Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
USB-C Hub gets very hot on MacBook Pro 2020
- Thread starter aniruddo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not sure if it’s the DC-9 or which DodoCool model you have and was considering buying it.
I’d have guess the shell is very thin metal vs your MBP so I doubt any damage would occur yet your MBP is under warranty so should anything go wrong then that’s a fallback.
just don’t leave it in for extended periods of time when not required as it’s still drawing power from the MBP an
I’d have guess the shell is very thin metal vs your MBP so I doubt any damage would occur yet your MBP is under warranty so should anything go wrong then that’s a fallback.
just don’t leave it in for extended periods of time when not required as it’s still drawing power from the MBP an
It's the DC-73 (https://www.dodocool.com/p-dc73gy.html). Got it because it also has the ethernet port.
I do have the warranty but still... it's not a dirt-cheap hub so I am a bit surprised by this issue.
I was told by Dodocool support that the hub will stop functioning at about 50 degrees Celsius and operating temperatures below that are normal. However, I found the hub to be at a temperature of 41 degrees or slightly higher continuously once connected to the MacBook, even without any other attachments connected to the hub itself. That does not seem normal.
If you don’t have anything attached to the hub, there is no reason to leave it attached to your MacBook Pro.
That's not really the point. I kept it attached to confirm if the hub would heat up even when it was not connected to anything other than the MacBook itself. I usually have an external monitor connected via HDMI all day, which means the hub heating up so much is a matter of concern.
But is it really? I would suggest to you that if the manufacturer says it is normal, it's normal.
Yeah, that's hopefully the case.
I would go mad if my brand new and terribly expensive MacBook pro ends up with damage due to this. I understand your concern, but I think you're ok. Electronics do generate heat. They always have. It does seem like a hub that isn't supporting any connected devices wouldn't do any work, but the electronics inside are still powered. This quick web search turns up many hits about hot hubs. Your experience seems common which probably means it is normal, if that's any comfort.
USB hub getting hot
USB hub getting hot
I have a USB-C hub for my 2019 Macbook Pro and I have a good experience with it. It has gotten warm, but it has never become very hot using it from my experience using it for close to a year now.
My experience is that even the OEM Apple usb c hubs get pretty hot whilst connected even when your MacBook is off.
Personally I tend to unplug mine when I'm not using it for that reason.
Personally I tend to unplug mine when I'm not using it for that reason.
That depends mostly on what ports the hub has. My USB-C Hub that has just 4 USB-A ports never gets noticeably warmer.
But other hubs with Ethernet or HDMI or Card Readers do get warm because they need other voltages. Usually they use some cheap converters to get the Voltage down from 5V. These converters are inefficient and dissipate a lot of heat.
Hubs with USB-PD passthrough always get hot. I would personally stay away from them. Especially, if you consider that 99.9% of those Chinese hubs have no safety measurements and are questionably structured in terms of PCB layout and component choice.
You don't want to fry your Mac with some cheap hub because a good one costs a bit more, right?
Just my 2c
But other hubs with Ethernet or HDMI or Card Readers do get warm because they need other voltages. Usually they use some cheap converters to get the Voltage down from 5V. These converters are inefficient and dissipate a lot of heat.
Hubs with USB-PD passthrough always get hot. I would personally stay away from them. Especially, if you consider that 99.9% of those Chinese hubs have no safety measurements and are questionably structured in terms of PCB layout and component choice.
You don't want to fry your Mac with some cheap hub because a good one costs a bit more, right?
Just my 2c
Interesting to read the comments here. For me i get one point clear, its obvious that there is alot of people posting in threads like this who really dont have a SINGLE clue what they talking about.
I just bought at SATECHI USB-C to HDMI / Ethernet / USB hub. It get TOO hot. No its not burning your fingers off. But having a USB hub that gets even +1 degree C warmer during NO USE AT ALL is a defective product design. A product that is not in use, even if connected, should not generate any heat. It should have minimum current draw during this resting state.
