The Thunderbolt and broader USB-C hub space is crowded with options from budget to premium, offering a dizzying array of ports. ProGrade, makers of excellent high-performance storage, are diving into this space with their first hub: a Thunderbolt 4–based hub designed around their card reader ecosystem. Does this hub have what it takes to stand out from the crowd?
Wes Brewer, CEO of ProGrade Digital, said, “We have spent the time to think about how professionals work with our card readers and what they need to maintain a clean workspace in designing our new PG20 Pro Hub,” and that shows in the design. Unlike some Thunderbolt hubs, which are just dotted with USB-A 2.0 ports for the purpose of bumping up total port count numbers, the PG20 is built around speed.
On the hub are three Thunderbolt 4 USB 4.0 ports with support for 15 W of power and 40 Gb/s of connectivity, along with an upstream Thunderbolt 4 USB 4.0 port with 85 W of power (perfect for charging your connected laptop). On the front is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port at 10 Gb/s, as well as indicator LEDs and a power button.
As I’ve come to expect from ProGrade, all the ports match their specs perfectly. Running the fastest cards and external SSDs reveals there’s no bottlenecking, even with multiple ports in operation at once. Drawing the full 85 W from the power port is also no issue, with the included AC adapter capable of putting out 100 W.
The top features a shelf-style interface that pairs perfectly with ProGrade’s card reader ecosystem. ProGrade’s readers, like this CFexpress Type B reader, feature strong magnets in the base that secure the reader to any magnetic surface (or to the magnetic sticky plate they include with the readers). When paired with their short-length Thunderbolt 4 cables, you get a compact, cable-managed reader and hub setup. The addition of magnets to the bottom of the hub (along with a matching larger magnetic plate) lets you mount this combo to a studio cart, your table, or even a bigger laptop via the magnetic sticker they provide.
While the PG20 was designed with support for the ProGrade reader’s magnetic connection in mind, there’s nothing preventing you from using any USB-C or Thunderbolt devices with these ports, to be clear. They are normal ports with easily accessible placement.
Clearly printed labels show the power output of each port, while the rest of the device looks sharp with dark gray composite and ProGrade branding on the top shelf. The included Thunderbolt 4 cable is of excellent quality, measuring 31.5 inches long. On the final side of the device are Kensington Standard and Nano security slots, useful for securing gear on a DIT cart or even in a shared studio environment.
Who’s This For?
ProGrade’s products have been focused on imaging professionals from the start, and this hub is no exception. The hub exclusively uses high-speed connection standards, trading off an overall number of ports for high-performance multitaskers like Thunderbolt 4. While the hub is not lacking for connectivity, thanks to the extra Thunderbolt 4 and USB-A ports, as well as support for 8K displays at 60 Hz, it’s still clear that this hub is built around high-speed digital imaging workflows. If you need some more USB-A ports for miscellaneous devices, there's plenty of other hubs that'll offer a bevy of these slower ports, at a lower price and performance level.
I see this hub as being a great option for centralizing your readers and portable SSDs, all linked back to your devices with a single Thunderbolt 4 cable. Thanks to the standalone capability of the ProGrade readers, you can easily grab a single reader to bring with you into the field or over to another device, needing only to pull it from the magnetic base and unplug the cable.
I also see this device as being a solid option for users with high-performance requirements. Unlike cheap, no-name USB-C hubs, you can know that you’re actually getting true 40 Gb/s speeds at the ports. Whether this means connecting 8K displays or running high-performance external storage, I’ve got complete confidence that the hub will perform to the Thunderbolt spec. ProGrade is confident in this too, with serialized tracking of the hubs and accessories, backed by a two-year warranty.
My only criticism of this dock is the external power brick’s size and setup. It’s pretty big, as is the barrel connector used with the hub. While I understand 100 watts isn’t nothing, the size of the connector and the brick collides with the sleek and integrated design of the hub and readers.
Overall, the PG20 Pro Thunderbolt 4 hub offers outstanding performance. While it’s a particularly attractive option for photographers and videographers already using the ProGrade reader ecosystem (bringing a near-dock-like experience without the need for custom readers), any imaging professional will appreciate the selection of high performance ports. The PG20 Pro is available for purchase now from B&H with power cable support for North America and a range of other countries, as well as in a variety of bundles with ProGrade's excellent card readers.
Nice, but for an initial offering, why TB4 instead of 5?
Coming from ProGrade, I have no doubt this hub is well engineered and does everything it advertises. But it's a one-trick pony, and you'll need to reserve one of those 40G ports for a second high-performance hub for other ports like USB-A (yes, there's still a lot of USB-A out there), perhaps HDMI or DisplayPort, and definitely Gigabit or 10Gig Ethernet (unless you relish the prospect of trying to work on a high performance NAS over Wi-Fi).