OWC Introduces Discounts on Newest Thunderbolt 5 Docks and Hubs

[Jonas Danielsson]

No, YOU have gone over to USB-C. The rest of the world in reality still has plenty of devices with USB-A connectors and needs them.

I’m not sure what you old hardware your are on but last 5 years no units has usb A if you not buying from Temu. SSD, keyboard , mouse etc all are usb c. And there is many many usb A docks / hubs but no / few usb c only hubs. Nut shure if all people att hardware manufacturers are complete wanker or never checked new items connectors.

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

But you're fine with the 40-year old RJ-45 Ethernet port? Or the 100-year old electrical power plug?

There's still a lot of USB-A out there, although I do think they should stop putting USB 2.0 ports on new products.

RJ45 there you have to many still relaseong product with 1Gbe when 10GBe is bare minimum to work in pro environment if some going to buy $500 dock it’s not for transferring office files

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

Just put a cheap, low profile USB-A to USB-C adapter in it and enjoy an extra USB-C/USB 3 port. A USB-A port is ideal for connecting a keyboard/mouse dongle - and USB-A is better for that because most of the electronics fit in the 'shaft' so they can be very low-profile.

In most cases you were never going to get an extra Thunderbolt port - or even a fully-functional USB-C 3.2 port with gen 2, video and full power delivery - in that spot, because the internal bandwidth/power wasn't there.


USB 2.0 is still part of the USB-C spec and its good enough for a lot of applications (and doesn't interfere with Bluetooth/WiFi the way USB 3 can). Its also implemented on a separate bus to USB 3 so your USB 2 devices on a hub don't share bandwidth with USB 3 devices.

I've got a 16-channel 48k (or 12 x 96k) audio interface running happily over USB2.0 (and most of the latency still comes from the computer's buffer size) - so you certainly don't need USB 3 for mice, keyboards, printers etc.

most mouse and keyboard since 5 years are usb c , audio interface are usb c. Sure if you have old harder and need usb a there is many many dock / hubs etc but for people that are modern and work pro usb c has been standard since 5 years back. And for us tha wankers at hardware manufacturing are complete wankers

 

[theluggage]

most mouse and keyboard since 5 years are usb c

A quick look on somewhere like Amazon shows that many mice still come with USB-A wireless receivers or, at least, a bundled A-to-C adapter... Since mice rarely need more than USB 1 speeds you'll lose nothing by connecting them via a USB-A port. I've got a bunch of Logitech unifying receivers & spare keyboards/mice that work with them - they never did a compatible USB-C version of that, which is probably why people are still buying "new-old-model" MX Master 2s mice.

Most audio interfaces, too, only use USB 2 speed and will work just as well from a USB A port.

There are also mundane things, like I've got a couple of extra-long USB-A cables, one with a right-angle B-connector that suits a particular device etc. My flatbed scanner is 20+ years old, works perfectly & I have no cause to upgrade it until it dies.

For a large number of low/mid-end peripherals that only use USB 1,2 or 3 speeds, USB-C still offers absolutely zero performance advantage over USB A, which is why some of us haven't been falling over ourselves to "crossgrade" to USB-C.

Hubs/docks still have USB-A ports because they are useful to many people, are cheap to implement and can still be used, via adapters, with many low/medium end USB-C peripherals. You're not being "robbed" of full-featured USB-C/TB/Power delivery ports - hubs only have 3x downstream TB4/5 because thats how many the chipset supports, and any extra USB-C ports would have limited power delivery and no video support anyway.

If you don't need the USB-A ports, stick low-profile USB-C adapters in them and nothing of value will have been lost.

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

A quick look on somewhere like Amazon shows that many mice still come with USB-A wireless receivers or, at least, a bundled A-to-C adapter... Since mice rarely need more than USB 1 speeds you'll lose nothing by connecting them via a USB-A port. I've got a bunch of Logitech unifying receivers & spare keyboards/mice that work with them - they never did a compatible USB-C version of that, which is probably why people are still buying "new-old-model" MX Master 2s mice.

Most audio interfaces, too, only use USB 2 speed and will work just as well from a USB A port.

There are also mundane things, like I've got a couple of extra-long USB-A cables, one with a right-angle B-connector that suits a particular device etc. My flatbed scanner is 20+ years old, works perfectly & I have no cause to upgrade it until it dies.