All these examples of USB-C hubs getting hot is really poor design from producers. This is probably in chip design, and also on PCB layout design, might also be drivers but about that i dont know.
This adapter i have cost about $100 in the store. And when i left a normal USB memory stick in the adpter for about 5 minutes its was REALLY hot when i removed it. Probably hot enough to do data damage if left for many hours. I removed it and put it in my old Macbook Pro to see if it was the stick who had problem. But after more then 10min in the old Mac there was no increase of heat noticable.
Is this temperature issue normal? NO - this does not happen when plugged in to any other device, and should not happen in this USB-C adapter device either.
Is this acceptabel? NO - this is poor design, and should be removed from shelf by the shops and sent back to manufacturer.
Seeing ppl in this thread carry different arguments about this or that makes me understand there is plenty of stupid people buying this stuff, and that is how they can keep this garbage on the shelf.
Everyone should send it back day 1.
This products will reduce the endurance of the battery while connected, ALOT, you can measure it.
This product if used every day on battery, will reduce your battery life, as it will increase they cycle count.
This product will probably have short lifecycle, since running these temperatures is not good for the equipment, even if it can take the temperature getting hot and cold many times in cycles wears things out.
This product can damage USB memorysticks, memorycards and other sensitive equipment attached for long time.
And the most important factor here is that there is nothing stopping producers from making a good design. They just dont care, and they get away with it because of consumers that dont care. This is problem for all consumers in the end, as high quality products get harder to find.
Sorry to say, but all USB-C adapter hubs that get warm with no usage is pure crap from hardware designer point of view. Power saving features of circuits should throttle the power if nothing is connected, if such feature does not exist in the hardware they should not be used in 2020.
Now did anyone find a USB-C adapter that does not get hot, or do i have to send the new Macbook back to the store and buy another second hand 2015 model?
//GF
I just bought at SATECHI USB-C to HDMI / Ethernet / USB hub. It get TOO hot. No its not burning your fingers off. But having a USB hub that gets even +1 degree C warmer during NO USE AT ALL is a defective product design. A product that is not in use, even if connected, should not generate any heat. It should have minimum current draw during this resting state.
All these examples of USB-C hubs getting hot is really poor design from producers. This is probably in chip design, and also on PCB layout design, might also be drivers but about that i dont know.
This adapter i have cost about $100 in the store. And when i left a normal USB memory stick in the adpter for about 5 minutes its was REALLY hot when i removed it. Probably hot enough to do data damage if left for many hours. I removed it and put it in my old Macbook Pro to see if it was the stick who had problem. But after more then 10min in the old Mac there was no increase of heat noticable.
Is this temperature issue normal? NO - this does not happen when plugged in to any other device, and should not happen in this USB-C adapter device either.
Is this acceptabel? NO - this is poor design, and should be removed from shelf by the shops and sent back to manufacturer.
Seeing ppl in this thread carry different arguments about this or that makes me understand there is plenty of stupid people buying this stuff, and that is how they can keep this garbage on the shelf.
Everyone should send it back day 1.
This products will reduce the endurance of the battery while connected, ALOT, you can measure it.
This product if used every day on battery, will reduce your battery life, as it will increase they cycle count.
This product will probably have short lifecycle, since running these temperatures is not good for the equipment, even if it can take the temperature getting hot and cold many times in cycles wears things out.
This product can damage USB memorysticks, memorycards and other sensitive equipment attached for long time.
And the most important factor here is that there is nothing stopping producers from making a good design. They just dont care, and they get away with it because of consumers that dont care. This is problem for all consumers in the end, as high quality products get harder to find.
Sorry to say, but all USB-C adapter hubs that get warm with no usage is pure crap from hardware designer point of view. Power saving features of circuits should throttle the power if nothing is connected, if such feature does not exist in the hardware they should not be used in 2020.
Now did anyone find a USB-C adapter that does not get hot, or do i have to send the new Macbook back to the store and buy another second hand 2015 model?
//GF
Hm. Yeah. I think the same. It’s weird how USB-C should make everything better but all you can find are garbage hubs.
