Thunderbolt (TB) brings a lot of power and versatility to a system. Allowing a user to connect or daisy-chain just about anything they could imagine, from peripherals, external storage, docks, or even monitors. However, you typically don’t get more than one or two ports natively (if at all) on a system, and not all TB devices support daisy-chaining (a second port that allows you to continue to another device). This can sometimes limit you on how many devices can take advantage of the connection. The solution is a hub, and OWC has a powerful one to answer the call with–the OWC Thunderbolt Hub.
Performance
This has actually been a pleasure to play with as we put it up against various systems to confirm its supported capabilities. It is incredibly powerful when paired with a Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) supported system (both Mac and Windows). It does exactly what it says it will, allowing you to really tap into a TB4 port and break it out to multiple devices. Each of its three ports allows you to create a separate daisy chain (if you needed it), else you can simply connect a single TB4, TB3, or USB-C device to each port.
It isn’t a solve-all solution as TB can be a little tricky when it comes to supported scenarios. For example, Windows is its (TB) greatest limitation. Within a Windows environment, TB3 has never really gained full spec support like Mac had. Therefore using this with a TB3 Windows machine will result in it being used as just a USB-C hub without TB capabilities. In order to use it as a TB hub, the PC would have to support TB4 with an available TB4 port to connect this to.
So, in order to get the most out of this, you want to use an Apple M1 Mac or Intel-based Mac with TB3 or TB4 that has macOS 11.1 Big Sur or later installed–Or, a TB4-equipped Windows PC. The latter of which is still pretty rare, although this is changing thanks to the current launch of Intel’s new Alder Lake processors that have strong support for TB4, which is going to make this a hot ticket item for the new generation of Windows users.
The hub contains one TB in and three TB outs, turning one port into three. In addition to this, it also a single USB-A (10Gb/s) port since OWC apparently felt it wasn’t complete without at least adding a little something extra to it (no complaints here).
As mentioned, these TB ports can function as TB3, TB4, or USB-C ports (as long as the system meets the previously-mentioned requirements). Which adds a lot of flexibility. In one test setup we tried (Mac setup), we had an external TB raid storage solution plugged in along with two 4K (TB3) monitors. In another test (Mac setup), we had OWC’s 10G TB Ethernet Adapter, a 4K monitor, and an OWC Envoy Pro FX External Thunderbolt NVMe. In each scenario, the hub performed perfectly. We then connected it to a Windows 10 system powered by an AMD 5950x with TB4 i/o on the back and it worked just as great.
We will likely also try connecting an OWC Thunderbolt 3 14-Port Dock to one of the ports as well to really test out its ability to branch out everywhere (our colleague that has the dock is currently traveling at the moment, so that will have to be TBD). We will also make sure to test it against an Alder Lake setup in the near future as well. If we find anything different than we have already, we will make sure to mention something here.
We confirmed, as expected, that it didn’t work so well with non-TB4-equipped Windows PCs. We connected it to a TB3-equipped Windows 10 system, and it resulted in the “This Thunderbolt device is not certified for PC use” message. It functioned as a USB-C hub, but wouldn’t recognize anything TB3 that we plugged into it. So Windows users are limited at the moment until native TB4/USB4 support becomes more common. Again though, this was expected, as it is a limitation with TB in general and thus does now affect our opinion of the hub itself.
Size and Power Delivery
The hub is quite small in size, thus it doesn’t take up much of a footprint within your setup. The power brick, however, is larger than the hub and similar to what you’d find with a TB dock. Thankfully, it can hide somewhere under your desk, thus it doesn’t really matter much.
It does support power delivery to a connected laptop that supports charging over TB (or USB-C if you use it as a USB-C hub). This can help keep your laptop charged without having to plug in a separate adapter. However, you are limited to 60W, which does alienate most of your powerful laptops. We were a bit surprised by this as even our Dell Inspiron laptops we have kicking around the building are 65W. I believe we only have one laptop in the building that requires less than that since most of them are editing or gaming powerhouses. It would have been nice to see a bit more on the power delivery side of things. 100W would have been impressive, but we would have compromised for something in the middle.
40Gb/s Max
It’s important to remember that it is a hub that allows you to turn one port into multiple ports that all share the same bandwidth. You can’t magically turn one connection into multiple stand-alone connections that have full-bandwidth each–although that would be amazing if it were possible.
So, you have three ports that all share the same 40Gb/s TB connection (10Gb/s if you use it as a USB-C hub). Thus if one port is occupying 10Gb/s during a transfer, it means the others will have access to a max of 30Gb/s combined. The same applies to any kind of hub or switch solution (ie, USB hub or network switch).
The Light, So Bright
This is a bit of a personal thing for us, but the logo on the top of the hub does light up when it is powered up and working. It is a white LED back-lighting the logo and it is pretty bright. This is something to consider if you plan on having it on your desk. It would have been nice to have a way to turn that off somehow. However, you can easily cover it with something (ie, a piece of tape thick enough to black it out or at least diffuse it a bit).
If you plan on storing this under your desk or anywhere else where it would be generally hidden from the line of sight while you are working at your computer, this wouldn’t bother you any. If anything, it would suddenly look cool since it isn’t distracting.
Our Conclusion
This is a fantastic TB dock solution, assuming you understand the limitations and requirements of fully making use of TB3 or TB4 connectivity in any given situation. With TB4-equipped PCs or Macs, you get the absolute most out of this dock–and these are the customers that will likely flock the most to buying one. TB4 is powerful and allows a single port to do so much. This simply pours foul onto the fire, allowing you to create all sorts of creative setups. Quickly turning a laptop into a full desktop experience (or a desktop experience it a freeway of connectivity).
As mentioned, with the release of Intel’s latest Alder Lake processors, TB4 and USB4 are going to be taking off in popularity on the PC side of the market. TB has been quite a niche (on the PC side) until now. Which is going to create even more demand for solutions like this. We will be testing it against these systems in the coming weeks. We will update you with anything we find that is different from what we have already covered thus far.
The MSRP is $179, which seems more than reasonable. Thunderbolt is expensive, so this is no surprise. It is currently available via a number of certified retailers, although supplies seem to be a bit low due to popular demand (for the hub). Therefore, some retailers may show it as unavailable as they wait for additional stock to arrive. Therefore, the best place to get the hub is directly from OWC as they commonly will have the most stock available (naturally).
Update: Refreshed the average price to reflect the latest price drops.
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| Our Rating | Average Price* $149.00 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- 3x TB 3/4 ports for daisy-chaining
- 1x USB-A
- Up to 40Gb/s combined
- 4K or 8K display on supported systems
- 60W Charging Power for supported systems
- Mac: Apple M1 Mac or Intel-based Mac with TB3+ and macOS 11.1 Big Sur or later
- Windows: TB4 equipped machines only. Else, acts as a USB-C hub.
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
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