Looking For A Good USB Hub

Hey all. My laptop only has 2 USB ports and I'm looking into getting a USB hub. Every review I've read so far seems to indicate there's a lot of junk out there. I was wondering if anyone could recommend one that works well and will last. I'm looking for one that's powered and has at least 4 ports; USB A, USB 3. The lower the price the better, but I'm willing to spend a little more for quality. My laptop is a Lenovo. Thanks.

 

I would check hubs from Anker, SABRENT and StarTech. They have been making hubs for a long time, and all are good reliable brands. I have an Anker hub, but it is USB powered, and I am quite satisfied with it.

 

Thank you, I'm still looking. I looked at one Anker brand before I posted my question and some reviewers said it causes a big slowdown in W-Fi; at least the one I looked at. Do you have any idea what would cause this and how I can avoid it?

 

Thank you.

 

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered one from Amazon that has 100% 5-star reviews; unheard of really. It's a Niao-Chao brand. Never heard of them but it seems to be a solid product. I didn't see anything to indicate the reviews were given in exchange for a free product so hopefully it's not a scam. It's always a gamble when you order online.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BW3KYY5P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I am not sure why a newer USB hub would cause issues with Wifi. Unless it is an older hub from about 8-10 years ago, see below for explanation. Do you have a link to the product so I can check it out?

I do remember Wifi issues being caused by USB 3 ports themselves. This was about 8-10 years ago when USB 3 just started becoming mainstream, and devices that were not designed for USB 3 had issues with the 2.4 GHz frequency signals. So, for example, when someone used a Wifi USB dongle or another USB dongle that operated in the 2.4 GHz frequency range, with a USB 3 port, it would cause interference and reduce WiFi performance. I myself experienced this issue with my mouse dongle that operated in 2.4 GHz, so when I upgraded my laptop which only had USB 3 ports, I would get random interference and mouse stuttering. The issue was resolved when I upgraded to a USB 3 compliant dongle for that mouse.

So look at when the hub was released and the date of the reviews complaining about Wifi issues. If they are old then I am sure the above mentioned reason was the issue.

 

Lets hope this works out for you. Just make sure you test it out thoroughly during the 30 day return window.

 

Here's a link to the reviews. They are a little bit older. https://www.amazon.com/product-revi...e=all_reviews&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar

After reading again, it seems to be an issue with Wi-Fi adapters that plug into a USB port.

 

This hub was released in 2015, it is during the time period where many people still had USB peripherals and Wifi adapters that were designed before the USB 3 standard was introduced. So most likely the issue was not related to the hub, but the other Wifi devices that were not shielded against USB 3 interference. This issue with Wifi should not occur nowadays with newer devices.

USB 3 is known to cause interference with Wifi 2.4 Ghz spectrum, if the devices are not shielded or designed to overcome this interference. Below is a link to a white paper hosted on USB-IF website, on research done by Intel on the effect USB 3 has on WiFi. Please note that this is from 2012 and this issue should not apply to newer devices. But saying that, cheap off brands may not have designed their devices to protect against this interference, so it is always better to read it and keep it in mind.

USB 3.0 Radio Frequency Interference Impact on 2.4 GHz Wireless Devices. April 2012
https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/327216.pdf

 

The info about the power adapter that I see on amazon.com is not clear.

"...comes with a 12V/2A power adapter" and "can provide up to 2.4Amps to charge your smartphone, tablet, etc ".

A USB 3.0 port always supply power at 5V, not at 12V. So, the adapter must supply 5V, not 12 V. 12 V is only needed if a 3.5 in. HDD is connected to the hub, but in this case the enclosure or the SATA to USB adapter must have its own 12V power supply.

And two different current ratings, 2.0 and 2.4 A. Whichever is correct, it´s not clear if it's the total available to all ports, or to each one.

 

So far so good. I had a little trouble yesterday when I hooked everything up. I have two external hard drives attached to it and when I tried to copy from one to the other it kept failing; so I restarted and it's worked great since. Now the only thing is to see if it lasts. It's made in China; it doesn't say anything about that on Amazon. That wouldn't be my first choice but hopefully it does okay.

Thanks all for your advice and suggestions. It sure beats plugging and unplugging all the time.

 

I do have, quite expensive tho, Dell dockin station that fullfill my needs on an triple monitor setup aka 4k60p. It can feed 4k at 60hz to triple monitors.
Just remember mighty key combination ctrl+winkey+****+b to wake up your third(or second) monitor(it reset your GPU driver, not resolution) so it sends a "wakeup signal". Depends on the monitor setup tho. External monitors, check monitor menu, depends on the model, remember to disable DDC mode to make it "wake up" fast.

 

ctrl+winkey+shift+b is the magical key combo. It will beep and flashes your monitors. Rarely known key-combo. It is a windows "feature". So it does not anything to do with GPU drivers.
Helped me a lot on many situations when recovering sleep mode and third monitor says "no signal".