Mac Port Checker: what every port on your Mac actually does

The M1 Air has no MagSafe. Charging takes up one of its two USB-C ports, and both sit on the left edge. So while it is plugged in, you have one port free. That is why most M1 Air owners end up buying a hub.

MagSafe 3 returned with the M2 Air, which frees both Thunderbolt ports for accessories. They are still both on the left side, so a monitor cable and an SSD have to share the same edge of the machine.

Physically identical to the M2 Air: MagSafe plus two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports on the left. The M3 is the first Air that can drive two external displays, but only with the lid closed. The ports themselves did not change.

The M4 Air is the first Air that Apple labels as full Thunderbolt 4 rather than "Thunderbolt / USB 4". Same two ports, same left-side placement. What you gain is guaranteed Thunderbolt 4 dock behaviour, plus two external displays with the lid open.

Unchanged port layout from the M4 Air: MagSafe 3 and two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left. The M5 gains higher display modes over the same ports. It does not gain new ones.

The 15-inch Air uses the same port set as the 13-inch: MagSafe 3 and two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, all on the left. The larger chassis buys you a bigger battery and speakers, not more connectivity.

Same left-side MagSafe and two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports as the M2. The M3 adds dual external display support in clamshell mode without changing the physical ports.

Now labelled Thunderbolt 4 rather than "Thunderbolt / USB 4". Two ports, both on the left, plus MagSafe 3. It also drives two external displays with the lid open.

Identical port layout to the M4 15-inch Air. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left, MagSafe 3 for charging, headphone jack on the right.

The last of the two-port MacBook Pro chassis. No MagSafe, no HDMI, no SD card slot. Just two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports on the left, and one of those is usually holding your charger.

Same two-port body as the M1 version and the Intel models before it. Both Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports sit on the left edge and one carries the charger, since this chassis never got MagSafe 3.

The 2021 redesign brought back MagSafe, HDMI, and the SD slot. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports live on the left next to MagSafe, and the third is on the right beside HDMI 2.0 and the card reader.

Identical port layout to the M1 Pro version: three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.0, SDXC, MagSafe 3. The Max chip raises display limits, not port count.

The M2 generation upgraded the HDMI port from 2.0 to full HDMI 2.1, which is what unlocks 8K 60Hz and 4K 240Hz on that port. Thunderbolt layout is unchanged: two left, one right.

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports and HDMI 2.1, same as the M2 Pro. Two Thunderbolt ports on the left with MagSafe, one on the right with HDMI and the SD slot.

The odd one out. The base M3 14-inch has only two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, and both are on the left. The right side has HDMI and SDXC but no Thunderbolt at all. Every other 14-inch Pro in this chassis has three. Its HDMI port is capped lower than the Pro and Max versions too.

Unlike the base M3, the M3 Pro has the full three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Two sit on the left and one on the right. HDMI 2.1 here is unrestricted.

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports and full HDMI 2.1. Same physical layout as the M3 Pro, with the higher display ceilings the Max chip allows.

Apple fixed the base-model port gap here: unlike the base M3, the base M4 14-inch gets all three Thunderbolt 4 ports and full HDMI 2.1. If you were choosing between a used M3 and an M4, this is the difference that matters day to day.

The first MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 5. All three ports run up to 120 Gb/s asymmetric and carry DisplayPort 2.1. The physical layout did not change though, so two sit on the left and one on the right.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports plus HDMI 2.1. Identical connector layout to the M4 Pro. The Max chip buys display headroom and memory bandwidth, not extra ports.

The base M5 14-inch stays on Thunderbolt 4 while the Pro and Max versions move to Thunderbolt 5. Three ports either way, two on the left and one on the right, with full HDMI 2.1.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports and HDMI 2.1 in the familiar 14-inch layout. On the left: MagSafe, two Thunderbolt and the headphone jack. On the right: SD card slot, HDMI and the third Thunderbolt.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports with the highest display ceilings in the 14-inch line, plus HDMI 2.1. Physical layout is unchanged from the M4 generation.

Same port complement as the 14-inch of the same generation, but fast charging behaves differently: the 16-inch needs the 140W adapter and the MagSafe 3 cable to fast charge. USB-C Power Delivery alone will not get you there.

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.0, SDXC, and MagSafe 3. Fast charging requires the 140W adapter over MagSafe.

The M2 generation upgraded HDMI to full 2.1. Three Thunderbolt 4 ports remain split two left, one right, with MagSafe 3 handling charging.

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports and HDMI 2.1. Identical connector layout to the M2 Pro 16-inch.

