It depends on what devices you want to use. If you only want to use USB-A thumb drives or keyboard/mouse dongles with your Macbook, then you only need a cheap unpowered hub. But if you want to use several portabal hard drives, or an audio capture or video capture device, or a printer, then you'll need to buy a powered hub. (i.e. one that has a cable that connects to a power brick or power source like the wall socket.)
Recently saw a video that warns against using the USB C ports on Macbooks constantly due to the IC that overloads the circuit and practically kills the entire logic board... Have you ever come across this issue
Yep. The Macbooks have truly terrible port accessibility. 2 USB-C ports on the Macbook Air. It's ridiculous. Meanwhile, my wife's cheap Lenovo work laptop has USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, SD card, DisplayPort. This forces almost every Mac user to fork out money for dongles, hubs.
So... bought a new iMac with M3 processor, but my external camera and speaker/mic, printer, scanner, etc all still old USB ports. So need a hub that has at least 5 usb ports- any suggestions out there???
Also Mac do not support 3.2 gen 2x2 (dual lane, or 2 by 2 naming), any 20Gbps cable/hub will only run at 10Gbps on Mac. 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3, 4 and USB 4 will run at full speed. Just 2x2 not working
I love Baseus from their charging products. HOWEVER, their Hubs are terrible. I got the 10-1 docking station. The HDMI does not work properly(your screen might black out for a few seconds or has screen tearing; you need to unplug the HDMI cable every time you wake up the MacBook Pro M3 Pro). The USBC does not work properly with external drives(crashes all the time using my MacBook). UGREEN hub creates huge input lag for HDMI. Anker behaves randomly, pictures turns on/off when using external monitor via HDMI. Anker, Baseus and Ugreen, despite having great charging products, make terrible docks/hubs(first hand experience). So for this specific product category, you have to spend more if you want something that works properly and according to specification.
@@OrangeUp CalDigit makes good ones but they are in a different price category. I plug in my monitor directly via usb and use a Baseus one for usb+rj45. I just need to replug it sometimes for the lan to work.
Great video, the most lucid explanation of this topic I've seen, thanks
Cool! Good to learn about it. Thanks for sharing it. ✌️
Thanks for watching! :)
5:02 active power needed, if host can't provide enough power to all the devices plugged into dock or hub.
You obviously know your stuff. As an "elder" can you bottom-line for me what I need in order to use a USB with a MacBook Air M2 using Sonoma 14.0?
It depends on what devices you want to use.
If you only want to use USB-A thumb drives or keyboard/mouse dongles with your Macbook, then you only need a cheap unpowered hub.
But if you want to use several portabal hard drives, or an audio capture or video capture device, or a printer, then you'll need to buy a powered hub. (i.e. one that has a cable that connects to a power brick or power source like the wall socket.)
Recently saw a video that warns against using the USB C ports on Macbooks constantly due to the IC that overloads the circuit and practically kills the entire logic board... Have you ever come across this issue
Great video, Terren. Thank you. If I decide to choose the M3 MBA over the M3 Pro MBP I'll definitely need a hub.
Glad I could help 🙏
Yep. The Macbooks have truly terrible port accessibility. 2 USB-C ports on the Macbook Air. It's ridiculous.
Meanwhile, my wife's cheap Lenovo work laptop has USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, SD card, DisplayPort.
This forces almost every Mac user to fork out money for dongles, hubs.
It's a flipping advert
Not entirely
@@iamrubenmes but pretty much entirely
So... bought a new iMac with M3 processor, but my external camera and speaker/mic, printer, scanner, etc all still old USB ports. So need a hub that has at least 5 usb ports- any suggestions out there???
None of the hubs you shown allows me to connect up to two monitors....
Also Mac do not support 3.2 gen 2x2 (dual lane, or 2 by 2 naming), any 20Gbps cable/hub will only run at 10Gbps on Mac. 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3, 4 and USB 4 will run at full speed. Just 2x2 not working
sick vid bro
Thank you 😊
Can I connect an HDMI capture device like Elgato Cam Link through this device to my Mac M1 pro?
Could not get Anker to work with two screens and my new mac air laptop, another port gave dodgy connection to my mouse. Returned it.
Oh wow! This video recommends the product made by the company that sponsored it.
Does it hurt your computer to use a PD port on a computer that doesn't need the power, like a Mac mini?
I cant finish the video when I start seeing hairs on shots, and the mac screen with dust.. c'mon.
How can trust your word and your sponsored by a hub company and ur promotion them staff ? Westing 8:30 minutes+ 1 minutes for comment
I just need 4 usb ports for external ssds, nothing else, what do I get? Thank you
I love Baseus from their charging products. HOWEVER, their Hubs are terrible. I got the 10-1 docking station. The HDMI does not work properly(your screen might black out for a few seconds or has screen tearing; you need to unplug the HDMI cable every time you wake up the MacBook Pro M3 Pro). The USBC does not work properly with external drives(crashes all the time using my MacBook). UGREEN hub creates huge input lag for HDMI. Anker behaves randomly, pictures turns on/off when using external monitor via HDMI.
Anker, Baseus and Ugreen, despite having great charging products, make terrible docks/hubs(first hand experience). So for this specific product category, you have to spend more if you want something that works properly and according to specification.
And what would you recommend?
@@OrangeUp CalDigit makes good ones but they are in a different price category. I plug in my monitor directly via usb and use a Baseus one for usb+rj45. I just need to replug it sometimes for the lan to work.