MacBook Pro M4 with thunderbolt 5 and portable monitor

manojfromdelta wrote:

I have 14" M4 MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip (14 core CPU/20 core GPU). As per attached screen shot the system info shows it as havingThunderbolt/USB 4. Why does it not say Thunderbolt/USB 5? I note that the speed is listed as up to 120 Gb/s.

As far as I know, there is no USB5. USB4 version 2.0 is the latest USB specification. Apple was one of the first adopters of the original USB4, and all Apple Silicon Macs support USB4 – though I don't know whether any of them support USB4 version 2.0.

There are five versions of Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 1 & 2 lived on Mini DisplayPort connectors. Thunderbolt 3 through 5 live on the USB-C one.

So, among Macs with USB-C ports,

• Some Intel Macs have Thunderbolt 3 ports.
• Some Apple Silicon Macs have Thunderbolt 3 / USB4 ports.
• Some Apple Silicon Macs have Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports.
• Some Apple Silicon Macs have Thunderbolt 5 / USB4 ports.

My guess is that whomever wrote the code for the System Information dialog was being a bit lazy and decided that they would use a generic title, rather than taking extra effort to special-case the title according to the Mac upon which the code was running.

Bumping this. Still facing the issue on the Arzopa Z1RC - quite frustrating. Please keep reporting this to Apple guys. Product Feedback - Apple

This is close to showing it's not just you.

MacbookPro 2019 USB-C

Portable monitor with no external power--just plugged into the MB port

Using USB-C Cable. Perfect

Using cable that came with monitor. Perfect

Using the NEW APPLE BRANDED TB5 CABLE. Perfect.

New MacBook Pro M4 Pro

Portable monitor with no external power--just plugged into the MB port

Using USB-C Cable. No signal

Using cable that came with monitor. No signal

Using the NEW APPLE BRANDED TB5 CABLE. No signal

Nice discovery. I've been unable to get my existing 18" portable monitor to work unplugged and found that plugging in the auxilary power works with the TB cable. I did come across this 4k portable monitor works with TB5 without having to plug in the auxiliary power.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083ZFG1PF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

All of this is rather frustrating but at least we have a workaround.

SOLUTION, more or less, I have the same Problem with my Verbatim 4k Portable Monitor but if you connect the USB C and the HDMI than the Monitor worked. still not the perfect solution but like this its portable and you don't need a Powercable or Fuse or so when you are on the Road or so.

Hope a Solution comes because I bought my Monitor new and I don't wanna have to buy another one because of this.

Yes, it is a different machine. But:

• If what you are saying is true....why did that same portable monitor work with the non powered USB C display hub I used as the in-between? If the issue was power as you claim, why would the NON-powered hub placed between the thunderbolt 5 port and the portable monitor make it work suddenly?
• The reality of our situation is that, regardless of how things 'should work', portable monitors that have worked on my M1 Max MBP, my brothers M2 Pro MBP, my friend's M2 Pro Mac mini, my plain M4 Mac mini....those same monitors are not working on the M4 Pro Mac mini. Nor is the portable monitor working on OP's Mac. Regardless of what is being said, there is a change in results based on the introduction of the M4 Pro featuring thunderbolt 5 ports.
• Why are you trying using numbers to support the idea that it shouldn't work on the M4 Pro Mac Mini but then speculative logic to support why it did work on the plain M4 and calling it 'lucky'? This isn't super helpful. I am trying to provide useful information based on real world results. Saying something "should" or "shouldn't" work while staring at results in the face doesn't really bring anything to the table here, nor does calling something "lucky".
• Where did you get the numbers saying the Mac mini wasn't designed to deliver a certain amount of power? I am not calling you wrong, I just don't know where you got that from. I don't see it listed in the device specs and as you pointed out, the OP's machine and the Mac mini are different machines so we can't really rely on the numbers provided in this thread.

mmn_slc wrote:

The Thunderbolt 5 specification requires that a port provide a minimum of 15W of power for accessories. https://www.thunderbolttechnology.net/sites/default/files/Thunderbolt_5_TechBrief_2023_09_12.pdf page 2.

