usb-C backward compatible

[lori5060]

i have a macbook air early 2013. 8GB memory, 1.6Ghz Intel Core i5.

BLACK FRIDAY coming up soon....i was thinking of getting another MAC tho i see that the new ones only have 1 USB-C port. BUT that it is backward compatible 3.0 and 2.0.
Having only 1 port may be an issue for me as I often use both USB ports at same time to copy files from one external hard drive to another as my internal storage is only 120GB which is mostly taken up with apps and other.
.......I would look get a larger internal storage plus more RAM with next MAC.

Seems Apple does not have very large internal storage on any laptops..don't know about their desktops. Not like Windows PC, my old PC had 100GB and I never had to be concerned about running out of space. However, that is in the past.

Currently:
I have several external hard drives with are all 3.0 and a few smaller usb sticks i think are 2.0.
I also have headset with white bar for usb..is that a 2.0?
i have an external rom drive which is also white bar...also 2.0?
what are the black bar usb sticks? 2.0?

my concern is...if i were to purchase a new Macbook or Pro .....how will I be able to still use all my peripherals?
even tho backward compatible, the connector is a different shape and would need an adapter of sorts i would imagine.
would I need to get a different adapter for 2.0 to usb-c and 3.0 to usb-c or would one suffice?
and then there is the issue of only having 1 port....

mayb i should wait a bit until Apple decides to include more than one USB-C port!!!

Maybe someone has had similar concerns.

 

[harryb2448]

I think you are in the market for mains powered equipment as that is a huge load for any notebook should they be bus powered.

Have to remember they are designed as a portable computer and not a desktop for all your connections. Same problem when I used Dell Latitudes for business.

 

[S.SubZero]

MAC tho i see that the new ones only have 1 USB-C port. BUT that it is backward compatible 3.0 and 2.0.

It's a single USB-C port. The plug is physically different than a standard USB port you are familiar with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

You can buy some sort of hub that will break out a USB-C into common USB ports.

Seems Apple does not have very large internal storage on any laptops..don't know about their desktops. Not like Windows PC, my old PC had 100GB and I never had to be concerned about running out of space. However, that is in the past.

The MacBook you mentioned with the one port goes to 512GB (256GB is standard). The MacBook Pro goes to 2TB. If your "very large storage" is like 14,000 petabytes or something, well, no.

You sound more MacBook Pro material. The 15" model comes standard with four USB-C ports, and the 13" has four on the TouchBar-enabled one.

 

[chscag]

In case any of our forum members are military or retired military, the AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange System) has the 13" MacBook Pro Touch Bar model with 256GB and 8 GB on sale for $300 off the Apple Price. That's a great bargain if you're in the market for a new MacBook Pro.

 

[lori5060]

thnx S.SubZero.... but that link info is way too technical for me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

You can buy some sort of hub that will break out a USB-C into common USB ports.
i had heard in past that hubs can have reduced power for each port...so am bit hesitant there.

The MacBook you mentioned with the one port goes to 512GB (256GB is standard). The MacBook Pro goes to 2TB. If your "very large storage" is like 14,000 petabytes or something, well, no.

don't fully understand your comments about port 512 and 256 gb.
does that mean the size of the device inserted into the port?
OR size of storage space. my current macbook only has 120gb.

never heard of petabytes before, googled and see that it is = to 1000 TB. my external drives are 1 and 2 TB in size. sometimes I have one connect to each USB port transferring files.

i don't use all the devices indicated in original post on a regular basis but do find connecting the ext drives response is bit slow! and just learned to deal with it and be patient.
i do run MS Office app (for mac) and is great but again quite sluggish to load. Eventually i want to do some edit/creating videos.

You sound more MacBook Pro material. The 15" model comes standard with four USB-C ports, and the 13" has four on the TouchBar-enabled one.
I was moving from Windows PC to Mac and purchased macbook air as a trial to see how i like it before I spend many $$$ on Macbook Pro.

I will have to do more research on Macbook Pro.

 

[lori5060]

been doing some research of macbook pro 15" (2017) seems that this is more powerful than my lil ol macbook air, still running Yosemite....lol lol lol

I would imagine it comes with Sierra OS...i had read on some posts (can't remember where) that Sierra may have issues with some apps. AND i will have to get an usb-C adapter so I can use my other devices.

not quite sure what difference between descriptions on line 4x usb-c ports and 4x thunderbolt 3 ports.

i have purchased MS Office, RootsMagic and Rosetta Stone. I would think that MS Office should work just fine but not sure about the other two.
other misc apps i have are: GIMP & Malware Byes (which should be OK); Audacity, Total Video Converter, Audio Video Converter lite, Macx youtube downloader. those are the only ones I can see that I had downloaded from the publishers site only.

anyone have any idea on Sierra OS and its cons?

 

[mrplow]

The best way to think about the 4 USB-C ports on the MBP 15 are all USB-C in physical design but they are both USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 spec ports. They can also all be used to charge the MBP.

What I'd suggest is getting a good quality USB-C hub, there are some reasonably priced devices out there. Power shouldn't be an issue but that's very much down to the devices you connect. Modern 2.5" HDD/SSDdrives & thumb drives shouldn't be an issue. Those hubs tend to be USB 3 (blue insert). USB 3 is backward compatible with v2 and v1.

