The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand is a chic and compact method to increase a Mac mini’s ports and storage, however there are three main issues with it.
So far as connectivity choices, the Mac mini has a good quantity obtainable, however customers can at all times add extra. That is often within the type of a hub that merely brings extra ports and connections to the desk.
Increasing a Mac’s utility, be it through the use of a hub so as to add ports or an exterior drive for storage capability, additionally means extra desk house is used up. This isn’t nice, particularly if customers do not need to see additional enclosures littering their desk’s floor and spoiling an in any other case tidy or minimal workspace.
The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand goals to unravel the issue by hiding all of it beneath the Mac mini. That is one thing Satechi has supplied earlier than for earlier Mac mini generations, nevertheless it needed to replace the design to work with the most recent mannequin.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Bodily design
Because the title signifies, it’s a stand for the Mac mini, elevating the peak of the compact Mac by lower than an inch.
Additionally it is designed to suit into the identical footprint because the Mac mini M4 itself, measuring 5 inches sq. and having rounded corners. Within the center, a round divot is designed to carry the Mac mini’s spherical base, minimizing the hole between the stand and Mac on the edges.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand evaluation: The highest is bowl-shaped to suit the Mac mini’s base.
Whereas becoming near the bottom of the Mac mini, there’s nonetheless sufficient of a spot for air flow, and for turning the Mac mini on. One again nook has a cutout part, so you possibly can nonetheless press the Mac mini’s energy button.
Whereas it matches the looks of the Mac mini M4, it does so with out including an excessive amount of weight at 6.8 ounces. That is considerably moot, given the Mac mini is not designed as a conveyable gadget, and also you’re unlikely to be shifting the stand round both.
The underside consists of some vent holes within the center, in addition to a storage cowl and a slot for the USB-C host cable to be stowed away.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand evaluation: The bottom has an area for the cable, and for storage.
That brief built-in cable is clearly meant to be plugged into one of many USB Sort-C ports behind the Mac mini.
We do not like built-in cables on drives or docks. You’ll be able to’t change it for one thing extra applicable length-wise, and even change it if it is broken.
The bottom additionally has a set of 4 rubber ft, which retains the stand and the using Mac mini in place.
However, the design occludes the Wi-Fi module on the underside of the Mac mini. As I’ve already mentioned, a slab of metallic beneath that module cuts again Wi-Fi energy each obtained and transmitted.
Within the Satechi Mac mini M4 Hub and Stand’s case, the dock beneath the Mac mini cuts pace from a Wi-Fi 6e router six ft away by half. A single Lego plate between the dock and the Mac mini restores Wi-Fi pace.
And, clearly, for those who’re utilizing Ethernet, that slab of metallic subsequent to the Wi-Fi module makes no distinction to wired community pace in any respect. The dock on high of the Mac mini is one other resolution for Wi-Fi pace cuts, assuming your desk is wooden and never metallic.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Port enlargement
The principle level of the Hub & Stand is to offer customers extra port capability. Merely put, it does handle to do this.
In trade for occupying one USB Sort-C connection behind the Mac mini M4, the Hub & Stand supplies 4 interfaces in complete.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand evaluation: The cable might’ve been higher.
Three of them are USB Sort-A ports, with two consisting of USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 connections supporting as much as 10 Gbps. The rest is a USB-A 2.0 port, able to transfers as much as 480 Mbps.
The inclusion of solely USB-A ports is smart, because the entrance of the Mac mini M4 presents two USB Sort-C ports already, in addition to a headphone jack. There’s little must duplicate these ports right here.
In addition to the USB Sort-A connections, there’s an SD 4.0 UHS-II slot, that may function at as much as 312 MBps.
This too is a helpful addition to the Mac mini, not least as a result of it presents content material creators a fast method to offload content material.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Storage
The Hub & Stand performs double responsibility, because it additionally supplies additional storage capability alongside its additional ports.
The storage cowl beneath the accent accommodates a slot for an M.2 NVMe SSD. Set up is easy, requiring no instruments to take away the quilt or to snap within the SSD.
It may well help fairly a number of SSDs, together with 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 varieties, although not double-sided drives or these with heatsinks. Additionally it is apparently not appropriate with M.2 SSDs both.
In response to Satechi, the SSD enclosure aspect can help bandwidth of as much as 10Gbps, relying on the inserted drive and different utilization components.
Our testing bears out that pace when doing completely nothing else on the enclosure. Plug anything in, and it drops very quickly to lower than 500 megabytes per second learn and write. Not nice.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Pace restricted
Whereas a well-thought-out accent, the Hub & Stand does endure from a small downside involving bandwidth. It would not have sufficient of it.
The Hub & Stand connects utilizing a USB-C connection, which supplies all related gadgets a bandwidth pool of 10Gbps to share. Relying on what you could have related, your different {hardware} could not have sufficient bandwidth to run at full pace.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand evaluation: The nook has a divot so you possibly can attain the facility button.
The claimed 10Gbps help for the NVMe storage is all properly and good, however you are not going to get the complete 10Gbps for the drive for those who’re additionally accessing different USB {hardware} on the similar time.
Positive, the USB-A 3.2 ports will technically work on the full spec 10Gbps, however provided that you do not use any of the 10Gbps of bandwidth being fed to the dock within the first place.
The Mac mini M4’s rear ports are both Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5, relying on the chip tier, which presents 40Gbps or 80Gbps of bandwidth, respectively. If Satechi had used Thunderbolt or USB4 as an alternative of 10 gigabit USB-C 3.2 to attach the Hub & Stand to the Mac mini, there could be greater than sufficient bandwidth obtainable for the entire related {hardware}.
Alas, there’s not, and so it’s information constrained even when you do not take into account the SSD slot.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Ports and storage, however too many compromises
Pace gripes apart, Satechi’s Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand presents lots to potential consumers. Getting a number of extra ports across the entrance to attach peripherals is a welcome addition, as is the reminiscence card reader.
That there is additional storage capability contained in the stand makes it much more helpful to house owners who’ve thought of exterior storage additions to keep away from Apple’s steep storage improve charges. Whereas it would not cover the additional enclosure, it does decrease the affect on the workspace.
If solely the dock have been Thunderbolt or USB4, that storage could be so a lot better. The captured USB-C cable can also be an issue, as is the Wi-Fi sign attenuation when the dock is beneath the Mac mini.
We need to actually just like the Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand. There are simply too many compromises you want to settle for for it to actually sing.
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Execs
- Neat, compact design
- Storage addition is beneficial
- First rate reminiscence card reader
Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand – Cons
- USB-C bandwidth limits
- Wi-Fi interference when stacked high and backside
- Captive cable
Score: 2.5 out of 5
The place to purchase the Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand
The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand is accessible from Amazon priced at $129.99, with a maybe non permanent low cost to $99.99 at publication time.
