My primary reason that I purchased the OWC Thunderbolt Hub was so that I could have access to more physical Thunderbolt ports on my M1 Mac mini. This is a nice gesture by OWC, and proves that its engineers listen to customer sentiment. I’ve longed complained about distracting lights on peripherals that serve no real purpose, but OWC was kind enough to allow users to reduce, or outright disable the light via a recessed button on the front of the hub. This light turns blue when a Thunderbolt connection is established with the host Mac or PC. When you connect the dock to power, the OWC logo on the top of the unit is illuminated with a bright white light. Unfortunately, the hub comes with a power adapter that’s larger than the dock itself, but considering the power delivery requirements, the size of the power brick wasn’t unexpected. Using nothing more than a couple of strips of hook and loop tape, I easily mounted the hub on the rear of my desk, completely out of sight. The unit is comprised of aluminum with a shiny black plastic top and bottom housing.Īs someone who planned from the very beginning to mount this hub behind my desk, I was happy about the small form factor.

Sans the extra USB-A connection, OWC resisted the temptation to inundate the hub with a bunch of additional ports, opting to keep the design straightforward and simple. The first thing you’ll notice about the OWC Thunderbolt Hub is just how small and minimal it is. Subscribe to 9to5mac on YouTube for more videos Unboxing and design

Supports up to two 4K displays or one 5K/6K/8K display.

Thunderbolt ports support OWCs cable locks (sold separately).

3 x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports for accessory connectivity with 15w power.

1 x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) port with up to 60W power delivery.

For my M1 Max MacBook Pro, it allows me to maintain a connection to all of my Thunderbolt peripherals, including the Pro Display XDR, with just a single cable connection. When using the M1 Mac mini, the hub expands the amount of Thunderbolt connections, which is a huge improvement since M1 Macs sport just two physical ports. In either case, I’ve found the OWC Thunderbolt Hub to be a great addition to my setup. As I explained in my latest episode of Back to the Mac, the M1 Mac mini is my main desktop computer, but where necessary, I also use a 16-inch MacBook Pro in clamshell mode.

Owc thunderbolt 3 dock mac mini m1