It's likely that a MBP you buy new will have High Sierra on but maybe Sierra. Roaring Apps have a good site as a starting place for compatibility.

The biggest incompatibility at the moment tends to be disk utilities as not all have been updated to handle the new Apple File System (APFS).

 

[lori5060]

thanks for replying mrplow
there are many USB-C hubs out there and knowing what is a reasonably priced one that will do the job is difficult to determine. will have to rely on a clerk at retail store. i have found a few online which are classed as a multi port hub. not sure if this is the way to go or not.

power issue depends on devices connect...am not too knowledgeable about this and would like to have an idea before I buy.

will check out the roaring apps link..thnx

biggest incompatibility....disk utilities...but wouldn't an update be out to fix those?? how would one know which ones have not been updated...they may not be of concern to me at all anyway. is there a way to check out?

mayb i would be better off just getting mbp 15" 2016 instead of newer 2017....there can't be that much difference but cost would be less i think.

 

[lori5060]

so i have been doing my research. the differences between 2017 and 2016 as far as specs etc are not that different tho the price certainly is.
comparing to what I have now...will be a huge step up.
have checked with my purchased apps to see if compatible with Sierra and yes...so am okay in that respect.
now i have to make a decision. hopefully can find a good deal on Black Friday...i just needed to fully understand before I took the leap.

maybe first, i think i will upgrade my macbook air to sierra and see how that goes.
do i need to do anything in particular before that?
like backing up? i have never done that sort of thing before as i never knew where the file went or how to get them back if needed.
so I just would copy my data etc files and purchased apps to external drives.

 

[mrplow]

Just cherry picking a few of you questions:
USB-C hubs - have a look at Anker's offerings. Reasonably priced, well built and good quality.
Power issues - you simply won't know until you try. There are too many USB devices out there to be sure and sure have wildly varying power requirements. All you can say is that most will be fine without additional power.
Disk Utilities - It takes a while for software companies to introduce new functionality. Obviously the built in Mac OS tools support APFS and several others have made the updates required. But not all. A trip to the applications website will tell you.


There are many many backup options.

The simplest is Time Machine. It's built into Mac OS and uses an external hard drive to backup all your Users, Files and Applications. From a restore perspective you can bring back individual files and folders or when reinstalling Mac OS, or getting a new Mac you can use the Migration tool to restore some or all of your content. Also, once setup it's automatic and will backup changes whenever it's available.

You can also look at standalone tools like SuperDuper or online tools like BackBlaze.

Whichever way you go...... if you have anything that you can't easily replace backup backup backup before any OS update or upgrade.

 

[MacInWin]

And I'll nominate Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup option. I have it and it works well.

https://bombich.com

 

[mrplow]

And I'll nominate Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup option. I have it and it works well.

https://bombich.com

Agreed CCC is great. Though I'd suggest getting v5 if you do get this. V4 has limited APFS support whereas V5 has full support

 

[mrplow]

And I'll nominate Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup option. I have it and it works well.

https://bombich.com

Agreed CCC is great. Though I'd suggest getting v5 if you do get this. V4 has limited APFS support whereas V5 has full support

 

[lori5060]

thnx mrplow
I did Time Machine backup and it was easy peasy...at first it did not look like anything was happening but before I knew it all was done. Little confusing when click on drive it opened up looking like my finder window with all folders on left. finally figured it out.
tho odd thing...when I clicked on external drive (2tb) info...it said 2gb available...almost as if nothing was on drive but when I looked at a few folders, files were there.

 

[lori5060]

thnx mrplow
you say...It's likely that a MBP you buy new will have High Sierra on but maybe Sierra. Roaring Apps have a good site as a starting place for compatibility.
i read online that it is possible to download and install sierra on external drive and test it out. is that really possible? how much space would that take?
i would try that before attempting to upgrade my macbook air....

FYI....I did try the link you sent and found a few of my apps...oddly some have green check for sierra but not high sierra! I have checked out the software i purchased and all are compatible. the rest of my apps, I probably will be able to download again if need be.

 

[mrplow]

It’s not odd that some apps aren’t working or supported in the latest version of Mac OS. That’s exactly what is was trying to explain earlier

You can install and run any version of MacOS in an external drive.
Obviously it’s performance will be limited be the device and it’s connection but it works fine.

Easiest way is to create a usb installer for Sierra. Boot from the installer with the external drive connected. Choose the external as the drive to install to and away you go.
Here’s a good guide for the process. It refers to High Sierra but the process is the same for Sierra. Use the disk maker app as suggested for ease.

 

[lori5060]

thnx mrplow
you said...Here’s a good guide for the process. It refers to High Sierra but the process is the same for Sierra. Use the disk maker app as suggested for ease. had you planned to send a link to the guide?

do you know if I have option to choose sierra over high sierra?

 

[mrplow]

Sorry yes, it had been a long day ......

https://m.imore.com/how-create-bootable-installer-mac-operating-system-high-sierra

 

[lori5060]

thank you mrplow
and I do very much appreciate ALL the replies I receive at this forum.

i did look at link info...think i may be chewing off more than i can handle
tho looks easy enough but am little hesitant in that I could if I am not very careful
erase my whole flash drive on macbook air.