OWC Thunderbolt Hub
A mid-tier dock with extra ports
£205.99 FROM OWC, owcdigital.com FEATURES 4x Thunderbolt 4/ USB-C ports (1 with up to 60W power delivery), 1x USB 3.2 Type A port (up to 10Gbps), Kensington Nano slot; 118x17x73mm; 209g
Most modern Macs only come with a smattering of Thunderbolt ports, with devices like the M1 MacBook Air limited to just two – luckily OWC’s latest dock should help.
While not as fully featured as the £332 OWC Thunderbolt Dock (MF365) or as portable as the £76 Travel Dock E (MF370), the Thunderbolt Hub is a happy compromise. Compact and beautifully finished in black and aluminium, it comes with a Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port on the front for connection to your Mac (while also offering up to 60W power delivery), with an additional three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the rear – enough to enable you to hook up two 4K displays or a single 5K, 6K or 8K monitor and/or use for daisy-chaining other Thunderbolt devices.
The only additions here are a front-mounted USB 3.2 Type A port for connecting and charging other devices like an iPhone or iPad and a socket for the off-board power supply. It does include a Kensington Nano slot to help you secure it to your desk, plus an illuminated OWC logo on the top that glows blue when connected to your Mac.
Anyone looking for a dock with HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet or an SD card slot should look elsewhere, and the need for a mains power supply limits its appeal on the road. That said, the Thunderbolt Hub gives you a good range of connectivity options without breaking the bank. Rob Mead-Green