Brilliant info! - The BIG surprise was your mention of the SATECHI with the M.2 SSD port!! ♥♥♥

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.

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!!!!!!

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.

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.

" A wee secret compartment." Priceless! I loved this presentation and had to subscribe. Very good analysis and recommendations.

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. 🙂

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.

Thanks for the breakdown !

Hi Man, thank you very much for the info, well explained and very useful

Thank you from Atlanta, GA!!!

I just purchased the same hub for my M2 Mac Mini and love it

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.

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.

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!!

Thats cool! Will definitely be looking into getting one of these!👍👍

Thank you !!! Excellent video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

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...

Beautiful review. Thank ya.

great video thanks for the info

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.

Very helpful! Thanks 😎

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.

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.

5:14 - that's extremely cunning. Love it.

Love your channel! Thanks for this excellent review and recommendation. 🙂

Great advice. I’ll definitely save this video.

Thanks. I was having a headache with my Mini Mac limitations

Sir, I thank you for this video. You saved me a lot of money.

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

Excellent-similar dilemma!

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.

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!!

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.

I’m in the same boat and this is perfect. Cheers.

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.

Beautiful

Yo buddy, love your accent. Where are you from? Great video!!!

I need more ports and storage on my Mac mini. You appear to have solved my problems

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?

Oy, top review, mate

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.

Thanks

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.

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.

I have one. Great idea.

I love your channel. I’m hoping you can help with some advice. I have a Arturia key step controller and I used to connect to garage band on my iPad. Which worked great, and there was a headphone jack. But when I updated my iPad to last years model I can no longer connect my keyboard and headphones at the same time. I’ve tried a few dongles with no luck- can you recommend any other interfaces or dongles that might work ? Thanks so much

Just placed my order from your link. Hope you get a few pennies. Great review. My application is 4K video

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.

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

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?

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

I've always thought the black part of the mac mini was the front, so I haven't had any problems with cords, though I do agree that no SD is annoying.

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 that one too on my m1, and even with same WD red disk. As you i can recommend it highly , wouldnt be without

Thanks, I bought one.

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.

great video I bought both the ssd and the hub from your links, do you have to format the SSD?

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.

Thanks for the review. I was eyeing this hub, but all the negative Amazon reviews about WiFi/Bluetooth signal loss were concerning.

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 can only relate to this video because i just purchased a mini pro m2 but instead of the iphone 3 you showed 5:33 i have my 5th gen ipod next to it!

I have this hub for over 15 month now and it works absolutely perfect and makes the MacMini really useful😊

thanks for this video, what do you think about hubs with the faster nvme ssds? I have seen some of them but drives tends to overheat as you can not install a heat sink

I rock with it.

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 😊

Great video. What's the maximum capacity m. 2 SSD permitted?

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.

That is a great product! I am looking to buy an M2 Pro Mac Mini and want an external SSD dedicated to my music.

After getting the SSD, do you need to format it? If so, can you point to instructions on how to do that so that the MAC recognizes it?

Interesting video, thank you, one question, can you use a 27’ windows monitor with one of these please, thanks Mike UK

I was just wondering what speeds you are getting from the Western Digital Drive In the Hub, prety close to full speeds?

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 :)

Hi Great video. I can't seem to find a Satechi with extra memory slot. I looked everywhere. Can you help. I have ordered a mac mini M2 version

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.

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.

The physical fit here is definitely meant for the Mac Mini, but these work great with iMacs and Powebooks too.

hi, I m thinking about buying the m1 mini with 512 storage and 16gb of ram. Do you think it would be enough ram or I should go for the m2 24gb? Of course recording and writing sessions. thanks in advance

This can be great for iMac users as well.

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.

The Mac Mini is such a great device, I still have an older model Mac Mini.

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

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 ....

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.)

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.

What does the speed of the new SSD compared to the internal SSD?

The big question is: does the SSD, SD Cards, or USB disconnect randomly? Because it always happens to me with every port on any Mac I had try with all the dongles that I have. My guess is that they are not powered directly.

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.

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.

I had a different docking station two years ago when I bought the Mac and it had an place for an SSD. I've seen ones with two slots, SSD AND NVME.

Fresh

Will it work with a MacBook Air (M1, 2020) as well?

Will the WD Red 2 TB NAS SSD M.2 SATA work with the hub?

Do they make a docking station for the 2018 mini?

Saw this video and thought it was a great idea! The link is to Amazon in the UK. I am from the USA. Found the base model without the HD enclosure for 79$ and the model with the enclosure for 99$ (both on Amazon). I also found the one with the enclosure for 79$ at B&H Photo, where I also got a PNY drive. Looking forward to plopping it in and setting up. Are there any updates or firmware or programs needed to download so that it will access the storage? Or does it automatically just recognize it as an additional drive? Thanks for the video, this set me on the path for a nice Christmas upgrade and present to myself.😃

Interesting if you could connect to the Mac Mini by connecting the 'Mac Mini Hub' to a hub with extra ports and then connect that to the Mac MIni. If so could you daisy chain Mac Mini Hubs?

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 figure you could stack 2 of the hubs for even more connectivity.

I HAVE TWO ON MY MAC Mini it looks like a studio now lol

👍🙂Very helpful info, thank you! *Also, if it's not Scottish, it's CRAP!!😂