How can I check if my USB C hub for MacBook Air M1 has USB 3.0 compatibility?

With only the screenshots you provided, I can only surmise that this hub can support the USB3.1 standard. That should mean that all of its ports support this standard.

As mentioned previously by MartinR, check the specs for this particular hub or review its owner's manual.

To hopefully clear things up a bit:

• USB1.x, 2.x, 3.x are USB standards. They define the performance characteristics of the USB connection.
• USB-A, USB-B, & USB-C define the USB connector's physical shape.

So, with that said, and to directly answer your question. A USB-A port can support USB1.x-3.x standards. Typically USB-A ports that support USB3.x will have a blue "tab" inside them to identify them as such.

However, if you connect a USB2.x device to a USB-A port that supports USB3.x, it can only connect at the USB2.x performance level.

I don't know why you are finding this difficult. If you don't have the packaging, the hub's make & model may be printed on it. From there, you can do an Internet search to get its specs.

If it doesn't have any labeling, the only other way to tell, would be to run some data throughput tests ... but you may need to have additional equipment to do so.

For example, if you have a known USB3.x drive, you can connect it to this hub. Then copy a file from your Mac to the drive and note the time it required to make the copy. If you know the size of the file and the time, you can calculate the rough throughput value. USB3.1 should support 5 Gbps throughput.

USB-C is a connector specification, and that connector can support an implementation-specific selection of protocols including USB communications, power delivery, Thunderbolt, and otherwise.

USB 2.0 and USB 3.x are protocols that can operate via USB-A and USB-C connectors.

USB4 uses the USB-C connector.

Again, different USB connectors can have different protocols supported.

If you want to know what a hub is capable of, please read the specs for the hub.

If you our help with reading those specs, you’ll need to tell us which vendor and which model for the hub.

Look at the specs for the hub you purchased. If it's a USB 3.1 hub, then it's USB 3.1 and will support USB 3.0 and earlier. But if you connect a USB 2.x device to it you are only going to get USB 2.x speeds.

What you are looking at is the capability of the Mac's USB Bus. Yours has two USB busses. My guess is that it has two USB-C ports.

Currently it is showing that there are two different devices connected:

1. A USB-C video adapter that only supports the USB2.1 standard, and
2. Most likely, the USB Hub that supports the USB3.1 standard.

Thanks. I was going by what the image the OP provided,.which showed that USB3.1 Hub having a 5 Gbps "Speed."

It also shows the vendor as: Genesys Logic, Inc ... which may provide additional clues.

"Fun" indeed!

That vendor shows a number of USB3.2 Gen 1 & Gen 2 hubs, where:

• USB3.2 Gen1 was also known as: USB3.0, USB3.1 Gen 1, or USB3.2 Gen 1x1
• USB3.2 Gen 2 was also known as: USB3.1, USB3.1 Gen 2, or USB3.2 Gen 2x1

Select "USB3.1 Hub" so that we can see the results.

AbdullahS23 wrote:

Actually I was stupid enough to not care about this before and discarded the packaging. Can you tell me what makes this difficult to be sure about?

Technically, the lack of specific information about the particular hub.

That, and this:

USB-C can be USB4, USB 3.2, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, or USB 2.0.

USB-A can be USB 3.2, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, USB 1..1, or USB 1.0.

Which is entirely dependent on the particular implementation involved here; which hub.

Cannot tell from your screenshot - not enough info.

However, if the hub's spec is USB 3.1 it is backward compatible with all earlier versions of USB but not later versions. Note that the slowest device connected to your hub will determine the throughput for the entire hub.

Tesserax wrote:

…USB3.1 should support 5 Gbps throughput.

USB 3.1 gen 1 is 5 Gbps, while USB 3.1 gen 2 is 10 Gbps. USB 3.2 is even more “fun” here.

Yeah; I was puzzled by a USB 2.1 reference there too, until I realized it was USB-C type 2.1. Which can potentially (no pun intended) provide a fair amount of power.