Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand review: Small, but too tight on bandwidth

AppleInsider

The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand is an elegant and compact way to expand a Mac mini's ports and storage, but there are three major problems with it.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand

As far as connectivity options, the Mac mini has a decent amount available, but users can always add more. This is usually in the form of a hub that simply brings more ports and connections to the table.

Expanding a Mac's utility, be it by using a hub to add ports or an external drive for storage capacity, also means more desk space is used up. This is not great, especially if users don't want to see extra enclosures littering their desk's surface and spoiling an otherwise tidy or minimal workspace.

The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand aims to solve the problem by hiding it all underneath the Mac mini. This is something Satechi has offered before for previous Mac mini generations, but it had to update the design to work with the newest model.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Physical design

As the name indicates, it is a stand for the Mac mini, raising the height of the compact Mac by less than an inch.

It is also designed to fit into the same footprint as the Mac mini M4 itself, measuring 5 inches square and having rounded corners. In the middle, a circular divot is designed to hold the Mac mini's round base, minimizing the gap between the stand and Mac at the edges.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand review: The top is bowl-shaped to fit the Mac mini's base.

While fitting close to the base of the Mac mini, there's still enough of a gap for ventilation, and for turning the Mac mini on. One back corner has a cutout section, so you can still press the Mac mini's power button.

While it matches the appearance of the Mac mini M4, it does so without adding too much weight at 6.8 ounces. This is somewhat moot, given the Mac mini isn't designed as a portable device, and you're unlikely to be moving the stand around either.

The underside includes some vent holes in the middle, as well as a storage cover and a slot for the USB-C host cable to be stowed away.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand review: The base has a space for the cable, and for storage.

That short built-in cable is obviously intended to be plugged into one of the USB Type-C ports at the back of the Mac mini.

We don't like built-in cables on drives or docks. You can't switch it for something more appropriate length-wise, or even replace it if it's damaged.

The base also has a set of four rubber feet, which keeps the stand and the riding Mac mini in place.

But, the design occludes the Wi-Fi module on the bottom of the Mac mini. As I've already discussed, a slab of metal underneath that module cuts back Wi-Fi power both received and transmitted.

In the Satechi Mac mini M4 Hub and Stand's case, the dock underneath the Mac mini cuts speed from a Wi-Fi 6e router six feet away by half. A single Lego plate between the dock and the Mac mini restores Wi-Fi speed.

And, obviously, if you're using Ethernet, that slab of metal next to the Wi-Fi module makes no difference to wired network speed at all. The dock on top of the Mac mini is another solution for Wi-Fi speed cuts, assuming your desk is wood and not metal.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Port expansion

The main point of the Hub & Stand is to give users more port capacity. Simply put, it does manage to do that.

In exchange for occupying one USB Type-C connection at the back of the Mac mini M4, the Hub & Stand provides four interfaces in total.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand review: The cable could've been better.

Three of them are USB Type-A ports, with two consisting of USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 connections supporting up to 10 Gbps. The remainder is a USB-A 2.0 port, capable of transfers up to 480 Mbps.

The inclusion of only USB-A ports makes sense, as the front of the Mac mini M4 offers two USB Type-C ports already, as well as a headphone jack. There's little need to duplicate these ports here.

As well as the USB Type-A connections, there's an SD 4.0 UHS-II slot, that can operate at up to 312 MBps.

This too is a handy addition to the Mac mini, not least because it offers content creators a quick way to offload content.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Storage

The Hub & Stand performs double duty, as it also provides extra storage capacity alongside its extra ports.

The storage cover underneath the accessory contains a slot for an M.2 NVMe SSD. Installation is straightforward, requiring no tools to remove the cover or to snap in the SSD.

It can support quite a few SSDs, including 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 varieties, though not double-sided drives or those with heatsinks. It is also apparently not compatible with M.2 SSDs either.

According to Satechi, the SSD enclosure element can support bandwidth of up to 10Gbps, depending on the inserted drive and other usage factors.

Our testing bears out that speed when doing absolutely nothing else on the enclosure. Plug anything else in, and it drops very rapidly to less than 500 megabytes per second read and write. Not great.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Speed limited

While a well-thought-out accessory, the Hub & Stand does suffer from a small problem involving bandwidth. It doesn't have enough of it.

The Hub & Stand connects using a USB-C connection, which gives all connected devices a bandwidth pool of 10Gbps to share. Depending on what you have connected, your other hardware may not have enough bandwidth to run at full speed.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand review: The corner has a divot so you can reach the power button.

The claimed 10Gbps support for the NVMe storage is all well and good, but you're not going to get the full 10Gbps for the drive if you're also accessing other USB hardware at the same time.

Sure, the USB-A 3.2 ports will technically work at the full spec 10Gbps, but only if you don't use any of the 10Gbps of bandwidth being fed to the dock in the first place.

The Mac mini M4's rear ports are either Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5, depending on the chip tier, which offers 40Gbps or 80Gbps of bandwidth, respectively. If Satechi had used Thunderbolt or USB4 instead of 10 gigabit USB-C 3.2 to connect the Hub & Stand to the Mac mini, there would be more than enough bandwidth available for all of the connected hardware.

Alas, there's not, and so it is data constrained even when you don't consider the SSD slot.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Ports and storage, but too many compromises

Speed gripes aside, Satechi's Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand offers a lot to potential buyers. Getting a few more ports around the front to connect peripherals is a welcome addition, as is the memory card reader.

That there's extra storage capacity inside the stand makes it even more useful to owners who have considered external storage additions to avoid Apple's steep storage upgrade fees. While it doesn't hide the extra enclosure, it does minimize the impact on the workspace.

