Plugable today unveiled a new Thunderbolt 4 dock that is ideal for use with the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The dock features 16 ports and will be available to purchase for $299 on Amazon starting January 17.
The dock is equipped with six USB-A ports (three 10 Gbps, two 5 Gbps, and one 480 Mbps), two USB-C ports (one 10 Gbps and one that provides up to 100W of charging to a MacBook Pro or other device connected), two HDMI ports, two DisplayPorts, an Ethernet port (2.5 Gbps), SD and microSD card readers (UHS-II), and an audio in/out jack. The dock has a separate power supply and connects to a MacBook Pro with a Thunderbolt 4 cable.
The dock can be used to connect up to two 4K displays at 60Hz to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.
A variety of brands have released Thunderbolt 4 docks for the Mac over the past few years, including OWC, CalDigit, Belkin, Satechi, and others. The selection of ports and pricing varies for each dock, so it may be worth shopping around.
Plugable also introduced an 11-in-1 USB-C hub, available now for $79 on Amazon. The hub can be used with the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and other Apple devices equipped with USB-C ports. Plugable will showcase both the Thunderbolt 4 dock and USB-C hub at the CES 2023 event Pepcom in Las Vegas later today.
Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014.
Q.ai has...
Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
I’m constantly out of usb-c ports, I really just need a usb c hub (which I realize is a different type of product) and I feel like there’s a big lack of quality usb c hubs on the market.
Seems like such a big flaw for everyday usability in a port that was supposed to replace USB-A.
Agreed. I don't care what the issue is, this is 2023 mostly accepting incoming connections from a decade ago. I went Caldigit for this reason.
Have we learned nothing from long ago in a galaxy far, far away? Keeping old ports around when something newer and better is available will come back to bite us in the (_!_).
If the Empire had not used the ancient scomp link port ('https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Scomp_link'), a 40-something year old R2 unit would never have been able to access the Death Star's computer network to download the Death Star blue prints.
Why do these hubs have lots of USB-A ports, but never have a good amount of USB-C ports? Is there a technical reason such as available bandwidth? More and more of my devices are USB-C now.
