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USB Hub says it doesn't support Mac OS X. Huh?

Billy Boo Bob

Billy Boo Bob

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2005
493
0
Dark Side Of The Moon
So I'm looking at this USB Hub on Ebay, and it says in the specs list:

System Support: Not Support Mac OS X

As far as I've ever seen, USB is USB. Could it be that there really is a hub that wouldn't work with OS X, or are they just being lazy and never tested it and are just covering their butts?
 
Billy Boo Bob said:
So I'm looking at this USB Hub on Ebay, and it says in the specs list:

System Support: Not Support Mac OS X

As far as I've ever seen, USB is USB. Could it be that there really is a hub that wouldn't work with OS X, or are they just being lazy and never tested it and are just covering their butts?
Click to expand...

First - Why on earth would you buy a 7 port hub for 5 bucks. That's gotta be the biggest TELL to being unreliable I can think of. OK, it might work, but what's the point of giving it an even bigger chance to fail other than the obvious?
 
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If the site is just guessing about Mac compatibility, then why is just that one line item boldly in red?
10.System Support: Not Support Mac OS X
Click to expand...

There's plenty of other USB hubs. I say run far away from that one.
 
thedeske said:
First - Why on earth would you buy a 7 port hub for 5 bucks. That's gotta be the biggest TELL to being unreliable I can think of. OK, it might work, but what's the point of giving it an even bigger chance to fail other than the obvious?
Click to expand...

I'm not necessarily saying I'd buy it. I was just browsing around and noticed that and was really quite curious about it. My sister's shopping and will end up just going to the Micro Center store (happens to live within reach of one).

I'm just wondering how a device could *not* work specifically with OS X. Anything I've ever seen (when it comes to USB hubs) seems to be platform agnostic.
 
Some vendors took liberty with implementing the USB spec, in other words they are not fully compliant. Doesn't seem to matter to windose boxes that don't use advanced USB features, but it does to most MACs.

On the other hand, they may just have not taken the time to test them on a MAC, or the hub was intended for USB 3.0 but never worked... .
 
Even some earlier versions of the highly regarded Anker products had issues with Mac/OSX (read some of the Amazon reviews). Anker apparently is pretty good about updating their firmware when it happens. After many years with Windows it never occurred to me that in buying a Mac that I'd have to worry about compatibility of a simple USB hub.
 
Billy Boo Bob said:
So I'm looking at this USB Hub on Ebay, and it says in the specs list:

System Support: Not Support Mac OS X

As far as I've ever seen, USB is USB. Could it be that there really is a hub that wouldn't work with OS X, or are they just being lazy and never tested it and are just covering their butts?
Click to expand...

Stay away from eBay hubs. A USB hub is something so affordable that you can get a good one and stay away from the cheap models. It probably *would* work but with cheap hubs I have seen them overdraw the ports even with external PSU and then you have a big problem!
 
Billy Boo Bob said:
So I'm looking at this USB Hub on Ebay, and it says in the specs list:

System Support: Not Support Mac OS X

As far as I've ever seen, USB is USB. Could it be that there really is a hub that wouldn't work with OS X, or are they just being lazy and never tested it and are just covering their butts?
Click to expand...

Are you sure you want USB 2.0?
 
thedeske said:
First - Why on earth would you buy a 7 port hub for 5 bucks. That's gotta be the biggest TELL to being unreliable I can think of. OK, it might work, but what's the point of giving it an even bigger chance to fail other than the obvious?
Click to expand...

^^

You will get only what you pay for....Look at the requirements for a reliable USB 3 hub that will actually work and provide the speed you want.

1) A decent regulated PSU 5 Amps is preferable

2) The Ability to control each port, and also a charging port.


I have the Satachi below...It's not 5 bucks, but it works fine.:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Satechi-10-Port-Port-iPad-Charging/dp/B00B9KOCYA


This hub is designed for heavy duty work...It has my Asus BRD, three sets of flight controls a keyboard and a Seagate 4TB HDD plugged into it..it never misses a beat. It has a dedicated charging port for iPad and all banks are switchable...It has a dedicated 5AMP regulated PSU.

In short, if you spend $5 on a piece of hardware, then don't expect it to work.
 
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Altemose said:
Stay away from eBay hubs. A USB hub is something so affordable that you can get a good one and stay away from the cheap models. It probably *would* work but with cheap hubs I have seen them overdraw the ports even with external PSU and then you have a big problem!
Click to expand...
I agree. I ever purchased hub from ebay, what totally a rubish! The hub on amazon would more reliable. Even though the price is a little bit expensive,but it's really worthy!
 
Steven Roller said:
I agree. I ever purchased hub from ebay, what totally a rubish! The hub on amazon would more reliable. Even though the price is a little bit expensive,but it's really worthy!
Click to expand...

My thing is that sometimes the power supplies cut out and all of a sudden the hub is demanding an amp of power out of a 500 MA USB port, which can cause issues.
 
Billy Boo Bob said:
So I'm looking at this USB Hub on Ebay, and it says in the specs list:

System Support: Not Support Mac OS X

As far as I've ever seen, USB is USB. Could it be that there really is a hub that wouldn't work with OS X, or are they just being lazy and never tested it and are just covering their butts?
Click to expand...

No, there are definitely usb hubs that don't work well with OS X or at all. For example, I have a Targus 4-port bus-powered usb hub that would cause kernel panics on PowerMac G5. Some (like earlier Belkin versions) weren't even recognized.
 
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