What exactly are the differences in the new MBP USB ports?

[neccoloup]

Because they significant, aparently. For instance, for whatever reason the rearmost port doesn't function with my Digidesign Mbox 2, however the front does. What are these differences between the ports and why?

 

[tekchic]

Saw this thread the other day - possibly speed? Apparently they are different. I have used my Sony Reader, 16gb Flash Drive, iPod and iPhone on both ports and everything works fine. Haven't tried any audio stuff for them though...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/917738/

Edit: Also my Wacom Intuos2 Tablet (7 yr old tablet) works fine via USB.

 

[neccoloup]

Interesting, wonder why they'd do this.

 

[Bill Gates]

One of them is most likely internally shared with other devices, such as the iSight. That's the way it was with older MBP models and most likely continues to be the case. That would reduce its available power and bandwidth.

 

[7thMac]

Hmm, any documentation? My manual doesn't mention this.

 

[Bill Gates]

Hmm, any documentation? My manual doesn't mention this.

Just look at the device tree in the System Profiler application.

 

[brand]

My manual doesn't mention this.

What makes you think it would?

 

[neccoloup]

Wow, the port with issues controls the memory card reader, bluetooth AND the keyboard/trackpad. No wonder it sucks for devices like audio interfaces.

 

[djdavidgallant]

Hasn't one port always been bridged with the onboard devices like the keyboard? With my old macbook (just got a new 13" mbp) I could only use my Serato Scratch Live DJ software and USB interface with one of the 1 USB ports. It was practically documented that the inner USB port could not stream anything

 

[dsprimal]

its usb 2.5!!!!!!