If only the dock were Thunderbolt or USB4, that storage would be so much better. The captured USB-C cable is also a problem, as is the Wi-Fi signal attenuation when the dock is underneath the Mac mini.

We want to really like the Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand. There are just too many compromises you need to accept for it to really sing.

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Pros

• Neat, compact design


• Storage addition is useful


• Decent memory card reader

Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand - Cons

• USB-C bandwidth limits


• Wi-Fi interference when stacked top and bottom


• Captive cable

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Where to buy the Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand

The Satechi Mac Mini M4 Hub & Stand is available from Amazon priced at $129.99, with a perhaps temporary discount to $99.99 at publication time.



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dewme

All of these non-TB form fitting USB-C docks for the new Mac mini have similar bandwidth issues. The ones with built-in M.2 NVMe sockets give you more storage but it’s not particularly speedy. The upside is that you can slap in an inexpensive SSD drive because going for a fast one isn’t going anywhere to buy you any performance benefit. My approach to SSD selection at this point is to find one with good thermal performance and onboard caching to at least make the best of what 10 Gbps will get you. 

Of course you can treat these first generation form fitting USB-C docks as an interim solution that will get you the extra ports and storage you need now while you’re waiting for the TB5 docks to come down from their stratospheric prices. This is really true in the M4 Pro mini because today you’re giving up a TB5 port for the mediocre performance of additional ports. 

Of course you can also settle for a non form fitting dock to make the best of what your TB5 port is capable of. At the current prices of TB5 docks a better bet may be to simply buy a Mac Studio that has more ports to start with. 

eriamjh

I would have rated it a 1.5 to 2 at most for wasting a thunderbolt port’s bandwidth.   For $150, it shouldn’t cripple the port. 

eriamjh

Too late to edit, but one thing to add:

Any dock that is designed to sit atop or under a device that interferes with its WiFi automatically gets zero stars in my reviews.  

Bad design.  Bad product.  Cannot possibly recommend anything else.   

mike wuerthele

eriamjh said:

Too late to edit, but one thing to add:

Any dock that is designed to sit atop or under a device that interferes with its WiFi automatically gets zero stars in my reviews.  

Bad design.  Bad product.  Cannot possibly recommend anything else.   

As per the review, atop is fine, ethernet is fine, Just don't put it underneath.

This is why I hate the Google-mandated star reviews. They're stupid, not universal, and folks read more into them than they mean. The text is what matters to tailor if a purchase is right for you, not the stars.

I gave it a 2.5 because it does what it says on the tin, without fanfare. It functions. You give it a 0/5 because of Wi-Fi on a desktop that honestly should be wired anyway. Neither yours nor my star ratings are universal metrics, but Google likes to think that they are.

michaeldroste

Makes the computer too hot 🥵 

heat kills electronics 

6ryph3n

There's likely another compromise not mentioned. I recently bought another one of their hubs for SD/TF readers but discovered that it can only read one card at a time. The hub will mount one card and simply ignore the other as if it weren't even there. I contacted their support and they confirmed that none of their hubs can read SD and TF cards simultaneously. That's part of my daily routine so that's a major compromise that I can't accept.

mike wuerthele

6ryph3n said:

There's likely another compromise not mentioned. I recently bought another one of their hubs for SD/TF readers but discovered that it can only read one card at a time. The hub will mount one card and simply ignore the other as if it weren't even there. I contacted their support and they confirmed that none of their hubs can read SD and TF cards simultaneously. That's part of my daily routine so that's a major compromise that I can't accept.

That's pretty consistent for most docks, fwiw.

dewme

There are a few of these USB-C docks that place the Mac mini on its side. If anything, this orientation will probably improve the WiFi performance. 

There is definitely a market for these docks and they are not expensive compared to TB4/TB5 docks. You’re getting what you’re paying for and if you need the extra ports despite the limitations, go for it. 

There are a lot of considerations to keep in mind when you are looking at purchasing any computer. If you are tethered to the desktop and think you may need a port expansion dock from the get go, it may be worth considering paying more upfront for a version that doesn’t need a port expansion dock or one that can satisfy your USB-A or SD card needs with a simple adapter. For some folks the Mac Studio may be a better deal in the long term than a Mac mini with an expensive dock. 

Laptops are different, especially if you’re in need of ultimate portability when away from your desk and more workstation capabilities when you’re at your desk. But there are similarities here too when it comes to choosing a MacBook Pro versus a MacBook Air. The best choice may be to be in a position where you don’t need a dock at all, but sometimes this is not possible. 

michaeldroste

Here is the stand I bought to keep the machine 20 degrees cooler

https://www.amazon.com/Hagibis-Ventilation-Dissipation-Accessories-MMS03/dp/B0DR2C64VT/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?crid=1OPR71USDO1V4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MBTC6eHLOQAEVQL-4g5zKbQOYT670GSAvRw7DGgPScR1-mL-E0vk1wK0ktD0fzzNaAman4x6y9yNoK-O_4r2-h3wC8_ymt8naVjeJp7sLwBchwosQoZQw8wdGYXuWvm1y0g5Xh8EZc8MfunVvtGCEY0MgBHa6e4vnM9P_3PMPZC8NYy2CvYJX29VzSHi5N5sj74PhywsEo1lfhkNacuS8g.balitRLvBP4E54p7nK7AbHT6hUAoyfvl3w66YN-SvfI&dib_tag=se&keywords=mac+mini+stand+m4&qid=1746303751&sprefix=mac+mini+s%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-11