The 12-inch MacBook is the ultimate portable Mac, but that single USB-C port feels a lot less convenient when you want to connect to a bunch of devices at home or in the office. We covered a $79 portable hub yesterday, and now OWC has announced its $129 desktop model, available for pre-order today for delivery in October.
Available in silver, space gray and gold, to match your MacBook, the OWC USB-C Dock provides a total of 10 ports in a unit designed to remain on your desk, allowing you to instantly connect and disconnect via a single USB-C cable …
Unlike the Hub+, the OWC dock provides Gigabit Ethernet and audio in/out, as well as built-in HDMI, supporting 4K displays.
- 4 USB 3 Type-A ports
- 1 USB 3 Type-C port
- SD card reader
- HDMI with 4K display support
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Audio in and out ports
OWC claims 11 ports, but includes the connection to the MacBook.
The dock comes with an 80w power supply capable of charging your MacBook as well as all attached USB devices.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
“HDMI with 4K support” is very misleading ! 4K at 30Hz I presume ?!
I thought the same thing…heh. It has to be.
Or wait a year until every new peripheral is USB-C equipped and make life simpler and less expensive. I am thinking of going into cryogenic stasis until the world sorts out all standards, and life is generally easier. Today we’re at a midsection of everything, and it’s all complicated and expensive. Halp!
You don’t get it till October!!
It needs mini-display port – otherwise useless for anyone with an apple display.
Yay. Another dock. Somebody hold me back.
I don’t have the time, money, electrical engineering skills, or patience to make this come to fruition, so here, world, have my idea. Someone please get this to market:
A power brick, utilizing the VHF AC->DC conversion technology developed by MIT (to keep it small and efficient), that has four USB-C ports and also acts as a hub.
It would completely replace the existing MacBook power brick and provide the multiple ports everyone desires. Moreover, if you get USB-C to Lightning and USB-C to MicroUSB cables, it can also replace all of your other wall warts that you carry around and charge everything from a single brick.
Imagine, one single plug to go into the wall that will charge your MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Bluetooth headset, all while also serving as a hub so you can connect multiple peripherals to your MacBook at the same time.
And, if I’m right about how the technology works, it can function as an unpowered USB hub even when it’s not plugged in!
Why is nobody building this?
So essentially its a power adapter with USB ports, a dedicated USB-C connector, and a dedicated wall plug?
You’d have a hard time making that anything but unwieldy. You need USB ports for the USB hub aspect, and also for plugging in iPhones/iPads to charge/sync. But you need a dedicated connection that is NOT just one of the USB ports, for connecting to the MacBook, if you want the USB hub aspect to work. Then finally you need to plug in to the wall.
I don’t see the application for it, honestly. It would be inferior to devices like the one this article mentions for the Desk, and it would clunky and excessive for mobile scenarios. You don’t need a USB hub on the go. You may need a multi USB charging station on the go, but there are already plenty of those to pick from.
I think you’re missing several points:
1. It would use VHF switching technology to keep the device very compact (as in, similar in size or smaller than the MacBook charger… google it, it’s doable)
2. Only has USB-C ports. No USB-A or other legacy port types. Several manufacturers are making or ramping up to make USB-C cables that connect to other standards (e.g. Belkin is making USB-C to MicroUSB)
The only thing that I missed in my original post is that you would have to somehow identify the downstream port (the one that you plug your PC into). A brightly colored border around the downstream port should do the trick. Not exactly rocket surgery for either the designer or the user. USB Power Delivery automatically detects which devices need how much power, so that’s not an issue, and I would actually not be surprised at all if it were possible to dynamically detect the host… but that’s beyond my current understanding of the spec.
As someone who travels literally every single week for work, I think I have a pretty good handle on what is and is not unwieldy for the mobile user. Trust me, a single device that replaces a hub and numerous other power adapters at the same time is definitely an improvement.
And include space to add your own 2.5″ device, INSIDE the enclosure.
For what? As one of my favorite super-logical Germans would say… WHY FOR ZEE HELL WOULD I WANT ZISS???
My data lives in the cloud. Between that and a half a terabyte SSD in my MacBook I have zero need whatsoever for external data storage.
Well, some of us actually CREATE content, not just consume. Half a TB is just fine for consumers, which is why you “have zero need whatsoever for external data storage”.
The idea of the macbook is to be a portable device that lives wireless… so this means in the cloud… although it can make videos, photos etc etc — it’s not really designed nor targeted at those who want to make large amount of large size files…
It’s not intended for storing an archive of movies etc…
it’s for people on the go, who use the web, make documents, print wireless… those who start work on the mac at work/home, switch to the phone on the commute, and finish on the macbook at the coffee shop…
BUT if you really must have extra space for storage – get a usb stick, or SD card — there is no really need for big bulky hard drives — if you want this… opt for the macbook pro and upgrade the specs
The Nonda Hub+ on Kickstarter looks better, cheaper, has mini displayport, and it will be released sooner. On the flipside, I have had nothing but quality products from OWC in the past. Oh well I’m already on the hook for the Hub+!