Mac Mini on a USB-C Docking Station (Supplied Power)

[sonicrobby]

I have a home office setup that uses a docking station hub, where my monitors, webcam, keyboard and mouse are all connected to it. That way I can plug in my macbook air via USB-C to utilize all the peripherals, or my windows computer. Im considering purchasing the Mac mini as well. However, the USB-C connection also supplies power to the laptops to keep them charged. Would therefore the mac mini be incompatible with this docking station? What happens when an input device to a mac mini is suplying 65W of power to it?

I dont want to change my home setup, so Im looking to find out if the Mac mini would work with it, or would the internals cook with an additional power supply?

 

[raythompsontn]

I dont want to change my home setup, so Im looking to find out if the Mac mini would work with it

You could buy a Mac mini, try it, and if it does not work in your situation, send it back. That is one reason for the 14 day trial.

 

[RedTomato]

As far as I'm aware, the Mac Mini has no USB power input (personally I think it would be nice if it could be USB-C powered).

Plugging a powered hub into it should be fine. The mini will negotiate a data-only connection to the hub. This is routine.

Be aware that if you have both the laptop and the mini plugged into the USB-C hub at the same time, don't expect both of them to be able to see the peripherals.

I'm not actually sure what will happen. It won't damage anything but possibly only the first device plugged in will see the peripherals, or both devices will lose data connection. You can't use a USB-C hub as a KVM.