Customer Ratings & Reviews

Belkin Connect Thunderbold 4 5-in-1 Core Hub This solidly-built hub is a great product for those of us who own one or more port-challenged laptops. With the advent of so many Bluetooth devices, the laptop manufacturers seem to feel that there’s less of a need for lots of ports. Therefore, many of the newer laptops have a minimum number of ports. However, many of us still have lots of non-Bluetooth devices that we need to connect, and that’s where this device shines. This device is powered by plugging it into an outlet and then connecting it to your computer. A nice feature is that it passes up to 96W of power through to the attached computer to keep it charged. So, only one power supply plug is needed instead of needing one for charging the computer and one for powering this device. Less is good! It claims to provide up to 40Gbps data transfer speed and provides monitor support as well. And you can connect to multiple devices at the same time without a problem. All in all, it’s a handy device that’s small enough to toss in your travel bag and know that you can use this device to connect to multiple devices AND change your computer at the same time.

This is a very easy review for me to write because I like this hub a lot! We have been a USBC household for a long time. But the problem is that we never have enough USBC ports for the various dongles and drives that we’d like to use. After a decade of USB C, we are finally seeing 3 port hubs at reasonable prices. Most docks include a bunch of ports that I don’t need, such as Ethernet 100MB/s, USB2, or USB3, when what we really want is to “split” our TB4/USB4 so we can have 3 full speed SSDs or possibly an eGPU and a GigE dongle. I’m fine with hot plugging dedicated dongles for the devices I need at the moment and disconnecting them when I don’t need them. I really don’t like the all or nothing approach. So the Belkin Thunderbolt 4 hub is a refreshing change from the other devices out there. On the front is a USB C Thunderbolt “in” port that gives a real 96w of power. The only way it could be better is if it supported 140w or 240w to be a bit more futureproof. The back of the hub has a barrel DC jack for the included 160w power adapter, and 3 USBC TB4 downstream ports. I tested each port with a 4x NVMe enclosure. Each port was able to sustain a full 2400MB/s, but don’t expect to be able to push that much data on all three at once. To test that, I put in a slower SATA SSD enclosure via USB4 and although it maxed out at around 510MB/s, the NVMe drive reduced to about 1500MB/s. Very impressive. I was crazy and tried using an eGPU (Razer core x with 6950XT) with the hub. It worked as expected. Now that’s some great compatibility and that’s something I would definitely expect from a brand like Belkin. I feel a lot of confidence from that. The ports are all limited to around ~18w of power. They guarantee 15w of sustained power on all three ports which is kind of low and unfortunately that has to take a star away because future USB4 devices may expect at least 45w of power. I hope a future version would provide more power on each of the downstream ports, even if the power adapter would be 4 times the size. I could see 3 monitors powered by a dock that supported 65w on each port. Wow, that’s the future. But today, I can wholeheartedly recommend this dock for today’s USB4/TB4 devices. It’s a great hub!

The Belkin Connect 5 – in – 1 Core hub is a fantastic hub that offers everything you would expect in a modern hub. The first thing I noticed about the Belkin hub, is how sturdy and well made it is. The second thing I noticed is how big the power cord is…almost bigger than the actual hub itself. The Hub has a sleek design with a low profile, which sits flat on the desk. The hub has 2 ports on the front – a thunderbolt 4 port, and a USB 3.2 port. There is also a small LED light that turns green when it’s powered on and in use. The back of the hub has the power connector, as well as 3 more thunderbolt 4 connectors. The hub not only offers fast transfer speeds of up to 40gbps, but it also acts as a power supply for your PC or Mac as well. I plugged my hub into my MacBook pro and I was surprised that it charged my laptop from 80 to full power in under 30 mins. I wanted to test the transfer speeds of the hub’s thunderbolt 4 ports to see how fast they are, and to my surprise, I received incredibly fast transfer speeds. I have large file sizes of 4k video on my SSD’s and it was nice to see them transfer to my laptop in under a min. The hub is able to connect 2 – 4k display at 60hz, or a single 8k display at 30hz. The addition of the USB 3.2 port is great, as I still use last gen USB ports, mainly for my portable HDD’s or a USB receiver for a mouse/keyboard combo. Overall, I really like the Belkin Connect 5 – in – one Core Hub. The design and low profile make it fit on my desk perfectly without taking up much space. The 4 – thunderbolt 4 ports offer both charging capabilities and are incredibly fast. The 3.2 USB port is great, as it lets me use my older gen USB devices. If you’re looking for a new hub with the latest capabilities and speeds, then I would highly recommend this Belkin hub.

Hub includes a power cord. Big plus. There are 3 USB C/Thunderbolt ports on the back, there is 1 USB C/Thunderbolt on the front for power delivery. Also a USB 3 on the front. The Power Delivery is up to 96W, unfortunately a slow charge for my laptop. It does have overcurrent protection. The build is Belkin solid. There is good weight and very firm ports. There is no give to the case, a really good solid build. Seems to be cut from a block. Speed is fantastic. According to Belkin, Up to 40 Gbps data transfer speeds which tests and seem very accurate. I have a portable monitor connected thru USB C/Thunderbolt port that also provides power. This is a Mobile Pixel screen. I also have a Roccat mouse dongle and a USB C disk drive attached thru the hub. All work flawlessly. The only thing I wish was available was more power. It would have been great to be able to power the laptop thru the power delivery port. I would call it a docking station if it could pass a little more power. I would definitely recommend, this seems to be 'designed' specific to Apple products, but works quite well with my XPS Windows laptop.

