OWC Thunderbolt Hub and M1: Issues Galore

Hardware
1

I connected the OWC Thunderbolt Hub to the M1 mac mini. Once done, things went downhill. Waking the mini up from sleep took at least 1 minute. Once logged in, istatmenu showed the left 4 cores quite busy for some time. The mini itself felt slower. After several days, I disconnected the OWC Thunderbolt Hub and now the mini is back to its former performance. Do you guys see problems with this combo as well? Maybe I just have a faulty unit.

I’ll be returning the Hub, but can anyone recommend another Hub that seems to be “optimized” for use with M1?

2

Oh! I just received my OWC Hub few minutes ago and I am planning to use it with my M1 Mini. They specifically marketed it as M1 compatible hub.
I will test it for few days and report back.

Would you mind me asking which one you were using?

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3

Hi, Mina,

This is what I got and what I have problems with: OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock - 14 Ports, Silver. Note: I don’t even have a monitor plugged into the dock (it’s plugged directly into the mini), only 1 external USB-C drive (with the intention of adding more, which I cannot do now)

4

Thanks for sharing that. This is the one I ordered and received today (I didn’t even have a chance to connect it yet).
It is specifically positioned as M1 compatible.

2 Likes
5

Yours seems to be the better one since it’s Thunderbolt 4 and not Thunderbolt 3 like mine. Please keep us posted on your experience!

6

I would definitely contact OWC support. They have a reputation for being very good to work with, and that has been my experience as well.

I have one of their older docks that my son has been using with his MacBook Air, and it has been great.

I’ve been extremely happy with my CalDigit “TS3 Plus” Thunderbolt 3 Dock with my M1 MacBook Air.

(One assumes they are working on a Thunderbolt 4 version now, so if you could wait, I would wait, but the TS3+ will be compatible with T4.)

1 Like
7

Thanks, TJ - for now, I’m getting by without it, but will need one, if I need to add more Thunderbolt or USB-C devices…