Hi guys, I'm loving my new M1 Air! Since I'm using it primarily as a desktop connected to my monitor, I'd like to get one of those dual usb-c connectors for it. Does anyone know if there are any USB-4 hubs built for the new air/pro out or about to come out? I'd rather get one of those than a USB-3 one built for the 2016-2019 models, if possible. Thanks!
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USB-4 hub for MacBook Air m1
- Thread starter erkanasu
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No USB4 Hubs currently exist....
I am using a standard USB-C hub for display/power/audio breakout when connected to my external display. They will likely be coming in the future but none currently exist.
Thunderbolt 4 is backward compatible (but not sure how much backward compatible).
M1 Macs have integrated Thunderbolt controllers which are not from Intel - they may support Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 features (but we don't know for sure since we don't have any USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 devices to test).
M1 Macs use the Thunderbolt 4 repeater chip JHL8040R for each port but I don't think that has anything to do with the Thunderbolt/USB4 controller features - the repeaters just helps get the signals from the M1 chip to the ports.
Apple can't call what the M1 Macs have Thunderbolt 4 because Thunderbolt 4 requires that a Thunderbolt port can support dual 4K displays but the M1 Macs can only support one display from a Thunderbolt port.
Actually USB4 is probably definitely supported since ioreg shows a new type of Thunderbolt/USB4 adapter called "AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter".
USB on M1 Macs isn't actually 10Gb/s? (Also definitely not USB4)
In USB4, USB is tunnelled from the host to a "USB Down Adapter" in a peripheral that outputs USB from a USB4 port. In Thunderbolt, for USB, PCIe is tunnelled to a USB controller in the Thunderbolt controller which can then output USB from a Thunderbolt port. The reason why I believe Apple's...
forums.macrumors.com
Exactly - my point was to ensure clarity so folks didn't think TB4 was necessarily supported.
This article says "The M1 Macs are the first Macs with support for the Thunderbolt hub feature found in Thunderbolt 4."
THUNDERBOLT ON THE M1 MAC MINI – WHEN 2 ACTUALLY DOES EQUAL 4
Scrolling down into the comments, more details are revealed. Starting with Big Sur, any Mac with a T2 chip will support a Thunderbolt Hub, including the new M1's.
TLDR: My 2017 MacBook Pro won't support a Thunderbolt 4 hub. The new M1 Mac mini can.
THUNDERBOLT ON THE M1 MAC MINI – WHEN 2 ACTUALLY DOES EQUAL 4
Scrolling down into the comments, more details are revealed. Starting with Big Sur, any Mac with a T2 chip will support a Thunderbolt Hub, including the new M1's.
TLDR: My 2017 MacBook Pro won't support a Thunderbolt 4 hub. The new M1 Mac mini can.
The T2 requirement makes no sense since it has nothing to do with Thunderbolt. Possibly a patch can fix that - like there was a patch to allow old Thunderbolt 3 devices that used the TI82 chip instead of the TI83 chip.
All USB4 hubs are “Thunderbolt 4” hubs. The USB4 spec requires all USB4 hubs support “Thunderbolt Alternate Mode”. There is no difference between a Thunderbolt3 and Thunderbolt4 down-chain device. The only new thing Thunderbolt4 adds is requirements to support USB4 on the host computer and extra security on the host computer.
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