Belkin INC013 Connect Thunderbolt 4 5-in-1 Core Hub (review)

The Belkin INC013 Connect Thunderbolt 4 5-in-1 Core Hub is both an entry-level Thunderbolt 4 dock with 96W upstream charging or a 3 x Thunderbolt 4, and 1 x USB-A port expander.

You may ask why you need it when there is the Belkin Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 dock. The answer is that it is a small 135 x 75 x 18mm, $299.95 five-port versus the muck larger $499.95 12-port dock.

Note you must have a TB4 host device and TB4 upstream cable. It will work on TB3 and even USB-C, but functionality is limited.

Test Rig

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. Read Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (2022) – a thing of beauty and envy. Note that a new Surface Laptop Studio 2 will soon be on our review testbed.

Australian review: Belkin INC013 Connect Thunderbolt 4 5-in-1 Core Hub

Website	Dock Page Product page FAQ
Price	$299.95
From	Belkin online, Harvey Norman, Domaye, JB Hi-Fi, Myer, Officeworks
Made in	China
Warranty	2-year ACL repair or replace
	Belkin started in the early 1980s in California, USA and was a pioneer in producing high-quality, US-made cables and accessories. In 2018, Taiwan-based mega-electronics maker Foxconn purchased the company. Its Brands include Belkin, WeMo, Linksys and Phyn. It is famous for its US$25000 connected equipment warranty if a connection to its devices causes failure (electrical derangement).
More	CyberShack Belkin news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – Pass+

It is typical Belkin space grey and reasonably small at 135 x 75 x 18mm – the power brick is almost larger.

The three TB4 ports and power-in are on the back. The front has the TB4 audio/video/data and upstream charge.

Let’s look at its best use.

Front ports

• Thunderbolt 4 Port 40Gbps upstream 96W power to a Windows Laptop or MacBook. It has a .8m TB4 cable inbox. Supports 5V/9V/3A/15W/27W and 20V/4.8A/96W.
• USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps port 5V/.9A/4.5W (can use with a USB-C adapter cable).

Rear ports

• 3 x Thunderbolt 4 ports downstream 5V/3A/15W

Two of these can simultaneously be used for up to 4K@60Hz with either a USB-C to USB-C 3W cable or a USB-C to HDMI or DP cable. Works with Windows or Mac.

Or all three can be downstream TB4 or USB-C 4.0 or 3.2 or earlier with 5V/3A/15W. Note that TB4 splits the 40Gbps channels into 10Gbps per port (Same as USB-C 3.2 Gen 2) – the maximum speed on a downstream port is 1250MBps full duplex.

Perhaps most importantly, all carry audio/video/data so all devices can talk to each other, and charge has overcurrent protection.

Power input

It has a 21V/7.1A/149.1W power brick.

Missing (compared to a dock)

• HDMI or Display Ports (these take two PCI channels)
• Gigabit Ethernet
• SD card
• 3.5mm 4-pole audio in/out
• More USB-A ports

Tests – Pass+

• USB-C 5V/.9A/4.5W – pass.
• Thunderbolt 4 ports 5V/3A/15W – pass even if all are in use.
• TB3 external SSD Sequential read/write data X2 lane speeds 2725.31/1044.16MBps.
• TB4 host port upstream 96W (20V/4.8A/96W) – pass
• Dual monitors 4K@60Hz – pass. We don’t have an 8K@30Hz monitor to test, but it supports 4K@120Hz, so it should be fine.

CyberShack’s view – Belkin INC013 Connect Thunderbolt 4 5-in-1 Core Hub is a lower-cost TB4 solution

• First, it has 96W upstream charging, enough for larger laptops and MacBooks. Few hubs support this.
• Second, it can run dual up to 4K@60Hz monitors (if your host device supports TB4).
• Third, it is all you need unless you want dock features.
• Fourth, it is portable and great for travel

You would be best considering it for Windows or Mac and entry-level dock features. I use the Belkin Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 dock on the second Microsoft Surface Laptop studio TB4 port as a port extender. You could also plug this into the spare TB4 port on the dock (daisy chain), but that would mean four ports sharing 10Gbps – 2.5Gbps each, so that is a bad idea.

Ratings

In theory, it is a 10/10 as it does precisely what Belkin says it does. It follows the Intel reference design, so there is no point wishing it had extra ports or features.

All brands of TB4 5-port hubs and docks use the Intel JHL4880 Goshen Ridge chipset that supports three TB4 downstream and one TB4 upstream to the host. Put technically, each gets a 10Gbps slice of the 40Gbps.

• Features: 100 – it does what it says
• Value: 90- Most TB4 hubs are around this price, give or take
• Performance: 100 – meets Intel standards
• Ease of use: 90 – As a hub, it is  plug and play
• Design: 85 – getting tired of space grey