Unlike the 14-inch line, there is no cut-down base model at 16 inches. Every M3 16-inch has three Thunderbolt 4 ports and full HDMI 2.1.

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1, SDXC, MagSafe 3. The Max chip raises the display ceiling over the same physical ports.

Thunderbolt 5 across all three ports, at up to 120 Gb/s asymmetric with DisplayPort 2.1. Two are on the left with MagSafe, the third is on the right with HDMI 2.1 and the SD slot.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports and HDMI 2.1. This is the most display bandwidth Apple ships in a laptop. Fast charging still needs the 140W adapter over MagSafe 3.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports plus HDMI 2.1 in the standard 16-inch layout. Connector placement is unchanged from the M4 generation.

Three Thunderbolt 5 ports with the highest display ceilings Apple ships in a portable, plus HDMI 2.1 and the SDXC slot.

The two USB-C ports look identical. They are not. The left one runs USB 3 at 10 Gb/s and is the only one that can drive a display. The right one is USB 2.0 at 480 Mb/s, around twenty times slower, with no video output at all. Both will charge the Mac. If you remember one thing about this machine, make it this: plug your monitor and your SSD into the left port.

Every port is on the back. You get two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, HDMI 2.0, two USB-A ports, and Gigabit Ethernet. USB-A carried on through the M2 minis and disappeared with the M4 redesign.

Same rear-only layout as the M1 mini, upgraded to Thunderbolt 4. The HDMI port is HDMI 2.1 hardware, but Apple caps it at 4K 60Hz on the base M2. The M2 Pro version has no such cap.

The M2 Pro mini doubles the Thunderbolt count to four and lifts the HDMI cap that the base M2 has. Still rear-only ports, still two USB-A.

The redesigned mini finally put ports on the front. They are plain USB-C at 10 Gb/s though, not Thunderbolt. The three Thunderbolt 4 ports all sit on the back. USB-A is gone entirely from this generation.

The M4 Pro mini upgrades the three rear ports to Thunderbolt 5 at up to 120 Gb/s. The two front USB-C ports stay at USB 3 10 Gb/s on both mini configurations. That difference catches people out.

The front ports on the M1 Max Studio are plain USB-C at 10 Gb/s, not Thunderbolt. Buy the M1 Ultra instead and those same two front holes become full Thunderbolt 4. It is the most confusing thing about the Mac Studio line, and it has held true in every generation since.

The Ultra gets Thunderbolt 4 on the front, where the M1 Max has plain USB-C. That brings the total to six Thunderbolt 4 ports and means you can hang a display or a Thunderbolt dock off the front of the machine.

HDMI moves up to 2.1 in this generation, but the front-port split is unchanged: the M2 Max still has plain USB-C at 10 Gb/s on the front while the M2 Ultra has Thunderbolt 4.

Six Thunderbolt 4 ports in total: four at the rear, two at the front, plus HDMI 2.1. The front Thunderbolt ports remain an Ultra-only feature.

The rear ports move to Thunderbolt 5, but the front ports are still plain USB-C at 10 Gb/s on the Max configuration. Four years and three generations on, the Max versus Ultra front-port split is still here. Only the M3 Ultra gets Thunderbolt 5 at the front.

Six Thunderbolt 5 ports: four on the back and two on the front. This is the only 2025 Mac Studio configuration with Thunderbolt at the front. The M4 Max version has plain USB-C there.

The two-port iMac has exactly two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports on the back and nothing else. Ethernet is not included. It comes only with the four-port model, where it lives in the power adapter rather than the computer.

Four USB-C ports, but only two of them are Thunderbolt. The other two are plain USB 3 at 10 Gb/s with no video output and no PCIe, so a display or a Thunderbolt dock has to go in one of the first two. Gigabit Ethernet is built into the power adapter on this model.

Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports on the back, unchanged from the M1 two-port iMac. Ethernet remains a four-port-model feature.

Same split as the M1 four-port: two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports plus two plain USB 3 ports at 10 Gb/s. The M4 generation finally made all four Thunderbolt.

Two ports, both full Thunderbolt 4. That is a step up from the "Thunderbolt / USB 4" branding of the M1 and M3 iMacs.

The M4 generation fixed the long-standing four-port confusion: all four USB-C ports are now Thunderbolt 4. On the M1 and M3 four-port iMacs, two of them were plain USB 3 with no video output.

Eight Thunderbolt 4 ports: six on the back and two on top of the tower. Add two HDMI 2.1 ports and two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports. It is also the only Apple Silicon Mac with PCIe expansion slots, though those slots will not take a graphics card.