I’m considering investing in a M4 MacBook Air (currently have Intel 2017 iMac 24") but have a couple of questions:
I have a number of legacy USB A devices (scanner, hard drives, microphone) and am not sure whether to invest in a dock or a hub. To be honest I’m not sure of the relative merits of either. I would like to connect an ethernet cable and I may want to connect the laptop to a separate display at some point but otherwise my needs are reasonably straightforward.
I know the quality won’t be as good, but would it be possibly to hook the MacBook Air up to the iMac, purely to use as a larger screen occasionally?
Back in the day a “dock” was a big physical thing that you plugged a special port on the laptop into. In modern parlance, a “dock” is just what you call a USB hub that also has network, video, etc. capabilities.
The question for you is whether or not top performance and reliability are a big deal to you. If so, look into Thunderbolt hubs with whatever ports you need and be prepared to spend $200 on up. If not, there are recommendations on these forums for $30-ish Amazon USB-C docks that work fine 99% of the time.