The Ethernet issues were particularly annoying because the hub sometimes decided to downgrade its Gigabit connection to 100baseTX. Eventually, I experienced frequent HDMI cut-outs, the Ethernet connection was unreliable, and ultimately, both hubs just… died. But anyway, surely, if I buy something that expensive from a brand even sold by Apple, I’ll get something good? You’ll learn in a bit why I find that notable. Interestingly, Apple still sells one Satechi USB-C hub, but only one model without Ethernet. Not particularly cheap, but Satechi is a brand that was and still is sold on the official accessory store. Mid 2018, I paid around 90 euros each on Amazon.

I bought two of them one for my desk and one for my cable pouch for mobile use. So, the first hub in my possession was a “Satechi” branded one. To vent my frustration, I want to share a little 1 rant with y’all! So let’s start.

Unfortunately, since 2018, I’ve worked through three USB-C hubs, and they’re all kinda bad. Some even have fancy stuff like an SD card reader or a secondary audio output! And all of that over a single USB-C connection, which makes everything super comfortable if you frequently carry your laptop around your home, but you also have a desk with fixed devices set up. USB-C hubs are a great idea: not only do they usually offer a power supply pass-through, but they also allow you to plug in some USB devices, an ethernet cable, and maybe even a monitor.

If I want to connect pretty much anything, I need some sort of adapter or some sort of hub. In fact, I’m writing this on an Apple MacBook Pro, and all I got was four lousy USB-C ports. I have one of those laptops lacking a lot of accessory ports. This fact will become clear later on, but I figured it’s worth highlighting that just in case somebody finds this text via their search engine of least distrust. Just to start this off on a fun note: this article is not a review. USB-C hubs and my slow descent into madness

Mac ethernet hub