macOS 14.4.1

Part of the reason I'm annoyed that Apple decided to start jettisoning ports from most of their mac models is because hubs just don't work as well. In my experience they're a bit janky and sometimes have very strange issues. This 14.4 update is one example of that.

Another example is that my OWC Thunderbolt 3 hub keeps losing it's connection if I bump its cable, and it happens no matter what cable I use. You don't have to worry about defects like that with internal ports!

And another good example is that I have a USB audio device that, if I plug it into one specific USB-A port on my CalDigit Thunderbolt hub, will cause the entire hub to start power cycling repeatedly over and over! The hub is otherwise not defective. And the only thing I've found that does it is plugging in that one specific device into that one specific port. It works fine on all of the other ports.

I have other examples, but the purpose of me pointing them out is to illustrate that making a USB / Thunderbolt hub that works as consistently as using an internal port is obviously very difficult, if not outright impossible.

Of course your mileage may vary -- I'm sure there are people out there that just *never* have these sorts of problems, especially given that I'm a magnet for them for some reason. But they pretty much just don't happen when you use the built-in USB ports on your mac, at least in my experience. Those generally "just work" -- you know, that thing macs *used* to do.

I suppose nowadays if you want enough ports that you probably don't need a hub or dock, then you have to spring for the absurdly overpriced Mac Pro, or perhaps a Mac Studio. (Though honestly I would run out of ports on a Mac Studio.) There's no good option for portable macs.

My reasonably priced 2009 Mac Pro didn't need any hubs or docks. I could even add an expansion card to give it more and higher speed USB ports (though admittedly it didn't work 100% either). I wish Apple still sold a mac like that.

@Bri Yes, my experience is that internal ports are always better, even when using an expensive Thunderbolt dock/hub.

Yep.

Anecdotally:

* for a while, I was on a Belkin Tb 2 dock, through a 3 to 2 adapter. This worked fine, except 1) there’s no power delivery that way, and 2) the monitor connected through the dock took 20-30 seconds to wake up; the one connected directly to the building-in HDMI port < 3 seconds. But other than that, it only flaked once or twice a year. USB, Ethernet, etc. all right there.

* mainly to simplify power, I got a Dell dock. It even supports connecting both displays, and of course power delivery. But, 1) almost every single time, my Magic Trackpad (connected by a chain of laptop → dock → USB hub; no different than with the Belkin) refuses to wake up until I disconnect and reconnect Lightning, and 2) in about two and a half months, I’ve already had two kernel panics.

It invariably introduces complexity and points of failure. Still, being able to connect literally one cable and having everything right there is nice.

I have similar experiences. One StarTech dock that we have in the house worked great. Then after one macOS update (I think 13.0.0) it started having issues waking the external DisplayPort display after sleep. Since then it was never fixed. It's all the more surprising when you consider that many Thunderbolt docks are based on the same reference designs. So Apple would only have to test a handful of docks.

Of course, Apple's stuff (MacBook ports and Studio Display ports) works flawless.

@Daniël I found that, even when plugged directly into the MacBook Pro, the Studio Display hub is unreliable.

USB-C connectivity to my Dell U3818W would flake out once or twice a year on a 2018 Mac Mini and a 2020 MacBook Air. No big deal.

However, since moving to a 16-inch M3 MacBook Pro I have to unplug/replug the darned thing up to 10 times before it gets a signal. :\ So at least to me this isn't an entirely new problem.

I'm not installing any more updates until I buy a new machine, though. Just kidding! ... sort of. At least my audio software works again.

It's not you or your gear.

The other day, a USB C cable plugged into the front of my Mac Studio fell on the floor and I didn't notice until my chair was about to roll over it. I picked up the cable and inadvertently tugged on the Studio ever so slightly. The Studio moved like 2mm, which was enough to spontaneously eject all the hard drives on the one USB A cable that moved.

It gets worse. When I am going to be away from my Mac for more than an hour, I always lock it with control + command + q. This works great in the daytime—it works exactly how it has always worked since the day that keyboard shortcut was added. However, if my focus mode is on Sleep when I do this, Ventura ejects all external storage, but not by actually ejecting it or unmounting it (to, you know, prevent damage and shit), nope, Ventura cycles the power on all the USB ports (just guessing, it's not a bug, it's a feature!) which causes all the external storage to get disconnected suddenly (and I get a notification for every drive accusing me of improper removal, thanks Apple).