HYPER Introduces Updated HyperDrive DUO 7-in-2 USB-C Hub for Mac Notebooks

Wow! For the price of $100 and some awkward bulkiness, you can now add the same, necessary functionality** to your computer that used to be standard several years ago, and is still standard on cheaper computers! What a time to be alive! But it's okay, in 10 years USB-C will be the standard for everything, and while your computer will be way obsolete by then, it will finally be able to function as designed without dongles!

** Minus one USB port. Some USB accessories may simply not work with no explanation. So you will probably need to buy 2-3 of these dongles just in case one only works with one thing, while the other only works with another thing. But you can only use one at a time. So it will really cost you $300-400 to get back the same functionality that Apple removed several years ago. But it's okay, because it's somehow better, now pay up!

There would be no need for a product like this if Apple would have done the job properly and included more ports with the 2019 MBP when it was redesigned. They increased the thickness and weight, but still dug their heals in over USB-A, HDMI, etc. Now before any of you say 'more ports would have made it much thicker', have a look at the Lenovo X1 Carbon. It is thinner than the MBP, but yet has 2 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C/TB, HDMI and a headphone jack. Okay there is a proprietary ethernet port too, which requires a dongle, but it is an ultrabook. The MBP is sold as a mobile workstation.

There is no plausible excuse for not having sufficient ports on the 16" MBP, other than Apple treating its customer base with contempt as usual.

Why there's no simple USB-C hub, like with 4 USBC ports or 6 USBC ports. Like we have in regular USB hubs. Every type-C hub is the same as every other shoved with ports I don't want or need. They all are the same. There's pretty much no variations from brand to brand. Are there some underlying technological limitations?

Some ports should have never been omitted from the MBP chassis, like HDMI out. Apple's own dongle has been problematic with some 4K displays at work, and some afterparty dongles are not recognised at all by older screens and projectors (because we kinda have to present our work at clients' locations and OTA is rarely an option). Catalina updates have further broken support for screens that used to work just fine before.

3 years and counting with this USB-C only nuisance of a Mac and the only "improvement" I can think of is that usb-c to lightning cables have become a thing.

There is no plausible excuse for not having sufficient ports on the 16" MBP, other than Apple treating its customer base with contempt as usual.

Just solving problems they created themselves by selling their own adapters and dongles. How do you think the "other" revenue category became so big. Contempt and greed hand in hand.

Why there's no simple USB-C hub, like with 4 USBC ports or 6 USBC ports.

...because implementing advanced USB-C features like DisplayPort and improved power delivery in a hub is complicated and you'd just be left with 4-6 USB-C shaped USB 3.1 ports that offered no advantage over regular USB-A (...and pretty much every USB-C peripheral not made by Apple comes with a USB-A cable or adapter anyway).

Remember, these devices are primarily about restoring the ports that should have been there all along on a pro laptop.

Ah. USB-C: a great solution for a phone or tablet that only has space for a single ultra-thin port - a pointless complication on a proper laptop or desktop that should have space for dedicated ports (that doesn't even make USB 3 any faster).

The product page doesn't mention Thunderbolt at all, so this seems to be an error. It's just USB-Power Delivery; it's a USB-C hub, not a Thunderbolt dock.

If you look at the picture, it connects to both TB3 ports on the side of the MacBook - pretty sure that only one of those is used to drive the extra ports on the dock, the other is wired directly to the first USB-C port on the dock. Hence it claims 40Gbps/100W charging on one port - but it would need to be certified by Intel to be called "Thunderbolt" .

So now we need dongles for dongles. Let it be noted that these are all solutions to problems that Apple chose to create.

I have a similar dongle for my all USB-C MacBook Pro. It wriggles like crazy. The amount of large file transfers failed due to moving the laptop slightly to one side or reaching out and accidentally touching the cable is annoyingly staggering. If you have an all USB-C Mac, invest in a hub that connects with a wire, not one that sits firmly on one side. You'll have a more reliable setup. However, stable or not, sometimes when connecting a USB/3 drive, my wireless connection will erratically drop until I disconnect the dongle. It's really touch and (no) go. Thank you Apple. I know, "It's your fault for getting a ****** dongle. Serves you right for being stingy on good accessories," some of you might want to say, only that the dongle was actually a rather expensive one, had good reviews and was not advertised as "******," otherwise I'd not buy it in the first place. You only find out when it's too late, usually when it's too late to return the dongle or the Mac. Once upon a time, there was a laptop that you took out of the box, and "it just worked." Alas, many believe nowadays that this was just a myth. Again, thank you Apple.

Luckily for me, I got my old MacBook Retina 13" model with integrated USB-3 ports and HDMI and additional storage expansion though a nifty drive repaired and working again. I'm keeping this baby until one of us drops dead (I still prefer it to be my Mac, for all the love I feel towards it). I just hope I can find a sucker to buy my "New" MacBook Pro 13. Should't be too hard, after all, it's newer, thinner and shinier. After all, I got doped into being it, and I'm not the dumbest kid on the block. It's hardly been used at all (as soon as I got my old Mac repaired, I preferred using it instead). I'll even throw the dongle and the MagSafe workaround cable into the mix for free (yeah, workaround is the name of the game with the new generation). Be my guest.