5-in-1 Thunderbolt Plug-in Hub Review: Tiny USB4 Connection

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If you’re looking for a Thunderbolt 4 hub with USB4 capabilities, check out the Thunderbolt 5-in-1 Plugable Hub (USB4-HUB3A). Otherwise, it’s an extremely niche product that might not be worth it for most PC users.

What the Thunderbolt 5-in-1 plug-in hub does, it does well: it’s tiny (4.9 x 2.9 x 0.5 inches) and weighs less than a pound, with a 30-inch Thunderbolt 4 cable connecting it to the PC , delivering 60W of power. laptop power. There are three additional Thunderbolt 4 ports (15W each) and a legacy 10Gb/s USB-A port, and that’s about it. The USB-A port does not provide power for charging. Inside is an older 2020 Intel “Goshen Ridge” Thunderbolt device chipset.

Note. This review is part of our roundup of the best Thunderbolt docking stations. Went there to buy advice, product comparisons and recommendations.

Don’t think of it as “portable” though, as the dock comes with a massive power bank. It’s a tiny knot that fits neatly into a bag. (We’re looking at a Thunderbolt hub as one that essentially splits a Thunderbolt connection into multiple additional ports. A Thunderbolt dock is typically powered by many legacy connections. A 5-in-1 Thunderbolt plug-in hub has elements of both.)

Plugable does not officially support a PC with a Thunderbolt 4 port with this device – while Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 are very similar, Thunderbolt 4 has more stringent requirements that may result in incompatibility on some systems.

Why buy it? Well, the Mac world tends to have a lot more focus on Thunderbolt-connected displays than the Windows world, so this could be a problem for PC shoppers. Several high-end displays for the PC market have Thunderbolt ports, as do some high-end SSDs. Don’t worry too much about USB4’s capabilities, as you won’t find too many USB4-specific peripherals. Otherwise, however, HDMI or DisplayPort displays are far more common, and you’ll need to invest in a USB-C dongle or a simple (included) adapter to connect to them.

Aside from the 10Gb/s USB-A port on the other side of the hub, what you see is what you get with a plug-in Thunderbolt 5-in-1 hub. Plugable/Amazon

Since there are no Thunderbolt-connected displays on our test rig, we were unable to test this capability. But a USB-C to HDMI adapter is included, so you can certainly connect one display out of the box and then plug in a USB-C hub to connect another. There is also a standalone 10Gb/s USB-A port. Sure, plugging in a second device sounds like a hassle, but for the Plugable’s price of around $180, you could end up trading some cash for some extra clutter. These extras work well enough, although we didn’t have enough high-speed peripherals to fill all of its external Thunderbolt 4 ports.

So, to reiterate, we weren’t able to test this dock to its full potential. But in terms of charging power and throughput, it lived up to its advertised specifications. The hub got a little warm, but its metal construction dissipates the heat effectively.

Plugable supports the 5-in-1 Thunderbolt Hub with a two-year warranty and has a very good customer service reputation. Several plug-in products are already on our list of the best Thunderbolt docking stations, so we’re sure the USB4-HUB3A will fit too.