Even if we assume that 15W is always available, the monitor originally discussed in this thread (a 17" UPERFECT 4K monitor)

• Had a user manual that said to use a separate power supply ("4K monitor needs higher voltage power; for a more stable power supply, it is recommended to use our original PD adapter to power" … and … "The power consumption of 4K monitor is relatively larger, and an external PD power supply is required.")
• Drew 50W of power when attached to a meter and a USB power bank (as shown in a photo in this thread)

My external monitors (Arzopa Z1FC) require a supply of 5v capable of 2.4A according to the manual. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0570/9280/0675/files/Arzopa_Z1FC.pdf?v=1707041874 But, the ports on my Macbook Pro M4 Pro do not work with the monitors with a single cable (even with a USB SS20 cable which can handle 5A.)

Arzopa – Arzopa Z1FC 144Hz Portable Gaming Monitor | 16.1" Screen

There may be reasons other than power.

In one of these threads, someone reported that their portable monitor worked after it got a firmware update from the manufacturer. That would suggest that there was a bug in the old firmware, in the code for negotiating either the display connection or the power one, and that the new firmware fixed it.

Maybe something like that is going on here.

Spongman, Please read this tip:

USB/Thunderbolt & Energy Saver/Sleep/powe… - Apple Community

In all honesty the issues happening are cross platform, and due to poor coordination amongst manufacturers of firmware and software updates, and the overall design of USB-C/Thunderbolt. It is my hope one day, a more sturdy port design like IEEE 1394b replaces the smaller, thinner USB-C/Thunderbolt. As it is, the anchors for the cables are miniscule, and make it very easy for bent cables connectors and cable ends to make them unusable. Read the thread carefully and find a combination that works well for your needs.

Agreed. Just discovered this issue today when I tried connecting a Maxfree S2 Triple Monitor that was gifted to me. Unfortunately it was a hand-me-down and didn't include the HDMI-USBC cables, so I can't even confirm that it works through HDMI and a USB hub, as suggested here earlier.

I bet it would work on my old Intel Mac but I have no interest in testing that. This is maddening..

Have the same issue.

MacBook M1 Pro 2021 + Dell D6000 Universal Dock + 2x Dell 2K Monitors = All good every time I connected the USB-C to the M1!

MacBook M4 Pro 2024 + Dell D6000 Universal Dock + 2x Dell 2K Monitors = Connects 1/10 times immediately. Can try all the USB-C interfaces on the Mac, and sometimes we get lucky and it work on one of them.

It is so annoying that getting a newer MacBook doesn't support the same solution.

Now that we know it's a TB5 port compatibility issue, does anyone know which portable monitors (other than the one linked by calirap, which is only 16 inches and also unavailable now) actually work unplugged from auxiliary power with TB5? How can we be sure when we're shopping for a new monitor? Any recommendations would be appreciated. If you find one on line, 18" or bigger, please post. Thank you.

Hello, I had the same issue and the same answer from Apple Support by phone and technicall service directly on the store, nobody who works there knows anything.

I have a M4 pro Max and couldn´t make my portable monitor work (it is thuntherbolt 3 and 4) with only one cable from my macbook, (like i used to do it with my intel and M1 macbook). I tried buying different cables and hubs, but the only thing that worked was to connect the monitor direclty to the AC and then the powered monitor with only one cable to my Macbook. Thats the definitive solution.

I even make it work with 3 external monitors, 2 monitor connected directly to the AC and then each monitor with one cable to my macbok. the 3th monitor worked with a HDMI cable.

As far as I undestand, apple is trying to protect the battery of the macbook by not transmiting power though their port tunberbolt5 port, only receiving. My macbook is even charging from the monitor USB contection.

Hope this can be usefull for all who is having this problem.

Just received this response back from Arzopa about their portable monitor.

We are sorry that our monitor models are not currently compatible with Thunderbolt 5 ports. You can connect via HDMI+power cable or connect the monitor to other devices.

Arzopa Customer Service Team