best usb hub for mac with separate power switches

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I’ve also tried a bunch of different USB-C docks and hubs - my Amazon purchase history is a gallery of sorrow and misspent dollars. Some users have also found that simply charging can be finicky - you might plug in only to discover that the amperage isn’t powerful enough or the wire is poorly made or the device itself doesn’t adhere to the standard like it ought to. And even when that’s not the case, poorly constructed USB-C cables can cause weird bugs that you wouldn’t expect when it comes to inter-device communication (this, too, happened to me!). Poorly constructed USB-C cables can sometimes allow connected devices to draw too much power and damage your gadgets (it happened to me). I want to tell you that everything is going to be okay, but let’s take a tour through some of what’s going on in the world of USB-C right now. USB-C is an industry standard and, like all industry standards, it sometimes gets implemented by fools and fly-by-night outfits.

I also wouldn’t tell you you’re wrong if you said it should have included a traditional USB-A port, but I am not personally enraged by it.Īssuming that we get past this interim period, a single port for everything sounds great! However, the pain of these ports is bigger than just having to use dongles. I really do think that Apple made the right decision to aggressively push the industry forward into this future - although I would have put an SD card slot in there were I designing the MacBook Pro. And in the short term, you are likely going to have small “AHA” moments where you can plug in a single cable and have neat stuff happen.

So long-term, I think USB-C is going to make our computing lives better. That’s not to say that I don’t think that the Lightning connector is superior to USB-C (it is), but as a standard for an ecosystem, USB-C isn’t dependent on Apple’s permission. You can find it, in fact, on nearly everything except the iPhone.

#Best usb hub for mac with separate power switches android#

In fact, one of the big differences between the dongle on the iPhone 7 and the USB-C dongles is that USB-C is a common standard used by most computer companies - you can find it on Android phones, on Windows PCs, on tablets, and on Chromebooks. That’s not something iPhone users can say. Of course, another reason I like USB-C is that I can use the same cable to charge my laptop and my phone (a Google Pixel).

#Best usb hub for mac with separate power switches upgrade#

Yes, this requires a dongle, but as soon as I upgrade to a USB-C (or Thunderbolt 3, depending!) monitor, it won’t. When I sit down at my desk, I plug a single cable in to charge my MacBook, drive my display, and connect up to the USB Hub built into my monitor. Same plug for phone, laptop is GREAT.- Dieter Bohn November 4, 2016 If I were a photographer or video director who needs to use SD cards constantly and who already has a cache of hard drives that require different ports, it might be a different story.Īpple's right to force the issue on USB-C. And much to my surprise, I don’t miss MagSafe as much as I expected to. That’s in large part because I am smack in the center of Apple’s target market: I don’t need to plug stuff beyond power into my computer all that often, so when I do it’s not too big a hassle to use a dongle. And I want to tell you that the #donglelife (yes, it’s a hashtag) is not all that horrible for me, day to day. I have been using USB-C for a year now, on the non-Pro MacBook, so I thought I should share some of my experiences. If that gives you serious pause, I am with you and don’t have any easy answers beyond “buy the dongles and deal with them.” Lucky for you, yesterday Apple relented a bit and slashed the prices on many of its adapters. It is good and right to be unhappy that there aren’t any standard USB-A ports, MagSafe, or SD card slots on these new MacBook Pros. There has been more talk of dongles now that Apple has gone and done it: excised all ports on the new MacBook Pros except one: USB-C.