DGRule Thunderbolt 3 Hub – All Necessary Ports Added to MacBook Pros

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by Jeff LochJanuary 3^rd, 2020

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A new company has launched an exciting Thunderbolt 3 Hub that integrates perfectly with Apple’s 16″/15″/13″ MacBook Pros: DGRule. This hub features a lot of connections such as a Thunderbolt 3 port, full-size HDMI and Mini DP ports, a USB Type-C port, three USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, as well as a micro SD and SD cards slots, plus a headphone jack. Let’s take a closer look at it!

Image credit: DGRule

DGRule Features

The DGRule is a compact Thunderbolt 3 hub that sits under your MacBook. Three versions are available, to suit every flavor of  Apple’s 16″/15.4″ and 13″ laptops from 2016 up to 2019. It is made from aluminum and is available in Space Gray or Silver to match your MacBook.

Image credit: DGRule

The DGRule hub connects to your MacBook via two Thunderbolt 3 connectors on the left side and one audio mini-jack on the right side. Indeed, you can still access your two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the right side, even with the hub plugged in.

Image credit: DGRule

The hub is self-powered and doesn’t require external power. Once installed, here are the ports you will find at the back of the DGRule:

• One HDMI and one MiniDP port. It supports resolution up to 4K/30Hz max, and 4K/2K resolutions for simultaneous use.
• One Thunderbolt 3 port that you can use for monitors up to 6K resolution or two 4K/60Hz display. Also, you can use this port to charge your MacBook Pro, up to 100W pass-through charging.
• One USB Type-C port that can also be used to charge your MacBook up to 100W. It supports USB-C 3.1 Gen1 5Gbps data transfer.
• Three USB3.1 Gen 1 ports with transfer rate up to 5Gbps. Otherwise, the output is total share 5V/1.5A. In short, it means you can’t run three spinning drives at the same time, but you can use one hard disk and 2 USB flash disk, for example.
• One SD and one MicroSD card slots. The maximum memory card capacity is 512G.
• One 3.5mm mini-jack stereo output that doubles as a Mic input.

That’s a lot of ports for such a tiny hub, and it should get you out of most situations.

Image credit: DGRule

The Perfect Hub for the Apple 16-Inch MacBook Pro?

If Santa brought you a brand-new and shiny 16-Inch MacBook Pro, you’re probably in the quest for a Thunderbolt 3 hub. The integration of the DGRule hub is neat; it doesn’t add that much bulk to the slim Apple’s laptops. One beautiful thing is that you can set it up once and forget it.

Image credit: DGRule

The hub will live under your MacBook, and you’ll never have to worry again about forgetting your dongles/adapters/hub. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s the perfect hub yet. One thing that is missing for me is an Ethernet port.

Image credit: DGRule

Pricing and Availability

The DGRule hub costs $79.00 as early bird pledgers and $99.00 during the Kickstarter campaign. It has now moved to an ongoing campaign. The expected retail price is $149.00. Shipping is expected for March 2020.

As with every Kickstarter campaign, please be aware that this is a crowdfunding project and not a retail shop, so do your research accordingly. cinema5D does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

What do you think about the DGRule hub? What Thunderbolt 3 hub are you using? Let us know in the comments below!