For a large number of low/mid-end peripherals that only use USB 1,2 or 3 speeds, USB-C still offers absolutely zero performance advantage over USB A, which is why some of us haven't been falling over ourselves to "crossgrade" to USB-C.

Hubs/docks still have USB-A ports because they are useful to many people, are cheap to implement and can still be used, via adapters, with many low/medium end USB-C peripherals. You're not being "robbed" of full-featured USB-C/TB/Power delivery ports - hubs only have 3x downstream TB4/5 because thats how many the chipset supports, and any extra USB-C ports would have limited power delivery and no video support anyway.

If you don't need the USB-A ports, stick low-profile USB-C adapters in them and nothing of value will have been lost.

I genuinely do not care if you are still running museum hardware from 2007. If that works for you, great. Go on Amazon, buy a cheap plastic hub for 30 bucks, and plug in your relics. Nobody is stopping you.



But do not pretend that people buying a 500 dollar professional dock are doing it to support legacy junk drawers.


Professionals are not building serious workflows around right-angle USB-B cables and 20 year old scanners. And even if they were, there are USB-C cables for almost everything now. If not, adapters exist. They cost a few dollars. Problem solved.

What I do not understand is why the rest of us should be forced to carry around dead weight ports just because some people refuse to move forward.


It is 2026.


US-C is not new. It is not experimental. It is the global standard. Laptops have moved on. Phones have moved on. Tablets have moved on. Cameras, SSDs, audio gear, everything serious has moved on.

If you still need USB-A, fine. Use an adapter. The irony is you are arguing against adapters while defending a permanent adapter bolted into the side of a 500 dollar device.





I run a MacBook Pro with no USB-A ports. Zero. And guess what. The world did not collapse. If I absolutely need to connect something ancient, I use a small adapter. That is how transitions work.





The real issue is choice.





There are endless hubs with USB-A. Endless. But if someone wants a clean, modern, USB-C only hub, suddenly the options disappear. That is the frustration.





No one is trying to take your old cables away. Keep them. Frame them. Build a shrine to them if you want.





Just do not demand that high end modern hardware keeps dragging legacy ports forever because you are emotionally attached to USB-A.





Technology moves forward. Either move with it or accept you are choosing to stay behind.

 

[theluggage]

But do not pretend that people buying a 500 dollar professional dock are doing it to support legacy junk drawers.

…good to know that you have done more market research than all the companies actually making $$$ “professional” docks with USB-A ports. You don’t think that maybe, just maybe, they’re doing it because of demand?

Just do not demand that high end modern hardware keeps dragging legacy ports forever because you are emotionally attached to USB-A.

Reading your rant, I think it’s pretty clear who’s being emotional here. Did a USB-A port hurt you somehow?

How exactly does it disadvantage you to have a USB-A port on a desktop dock (we’re not talking about mobile devices, where space is a premium, here)? Why can’t you just use a small adapter?

There are reasons why you don’t get docks with 8 downstream USB-C ports - cost, bandwidth, power supply - they throw in USB-A because it’s cheap, low-resource and popular. Plus, there maybe loads of hubs on the market but they’re all based on a small handful of chipsets & many are just the same hub in different cases.

 

[PaulD-UK]

Quote: "...they throw in USB-A because it’s cheap, low-resource and popular. "

The USB-C standard requires that every USB-C cable contains 4 wires reserved solely for two-way USB 2 data*.
USB 3.x (etc) has its own separate data channels.
Since that bandwidth is there, it doesn't impinge on anything else for the external device to use it, not just for audio, but also for USB-A ports.
* It can also be used for Alt-mode DP video data, which is useful in some devices.

 

[theluggage]

The USB-C standard requires that every USB-C cable contains 4 wires reserved solely for two-way USB 2 data*.
USB 3.x (etc) has its own separate data channels.

The same is true for USB-A ports. USB 3 has always used separate wires to USB 2, via a set of extra pins tucked away at the back of the socket.

USB-A has two pairs of wires (transmit & receive) for high-speed data (USB 3), whereas USB-C has 4 - but the second set is only used for the rarely used USB 3.2 g1/g2 x2 modes, Thunderbolt/USB4 or DisplayPort alt mode. Apple doesn't support 3.2x2 modes at all, TB/USB4 only supports 3 downstream TB/USB4 ports per hub and DisplayPort would mean finding a spare DisplayPort stream from somewhere. Even if hub makers put a USB-C port in place of the USB-A port it wouldn't offer any extra performance over a type A plug (which can support 10Gbps USB 3.1).