Had my hub now for 2 months. So convenient with all the ports etc at the front. My hub is the newer version and which does accept NVME SSD, just ordered a 1TB SSD to use with it. The mac mini sits neatly on top of the hub which has little feet which prevents the whole thing from sliding on the desk. All in all an excellent addition to my set up.
Re my previous comment - Well I purchased a 1TB NVME SSD for less than £70, it took a couple of minutes to install and initialise/format and all works fine. If in doubt go for it, this is a great hub and ideal for mac mini owners.
Thank you for introducing me to this hub! Will order it today! Being in a wheelchair, the „reach-around“ is a big problem for me! THANK you from Germany.
Agreed. I bought one with a SSD option, a year ago. And it made a HUGE difference. And allowed me to add a 1TB SSD for a lot cheaper than the Apple option. Now I have a 1TB, and can plug in even more SSD’s in the other front openings as well. It made ALL the difference in the world.
but that SSD is only M2 SATA which is something that is relatively slow and obsolete. If it works for you, nice but I would like to see this dock with Thunderbolt and NVME support. Even if it would be definitely more expensive
Satechi makes great hardware for a long time... I have quite few of their USB-C hubs and keyboard and I was really impressed from the start, works like a charm, looks just like apple oem and its not expensive at all
I came against the same conundrum when I bought my M1 mini. I splurged a bit and didn't save any money in the near term since I went with a Thunderbolt 3 dock, but I look at it as a long term solution. Buy once / cry once as it has more than enough bandwidth for my needs and I can keep it even if my M1 dies or I decide to go to the M2 Mini just press released 01/17/2023. It allows you to upgrade for the minimum amount.
I've had this hub working with a Mac Studio for 5 months or so now. Primarily I bought it for the SSD function so that I had a neat solution to for Time Machine backups (replacing an old external USB portable HD which was on it's last legs) The Studio and the Mini are both the same footprint and this hub fits both perfectly (when I bought mine, Satechi didn't explicitly note it would fit a Studio so it was a bit of a punt, but they seem to have updated this info recently) Great video and mirrors exactly my findings - this thing just plugs in and works. Time Machine is flawless using the SSD, having ports at the front is a huge bonus (even though the Studio has some front ports, this handily increases the amount of USB-A ports which is handy for older devices) Best of all, this box it an exact match for the Mac Mini/Studio - size and colour match perfectly, to the point where you'd believe it was an official Apple product. My only gripe would be the support of only SATA M2 drives.
It’s in my shopping cart right now. Pity it’s not NVME. I see that there are other (unfamiliar) brands that are NVME capable, but I trust Satechi. For Time Machine and for back ups it will be fine.
For your use case, this is a really cool product! I love the fact that you can flip it over and pop an SSD stick into it - that's way cool. Personally, the way my studio is set up, I'd hate the clutter of all those ports on the front of the computer, but it's all about different use cases. One size does not fit all. This is a great product.
Looks like a a lifesaver for you, brilliant more ports and storage all in one. I'm running an older Mac but I am now the proud owner of an impressive stack of external Hard drives since getting into video editing.
I've just recently upgraded my 2017 27" iMac initially to a new iMac, and bought a similar device from Inateck for it. But once I got that setup, I just didn't like the new iMac. Screen size difference was too drastic. So, I quickly returned it for a new Mac Mini and a refurbished Studio Display. Was going to buy this Satechi device for the same reasons - my old iMac had 3TB of storage, and didn't want to pay Apple's prices for any more than the 1TB, but the 2 TB NVMe SSD I bought wasn't compatible with it. Bought something very similar that can store both that SSD and another 2.5" SATA SSD. Liked the way the Mac Mini rested on the Satechi better, but didn't feel like doing another exchange for the SSD I already bought, and like the fact that I could easily add another drive.
Much enjoyed your video. I too have one of these Satechi hubs and like it very much. The reason for the limitation on charging is simply that the hub gets all its power from just one USB-C port at the back of the Mac mini, and you are limited by the power draw that the port can provide. Also, it needs to be shared by all the devices plugged into the hub. The maximum power usage of a M2 Mac mini is 150W, but most of that goes to the integrated CPU/RAM/GPU, so the Mac mini's ports are not going to be able to supply anything near that. It's not clear what the maximum output is on the Mac's USB-C port, but the hub obviously gets enough power to do some limited charging. I have an M.2 SATA SSD in it, and though the speed is not as fast as an NVMe drive, it is still perfectly adequate. I have found though that M.2 SATA SSD sticks are getting harder to find, suppliers are mostly carrying NVMe drives these days.
