Any downsides for using my monitor as a USB hub?
May 4, 2020 6:16 AM Subscribe
I just got a monitor that connects via USB C, connected to my MacBook. I’ve been using a stand-alone USB hub for four external drives, my iOS devices, my DAW, card readers, and midi devices. The monitor has USB ports on it. Is there any reason not to run my hub off of the monitor?
I’ve never had a USB C monitor, and wondered whether there are limitations of pushing data through, or best practices for picking devices that work well when combined with the video (and power for my MacBook, which is also running from the monitor cable). I’m particularly mindful of the drives, but I have no experience here. Thanks!
I’ve never had a USB C monitor, and wondered whether there are limitations of pushing data through, or best practices for picking devices that work well when combined with the video (and power for my MacBook, which is also running from the monitor cable). I’m particularly mindful of the drives, but I have no experience here. Thanks!
If your monitor is 4K@60Hz or less - basically not a specialized gamer or high resolution model - the USB and Displayport paths are independent and don’t impact each other. Therefore there would be no impact in using them both together on the same port.
If it is a high-performance gaming monitor or an extra-high-res model, you’d be better off using separate DisplayPort and USB, or Thunderbolt over USB C.
posted by doomsey at 6:35 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
If it is a high-performance gaming monitor or an extra-high-res model, you’d be better off using separate DisplayPort and USB, or Thunderbolt over USB C.
posted by doomsey at 6:35 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
That's a lot of devices for one hub, I assume it has its own power supply? If it's unpowered I'm surprised that would work at all, for a powered hub using the monitor as a pass through should be okay.
As others say you're going to have to benchmark it though, it depends on the specific USB controller the monitor uses. I would be a bit worried about extra latency on the DAW, so experiment with that and bandwidth on the drives. You may be best off moving some devices to the monitor and leaving some on the hub which is connected separately
posted by JZig at 7:48 AM on May 4, 2020
As others say you're going to have to benchmark it though, it depends on the specific USB controller the monitor uses. I would be a bit worried about extra latency on the DAW, so experiment with that and bandwidth on the drives. You may be best off moving some devices to the monitor and leaving some on the hub which is connected separately
posted by JZig at 7:48 AM on May 4, 2020
Response by poster: Thanks--I should perhaps have added that 1) the hub is powered; 2) virtually all the devices on the hub are powered; and 3) I'm generally not using multiple devices simultaneously (possibly copying something from one drive to another). Though one case for simultaneous use is the DAW and a MIDI keyboard.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2020
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2020
I work in higher ed IT. the USB hubs in monitors tend to fail in random ways and we rarely attach more than a mouse/keyboard to them.
I don't have a ton of experience with the newer usb-c monitors so maybe they're sourcing more reliable parts?
posted by noloveforned at 9:27 AM on May 4, 2020
I don't have a ton of experience with the newer usb-c monitors so maybe they're sourcing more reliable parts?
posted by noloveforned at 9:27 AM on May 4, 2020
Some monitors will disable the USB functionality when they're turned off, for example when the computer enters sleep mode, and/or when the monitor detects no activity and uses its own power management. I don't know how this would apply if the monitor cable is also providing power for the computer. Maybe there's a setting in the monitor firmware to control this. But all software, but especially those written by hardware companies, is garbage.
There is also the cruder reason that when you connect everything through one cable, you forget what is on the other side of that cable. So you may initiate a long copy or operation with an external drive, walk away from the computer and forget, then come back to the computer and unplug the cable for the monitor and corrupt/cancel the file copy operation. This is something you can train yourself to remember, but I often connect devices directly to the computer so hopefully I will think twice before unplugging a drive that is currently blinking.
posted by meowzilla at 10:32 AM on May 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
There is also the cruder reason that when you connect everything through one cable, you forget what is on the other side of that cable. So you may initiate a long copy or operation with an external drive, walk away from the computer and forget, then come back to the computer and unplug the cable for the monitor and corrupt/cancel the file copy operation. This is something you can train yourself to remember, but I often connect devices directly to the computer so hopefully I will think twice before unplugging a drive that is currently blinking.
posted by meowzilla at 10:32 AM on May 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
The monitor itself likely has an internal hub, and pluging a hub into a hub is likely to be somewhat detrimental to the performance of the connection.
