Plugable 2-in-1 USB Splitter with Dual USB 2.0 Ports, Compatible with Windows, Linux, macOS, Chrome OS, USB Multiport Hub for Laptops

Product Information

All StarTech.com USB Hubs are plug-and-play, providing easy automatic driver installation that’s Operating System independent. Not every USB Hub is one of the best USB hubs you can buy. We tested a number of other models that are worth considering, but not necessarily at the head of the class. 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. The hub supports fast data transfers up to 5Gbps for expanding USB ports or connecting multiple devices. It also has USB on the go and simultaneous transfers across all ports. It’s plug-and-play, and no extra drivers are needed for PC, Mac, or select versions of Linux (2.6.14 or later). An integrated safety chip offers overcurrent, overcharge, overvoltage, overheat, and short-circuit protection for both the hub and any connected devices. USB Hubs expand the USB connectivity of your organization’s desktop, laptop, or other USB-enabled host device by connecting multiple USB peripherals to a single USB port.

Two Ports in One—This USB adapter has a clean and compact design. Standard USB hub splitter enables two devices to share a single available USB port with full USB 2.0 compatibility and performance 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. It's capable of outputting to dual 4K displays (or a single 5K display), has 10 GB/s USB 3.1 Gen. 2 capability, and can charge Thunderbolt 3 laptops with 85W power delivery. It's also designed to be used horizontally or vertically to better accommodate different setups. 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. 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.

The durable aluminum shell rounds out the features list and offers a sleek look. It matches particularly well with aluminum Chromebooks, laptops, and most MacBooks.

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. StarTech.com’s comprehensive portfolio of USB Hubs offers a solution for virtually any application, including: 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.

The best USB-C hub to buy in 2023

Portable—USB splitter for laptops is ultra compact and travel friendly featuring a built-in 12-inch USB extender cable. Multi usb port perfect for adding more devices (like a keyboard and mouse) to your limited ports 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. Sabrent's HB-U3CR looks like it was built for MacBooks, thanks to a gunmetal gray aluminum chassis and a stylish, slanted design that will prop it up at an insertion-friendly angle on any table. However, it's an equally strong choice for use with a PC laptop that has USB-C ports and needs a few USB Type-A connections. 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.

Upstream connection (Type-A or Type-C?): USB hubs have multiple downstream ports to connect to your devices but only one upstream connector, which could be a port but is often a built-in wire that connects to your computer. Many laptops, including a lot of the best Ultrabooks, only have USB-C ports, so your hub's upstream connector would have to be Type-C. 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. 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. Example, using a sabrnet USB 3 hub to transfer a 9Gb file SSD to SSD (hub port yo hub port) takes over 9 minutes, while it only takes 15 seconds to transfer to or from the computer. 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.Take some of the claims made by some manufacturers with a pinch of salt. We tested a couple of hubs that promised high-end features but failed to deliver during testing. For example, they might promise 4K at 60Hz, but you might find that this only works on specific laptops and displays. I would like to use a tool that looks more like an "analyzer" that would display real time data rate transfers. 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). Many of our devices that include power adapters, especially USB hubs, will function in either self-powered or bus-powered mode. However, even though the device may function, each additional device attached to the host computer reduces the total available bus power. If the power runs out, any USB device attached to the computer may suddenly disconnect. If this were to happen to a USB storage device, such an event could result in permanent data loss.

Where I am seeing severe degradation in transfer speeds using USB 3 hubs is from SSD to SSD connected to the same hub. While all USB ports provide some amount of power for attached devices, the available power may not be enough for certain high-current devices such as USB hubs or external hard drives. High-current devices usually come with their own power adapter, making them self-powered, in contrast to a bus-powered device that draws all of its power from the host computer's USB interface. Bus-powered devices can cause issues if they need more power than is available from the host machine.

We also like the choice of cables, with a short, pull-out cable that stows inside the case for travel, plus a longer desktop cable for when you need to stretch a little further. It gives this unit a little more flexibility than other USB-C hubs. 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. 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.