It depends on what type of ports you need. If it’s just USB, the I have an Aukey USB hub that barely gets warm even when using all 4 ports with high data transfer.
Hubs with USB PD or with Ethernet will always get hot. It’s simply because those cheap power converters are inefficient and waste a lot of power. But they’re cheap so they’re chosen over Better components.
It depends on what type of ports you need. If it’s just USB, the I have an Aukey USB hub that barely gets warm even when using all 4 ports with high data transfer.
Hubs with USB PD or with Ethernet will always get hot. It’s simply because those cheap power converters are inefficient and waste a lot of power. But they’re cheap so they’re chosen over Better components.
Thing is that it should not be allowed according to USB-C specifications to have this kind of low quality component in the adapters. I am sure a proper one would cost no more then couple of dollars extra in production, maybe not even that. Sure that would make another $20 on the end user price but that is fine for me. I fell just a few dollars short of a kidney donation to buy that computer anyway.
I will se if i an upload the thermal image of my USB-C hub. Even the desk (!!) is heated to temperature above 30 degrees even with not one single item connected to the hub. This item basically generates same amount of surface heat as the electrical heating in the steeringwheel or the seat of a modern car.. and those products are intended to generate heat.. This USB-C hub generate same amount in just pure waste. Measured in % of total power needed i would guess the waste is more then needed to operate the hub.
//GF
I will se if i an upload the thermal image of my USB-C hub. Even the desk (!!) is heated to temperature above 30 degrees even with not one single item connected to the hub. This item basically generates same amount of surface heat as the electrical heating in the steeringwheel or the seat of a modern car.. and those products are intended to generate heat.. This USB-C hub generate same amount in just pure waste. Measured in % of total power needed i would guess the waste is more then needed to operate the hub.
//GF
Hi, I'm new to the forum and i agree with your post on how the manufacturers could do better with their design. I'm having this issue and wanted to know did you find a solution to the hub getting very warm?
Hello Cliff!
I was so dissapointed by the macbook with USB-C (no mag safe) and the usless USB adapter that i got rid of it, and bought a 2015 MPB 13" that was upgraded with 1TB storage. This machine suits me well, and i run High Sierra with Opera browser. I am so happy with this configuration, hoping it will last few more years. Also i have the 2009 Mac Pro that is 100% upgraded with SSD/128GbRAM and 12-core xeon 3.46Ghz, and to be honest nothing is tempting me with the new Apple Hardware or later versions of OSX.
To me it was all perfect back then, and all i would ever ask for is more battery usage time or lower power consumption.
//GF
I am not suggesting you should do what i did, just that i didnt feel the newer macbooks had anything to offer me at all compared to the old ones. So i reverted back and became more happy and at the same time saved 1000€ or so.
Reasons:
- Magsafe was not on the new models. This is one of the best features of Apple laptops. Probably saved me about 10 laptops during the years.
- USB C is useless to me, as i only have old USB equipment and don't like adapters. USB sticks, harddrives and all i have is old standard.
- I want HDMI or similar on my machines, because USB-C dont work with all screens without adapters.
- Old machine has exchangable SSD drive, if it fails i can swap it for a new. later models dont, chance is that older models wil outlive the newer ones in terms of hardware.
- I type faster on the old keyboards.
If you are not up to using old OSX and swapping SSDs i dont advice to go my route
//GF
Reasons:
- Magsafe was not on the new models. This is one of the best features of Apple laptops. Probably saved me about 10 laptops during the years.
- USB C is useless to me, as i only have old USB equipment and don't like adapters. USB sticks, harddrives and all i have is old standard.
- I want HDMI or similar on my machines, because USB-C dont work with all screens without adapters.
- Old machine has exchangable SSD drive, if it fails i can swap it for a new. later models dont, chance is that older models wil outlive the newer ones in terms of hardware.
- I type faster on the old keyboards.
If you are not up to using old OSX and swapping SSDs i dont advice to go my route
//GF