Great recommendation. I've just switched from an Intel iMac to my first Mac Mini M2. Pleased so far, but now looking for the additional ports as realised I ideally need external speakers and peripheral disk storage etc. Then, not to mention I've also found a new channel to subscribe to, to learn Garage Band!!
Thanks to watching, and then rewatching this, now I've ordered my Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16GB and 1TB, I've got my eye on the Satechi dock for £110 and the WD Blue 2TB M.2 SATA SSD for £93. Given the sheer performance of the Mini M2 Pro, I think I'll be set for life! Thanks for making this video. 🙂
@@TheGaragebandGuide Look grand. I just ordered one. Shortly after asking I found a WiFi question in the FAQ which said they'd tested and there was zero impact.
This was brilliant. I have the same setup and needs as Patrick so I have a hub and an SSD hanging off the back of the Mac, along with a number of other things connected. It works flawlessly but it's a mess! And the other thing, the hub and the portable SSD are always hot. I'd love to have those ports available on the front. This thing is a winner at that price. I love how easy/cheap it is to add a ton of storage.
So glad you made this video. I was aware of the hub but DIDNT know about its secret Hard Drive option. I have only ever seen the cheaper one and just thought "oh, a mac mini hub, thats good" but the storage option inside is a GAME CHANGER and the power of thunderbolt throwing all those ports AND the hard drive at the Mac Mini is just fantastic!! Love it Patrick, Love it. now.. lets get serious and tell us ALL.... what display or displays are you using as I have moved over to AR GLASSES with 3 displays in my eyeballs!!!!!!
so the algorithm recommended this video- I had no idea something like this existed...Thank you for the review! now all i have to do is sell some plasma for a few more weeks and i can order one.
My Mac mini sits under my desk and I have tidied all my cables up. Having the ports at the front just makes Mini look untidy and messy so I prefer the rear ports and use a separate USB hub, also tucked away. I don’t plug and unplug my cables all the time so it suits me. Although I get the annoyance of them being at the rear if you do
I have used the MacMini for about as long as there has been a MacMini. I think I have gone through five of them. My main use...even going back to 2007...has been as a server for AppleTV. The first AppleTV's were not streaming devices and there wasn't much video available, so my main impetus to acquire the ATV was to consolidate my (extensive) music collection...some songs (in digitized form) going back to LP's from the dawn of stereo in 1958. I currently have over 35,000 music tracks on my server. Actually, I have that collection on an SSD which is hosed into one of the USB-C ports on the back. The other USB-C port is for my Satechi and I love it for all the reasons mentioned in the video. I do not have the one with built in SSD port...I don't believe it was yet available when I bought the dock. The rest of my permanently attached accessories are plugged into a 4 for 1 USB-A dock...this includes two server drives (for video)...one is 12Tb and the other is 14Tb (the latter being the backup drive to the first). I have also collected about 1,800 classic movies (from the silent era until present and in all the languages of developed countries). All of my media has multiple redundant backups which happen automatically a couple of times per week (during the night). So the Satechi is really for things that get plugged in temporarily to transfer files or photos or videos or the like. Also, if I ever call AppleCare I plug a wired keyboard and mouse into the Satechi during the conversation with the techs...which has happened only twice in two years. I love the Satechi because, as mentioned in the video, one does not have to "fish" blindly for an open port facing the rear wall. The Satechi really functions like the part of the Mac that Apple forgot to build. My two big drives also match the Mac (from OWC) so they all stack up nicely and I've got more computing power per sq. in. of footprint than I have ever had or imagined. I also have NEVER had a problem with any of the port hookups bogging down in response speed...as, before the M1 chip, happened quite often. For me it's a perfect system.
Read the reviews on these things though. For the brief time I was testing out the M1 Mini, I started looking at this exact thing as well as the one that you can put two full sized SSDs into. What I came across was lots of mentions of RF shielding issues where using it would result in Bluetooth and/or Wifi interference as well as an increase in heat retention because of where it is designed to be put. Even bigger of an issue was that if the Mac went to sleep for any reason, then the attached storage would disconnect, requiring a full restart of the Mac (either that or it was remove/reconnect of the USB-C?) to get the hub back online. All in all, they Looked nice, but there were too many high level issues to pull the trigger.
