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A year or two from now when youre using that hub for more than a few lightweight peripherals and wish to plug a USB 3.0 external hard drive (or two) into it, youll be happy youre not dragging at USB 2.0 transfer speeds. Even when buying a hub for an old computer that doesnt even support USB 3.0, you should strongly consider getting the newer standard.

There is an enormous discrepancy between build quality, features, and even safety between the different models.

Read on as we show you what you need to get the best results and find the hub that fits your needs.

Its not unusual for a home user to have a USB-based keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, and memory card readers, as well as chargingsyncing cables for iPods, phones, e-book readers and other portable devices.

Even though you might reuse the same mini USB cable for a few devices, its all too easy to tie up a lot of USB ports rather quickly.

Factor in the location of your physical computer relative to your workspace and it can quickly become impossible (because the ports are full) or inconvenient (because the computer is located under your desk) to plug in more devices.

As far as laptop users are concerned, well they can just forget it when it comes to an abundance or ports.

We all want super slim and super light laptops which leave little room for an armada of USB ports.

One of our favorite ultra-slim notebooks we use for work-from-coffee-shop jaunts has a mere two ports.

A USB hub is to USB devices as a power strip is to electrical devices: you use a hub to split the capability of one USB port on your computer among many devices just as you use a power strip to split the electrical power from a single outlet in your home or office among multiple electrical devices.

Not only do you need to pay attention to features and specifications (despite how simple a USB hub might appear at first glance) you also need to be aware of the existing hardware on your computer (be it a desktop or laptop) in order to get the best performance out of your the hub.

For this guide well be using the HooToo HT-UH010 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub and the LOFTEK 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub.

In addition well also be referencing a few other USB hubs which were unavailable for a photo session on account of being out and about in the field with other writers and staff members.

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Youll learn how to pick a good USB hub for your own needs in the process.

The HooToo will run you around 40 and the LOFTEK will run you around 45.

Even small but high-quality laptop USB adapters run around 15 or so.

In the best-case scenario, youll end up with a device thats a knock-off in name but possibly built to similar specs (and maybe even at the same factory) as the brand name.

In the middle-of-the-road scenario youll end up with a poorly wired, insulated, and protected device that could possibly lead to one or more of your expensive attached devices getting fried thanks to poor design and construction.

In the worst-case scenario where all the stars align against you and both the safety features in the USB hub fail you along with other safety features in either your laptop, the USB hubs power brick, or other failures, you can end up like this poor woman in Australia: a cheap USB phone charger had a catastrophic failure that killed her.

If a sub-spec power transformer blows out and starts the back of your desk on fire while youre at work that extra 20 you could have spent on a higher quality device will be a drop in the bucket compared to dealing with even a small house fire.

We tested both the HooToo and the LOFTEK with all the USB devices we could throw at them doing all sort of buspower taxing things like multiple USB hard drive readwrites concurrently, ejecting and remounting other devices during those processes, pulling mobile data through a USB dongle, and so forth all without a single hitch.

Flakey hubs are frustrating, but you can easily avoid data drops and safety hazards by picking a high quality and highly rated hub.

Each iteration has introduced new features, the most notable of which is increased transfer speeds.

Other features include battery charging specifications (introduced in USB 2.0 and upgraded in 3.0), better data handling for concurrent connections, and such.

While the capability of a USB 2.0 hub might be just fine for your present needs the price difference between a quality USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 hub is negligible and theres very little reason to buy a USB hub based on 2000-era speeds and technology when you can get a USB 3.0 hub for a little more.

Even when buying a hub for an old computer that doesnt even support USB 3.0, you should strongly consider getting the newer standard.

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