I need some hardware/peripheral help

I've been making things work with a bunch of older equipment. My brother-in-law is a certified Apple cultist, and he just upgraded his macbook pro which then meant I get his cast off 2021 Macbook pro 16" It is from 2021, but he built it pretty crazily.

I know that the macbook can be used as a "desktop" via connecting to a monitor. As many of you know, the Macbook is all usb-c. Can anyone point me to a hub or whatever they are called so that I can run various devices from one connectivity "brick" or hub? My epson 4990 comes to mind.

I won't ask about keyboards as they are a fairly personal choice, and I think I know which ones I like already.

Lastly is a better monitor. I currently have a 24" LG from costco that was $120 or less. I've been looking at the Asus proart series.


Is this a decent starting place? I do not make money from photography, so I'm not willing to head into the $1k price range.

I know monitor choice could and has comprised other threads, this is simply where I am leaning.

I simply need advice regarding tying everything together.

You will need a high quality USB-C hub (powered) with both C and A connectors; avoid the ones that draw power from the USB connector on the laptop.

How many native USB C ports does the MB Pro 16 have? Ideally, you want the monitor on it's own dedicated USB port; not on the hub to avoid problems, so you will need at least 2 open connectors.

As to the monitor; it all depends on how exacting you plan to be with color space management. However, even a lot of mid-range monitors have color space compatibility well above sRGB nowdays.

In fact, the monitor you reference has, "Calman verified 3840 x 2160 resolution 4K display is factory calibrated for Delta E <2 accuracy, covering 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut".

That is pretty impressive for a sub $500 USD monitor and seems a good buy. In fact, it's way overkill if you intend to stay in sRGB color space, but nice to have if you decide to venture into larger color spaces.

Do you plan on profiling your scanner and your monitor or just settling for the factory calibration preset? If so, you will need a calibration puck and matching software, but maybe you don't want to go down that rabbit hole, which is very deep indeed...

Lastly, the VERY first thing I would do with an inherited laptop you are about to base your entire workflow around is take it to a good repair facility and have them clean it out thoroughly and replace the heat sink compound on the CPU!

Nothing like sinking an investment into a used computer only to have it fry after a few weeks due to bad thermal paste or a big hairball in the cooling system.

MTGseattle said:

I know that the macbook can be used as a "desktop" via connecting to a monitor. As many of you know, the Macbook is all usb-c. Can anyone point me to a hub or whatever they are called so that I can run various devices from one connectivity "brick" or hub? My epson 4990 comes to mind.

Click to expand...

Something like this can be quite handy:
OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt Dock

I believe your Macbook ports are actually Thunderbolt 4 -- almost the same thing as USB-C, but slightly different (better). The dock above connects by Thunderbolt 4, which I believe is a good thing. My 2020 has Thunderbolt 3, so I use an older Thunderbolt 3 version of the OWC dock with 14 ports. But I've never tried to run an extra monitor from it, tho the specifications say that is supported. Having an SD card reader and a headphone port in a convenient place is a plus for me. Seems like no matter how many extra ports I have, it's always about one less than I need. The Thunderbolt 3 version is less money, and practically speaking is still very fast.
https://www.owc.com/solutions/thunderbolt-3-dock-14-port

I agree with @Kino -- whatever USB hub you get, make sure it is powered or you are likely to regret it later.

I believe that is the same monitor I use. Total steal for what it is, and it is good. I have it sitting next to an Eizo for comparison. It replaced a LaCie that was a lot of zeros when it was new. I've profiled the Asus a few different ways but frankly there wasn't much of a difference. It was good out of the box.

There is a hub built into the monitor so you just need to connect it with a USB-c/Thunderbolt cable. That will run the monitor signal and the hub so you just need the one cable. Some laptops can charge off the monitor through the USB-c so you'll have to check if yours will.

I'd see if the built in hub will work for you before you go buying a dock. No sense in spending moolah if you don't have to. Plus the simplicity of just connecting one cable is nice....