Hyper's new Thunderbolt hub ditches the giant power brick

Hyper, the company behind those stackable GaN chargers and powerful battery banks, is running a Kickstarter for a Thunderbolt 4 hub thanks to the fact that it requires a massive power brick like the weighty ones of other hubs. is not needed. Instead, it plugs directly into the wall with a relatively standard figure-eight power cable, so you can add fast ports to your computer without eating up a bunch of backpack or desk space.

Despite the simplicity, Hyper says it will still be able to power your laptop with up to 96 watts, which is enough to power most laptops (if you have a gaming computer or a 16-inch MacBook Pro). However, it may still lose some battery when full-tilt). As with most Hyper products, however, the Hub doesn't come cheap; Hyper says it's expected to retail for about $299 upon release.

As a Thunderbolt 4 hub, it gives you a few more ports to work with. There are four Thunderbolt ports on the front. You plug your computer into one and then whatever discs, displays, or other accessories you want plug into the other three. Hyper says its 32Gbps PCIe speed (which equates to 4x for PCIe 3.0 or 2x for PCIe 4.0) is fast enough for external GPUs and that the ports can deliver 15W of power to devices like the iPad Pro. It should also be compatible with most fancy monitor setups; Hyper says the Hub Display supports technology such as stream compression and multi-stream transport technology required to drive two 6K screens at 60Hz.

Obviously, you're paying a lot for the convenience of not having an external power brick (which helps make the hub more portable). For the price of the hub, you can get a full Thunderbolt 4 dock that adds a number of other ports. Hyper is offering Kickstarter backers a fairly low price (anywhere from $179 to $239, depending on the level of the stock), but there's naturally some risk involved. Yes, up to this point, Hyper is a reputable brand with plenty of successful crowdfunding campaigns under its belt, but there's a difference between a Kickstarter preorder and buying something directly from the website. The company says it expects the hubs to start making their way to backers in November.

If your pockets aren't that deep or you don't mind a bit of a nudge, OWC's Thunderbolt Hub might be worth a look. It lets you add three Thunderbolt 4 ports to your computer, as well as a USB-A port (it also runs at 10 Gbps). At $169, it's significantly cheaper than the Hyper's version—but it has to be paired with a massive power brick, and it can only manage 60W of charging.