Satechi USB-C hub adds HDMI, 3.5mm jack & more to Apple's 2018 iPad Pro
Satechi on Thursday announced the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub, specifically intended for Apple's new iPad Pros with USB-C in place of Lightning.
The hub offers a 4K HDMI port, USB-C PD (Power Delivery) up to 18 watts, and a USB-A port with speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. Also present is a 3.5mm headphone jack, making up for Apple's removal.
Satechi cautions that the HDMI port requires a direct HDMI-to-HDMI link, and outputs 4K at 30 hertz.
Though meant for iPad Pros, the hub can be used with other USB-C devices such as Samsung phones, the Google Pixel 3, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The main criteria is that a device support USB-C PD and DisplayPort over USB-C in Alt mode.
Satechi is offering preorders of the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub for $44.99, $15 off full price. It should ship in mid December.
The hub offers a 4K HDMI port, USB-C PD (Power Delivery) up to 18 watts, and a USB-A port with speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. Also present is a 3.5mm headphone jack, making up for Apple's removal.
Satechi cautions that the HDMI port requires a direct HDMI-to-HDMI link, and outputs 4K at 30 hertz.
Though meant for iPad Pros, the hub can be used with other USB-C devices such as Samsung phones, the Google Pixel 3, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The main criteria is that a device support USB-C PD and DisplayPort over USB-C in Alt mode.
Satechi is offering preorders of the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub for $44.99, $15 off full price. It should ship in mid December.
Comments
Too bad it doesn't offer a Lightning port.
The only difference between the iPad Pro and MacBook now is the MacBook has a 3.5mm headphone jack and mouse support, and the iPadPro has a touchscreen.
There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.
Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.
My point is we can all invent scenarios to defeat any other scenario.
Pulling audio from a headphone jack has some issues. For starters, the left and right channels are not well shielded on iOS devices causing the channels to mix. You don’t get proper channel isolation. You also have to set the level so you don’t get distortion by overdriving the channel. You have to worry about noise in the line, etc.
When you use a professional audio interface, you get a better DAC (digital audio converter) to analog, or you keep the audio digital through the signal path which is much cleaner. Plus you can accomplish something around 96 channels of I/O with USB 3.0.
Maybe next time try actually using the device — or at least asking people who are productive how they use the device — before exposing yourself as uninformed and unaware.
Lighten up, Spock.
In short, your scenario is implausible unless the user is fairly witless in their planning or lacks the imagination to prepare for their rehearsal with the proper accessories. As the MacBook and iPad have well proven, long battery life more than covers for a single port for 95 percent of cases — and for the rest, a single adapter or other accessory is a trivial expense and requires trivial forethought.