Back story: 2011 refurb store iMac is finally giving up the ghost. Slowly. Painfully. I can only go to High Sierra OS. A lot of websites are not compatible with the web browsers. Now USB ports are starting to fail. it is painfully slow on startup (Well over 5 minutes to finish fully starting up and be useful). I have a lot of USBA peripherals including backup keyboards and mice for when my wireless peripherals fails (like it just did yesterday).

I am looking at a new iMac, probably the low tier, but with 500gb-1tb internal storage. No USBA ports, but 2 USBC ports.

I am trying to find a USB hub that would go from C to A. Anyone with real world experience with these? Preferable powered as I am using an external USBA drive as backup (CCC, so to be time machine due to Apples security chip).

Thanks, and please do not hesitate to educate me with anything that I got wrong above, or should be thinking about that I have not already mentioned (be gentle?).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2023 11:59AM by Spiff.

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Spiff
I can only go to High Sierra OS. A lot of websites are not compatible with the web browsers.

FWIW: The latest versions of Chrome and Firefox still run on High Sierra.

While USB-C is capable of a few more features than "regular" USB, when it comes down to a hub (especially a USB-A hub), it's essentially the same, just a different connector (kind of like how there were full size USB, mini and micro USB connectors before).

So, you don't need to look for a "USB-C to USB-A" hub. You need more USB-A ports, so just look for a powered USB-A hub that you like, maybe you own one already? Then, all you need is the appropriate cable or adapter to go from USB-C to the hub (i.e. a simple USB-C to USB-A adapter to let you use the cable that came with the hub, or get a USB-C to USB-B cable).

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Spiff
Back story: 2011 refurb store iMac is finally giving up the ghost. Slowly. Painfully. I can only go to High Sierra OS. A lot of websites are not compatible with the web browsers. Now USB ports are starting to fail. it is painfully slow on startup (Well over 5 minutes to finish fully starting up and be useful). I have a lot of USBA peripherals including backup keyboards and mice for when my wireless peripherals fails (like it just did yesterday).

I am looking at a new iMac, probably the low tier, but with 500gb-1tb internal storage. No USBA ports, but 2 USBC ports.

I am trying to find a USB hub that would go from C to A. Anyone with real world experience with these? Preferable powered as I am using an external USBA drive as backup (CCC, so to be time machine due to Apples security chip).

Thanks, and please do not hesitate to educate me with anything that I got wrong above, or should be thinking about that I have not already mentioned (be gentle?).

A friend of mine just buys USBc to USBa cables on amazon, and they seem to work well, so if you don't need more devices than you have ports, it would be a cheap way to do it. And no unwieldy box, etc.

1. You will kick yourself later if you don't go for a 4-port iMac.

2. A new iMac is expected by mid-summer or early fall, can you wait?

3. There are hundreds of USB-C hubs on Amazon that will provide USB-A ports, and if you prefer one of those sweet Anker 7/10-port USB-A powered hubs, you can adapt it (as mentioned above). Don't sweat that part.

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I agree with this. My Anker hub has been rock-solid.

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Tiangou
1. You will kick yourself later if you don't go for a 4-port iMac.

2. A new iMac is expected by mid-summer or early fall, can you wait?

3. There are hundreds of USB-C hubs on Amazon that will provide USB-A ports, and if you prefer one of those sweet Anker 7/10-port USB-A powered hubs, you can adapt it (as mentioned above). Don't sweat that part.

The cable thing is a great idea! Forgot about that. See? That's why this forum is awesome.

Do we have a link to this sweet Anker powered hub? I personally like Anker, and have several of their chargers.

Anker 7/10 WonderHub.....
Pricey now, but I got killer Lightning Deal for $43 awhile back.

These days, I'd go w/ the Rosonway 10 port for ~$40....

Or their 13 port w/ double the PSU power for ~$55.

I have the Anker on one of the cMP towers here, and the Rosonway 13 port on the other. Both have been excellent.

And as Doc says, get the 4 port iMac. Do not, under any circumstances, ever think about the option you noted, ever again!
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It's funny that when the imac was introduced, so many of us said, "Ew... what is this U-S-B thing?! I don't want it! I want my vastly superior ADB and SCSI!" And now we're like, 'you can take my USB from my cold dead hand!"

Hey Spiff!
I don’t want to pass the opportunity to mention that new computers are vastly different.
Internal drive is 1000% faster, external bus speed too.
So you could rely on external drives, provided they are SSDs, particularly if they’ll keep “static” data (music, movies, photos, etc.). Very easy on a desktop.
So I would not say no to 2 ports, or smaller internal drive or RAM. They are a nonissue with the appropriate externals.
2¢!

Slightly older Anker hubs are available on eBay at significant discounts, if you're willing to go down that route:

[www.ebay.com]

I have this one, from eBay:
[www.ebay.com]