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Comment by dazzaji | Hacker News Reader

One of the things that I found most frustrating about USB-C hubs is how hard it is to find one that actually gives you multiple USB-C ports. I have several USB-C devices but most hubs just give you one USB-C port and a bunch of USB-A ports. At most it’s 2 USB-C ports but only with the hub that plugs into both USB-C ports on my MacBook Pro (so I’m never able to get more ports than I started with). The result is I end up having to keep swapping devices. For a connector that was supposed to be the "one universal port," it's weird that most hubs assume you only need one USB-C connection. Has anyone found a decent hub with multiple USB-C data outputs?

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I'm in the same boat. It seems like the mindset for consumer-grade hubs is to provide support for as many old, legacy devices as possible, rather than a higher number of new devices.

Another problem is that USB-A ports are dirt cheap and simple to implement, so hub makers feel like "leaving free IO on the table" by not sprinkling them on everything. Whereas each "decent" USB-C port has enough complexity to think twice about adding it.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of options. Try searching for "USB-C only hub". You will get some results, but they are basically the identical product (same IO card), just with different housings. So you can pretty much count with these specs: 1 USB-C in for power, 3–4 USB-C out, 5 or 10Gbps each, Power Delivery at various wattages. No video support.

I have one of these on my desk right now, it's from the brand "Minisopuru", I get power and four USB-C "3.2 Gen 2" ports. It's fine. But like I said, it's no Thunderbolt, and no video support, so I have to "waste" the other port on my MacBook just for my external display.

There are also Thunderbolt / USB4 devices which will give you a bonkers amount of IO, including good TB / USB-C ports usually (plus some USB-A of course, as a spit in the face – so you'd need to ignore those). But these are not hubs, they are docks, which is a different product class entirely (big and heavy, more expensive, dedicated power supply).

Something I've been doing recently to salvage the USB-A ports I still begrudgingly encounter, while continuing to (force myself to) upgrade all my devices to type-C, are these: [0]. 1-to-1 USB-A male to USB-C female adapters. I just stick them in all USB-A ports I encounter, leave them there all the time, and move on with my life. It's a bit bulky and looks kinda stupid, but it basically gives me USB-C everywhere I need (including work-issued PCs and docking stations) for just a couple of bucks. For low-bandwidth devices like headphones, keyboard / mice / gamepads, or even my phone, it works perfectly fine.

[0] – https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Adapter-10Gbps-Converter-Samsu...

You can get them now. Thunderbolt and USB 4 hubs will often have multiple USB C ports and only need one plug. I have one that's more of a docking station:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008363288681.html

But you can also find them in smaller hub form.

I just bought one of these yesterday. It’s on the way so I can’t offer a review.

https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-5-element-5-hub/

> One of the things that I found most frustrating about USB-C hubs is how hard it is to find one that actually gives you multiple USB-C ports.

It's the power consumption.

IIRC, USB-C has a base power per port of 15W (5V @ 3A) with just basic CC resistors. USB 2 starts at 0.5W (5V @ 0.1A) and is only supposed to allow 2.5W (5V @ 0.5A) after negotiation. USB 3 is 4.5W (5V @ .900A).

Note that the Caldigit hub linked in a sibling has a power supply of 20V @ 9A. That's 180W!

Yes, I've bought a chinese ("Acasis" brand) TB4 hub which has three TB4 downstream ports and an USB 3.x hub with three downstream 10 Gbps USB-C ports. There are also weird combos like one downstream TB3 + three downstream USB-C 3.x. Still not great, but it's better than a single downstream port.

Belkin makes one https://a.co/d/8CchALB

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