Laptops have been coming with less built-in ports. In order to get the full potential and meet most people's needs you need to look at a personal hub. If your laptop uses Thunderbolt ports (standard for Apple) then this Hub is for you. First, it's a very solidly built device. It's made of polished metal and feels very premium. Will work nice on a desk that has premium equipment. Second, this has power. It can deliver up to 96w which is enough power handle most tasks. You can connect one 8k monitor or two 4k monitors with this device. Also, one of the advantages of Thunderbolt is the ability to daisy chain devices and you can do up to 6 with this unit. I have it setup to run two 4k monitors as well as a external storage and it runs incredibly well. The transfer speed is 40GBps so I can move data from my laptop to the external storage very easily. I does come with a single Thunderbolt cable but if you need more, pick them up. Overall, this is a very solid hub and I would recommend it.

It does what it says. It adds 2 extra thunderbolt 4 ports (there’s 3) and a 3.2 USB-A, powered by a 150W power adapter. It’s sleek and has a minimalist aesthetic. It’s really good high speed data transfers and powers all my connected peripherals. However, for my needs, it’s an overkill. I just needed a simple USB-C hub with enough juice to power up a couple of external SSD drives, which I found one from Belkin for 1/4 of the cost. You’d also need a specialty thunderbolt cables to fully utilize its potential. Good item, just not for common user like me.

I’m in the process of rebuilding my home office. Like many I went from a daily commute to working from home full time. The way I use my home office has also changed. At any one time I am doing company work, gaming or building PCs. I need a Core hub or everything becomes very cluttered. With the exception of my company device all my personal devices have Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 ports. I have made having these ports a part of my buying decision since they started to become available. I have USB4 travel hubs that I use but they really are not a good option for a desk always on solution. For a core hub it's a good idea to go with a trusted brand. Belkin as a brand is well known and from my experience have always offered quality products. To me they have always tended to have an Apple aesthetic. And although I am a Windows user I have always liked their look. The brushed aluminum housing on this Core with the dark insert on the front and back looks very nice. It's a minimalist professional look. Strangely for a Belkin product there isn’t much for included documentation. It’s enough to get going but you will likely need to go to the Belkin website for further setup information. To get the most out of this hub you should have either a USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 port on your host device. Connect the hub to your AC power and connect the included USB cable to your host device and your off. The USB cable is 32” long so you do have some room to locate the Core. That’s pretty much it. Now you have a front USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port on the front of the Core and three Thunderbolt 4 ports (downstream) at 40 Gbps which is the max output from all ports. The connection options from there are whatever you can imagine. Do remember that if you're using the ports for video you will need the correct adapters. This is a small Core at about 5.5” L x 3” W. It looks good and along with the USB-A port has one small LED on the front that tells you when you have a connection to your host device. I used my external Samsung T7 SSD for testing each port. In all cases both the front USB-A and rear USB Thunderbolt 4 ports tested at the maximum read and write speeds this drive is capable of. They were also within the margin of error tested on the native notebook ports. The Core has just enough weight that it should be stable on the desk. I found the Belkin website to have good information but I did find it a bit confusing as I was looking for specific product support information. I did find what I was looking for but it just seemed to bounce me around unnecessarily. As I update my office this will be a key device that ties my work and hobby together. I do recommend you always use quality cables. This will help to prevent problems.

No bells and whistles for this hub, just a straightforward hub that splits your USB-C/TB to three USB-C/TB ports and one USB-A port. No HDMI, Ethernet, SD Card reader...just a hub. Keep that in mind when you grab one that you'll need to supply the other cables and accessories as needed. I planned on using the hub as a dock for my Legion Go, but my USB-C to HDMI cable got lost in shipping and waiting for another to come. So pretty much all I got to test was the charging and USB connection. No surprise that both work well. I even put my USB-C dongle for my headphones and connected my USB-C gamepad with a mouse connected to the passthrough without issue. The only thing is that my Legion go didn't go into fast charge mode and was most likely charging around 30 or so watts based on the remaining charge time. Way less than the 95 the Belkin can supply. I've also noticed the finicky charging with my Ally. Those two devices just won't allow certain chargers to fuel at full speed. But, since the Go has passthrough charging, all I needed was a device that gave it enough juice to run tethered while displaying on a larger screen - the 2nd screen will be tested as soon as the darn cable shows up. The Belkin Core Hub is a nice companion for my portable gaming unit.

The Belkin - Thunderbolt 4 5-in-1 Core Hub is great for those of you working from home. I've been using a combination of different hub devices plugged directly into my laptop as well as the dock that is accompanying it. I do have a mess of wires here at my desk, however this will not solve that problem. So many of my accessories are still not USB C so I feel like I'm missing out a little bit, this is a great device for what I'm using it for. I have a combination of macbooks/monitors I use so this made that simpler for using with just my macbook(s) and external monitors. I think what I like the most of this device is the ability to charge so many devices at once without taking up an outlet or usb slot on said outlet. I'll primarily be using this for a recharge hub for cameras, controllers, mice and many other things that use USB C for charging. Personally I think this device is a little overpriced for what you're getting. Why include and tout one thunderbolt cable when the company very easily could've included 3 more cables is beyond me, hence the 4 star rating.

Easy triple monitor with 96 watt charging. Apple like build quality.