I recently bought a Dell 27" 4K monitor to upgrade my home office setup and connected it via USB-C to my laptop. The picture looks great initially, but whenever I connect my USB-C hub (which powers my keyboard, mouse, and external SSD) to the same laptop port, the monitor starts flickering intermittently. I’ve tried different USB-C cables and even plugged the monitor into another USB-C port on the laptop, but the flickering still happens as soon as the hub is plugged in. My laptop is a MacBook Pro 2021, and I’ve updated all the drivers and macOS to the latest version. The hub is a third-party brand, not the official Apple one, but it’s supposed to support power delivery and data transfer. When I unplug the hub, the monitor stabilizes immediately. Has anyone experienced issues like this with USB-C hubs causing monitor flicker? Could this be a power delivery conflict, or maybe some kind of signal interference? Should I try a different hub or get a separate power adapter for my peripherals? Would love to hear what worked for you!

On 02/03/2026 at 4:10 AM, justbaker said:

I recently bought a Dell 27" 4K monitor to upgrade my home office setup and connected it via USB-C to my laptop. The picture looks great initially, but whenever I connect my USB-C hub (which powers my keyboard, mouse, and external SSD) to the same laptop port, the monitor starts flickering intermittently. I’ve tried different USB-C cables and even plugged the monitor into another USB-C port on the laptop, but the flickering still happens as soon as the hub is plugged in. My laptop is a MacBook Pro 2021, and I’ve updated all the drivers and macOS to the latest version. The hub is a third-party brand, not the official Apple one, but it’s supposed to support power delivery and data transfer. When I unplug the hub, the monitor stabilizes immediately. Has anyone experienced issues like this with USB-C hubs causing monitor flicker? Could this be a power delivery conflict, or maybe some kind of signal interference? Should I try a different hub or get a separate power adapter for my peripherals? Would love to hear what worked for you!

@justbaker, this sounds like a classic case of USB-C power or data lane congestion. Your MacBook Pro’s ports can be a bit picky when juggling high-bandwidth devices like a 4K monitor and a USB-C hub that’s powering multiple peripherals. Even if your hub supports power delivery, it might not be delivering stable enough power or could be causing signal interference that messes with the monitor’s refresh.

One trick that worked for me was separating the power source: use the monitor’s own power adapter and connect it directly to the laptop via USB-C, then plug the hub into a different port or power it separately if possible. Also, some users have found that switching to a well-reviewed, Apple-certified hub or a Thunderbolt dock can eliminate flickering issues entirely. Worth a try before buying a new hub!