Justin Duino
Staring at your monitor all day can be tiresome and painful if your screen’s height isn’t positioned ergonomically. Most monitors come with adjustable stands, but not all of Apple’s iMacs and Studio Displays do. Satechi’s Type-C Monitor Stand Hub helps resolve that problem.
Here's What We Like
- Adds necessary height
- Plenty of ports
And What We Don't
- Cable management system is frustrating
- Satechi's logo is front and center
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The Stand Adds Just Enough Height
The Port Selection Is Great (for Now)
Cable Management Is Hard to Get Right
Should You Buy the Satechi Type-C Monitor Stand Hub?
The Stand Adds Just Enough Height
- Dimensions: 8.43 x 8.5 x 1.63in (21.41 x 21.59 x 4.14cm)
- Weight: 1lb 3oz (538.64g)
- Max load weight: 50lbs (22.68kg)
As with most of the company’s accessories, Satechi made the Type-C Stand Hub match Apple’s distinctive aluminum aesthetic. The silver option I have under my Studio Display perfectly matches the color of the monitor stand, helping make my setup look as uniform as possible.
The stand is made out of a single piece of brushed aluminum, with four rubber feet ensuring your monitor sits still on your desk. The quality of the material feels premium and matches Apple’s monitors.
The accessory stands at 1.63in (4.14cm) tall, which is a little disappointing. I wish the riser was at least a solid 2-inches tall to give my monitor a little more height, but anything helps. There are taller monitor risers available for purchase if the Stand Hub isn’t enough.
My biggest gripe with the stand’s design is Satechi’s front and center logo. The only way to hide the text is to slide your monitor stand to the front of the stand, but that looks odd. But, as almost all companies put their logo somewhere on devices, I get why Satechi followed suit.
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The Port Selection Is Great (for Now)
- 1 x microSD (Up to 104Mbps)
- 1 x SD card (Up to 104Mbps)
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
- 3 x USB-A (Up to 5Gbps)
- 1 x USB-C (Up to 5Gbps, no charging or video passthrough)
The ports on the front of the Type-C Stand Hub are perfect for quick plug-and-play uses. For example, I wouldn’t leave a microSD card in the slot in the dock permanently, but it’s great for plugging in a flash drive, moving a file, and ejecting it.
Going from left to right, the hub offers a microSD card slot, a full-size SD card slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, three USB-A 3.0 ports, and a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port. None of these ports are top-of-the-line or offer the fastest transfer speeds, but it’s a good variety. There are a lot of other dedicated USB-C adapters if you’re looking for something better.
Satechi notes on its website that the USB-A ports don’t support disk readers and advises against using them to charge devices. They also recommend only using one bus-powered device at a time. I tested this, and can verify that most devices (including an iPad Mini) refused to charge when plugged into the Stand Hub.
In the future, I’d love to see an updated Stand Hub with a more extensive port selection (like additional USB-C ports), even if that meant it needed a dedicated power source.
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Cable Management Is Hard to Get Right
The Satechi Type-C Monitor Stand Hub is powered by an attached 3.3ft (1m) USB-C cable. Its length allows you to plug the hub into a monitor or iMac sitting on top of the stand or a computer that’s further away.
In case you don’t need the extra length, Satechi has included a pair of plastic clips that you can guide the cable through. While useful, it’s hard to gauge how long you need the cable to be without placing the monitor on the Stand Hub first. But once the display is in place, you can no longer reach the cable management system.
I ultimately wired the Stand Hub in a way that allowed me to pull out slack to reach my Studio Display’s USB-C port.
The company includes a small USB-C to USB-A adapter meant to be used with older iMacs (and other computers) that don’t feature USB-C ports. You can also use it to convert one of the Stand Hub’s front USB-A ports to USB-C.
Should You Buy the Satechi Type-C Monitor Stand Hub?
Months after buying the Studio Display, I’m still annoyed that Apple charges extra for a stand with height adjustment, but I’m glad Satechi has a solution that fixes the ergonomic problem. If you need a monitor riser, I have no problem recommending this accessory, especially as it comes with a decent selection of front-facing, easy-access ports.
You can buy the Satechi Type-C Aluminum Monitor Stand Hub for $90. It comes in Space Gray and Silver, allowing you to match it to your Apple device.
Here’s What We Like
- Adds necessary height
- Plenty of ports
And What We Don't
- Cable management system is frustrating
- Satechi's logo is front and center
