The new Element 5 hub — image credit: CalDigit
The new Element 5 Hub from CalDigit won’t give you a large array of different ports, but is perfect if you want more Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a few USB-A ones.
When CalDigit released its TS4 dock in February 2022, it rapidly became an AppleInsider favorite because of its speed, its number of ports, and how those ports could deliver plenty of power for charging devices. CalDigit also has a compact Element range and now that includes a Thunderbolt 5-enabled Element 5 hub.
Specifically, it comes with nine ports, of which three are Thunderbolt 5. Those ports are also backwards compatible with both Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4, plus they can deliver up to 15W of power each.
CalDigit claims that they are some of the highest bandwidth ports ever, and on the Mac can drive two monitors up to 8K 60Hz. Those same ports can also act as USB-C and USB-4 ports.
Separately The Element 5 Hub also comes with three USB-A ports and two USB-C ports. All five transfer data at 10 gigabytes per second, and can each supply up to 7.5 watts of power to attached USB devices.
That power comes from a compact 180W power supply unit. That is claimed to enable the hub to supply 90W to the host computer, plus 15W from the Thunderbolt 5 ports.
All the ports on the new Element 5 hub — image credit: CalDigit
CalDigit claims that it consistently provides 90W to the host computer, where other hubs decrease the charging power as more devices are added.
The new Element 5 is available now in the US for $250.
So far, there haven’t been very many Thunderbolt 5 hubs — yet. We suspect that most vendors are awaiting a recently announced Intel controller chip to take maximum advantage of the new technology.
But Apple has helped popularize Thunderbolt 5 by including it in the M4 Pro Mac mini — and selling a Thunderbolt 5 cable.
