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USB port question on mackbook

G

Gbeav

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 9, 2007
15
0
Hello, new Mac user and macbook owner here. I have a quick question on safely using a USB mouse. This is my 2nd laptop and my previous one was a 8 year old toshiba that had a blown USB port because I plugged in a mouse while it was already powered on.

After this happened I did read in the toshiba manual that you shouldn't unplug or plug in a usb device while it is already on. Since I carry my macbook all over my condo I need to unplug and plug in stuff all over.

Is it safe to do this on a macbook or should I be shutting it down to plug stuff in.

Thanks
 
That just seems silly...I have no idea why Toshiba would have said that and why it might have caused a problem. Millions of people (Mac and PC users alike) hot swap their USB peripherals daily with nary a problem. There's no reason to shutdown when plugging or unplugging virtually any USB device...especially something as simple as a mouse.
 
^^^ Completely agree. I unplug my keyboard and mouse from my macbook pro quite often, and nothing has yet to "explode" on me. Just be sure properly stop and eject certain devices like iPods, cameras, etc. Mice and keyboards shouldn't need that, so I don't see any reason why you can't simply unplug/replug as often as you'd like.
 
Really? Toshiba said that? One of USB's big selling points back in the day was that it was hot-swappable. If Toshiba actually said that, they're full of crap.

Hot swap to your heart's content.
 
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