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Terriane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 6, 2013
2
0
I've just bought a brand new MacAir. It states in the technical specs that it comes with 2 x USB 3.0 (up to 5GB) ports...

However... when I check the specs:
About this Mac> More Info >Hardware >USB
It shows up:
USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Bus
USB 3.0 HighSpeed Bus

Under the 3.0 HighSpeed Bus, it says:
USB 3.0 Hi-Speed Bus:

Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x9c31
PCI Revision ID: 0x0004
PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086
Bus Number: 0x0a

BRCM20702 Hub:

Product ID: 0x4500
Vendor ID: 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.)
Version: 1.00
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x14300000 / 2
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 94

Bluetooth USB Host Controller:

Product ID: 0x828f
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 0.78
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x14330000 / 4
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0

I'm confused...
Does this mean only 1 port is true USB3.0?

NB: I took my new MacAir back to the Apple store today and they replaced it with a brand new one, however straight out of the box it has the above specs, which was the same as the other machine so I'm wondering if I'm missing something here...?
 
Plug in a USB device that actually uses USB 3.0. Then plug in another one.

The super-speed bus is unused (nothing listed under it) until something that uses super-speed is actually present.
 
I plugged my USB3 drive into both of them and only one is super fast - hence the question.
In the Superspeed port - it shows my G-Drive and a speed of 5GB. If I plug the same device into the other port, it stays the same as the specs above. Video editing - it is definitely slower...
 
You'll notice that the only thing that's connected to the Broadcom Hub is the Bluetooth USB Host Controller.

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You'll see under mine, there are two (still USB2) Hi-Speed top level 'branches'. Those are the main USB connections, with the branches below using those connections.
 
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