Hi, I'm looking for a way to add multiple usb c ports to the 1 thunderbolt port that is available on my mac mini m1. All I've been able to find are the ones that expand it to four inputs. The link below is an example of what I'm looking for but with Usb A ports. Does anyone know of anything like that with only Usb C ports? I only need it to support up to Usb 3.2 Gen 2, maybe Gen 2x2 for future use. Thanks in advance!
Mac mini, macOS 15.5
Mac mini (M1, 2020) - Technical specifications - Apple Support
The M1 Mac mini has two multi-purpose USB-C ports that support
plus a HDMI port, and two USB-A ports that support USB 3.0 (up to 5 Gb/s).
There are lots of USB hubs that support USB protocol at USB 3.2 speeds ("up to 5 Gb/s"), although on most, the downstream ports have USB-A connectors. These just provide traditional USB on their downstream ports – not USB4, DisplayPort, or Thunderbolt.
I don't know of any Macs that support USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. Your Mac's USB4 / Thunderbolt ports support two faster protocols (USB4 40 Gbps and Thunderbolt 3), but not USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. (USB4 20 Gbps is a new, required mode that has the same speed as USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 but that is incompatible with it. Aren't USB standards fun?)
Here are a couple of examples of basic Thunderbolt hubs that can split one Thunderbolt port into several:
It's being able to split things other than just USB 3 that makes these hubs more complicated and expensive.
Although your M1 Mac mini can drive two displays, it can only do so in a specific arrangement:
Thus, it wouldn't be able to take advantage of one of the uses of "splitters" like those – to let you hook two displays to a single Mac host port.
Thanks for the info! I might just get a hub that supports usb 3.2 and use Usb C to Usb A adapters for anything I have that needs it.
Lol, how much you wanna bet it makes them more money and that's the only reason?
The linked device is a rather large USB hub.
There are 16 downstream USB-A ports, each with its own power button. The hub comes with its own 90 watt power supply. The uplink is USB 3.0, so there wouldn't be much (if any) benefit to plugging it into one of the Mini's USB-C ports (which support USB 3.1 Gen 2) with a USB 3.1 Gen 2-rated adapter.
Someone could build a USB-only hub like this that uses USB-C connectors instead of USB-A ones, but they do not seem to be common yet.
If what you are looking for is a device that can plug into a Thunderbolt port, and split a multi-purpose USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) port into several downstream USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports, there are a few Thunderbolt hubs and docks from Other World Computing, SonnetTech, and/or CalDigit that can do that. You are not going to find any that have sixteen downstream multi-purpose ports. Three or four is typical.
Usb C Dock/Hub/expander for Mac mini m1?
