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The TS3 Plus allows you to maximize the capabilities of a Thunderbolt 3 connection. It features two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one DisplayPort 1.2 port, five USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, an SD Card Reader (SD 4.0 UHS-II), a Digital Optical Audio (S/PDIF) port 1x Gigabit, Ethernet, an Analog Audio In, and an Analog Audio Out port. If you're using an external storage device – perhaps an NVMe drive you've put in one of the best SSD enclosures– you’d benefit a great deal from using a hub that supports 10 Gbps connections – alternatively known as USB 3.1 Gen 2 or USB 3.2 Gen 2. Unfortunately, very few USB hubs actually support these higher speeds and even fewer still support the 10 Gbps speed when it comes from a Type-A, rather than a Type-C, port. The chassis is aluminum, so it’s rugged yet lightweight, and it looks great, too. This is the ultimate hub for anyone who wants to connect several devices or transfer data from multiple USB sources simultaneously. It's worth noting that when plugged into a computer, there is some connection latency for the higher-count ports. But the first four ports are fast and responsive. We also did power testing on every powered USB hub. To see just how much electricity the ports could deliver, we connected a MakerHawk Electronic Load Tester to the hub and tried to dial up as many amps as we could. As we dial up amps on any device, the voltage drops, so a 5 volt USB port could drop down to 4 volts or less as we increase the load, but USB devices need close to 5 volts – 4.7 or 4.8 volts is usually enough – so we tested how many amps we could get at 4.8 volts and at the, likely unacceptable, rate of 4.05 volts.
Some USB-C hubs go further by incorporating USB-PD passthrough. Here the idea isn’t so much to power the connected devices as to power the laptop the hub connects to, so that you just connect the laptop to the hub, and it charges as you use it without the charger taking up the spare USB-C port. The key thing here is how much power the hub can supply. Most will deliver 80W or more when used with a 100W charger, which should more than cover any laptop. However, with some you’re looking at 50W or less, which might mean missing out on fast-charging modes on some of those laptops that support them. It has a power adapter and a dedicated power supply, which makes sense considering it’s so large. It should be noted that both the power and main USB cable must be connected for it to work. The chassis is plastic, so no premium materials were used here, but it’s so big it’s hard to imagine anyone breaking this thing without some serious force. It’s about the size of your average surge protector and measures 7.9 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches. In addition to the SSD, the Anker PowerExpand has an HDMI out port and two USB 3.x Type-A ports that operate at 5 Gbps. There’s a USB-C power pass-through you can plug your laptop’s power adapter – up to a 100-watt unit – so that you can charge your computer while using this hub (the USB-C port does not work for data transfer; we tried). If you have a recent-gen iPad with a USB-C connector, you may find yourself wishing you could connect a USB Type-A device, headphones or even an external display. Anker’s 541 USB-C Hub for iPads has you covered with a unique design that’s meant to snap right into the side of your tablet or even a USB-C laptop. There’s no wire as the USB-C plug and a slight, protruding chin hold the entire metal hub in place.
Tired of switching plugs in and out of sockets or looking for an easier way to connect? Splash out on one of the best USB hubs to buy
At 4.8 volts, which is around the minimum voltage most USB devices will tolerate, we got 1.25 and 1.32 amps from the charging and data ports, respectively. When I plugged my Android phone in to charge, a real-world situation because a device will negotiate the best combination of volts and amps, the charging ports sent 4.78 volts at 1.35 amps while the data ports gave the same amount of volts, but just 0.35 amps. To make a long story short, you'll get 6.4 watts from the charging ports, which is decent but not the 15-watts that fast phone chargers provide. All three charging ports should be able to deliver this at once. Output ports: Make sure you get enough ports to attach the number of devices you’re likely to need. Most USB hubs have at least 3, more often 4, output ports, but at your desk, you may need a lot more than that. Also, consider whether you are attaching any USB-C devices (most output ports on hubs are Type-A). You can also get other versions of Inatek's USB hub, the HB2025 for example, that connect to your computer via USB-C, which is a more common interface for 10 Gbps connections, particularly on laptops. We really wish one of these hubs had a mix of USB-C and USB Type-A downstream ports, but they are all Type-A downstream. It’s not exactly portable, but it’s certainly a good option for anyone who needs a massive boost in available USB ports. The option to fast-charge four mobile devices at once is ultra-convenient. Moreover, it’s plug-and-play compatible with PC, Mac, and Linux systems.
