Review on 🔌 Tiergrade USB C Hub: 12 in 1 Triple Display Docking Station for MacBook & Windows by Kenny Marozas

My experience: Macbook Pro user, not a super user, but very technically adept. Can use more ports than most and have tested various scenarios I've encountered before. It turns out that many USB-C hubs are either made or sold (maybe both) by the same groups. All of them are made in China, even under famous brands. I have TOTU which I'm sure is made by the same people or distributed by the same people. The same TOTU is 13 in 1, like this one. They have essentially the same functionality as the Tiergrade, with a USB-C connector instead of a 3.5mm jack. Here's the one I'm comparing and I've had it for over a year now. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q9JXWTP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I don't actually need a 3.5mm output on my Macbook Pro (15" 2019 i9) like it original is. However, I need an easily portable solution with all the required ports. The main specs of these two devices are the same and the difference is actually the one port I mentioned and the layout. Compared to TOTU, it has a different layout with all USBs on one side. TOTU has a split design with USB 2.0 on the HDMI side and the remaining USBs on the opposite side. This tiergrade has all USB data ports on one side and a USB port on the other PD port with HDMI and SD card ports (essentially a power-only port that you plug into a USB-C power adapter.) This layout is more logical in that you don't have to worry about flipping it to get the ben Finding the ports you need as all the USB ports are on the same side for connecting everything. The downside is that you have to have everything on one page. We used to worry about USB 3.0 besides USB 2.0 and RFI, maybe that's why TOTU has this design. I plugged a Logitech USB 2.0 Unifying receiver into the 2.0 port next to the USB 3.0 port while it was connected to the hard drive. I didn't notice any glitches, which was good. Ethernet reports gigabit connections to my router. I ran a speed test and it worked at my max internet connection. I haven't tested full throughput with gigabit ethernet because. Well, who really often saturates a Gigabit Ethernet connection? I doubt I ever had that. It gets hot like everyone else, especially when it's on and a few things plugged in. Edit: After contacting the company about the second HDMI port flickering, they sent a new one. It still flickered with the cable I was using. Tested again with a different cable (HDMI Premium High Speed Certified) and the results were much better. Normal response and no flicker. The moral of the story is to try the best cable when trying to do 4k HDR! With another cable it only went through one port. I would argue that some hardware is more demanding than others. The SD card transfer was fine. I had a Sandisk Ultra with multiple images at Class 6 speed (30MB/s). The transfer speed to my Macbook was around 23 MB/s, so not bad. 2.85GB of data was transferred in about 2 minutes. I bet if I had a faster card it would work better but I'll leave that test to someone else. My faster cards are in the office. The power output from the hub is about 8 watts less than the adapter itself, so you can guess that the hub is drawing about 8-10 watts depending on the port. Tried two different power supplies. One adapter is 90W, the other 86W. Both registered 8 watts less when connected to a hub compared to a direct connection to my Macbook. It's normal what I saw. I even had a bus powered USB drive plugged in and it still showed this reading. A few big pluses: It has a longer cable than TOTU and a more useful USB-C connector, which is a better choice these days if your computer doesn't have an audio jack. But these days we mostly deal with wireless audio via Bluetooth! It also has rubber feet on the bottom which are nice to the touch so it doesn't scratch and move as much. This thing seems solid and all ports work as expected. USB 3.0 didn't interfere with RF on a wireless mouse like others - better shielding. Cons: It is thicker but shorter than TOTU. It's blue, so it doesn't look like a MacBook Pro Space Gray, which isn't really a problem. Blue is a good color, it just doesn't go with a MacBook. You must use a good quality HDMI cable (I used Cable Matters). Gets very HOT. but they all do. All in all I would buy it but be sure to test all the ports you intend to use with the cable you intend to use. I contacted the company and they sent me a new one to test. When he had a similar problem with the HDMI port, they fixed the problem that could be related to the cable. You were right! I needed another one for my "dock" at home, so I'll probably leave one of the two at home connected to all my peripherals. Thank you for reading!