OWC’s $130 USB4 Hub Adds HDMI 2.1, 81W Power and Four Extra Ports to Your Mac

OWC has just dropped a new hub that tries to make the ever‑shrinking port selection on modern laptops a little less painful. For $129.99 you get a sleek, fan‑free aluminum box that plugs into one USB‑C/Thunderbolt port and sprouts four additional connections plus a high‑end HDMI 2.1 output.

The hub’s heart is a USB4 controller that splits the single host lane into two full‑speed USB4 ports (perfect for a fast external SSD or a Thunderbolt‑compatible device) and two more modest USB‑C ports that top out at 10 Gbps. In other words, you can keep your external storage humming while still having a couple of classic USB‑C sockets for mice, keyboards or a dongle.

Where the hub really shines is the built‑in HDMI 2.1 port. Forget a separate adapter – just hook up your monitor directly. The spec says 4K at 120 Hz or 8K at 60 Hz, and with Display Stream Compression you can push a 240 Hz refresh on a 4K panel. Of course, the actual performance will depend on your Mac’s GPU and the display you’re using.

Power‑delivery is handled by an included 81‑watt brick. The hub automatically balances the power budget between the host MacBook (or Windows/Linux PC, or even an iPad Pro) and any peripherals you’ve attached, so you won’t have to lug an extra charger.

Compatibility is broad: Thunderbolt 5, 4, 3, USB4 and USB‑C devices should all work, meaning the hub is as much at home on a MacBook Pro as it is on a high‑end Windows laptop or the latest iPad Pro. The aluminum shell stays cool thanks to a passive heat‑sink design – no fans, no noise.

Alongside the hub, OWC is also unveiling 3‑meter and 5‑meter USB4 40 Gbps active optical cables. Priced at $98.99 and $129.99 respectively, these fiber‑optic‑based cables promise lossless data rates over lengths that would cripple ordinary copper cables, and they support up to 8K video as well as power delivery.

Both the hub and the cables are slated for a late‑October launch. If you’re juggling a handful of peripherals and a high‑refresh display, OWC’s new USB4 hub might finally give you the desk space you’ve been missing.