My monitors have USB hubs and they are probably the least reliable USB connections on my computer, like the devices connected to them sometimes wouldn't show up after the monitor woke from standby unless I power-cycled the monitor or rebooted the computer, that sort of thing. I have some stuff connected to them, but it's all stuff I don't care about much.
posted by Aleyn at 11:14 PM on May 4, 2020
My monitors have USB hubs and they are probably the least reliable USB connections on my computer, like the devices connected to them sometimes wouldn't show up after the monitor woke from standby unless I power-cycled the monitor or rebooted the computer, that sort of thing. I have some stuff connected to them, but it's all stuff I don't care about much.
posted by Aleyn at 11:14 PM on May 4, 2020
USB-C is a type of connector. USB3.1 or Thunderbolt3 are the protocols that supply video, data, power, etc. over those connectors to your devices. These do not suffer from many of the problems of previous versions of USB that everyone here is mentioning, and they don't share video or data lines so they don't interfere with each other.
That's a lot of devices for one hub, I assume it has its own power supply?
This is not an issue anymore with USB3.1/T3.
The monitor itself likely has an internal hub, and pluging a hub into a hub is likely to be somewhat detrimental to the performance of the connection.
This isn't true as long as everything is of the same spec.
the USB hubs in monitors tend to fail in random ways and we rarely attach more than a mouse/keyboard to them.
This is because you use cheap monitors. It's also, IME, because previous USB-A connectors are mono-directional and no one actually pulls the monitor out to make sure they do it right. They just jam it in and flip it if they were wrong it won't go in. So back of the monitor ports get a lot more abuse than ones people can see properly. This is a big reason USB-C connectors were designed to work both ways.
posted by bradbane at 4:18 PM on May 5, 2020
That's a lot of devices for one hub, I assume it has its own power supply?
This is not an issue anymore with USB3.1/T3.
The monitor itself likely has an internal hub, and pluging a hub into a hub is likely to be somewhat detrimental to the performance of the connection.
This isn't true as long as everything is of the same spec.
the USB hubs in monitors tend to fail in random ways and we rarely attach more than a mouse/keyboard to them.
This is because you use cheap monitors. It's also, IME, because previous USB-A connectors are mono-directional and no one actually pulls the monitor out to make sure they do it right. They just jam it in and flip it if they were wrong it won't go in. So back of the monitor ports get a lot more abuse than ones people can see properly. This is a big reason USB-C connectors were designed to work both ways.
posted by bradbane at 4:18 PM on May 5, 2020
This is because you use cheap monitors.
The Dell UltraSharp monitors I have aren't exactly what I'd call cheap and work flawlessly in just about every other way than the USB ports. To be fair, the USB hub in the monitors works well enough that I'll attach devices to them, even more-or-less permanently, but they're still not as reliable as plugging directly into my machine for me, so I tend to just use it for secondary peripherals like webcams and stuff. They do use an older USB2 hub, though, so perhaps the newer hubs work better.
Granted, I haven't had the need to use standalone USB hubs since I have plenty of USB ports on my desktop, so it might just be that USB hubs in general are a bit more finicky than direct connections. I'm just relaying my own experiences with them.
posted by Aleyn at 10:20 AM on May 7, 2020
The Dell UltraSharp monitors I have aren't exactly what I'd call cheap and work flawlessly in just about every other way than the USB ports. To be fair, the USB hub in the monitors works well enough that I'll attach devices to them, even more-or-less permanently, but they're still not as reliable as plugging directly into my machine for me, so I tend to just use it for secondary peripherals like webcams and stuff. They do use an older USB2 hub, though, so perhaps the newer hubs work better.
Granted, I haven't had the need to use standalone USB hubs since I have plenty of USB ports on my desktop, so it might just be that USB hubs in general are a bit more finicky than direct connections. I'm just relaying my own experiences with them.
posted by Aleyn at 10:20 AM on May 7, 2020
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