Looks like we have a winner here. I have kept my old Mac mini for media due to it's expandable storage. But all things will come to end eventually. Something like this will help with the transition. I wonder if there's one that'll allow nVme storage?
In place of this I highly recommend the Qwiizlab USB C Hub Docking Station for Mac Mini (or Mac Studio). It features internal M.2 (NVMe not SATA!) AND a SATA SSD slot, card readers, 2 USB 3 ports, but also 2 10BG/Sec USB 3.1 ports (Type A and Type C) . Not sure about the UK, but for the US (Amazon) the Qwiizlab is cheaper, and much much better internal storage options. I have a fast nVMe 1TB drive and a 500GB SATA SSD for my Mac Mini and it's been fantastic having that storage plus the much better I/O. (BTW just want to add I got mine because I couldn't keep my Logic Pro X and Adobe Premiere projects on the Mini itself without using all the storage. The speed of the internal NVMe drive while of course not nearly as good as if it were truly internal, is still way good enough to run my Logic projects with 30 plus tracks off the drive, and edit videos for Premiere. Trying the same via USB hubs was not working for me.)
Oh and ONE other thing... don't know about yours, but my Qwiizlab absolutely MUST be powered by an external USB power source, not the Mini itself. It kind of stands to reason if you install an internal SSD, internal M.2 AND want to plug a bunch of things into it. I have mine plugged into an ANKER USB power supply and it works great and powers the dock and everything I throw at it. And also I don't charge anything off the dock, but that honestly never occurred to me!
This is a few months old but, I Agree the Quiz is a better choice. got the the quizlab’s one as well and it is not only able to install 2 drives, but it is actually faster transfers. The data USB cable is a few inches longer also so the Quizlab can be set on side instead of under with a Studio to prevent it being too tall for space. Down side is the the extra power cable but I went right to a power strip to avoid loosing another USB port.
I have the same Mac Mini and Satechi hub/dock but with a 512 GB M.2 instead. I can charge my M1 iPad air through the front USB-C port.Another more expensive hub/dock is the Quiizlab UH25 Max. It has most of the same ports as the Satechi lacks the audio port. In its base is an M.2 NVME slot and a 2.5-in SATA slot. The rear panel has two USB-C inputs, one for data from the Mac and the other for power, from either the Mac or an external power plugpack. It also has HDMI and DisplayPort connections, both capable of 4k@60Hz. A lesser model is available without the extra display ports.
And the Focus rite, is all okay for Podcast and blobs but certainly not for Audio production unfortunately, we need a higher end Interface for real studio editing and recording
Really useful video, Patrick. Many thanks. My own hub is a Hagibis, but similar idea. Oddly, I solved the issue of the ports being on the back of the Mac Mini by turning the Mac a quarter turn so they're on the side. It doesn't look very neat, but my desk is a mess anyway.
Good to hear what its like and whether its up to snuff.... am going to be investing in at least an M2Pro in the next few weeks, maybe even a Studio, so its good to know that the options are there and can be relied on.
I use one already with my M1 Mini too. All my Logic X library, files, samples and content live of the drive in mine with a 1TB drive and 16 gig ram in the Mac Mini.
A great video aimed at solving the dilemma I am currently facing. I wanted to buy an M1 but the lack of ports and the high price of the 1 TB drive was putting me off. I checked the price in my location and it sells for $125 CND which is great for what you get. Thank you very much...
Love your videos! You are not the first person to complain about all the ports being round the back not to mention the power button! I have been anxiously awaiting the next iteration of the Mac Mini which is long overdue and has now been pushed back to next year. I hope that Apple has taken on this criticism and move all/most ports to the front and added an SD card reader. Looking forward to your next video!!
Excellent choice and advice. One should first off know NOT to buy the base model SSD on the new Mac Mini M2, the base size SSD is slow due to one chip rather than two on this model. The pressing questions are can I charge using USB-C and can get one of these with more USB-C ports? The SSD enclosure inside this is the real advantage.
Be careful not to overload the USB Power Bus on the Mac mini using these hubs. I have a similar Hagibis Pro Hub But with A Wall Powered PSU. There is option for both NVME and SATA drives fitted together inside, and you can charge devices from it. Because of the separate USB-C PSU there is no stress on the Mac Mini USB power Bus.
