William Gallagher
The new Element 5 Hub from CalDigit won't give you a large array of different ports, but is perfect if you want more Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a few USB-A ones.
When CalDigit released its TS4 dock in February 2022, it rapidly became an AppleInsider favorite because of its speed, its number of ports, and how those ports could deliver plenty of power for charging devices. CalDigit also has a compact Element range and now that includes a Thunderbolt 5-enabled Element 5 hub.
Specifically, it comes with nine ports, of which three are Thunderbolt 5. Those ports are also backwards compatible with both Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4, plus they can deliver up to 15W of power each.
CalDigit claims that they are some of the highest bandwidth ports ever, and on the Mac can drive two monitors up to 8K 60Hz. Those same ports can also act as USB-C and USB-4 ports.
Separately The Element 5 Hub also comes with three USB-A ports and two USB-C ports. All five transfer data at 10 gigabytes per second, and can each supply up to 7.5 watts of power to attached USB devices.
That power comes from a compact 180W power supply unit. That is claimed to enable the hub to supply 90W to the host computer, plus 15W from the Thunderbolt 5 ports.
All the ports on the new Element 5 hub — image credit: CalDigitCalDigit claims that it consistently provides 90W to the host computer, where other hubs decrease the charging power as more devices are added.
The new Element 5 is available now in the US for $250.
So far, there haven't been very many Thunderbolt 5 hubs — yet. We suspect that most vendors are awaiting a recently announced Intel controller chip to take maximum advantage of the new technology.
But Apple has helped popularize Thunderbolt 5 by including it in the M4 Pro Mac mini — and selling a Thunderbolt 5 cable.
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10 Comments
No Ethernet port = waste of money. What were they thinking about? It’s not like it’s a small portable dock
I’ll keep waiting. I would like to replace my existing TB3 docks, not add to them… as Pdybman notes: no Ethernet port, no purchase.
Nice, but still too many USB-A ports!
I have the Element Thunderbolt 4 hub. It’s great, except that it has 4 USB-A ports. That’s four too many.
Honestly, what is it with companies still saddling devices with USB-A ports?
When will USB-A go away?
The CalDigit and OWC docks both have uses with fast/large sustained data transfers 1TB / 2TB+, which cause the drives to be unmounted. It was first noticed with SSDs but it also affects HDDs. Seems to have something to due with power management, even though SSD'd use very little power and self-powered HHDs are, well, self-powered.