Similar to the Sabrent HB-U3CR, the Atolla delivered 1.2 amps at 4.8 volts on our power test and it charged our phone at 4.78 volts and 1.35 watts. The Atolla hub also offered similar performance to other hubs; we detected no slowdowns when copying files with our test SSD. Anyone who works with microcontrollers such as the Raspberry Pi Pico or any Arduino board knows that most of these devices don't have on / off switches or even reset buttons. So, if you change code and need to restart them or you just want to power them off, you often need to yank the plug in and out, a huge hassle that could damage your gear. But with the Sabrent HB-B7C3, you can just toggle power on whatever port your microcontroller is plugged into. Powered or not? Some USB hubs come with their own AC adapters so that they can provide more power than your computer delivers from one of its ports. Bus power from your computer can be pretty low, not enough to juice several power-hungry peripherals at once or to charge devices at a reasonable rate. By definition, a USB hub that needs its own plug isn’t very portable.
This beast is almost 9 inches long and weighs 1.8 pounds. Every port has a power switch and a bright blue LED indicator. You can turn ports on and off individually, and the light will tell you what’s powered and in use. It’s plug-and-play compatible with PC, Mac, and Linux systems. It has a built-in surge protector to keep all your devices and the hub safe and secure from electrical failures.
Any extra connectivity? Some USB-C hubs will come with HDMI out, allowing you to connect to a monitor, provided that your PC can output video from its Type-C port. Other hubs have microSD or SD card readers built-in. This UGreen unit is another basic USB hub, with four USB 3.0/3.1 Gen 1 ports connecting through a single USB-A connection. Disappointingly, what looks like an aluminium casing turns out to be plastic, which feels a little creaky in comparison to some models, but it’s robust enough for daily desktop or mobile use. The big advantage this one has over similarly priced rivals is a 5V micro-USB input, meaning it can charge devices while in use (without any fast charge support) and run one or more USB SSDs or HDDs – we tried it with one of each without any issues. The only downside? You’ll need to supply your own charger and cable, but it’s hard to grumble at this price.Speed: Most USB hubs operate at standard USB 3.0 (aka USB 3.2 Gen 1) speeds of 5 Gbps. However, a few can deliver 10 Gbps. There are also some cheapies that are limited to USB 2; avoid those at all costs. All MacBooks and many of the best Ultrabooks come with only USB-C ports, and just a couple of them. That’s why there are so many portable USB hubs that connect to a computer via a built-in USB-C cable and then provide a few Type-A ports, along with some extra goodies such as an HDMI out or a card reader. Anker’s PowerExpand 4-in-1 USB-C hub has one whiz-bang feature we haven’t seen anywhere else, and that’s a built-in 256GB SSD. There are still a couple of caveats here. First, your device needs to support a DisplayPort 1.4 video output over USB-C, which will count out many Chromebooks and some MacBooks and Windows laptops. Second, the hub itself takes 15W of power, which means that – even with a 100W USB-PD charger – you may find some laptops not charging at their highest speeds. But if you’re happy to live with these compromises, this is one of the best USB-C hubs we’ve seen. If the number of ports is your biggest concern, the Acasis 16-port USB hub is one of the biggest. All 16 ports are USB 3.0, and they all support fast charging up to 2.1A and data transfers up to 5Gbps. There are no compromises, no ports left behind—just full functionality across the entire unit. There are also seven- and ten-port variants if you want something slightly smaller. Ethernet is easier, as it’s hard to find a hub that doesn’t support Gigabit Ethernet speeds. That said, a small number now support the faster 2.5 Gigabit (2.5GbE) standard, which isn’t a priority for most home networks, but a plus for advanced users or just for future proofing.
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