Mac mini M1/M2 is a game changer, a monster for just 600usd its just awesome, if you just add more storage and ports, etc. I don't know if im going to need another computer in maybe 10 years, I use it just for music production/mixing, working with 64 buffer, it's just insane lol
Great video. I got the m1 mini 16 ram 256 ssd, and added external tb4 nvme ssd enclosure and ssd. then needed ports so I added the tb4 anker with 4 tb ports and one usb. it works great, although anker says not compatible its because it cant get past 1 monitor on the dock. Everything works great, and fast adding more thundrebolt 4 ports.
I bought this hub. Great for the ports and drive. But it completely killed my wifi as the antenna is in the base of the Mac mini which gets swallowed by the hub. I had to get a repeater to wire into the Ethernet port to have usable internet. It’s a common problem with these. Which is something I only discovered after buying it and researching the problem online.
I had a Satechi hub on my M1 iMac 24. It worked perfectly for two years. I purchased a mac mini and the mac mini hub from Amazon and set it up yesterday. The hub failed right out the box. It would not read SD cards. Back to Amazon it goes. And I attached the old iMac hub to my Studio display. Not as elegant, but for now it will do.
I went through the exact same process and decisions as you did. The only difference is I bought the one providing the extra storage capacity but haven't had the need to insert an additional drive yet. Figured it was a bit of future proofing for a very nominal increase in price for the hub.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. I don't need more storage but that option is great. People should buy a Mac Mini with the 16GB and the smallest SSD. I bought only 250GB and have no regrets
@@peteandpuy Hey Pete, ya. I've been a Mac Mini convert since my first in 2011. Love the small footprint, plus the absolute quiet. On that early model I replaced the original HD with an SSD. Pretty much have to gut the whole thing to get at the drive. When I did I was actually shocked to find there was in fact a fan inside. Engineering magic. BTW, my wife is Thai. We've been to Phuket a couple of times. Last in 2018. Love the beaches and seafood. Take care.
Nice video. I was going to buy a Mac Mini M1, until I seen it had no way to upgrade storage, and instead bought a MBA with 16GB Ram and 1TB Storage. Hopefully they will make a version of the hub with NVME support soon, ideally with Raid 1 support.
Very likely the reason it advises against charging devices from the front ports is the current draw. Either it's sending most of its power to the internal SSD drive, or to your devices, it can't do both. Midi controllers, memory sticks and some audio interfaces it'll power all day though.
@@TheGaragebandGuide Qwiizlab USB C Hub Docking Station, Fits PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD & 2.5'' SATA SSD, USB-C 10Gbps, Card Readers 100MB/s for Mac Studio Mac Mini 2018/2020 M1 (Silver)
Well it's pretty spiffy to be sure, but the only thing I'd need it for is that USB C port on the front for my Sandisk SSD. I can live with the reach-around to the back of the M2 for now.
I even added this to My Mac Studio and that has a lot more ports and even then i feel i just have enough for all hardware connectivity ...... this will remain a thing now and in the future unless they finally start to allow daisy chaining all USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 devices with IN/OUT connection and done ....
I got this hub with a 2TB SSD a year ago and a 1TB external SSD for Time Machine backup. that's very useful and easier as my mac mini has only 256GB of internal storage
@@allanpick4235 I'm still getting over the £700 coasters for the Mac Pro ... But being serious for a moment. It is actually daylight robbery. If I can buy the same on the street, as an end user, for 1/4 of that, Apple will be paying probably a 1/4 of that price again ... scalping their own customers ...
@Douglas Dueno Most Mac owners aren't technical and therefore have no idea about the actual cost of things. The industry were outraged by the Nvidia scalpers and price gouging to the extent manufacturers were taking steps to help. For Apple, that's their policy ...
There's another dock out there (can't remember who makes it) but it has space for a 2.5" SSD & a M.2 drive along with all the additional ports. It might be a good option for someone wanting even more storage.
@@TheGaragebandGuide on Amazon it is listed as Qwiizlab USB C Hub Docking Station but I'm sure there are various other ones. It's currently $79.99 but if you use both extra hard drive spaces you reportedly need to supply extra power using a usb-c to usb-a cable that is included. I've heard the speed for the M.2 drive isn't great in that it runs at regular sata speeds though so it's definitely not a perfect solution.
Despite the port connector type, you may find that the connection port is only a USB3 port so you can use one of the 3.0 ports instead of the USB-C with no loss of speed.
