USB Hubs For Mac Explained: Don't WASTE your MONEY!

Don't buy just ANY USB hub for your Mac! Going over what to look out for, breaking down USB docking stations and hubs for Apple computers.
ALL THE GEAR IN THIS VIDEO IS LISTED BELOW 👇

I recently went through the painstaking process of finding the perfect hub for my M2 MacBook Air, and my M1 Mac Mini, and learned a lot during the process. There are so many USB docks and hubs out there, and so much JUNK. In this video, I want to break down what to look out for, and help you find the best usb hub for your Mac (or really, any PC or laptop).

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0:00 Intro
1:41 Low-End/Inexpensive Hubs
2:31 Why Choose USB 3.0?
2:48 UGREEN USB Hub
3:24 Mid-Tier USB Hubs
3:39 What Is Passthrough Power?
4:46 USB Versioning Explained
6:37 Hub Display Output
7:08 SD Card Ports And Readers
8:40 Anker PowerExpand 8-in-1 USB Hub
9:28 High-End USB Hubs and Docks
10:50 Orico Thunderbolt 3 Dock
11:23 Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock
12:02 Wrapping Up

[KyleErickson]

Hey everyone! There's a few follow up videos I made to this one:

[oneway]

This fella is great...no hyperbole, no yelling, very pragmatic and down to earth. Not everyone needs the fastest and bestest, at all times, in every scenario. I'm convinced half of these Youtube reviewers (at least the ones who actually have to buy the products in their videos) spend more than they actually need to and then make videos telling their viewers that they absolutely NEED to run out and buy XYZ as soon as they possibly can, when, 95% of users likely don't need half of the performance on offer and could've saved themselves some money. Anyway, great job...keep it up!

[ramblingsofacaticorn]

I really loved how efficiently you broke down the information, thank you for this video, I am the type of person who would have gone with something low end without knowing the pros and cons and regretted it later.

[slwtgf]

Thank you very much- I can’t believe I bought a refurbished iMac Pro book, initially a 2017, so it’s exactly as ya describe. I was (and still am) confused slightly, but more knowledgeable! And you saved MUCH trouble, so this is greatly appreciated info this past weekend..

[tlingit]

Wow. Great video. You gave just enough detail to let us know where you are coming from and why you recommend what you recommend, and it definitely evoked trust. Thank you for this.

[albyx]

I own that mid-tier Anker hub (the 8-in-1) and honestly my goal was to have the best hub for travel. You definitely don't need that expensive Razer dock when you're traveling. Kudos for highlighting the Anker.

[bmiller]

Your approach is spot on. Break it down to components and buy the components you need. Establish the core needs and discard what you can. This is where the savings is located.

[bryans]

For a while I was triple booting between a Mac PC, a Windows PC, and a Raspberry Pi 4. I found the easiest way to access all my peripherals (keyboard, mouse, storage, etc.) was to have them all connected to an 8-port powered USB 3 hub. That way all I had to do was swap one cable from the hub to the PC I wanted to use, giving me access to everything.

[paracordwizard]

Excellent video on a very important topic, prepared and delivered professionally and quality. Considering how fast the standards and the technology have. progressed in the past 5 years I decided to future proof to some degree my choice of hubs and docking stations today, which does mean a compromise on the higher cost. I decided to go with the Kensington SD5700T Thunderbolt 4 dock. While it has fewer ports (11) than some other brands, it is reliable, robust, and well made. While some users might complain about it not having an HDMI connector, it really should not be a concern because all the quality monitors since 2019 have come with USB-C outputs. For older monitors, there are zillions of low cost video adapter connectors.
*One important note I have for users considering the Caldigit TS4 docking station: It has a significant issue with Mac M1 computers where external drives and other peripherals are unmounted when the Mac comes out of sleep mode. The problem has been acknowledged by Caldigit which is working on a fix.

[colleenmeas]

Great video! Thanks for sharing relevant information and real life scenarios and various options to go with each. We need more videos like this!

[jlozmultimedia]

You are correct stuck in a whirlwind of different USB hubs and shopping.. Thank u, some Important and Great key points..

[SaltPapiii]

I was about to buy a device that I didn't know it only supports 60hz. Good thing I came across with this vid. I'll just be sticking with HDMI instead. You helped me saving few bucks. You deserve a subscribe and a like for this vid!

[vlad_o_sh]

Excellent Video Kyle. I am a kind of techy person but the USB Hub thing always confused me. Your video is well-made and I feel like now I know everything I need to know to make an informed decision. Thumbs up for your good work!

[UsmanAsadIsKing]

A nice high quality video, straight to the point with good content. Keep it up!

[jamespierce]

Incredible video that saved me A LOT of time. This is a perfectly executed YT video!! Thank you Kyle! I am now a subscriber to your channel!

[simpleedge]

This was super helpful. I have wasted so much money over the years buying these hubs only to find out that it didn’t solve all of my requirements.

I ended up landing on the Anker 8-in-1 and I’m very happy. Thanks!

[mrjenybean]

you're lighting is incredible man! well done! super slick

[skesinis]

Great video!! I had the same experience when I was trying to get two hubs, and I was looking for a multi-port with 10Gbps USB 3.1, Thunderbolt for an external raid NVMe SSD enclosure, Ethernet, HDMI, UHS II SD card reader if available, power delivery, and so on… Most of them would go up to 4K/30FPS instead of 4K/60FPS, 5Gbps on USB 3.0 etc… I finally compromised for the 5Gbps USB 3.0 but at least the USB-C SSDs that I have connected to this, would go around 430MB/s instead of about 550MB/s directly on my MacBook Pro 2019, so it’s not a big drop in speed vs comfort. One of the two had a 4K/60FPS and Ethernet, while both of them had a Thunderbolt 3 with power delivery, so I’m using one to power my MacBook and the other to connect the Sabrent raid NVMe SSD enclosure, giving me about 3GB/s transfer speeds.

[dr.alihanoosh]

I’m new to this channel, but so far I’m liking it a lot. Simple, practical and to the point. Keep up the good work 👍🏻
Also, would love to see your take on some hub-SSD enclosure combo. I see conflicting views on the Acasis 10 in one hub. I would trust your views on it (or similar products).
Thanks

[dalerrogers]

Thanks for taking the time to review all the gear.