Why Caligit TS3 is so expensive?

[hajime]

Hello, I see much smaller hubs that connect 1 USB-c to several USB-A/USB-B devices at about $20. What so special about the Caligit TS3 that it costs over 20 times?

 

[dollystereo]

nothing, the aukey ones are pretty good value for the money.

 

[theluggage]

Hello, I see much smaller hubs that connect 1 USB-c to several USB-A/USB-B devices at about $20. What so special about the Caligit TS3 that it costs over 20 times?

...because all the cheap USB hubs do is share a single 5Gbps USB 3 connection between several ports. Most are functionally equivalent to an old school USB-A hub with a USB-A-to-C adapter cable. Some USB peripherals don't like being connected via a hub. Few, if any, even support 10Gbps USB gen2 or take advantage of the extra power delivery capabilities of USB-C. Any 'extras' - ethernet, SD cards, audio - have to come out of that 5Gbps bandwidth. Even the ones that also feature display connections have serious limitations: connect a 4k, 60Hz display and all the USB ports fall back to USB 2 speed, because all four of the high-speed data lines in the USB-C cable have to be switched to DisplayPort mode.

A Thunderbolt dock is a lot more sophisticated - first, the data link to the host computer is 20 or 40 Gbps Thunderbolt, rather than 5Gbps USB 3.1, and works like an extension of the computer's internal PCIe bus. The USB ports have their own USB controller connected to the computer via Thunderbolt/PCIe - its the next best thing to having more USB controllers built into the computer, rather than sharing one port between multiple devices. The DisplayPort signal is sent over Thunderbolt in a much more efficient way, so it can drive multiple and/or 4k displays without losing USB 3.1. The TS3 also has a meaty power supply that can charge the larger MacBook Pros and various other bells and whistles.

If you just want to connect keyboards/mice/printers, occasionally sync/charge your phone or maybe add a single hard drive for backups then a $20 USB hub may be all you need (I'd be wary of the cheapest no-name ones - there's a lot of tat out there). If you want to connect a number of high-performance USB 3 devices, while also using 1Gb Ethernet, and certainly if you want to connect a 4k display, then its time to fork out for the Thunderbolt dock.

The other thing with electronics is that the cost of production is hugely affected by "economies of scale" - design, development and "tooling up" a production line costs a fortune but the "marginal cost" of mass-producing each extra unit is relatively tiny - the more you produce, the less you have to 'mark up' the price to pay off the set-up costs and turn a profit. The cheap USB hubs sell by the cartload, many of them are the same product re-badged or in a slightly different box and they're all basically one of the same, few, "USB hub" chips wired up according to the chip maker's reference design. The smaller the market, the smaller the volume, the higher proportion of the set-up costs you have to recoup with each sale.

Of course, Thunderbolt docks are primarily of interest to Mac users who (in general) wouldn't be Mac users if they were disinclined to buy expensive kit, which doubtless plays a significant role in pricing decisions...

 

[hajime]

...because all the cheap USB hubs do is share a single 5Gbps USB 3 connection between several ports. Most are functionally equivalent to an old school USB-A hub with a USB-A-to-C adapter cable. Some USB peripherals don't like being connected via a hub. Few, if any, even support 10Gbps USB gen2 or take advantage of the extra power delivery capabilities of USB-C. Any 'extras' - ethernet, SD cards, audio - have to come out of that 5Gbps bandwidth. Even the ones that also feature display connections have serious limitations: connect a 4k, 60Hz display and all the USB ports fall back to USB 2 speed, because all four of the high-speed data lines in the USB-C cable have to be switched to DisplayPort mode.

A Thunderbolt dock is a lot more sophisticated - first, the data link to the host computer is 20 or 40 Gbps Thunderbolt, rather than 5Gbps USB 3.1, and works like an extension of the computer's internal PCIe bus. The USB ports have their own USB controller connected to the computer via Thunderbolt/PCIe - its the next best thing to having more USB controllers built into the computer, rather than sharing one port between multiple devices. The DisplayPort signal is sent over Thunderbolt in a much more efficient way, so it can drive multiple and/or 4k displays without losing USB 3.1. The TS3 also has a meaty power supply that can charge the larger MacBook Pros and various other bells and whistles.

If you just want to connect keyboards/mice/printers, occasionally sync/charge your phone or maybe add a single hard drive for backups then a $20 USB hub may be all you need (I'd be wary of the cheapest no-name ones - there's a lot of tat out there). If you want to connect a number of high-performance USB 3 devices, while also using 1Gb Ethernet, and certainly if you want to connect a 4k display, then its time to fork out for the Thunderbolt dock.

The other thing with electronics is that the cost of production is hugely affected by "economies of scale" - design, development and "tooling up" a production line costs a fortune but the "marginal cost" of mass-producing each extra unit is relatively tiny - the more you produce, the less you have to 'mark up' the price to pay off the set-up costs and turn a profit. The cheap USB hubs sell by the cartload, many of them are the same product re-badged or in a slightly different box and they're all basically one of the same, few, "USB hub" chips wired up according to the chip maker's reference design. The smaller the market, the smaller the volume, the higher proportion of the set-up costs you have to recoup with each sale.

Of course, Thunderbolt docks are primarily of interest to Mac users who (in general) wouldn't be Mac users if they were disinclined to buy expensive kit, which doubtless plays a significant role in pricing decisions...

Thanks. You are an expert!