The hub comes with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, capable of 40Gb/s transfer speeds in total. In addition to data transfer, it offers up to 60 watts of charging power to keep your MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro charged up. While 60W is sufficient for simultaneously powering and charging the Apple Silicon MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, it is short of what the 16-inch MacBook Pro demands to run and charge the battery simultaneously.

OWC says that the Thunderbolt Hub allows users to connect up to two 4K displays or a single display up to 6K on compatible equipment. It will not allow you to exceed limitations on displays for any given monitor, however. So, in the case of any Apple Silicon Macs, it will still only support one display at 6K with 60Hz refresh.

It also includes a single USB-A (USB 3.2) port, allowing for transfer speeds of up to 10Gb/s, and allowing users to use legacy devices, dongles, and flash drives.

For those who are worried about leaving the device unattended, it includes a Kensington Nano slot, enabling users to secure the hub to a desk.

Included with the hub is a 2.5-foot Thunderbolt cable so users can quickly get the device up and running. AppleInsider has confirmed that the hub functions properly on Intel Macs with OWC — but only under macOS Big Sur.

The OWC Thunderbolt Hub is available for preorder from MacSales and costs $149. Orders are anticipated to ship in early December.

19 Comments

design4use 4 comments · 4 Years

About 3 years ago

I think this works only for devices that support Thunderbolt 4, which allows for hub topology, unlike the daisy-chaining that Thunderbolt 3 requires. Thunderbolt 4 is only released on Intel 11th gen mobile chipsets, which a few early PC ultrabooks will be shipping with.

darkpaw 212 comments · 15 Years

OWC unveils Thunderbolt Hub with multiple Thunderbolt 3 portsBut the images show they're Thunderbolt 4 ports.

john-useless 70 comments · 4 Years

Please allow me to vent: The Thunderbolt and USB standards remain a muddled mess for the average person to understand! Apple's own technical specs page for the new M1-based Mac mini shows a photo labeling the ports as "Thunderbolt / USB 4" but the text beneath the graphic says, "Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for: DisplayPort; Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s); USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s); Thunderbolt 2, HDMI, DVI, and VGA supported using adapters (sold separately)." I've been an IT professional for 30 years (and a Mac user since 1984), but I can't easily make sense of it. Based solely on Apple's own tech specs for the M1-based Macs, the average non-IT expert will ask very reasonably: "What's the difference between USB 4 and USB 3.1 Gen 2?" And the answer will be even more unclear because multiple standards exist, including USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB4 Gen 2, USB4 Gen 3, and others.

Anyway, all that said, OWC's product page says "Now you can do more, effortlessly on your Apple M1 Mac, any Apple ‘Intel’ Mac with Thunderbolt 3, or any Thunderbolt 4 PC." So the product itself apparently supports Thunderbolt 4 even though the new M1 Macs' ports are only Thunderbolt 3.

Mike Wuerthele 6897 comments · 8 Years

design4use said:

I think this works only for devices that support Thunderbolt 4, which allows for hub topology, unlike the daisy-chaining that Thunderbolt 3 requires. Thunderbolt 4 is only released on Intel 11th gen mobile chipsets, which a few early PC ultrabooks will be shipping with.

Confirmed: This works on any TB3 Mac with Big Sur.

We'll be discussing it more in December.

sflocal 6130 comments · 16 Years

I didn't realize one can do this with pre-USB4 (i.e. Thunderbolt3) ports. So if I can use this on my new 2020 iMac, then that's a really good thing. I like the direction it's going, but... (and of course there's a "but"), they should have included the basics like ethernet, SDcard, some USBA ports as well. The way it is, I would have to buy a separate dock to get extra ports and it's just not something I want to do.

Either way, it's a good thing and it's a first good start.