Comment by geerlingguy
10 hours ago
Apparently the two USB-C ports are different specs [1]
- USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support
- USB 2.0 480 Mbps
Both support charging but only one supports higher speeds and DisplayPort (A18 Pro limitation, as Apple probably doesn't dedicate much silicon to USB I/O).
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/04/macbook-neo-features-tw...
Makes sense, the iphone has only one port after all. Interesting that it supported a second one though, or maybe that's the Pro revision designed for this use case?
The second port is likely necessary for USB hubs that rely on both ports. I had one for my M1 Air. I assume it'd still work with the 2 different speeds, but I'd be curious to try it.
I'm going to get a Neo for my wife once it's available in my country.
The USB 2.0 should be the one on the back, so the charging cable does not interfere with me plugging and unplugging things from the good port.
> - USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support
I'd like to run the external display plus an external SSD at USB 3 speeds, so I'd be waiting for experience reports on whether the one port can handle both without constraining the filesystem transfer speeds.
Since it's just USB and not Thunderbolt, wouldn't it use DisplayPort Alt mode for the display leaving data transfer untouched?
Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed it from the SP line)
I don't think this is intentional to cut cost. I simply think that the chip was primarily made for devices with one port (iPhone, iPad) and this is a bit of an afterthought.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a future product with 2x USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support on the next generation, A19 Pro or A20 Pro maybe, if the product has enough success.
This is going to be a primary complaint people have (even if it's not terribly important) - hopefully they have some circuitry that warns you if you're plugging something into the wrong port (e.g. a USB 3 device into USB 2 at slow speeds).
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If they want to get these things into schools it would be insane to expect the schools to also supply everyone with AirPods or some other kind of wireless headphones.
I've heard wired EarPods are great or a USB DAC is under $10. It's still easier to have the headphone jack though.
AirPods have too much latency for playing music. You want wired audio for running GarageBand or Logic Pro with a MIDI controller. They could have gone with a USB-C to audio adapter, but then you wouldn't be able to plug the MIDI controller and charge the computer.
... Only a few people make music with a Mac, but it's been an important part of its history, and Apple cares about it.
This is the answer.
Hey, it took courage to remove that headphone jack.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/07/courage/
This is 2026. iPhones use standard USB C headphones, you can charge your phone at the same time while using your wired headphones using MagSafe and you can even by low end $59 Beats Flex headphones that have all of the Apple magic.
I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s
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It's a mobile CPU. They did not modify it. Mobile devices run with a single USB port.
> Well the costs had to be cut somewhere.
its investment into next generation of loyal apple users, they more likely be selling it at loss.
Nope, not Apple
Charging in and DisplayPort out on the same socket would mean an additional dongle or hub or something, so there's at least that reason for having both.
Couldn't one charge from the display connected to?
Both ports support power delivery, so you can still be plugged in and use DisplayPort out.
Not necessarily - you just need a display that has USB-C input and supports USB-PD.
Im surprised that they’re doing DP and not thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt would presumably make it much more expensive, the spec has a ton of USB features that go from “optional” to “required” to be able to go into TBT alt mode, like supporting active cables
IIRC it's because the iPhone chip doesn't have thunderbolt
this new macbook does not have Thunderbolt