Great video. I'm looking at purchasing either the Satechi or the Minisopuru. Having used both do you have a preference. Minisopuru uses the faster ports but Satechi looks like it was made for Mac mini. As a home user rather than a creator I'm thinking the Satechi would serve my needs for both extra ports & extra storage? Curious which you prefer. Thx :)
The inaccessible ports problem - I found a way of making all the ports on my mac mini more accessible. I turned it round 180 degrees so they were all on the 'front'.
I would strongly advise against this product. Perhaps I got a lemon, but this kept shutting down my Mac (mini M1) and did spontaneous reboots. I sent it back to the OEM. Since I disconnected it, I have had no similar issues.
Good old Apple; keep the ports at the rear, because the front needs to maintain an aesthetic. They're very much form over function. That said, I really do like my M1 Mini.
I strongly advise against using the front ports for charging if you have an SSD installed inside the HUB. My SSD would not have enough power to function and would disconnect the SSD about every 8 minutes prompting a warning/error message the external SSD was not ejected properly. I had a custom mechanical keyboard with LEDs, an iPad, and a wireless mouse dongle only. Initially, I didn't know what was going on but after reading the instructions and disconnecting devices that need power I've had no issues since.
I bought a very similar dock with an Nvme slot inside. I too had the Nvme SSD disconnect when you do too much with the front ports. Also, if you put a heavy load on the SSD it disconnects and you have to reboot the Mac. Not usually a problem, only Android Studio and one other app causes this.
@@TheGaragebandGuide i mean.. macbook ports are on the side, cable management is still possible if you turn it 90° , if access is the issue, there is no 'front' of a mac mini
Besides the ridiculous low port count on Macs and the fact Apple robs its customers by the SSD and memory upgrades, I really can’t understand why that hub hasn’t a Thunderbolt interface operating at 40 Gbps and no combo slot for CFexpress/XQD. The dealbreaker is the lack of Thunderbolt connectivity.
Great video, I nearly bought a hub about a year ago but hesitated because folks were commenting that some of them reduced Wireless range by a noticeable bit. Has anyone seen this as an issue with the next generation of hubs? I live on a farm and have a campus-wide wireless system covering about 1 hectare.
Yes, I also saw the reviews on Amazon about interrupted Blue Tooth and Wifi signals...If I recall the antennas are in that circular portion of the Mac mini and with it being recessed into the hub may block or interfere with the signals somehow...
Update, (I bought it with a 1TB WD Red M.2 SSD Drive), I am an Amatuer Radio Operator and retired EE. I took my relativity meter and found the Wi-Fi is impacted by the hub. The loss is about 3db (about 25%'ish). My network is still fine, but please take this into account if you have a marginal network, or are at the extreme range of your router (or relay). Still recommend!
Wow this is awesome! Thanks for the review. It might be a stupid question, but when it comes to installing programs, could this be done on the external SSD in the hub, or I should think about that when buying the Mac mini? Thanks 😊
Not a stupid question at all! Personally I would always install programs on the Mac’s internal drive and use the external for storage of things like project files, videos etc.
I think Satechi gave the USB A warnings because it was made before the M1 mac came out and they were considering the old Intel Mac. Ive charged my Samsung phone using a 10 wireless charger through it no problem.
Hows it been a year later? Heard about it interfering with the minis wifi and bluetooth, also intermittent disconnecting of the ssd…. Holding off buying this for now.
I still haven’t upgraded to the M1, you make it more tempting every day. Could you use powered USB hubs on the M1, to expand on storage(& more USB ports) and get the same sort of speeds as this Mac mini hub ? I’ve not experienced the reach around problems, I’m guessing that’s similar to playing the rusty trombone ?
I'm running an external powered hub from ALDI. It works fine and also allows me to run two monitors, one from the Mini and one from the hub, being able to configure whichever I want as the primary.
This is very nice. Almost does it for me. What I'm after - and I could be looking for a unicorn - is a mac mini hub with these fast ports plus a dual SSD enclosure so I can replace my aging QNAP NAS with direct attached storage and RAID 1 the two 4TB SSDs. Any ideas?
I remember this being the one that caused people a bunch of Bluetooth connectivity issues like having their mice and keyboards mysteriously disconnecting. Is that still a problem with these?
@@TheGaragebandGuide good for you man, I'm glad, but it was a common thing people in the reviews would complain about. Maybe they fixed that problem in later updates then
