It's increasingly common these days for manufacturers to drop ports from newer products, such as laptops, to save space, which shouldn't be a problem, but we might still need more ports.
Well the solution is obvious, you need a USB Hub. But which one? Is a few pennies good enough, or do you need something more complex? This is the question we are looking for the answer to today.
Let's start with the basics
A USB hub can basically be of two types: active and passive. But what's the difference? A passive hub, as opposed to an active hub, shares power from the computer between devices, while an active hub uses an external power source.
But, why is this good?
Well, in many cases, especially when power-hungry devices are connected to a hub, they may not all get enough power, and as a result they may not work or work poorly.
If you've experienced this, you need an active hub. It's not that hard to guess that today we're going to look at an active hub, specifically the USB 3.0 version from Xiaomi.
Externalities
It's white, with a clean design and 2020-compatible USB-C. The cable is 24 cm long and there are 4 USB-A ports.
What can we expect for our money?
It promises to work driverlessly with Windows, macOS and Android operating systems (but I'll whisper that I'd be surprised if it didn't, as I would be if a Linux device said it did: NO!)
USB 3.0, i.e. the transfer rate can reach 5 Gbit per second, which means that 625 MB can be transferred in the same time, but it is important to stress that in theory, practice often disproves the defined values. According to the datasheet, this value is 350 MB, which is most probably due to the fact that the speed/device ratio decreases with more devices.
It's backwards compatible with the old 2.0 and 1.1 standards (not new information for the tech-savvy), and the manufacturer claims it can withstand up to 10,000 pulls and pulls, and is made from durable materials and thoughtful design.
And what do we get for it?
Well, the technological details are certainly true, i.e. USB 3.0 is a standard and works with everything, by being a standard. My first impressions are that it's an absolutely high-quality device and it does its job very well. If I experience any problems with it in the future, I'll be sure to report them.
As far as I know, the Xiaomi USB hub is not currently available in Hungary, but it can be easily purchased for 6 thousand HUF on Banggood.
