Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 Hub On Linux

For those considering the Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 Hub for connecting to your Lenovo laptop for enjoying USB-C power charging, HDMI output, and additional USB ports, it does work out on Linux. While there have been some users running into seemingly firmware-related issues, at least with my testing over the past month this $50~60 (USD) USB-C hub has been working out well under Linux.

The Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 Hub can work with USB-C 45W/64W power adapters in pass-through mode for charging support plus has a SD/TF card reader, three USB-A ports, and one HDMI output. That HDMI output can drive a 4K display and I've been successfully using it in such a configuration. The USB ports are two USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 and one USB-A 2.0 port.

In purchasing the Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 Hub my intent was for getting charging, keyboard/mouse USB connectivity, and 4K HDMI output working off a single USB-C cable from a Lenovo ThinkPad. In particular, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U powered Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen2.

In my testing of this Lenovo USB-C Hub under Ubuntu 21.10 and Fedora Workstation 35, it's been working out fine including the 4K HDMI output as was my primary concern going into it.

Like with Lenovo's increasing range of products supporting the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) with Fwupd for firmware updating under Linux, this 7-in-1 USB-C Hub does support LVFS/Fwupd. However, since picking up the device last month there hasn't been any firmware updates out to test said functionality.

While my experience has been pleasant using the USB-C 7-in-1 Hub for the past month under Linux with a ThinkPad laptop, the device has seemingly not worked as well for anyone. There have been reports of the hub causing issues for some but appears to stem from those running Linux releases like Ubuntu 20.10 and older. There is also a firmware-related ticket going back to last March over issues around USB/network instabilities. But at least with Ubuntu 21.10 and Fedora Workstation 35 with the latest updates, I haven't seen such issues so if you are considering the Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 Hub make sure you are able to run the very latest kernel / software stack to avoid potential problems.

But long story short, at least for my purposes this Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1- Hub continues working out very well for a $50~60 USD device to get USB-C power charging, 4K HDMI output, and USB ports working over a single cable to a ThinkPad (and other notebooks) under the latest Linux distributions. The price is also much better off than what Dell USB-C docks and the like have cost in the past. This Lenovo USB-C Hub can be found from the likes of Amazon.com (affiliate link).