the one problem is that when I look up the price of Caldigit and other brands that HN is vouching for they are $400~$500 range.

I would need to burn through 8~9 $50~60 range alternatives that allegedly "suck" before I see returns, and by that time we would have 3 to 4 iterations of macbook.

I guess if you like peace of mind then this makes sense but I hope nobody drops $500+ on a hub from reading HN comments, the "crappy" ones described work fine, it just that it won't last and creates waste but it would take quite a long time to do so.