CalDigit today introduced a new "Element Hub" dock, equipped with four Thunderbolt 4 ports and four USB-A ports for connecting external displays, storage drives, and other peripherals to devices like a MacBook Pro or iPad Pro. For data transfer, the Thunderbolt 4 ports provide speeds up to 40Gb/s, while the USB-A ports can reach up to 10Gb/s.
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Given that Thunderbolt 4 shares the same connector design as USB-C, and is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3, the dock can be used with many MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iPad Pro models released in recent years, as well as the fourth-generation iPad Air. The dock has pass-through charging, providing a fixed 30W for the MacBook Air, a fixed 60W for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and up to 45W for the iPad Pro.
Included in the box with the Element Hub is a 150W power supply, a 0.8-meter Thunderbolt 4 cable, and two rubber feet.
The dock is available to pre-order for a discounted price of $139.99 (regular price $179.99) on CalDigit's website, and will begin shipping later this month in the United States. The dock is also available to pre-order in the UK, and will begin shipping in March.
OWC also introduced a Thunderbolt 4 dock last month that may be worth checking out for customers who are considering purchasing one. Priced at $249, that dock is equipped with four Thunderbolt 4 ports, four USB-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an SD card slot, and a combo 3.5mm audio in/out, with up to 90W pass-through charging.
Top Rated Comments
My onlyyyy tiny gripe is that I really wish companies would stop including the host port when advertising the total number of ports. It makes searching for exactly what you need a pain. This has 7 usable ports (4x USB & 3x TB4) and 1 Host TB4 port.
To be more precise:
1) Thunderbolt in general: 40 Gbps total, 24 Gbps PCIe, 34.56 Gbps dual DisplayPort 1.2, 25.92 Gbps DisplayPort 1.4
2) USB-C gen 2: 22.66 Gbps total, 9.7 Gbps USB, 12.96 Gbps DisplayPort 1.4, 8.64 DisplayPort 1.2
3) USB-C gen 1: 16.96 Gbps total, 4 Gbps USB, 12.96 Gbps DisplayPort 1.4, 8.64 DisplayPort 1.2 (some such hubs may not support DP 1.4)
Thunderbolt 4 Hub (OWC or CalDigit): can perform as #2 with only direct connect USB devices or as #1 with downstream Thunderbolt devices or as a combination (USB uses PCIe data while the CalDigit is connected as #1).
A USB hub may contain a DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hub that supports DSC. If you have a GPU and OS that supports DSC (AMD navi and Catalina) then it may effectively double the display bandwidth using compression. The MST Hub decompresses the stream for displays that don't support DSC. This is how you can use a 4K 60Hz display with a USB-C hub like the CalDigit SOHO. But Apple broke DSC support in Big Sur (still broken in 11.2).
a hock!