I’ve been looking for weeks at various stores around Tulsa, and online, for USB-C hubs. I already have a USB-C hub that has ports like Ethernet, HDMI, and USB-A. What I am looking for is a hub that has many USB-C ports.
As my Lightning cables age out, and I replace more equipment with devices that have only USB-C, more of my devices are connected this way.
My M1 MacBook Pro has two USB-C ports, but I have:
- A USB-C SSD with my photo library.
- My iPhone 12 with a Lightning to USB-C cable (all of my Lightning to USB-As are finally worn out).
- My iPad mini which is USB-C to USB-C.
- The aforementioned hub for connecting an external display.
- Sometimes an optical drive, which yes, also uses USB-C.
- The charging cable, because all of these devices pull a lot of power.
So, as a ballpark estimate, I need about six USB-C ports here. I really do not want to have to use a bunch of C-to-A adaptors, especially since some of my devices seem to slow down when using them. Has anyone seen anything like that out there? I drastically prefer to shop local, but at this point I would even consider buying from Amazon.
Or to put it in the words of one of my favourite bloggers: Dear lazyweb, where can I buy USB-C hubs?
The Cat Fox Life 
The only hubs I know of that multiply Type-C ports are the new USB4/Thunderbolt 4 hubs based on Intel’s Goshen Ridge controller. While expensive, these have some of the broadest compatibility available.
They let you turn one port on your computer into up to three USB Type-C ports, sometimes with additional ports like USB Type-A and Ethernet. If your system supports Thunderbolt, then you can add multiple Thunderbolt devices. The hub has support for USB4 as well. If your system supports neither, but still has USB Type-C with DP AltMode, you can still use a single display output in the absence of a DP MST hub. (A friend of mine found out about this the hard way, given that ‘dual monitor support’ was advertised.) I think you could even use them to add USB Type-C ports to a system with only a USB Type-A port. (The other hub I know of that adds a USB-C port to an older computer is the Seagate One Touch Hub.)
See https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/usb4-tb4-docks/ for more a comparison table of these products.
However, if you’re just looking to charge all the devices you mention in your post, it might make sense to get a multi-port power brick or two. I know they’re out there but don’t have any particular recommendations.
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It’s not just for charging. I’d like to perform data transfers as well. Thanks for the leads, I really appreciate it!
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