This gorgeous Mac mini hub exacerbates the power button placement problem

By Willow Roberts Published November 21, 2024

M4 Mac mini with Satechi hub on a desk. — Satechi

Satechi, known for its high-quality tech accessories, is updating its Mac mini hub for the new M4 model. Like previous hubs, it allows Mac mini owners to expand their storage and ports while preserving airflow, wireless signal, and performance. It looks awesome, but this time, the design highlights the problematic nature of the new Mac mini’s placement of its power button.

With previous Mac mini models, the power button was at the back, making it easily accessible even when it was in a Satechi hub. The new button placement on the bottom of the PC, however, may prove even more annoying for anyone who wants to buy this accessory.

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While it varies from person to person how often a device like a Mac mini is actually turned off, having to lift the PC out of the hub every time is certainly less than ideal. The power button is awkward on its own, but I can imagine it being even more strange with a hub plugged in.

Regardless, if you can get past that, Satechi’s new hub really does look stellar. If you run out of storage on your new Mac mini, Satechi’s hub provides one of the easiest and more affordable methods to add extra storage. The new M4 hub supports up to 4TB with 10Gbps speeds.

A press photo of Satechi's Mac mini hub. — Satechi

Along with the two USB-C ports on the front of the Mac, the hub also adds three USB-A ports and an SD card slot. While newer peripherals and accessories use USB-C, most people still have multiple devices with USB-A, so these legacy ports are useful for many consumers. That’s especially important since this new Mac mini is the first to not have USB-A ports.

There will also be a version of the hub without the storage expansion, for those who just want a few extra ports.

Both the Mac itself and the hub aim to provide a minimalistic design and a clutter-free desk setup, but having to partially dismantle that setup just to turn the PC off is definitely at odds with the product messaging.

If Satechi’s new hub has any tricks up its sleeve to make this design quirk a little less annoying, it hasn’t been mentioned so far. If it doesn’t bother you, however, the product will be ready to buy in spring of 2025.

Computing Writer

Willow Roberts has been a Computing Writer at Digital Trends for a year and has been writing for about a decade. She has a…

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