USB Hubs 🔌
USB & USB-C Hubs for More Ports (19)
How to Choose a USB Hub
Picking a hub is mostly about matching it to your devices: how fast they need to be, how much power they draw, and how many ports you really use. Get the USB version and the power type right and the rest is detail. The points below cover the decisions that affect whether your devices work reliably.
A bus-powered hub draws all its power from the host port — fine for low-draw devices like keyboards, mice and flash drives. A powered hub has its own plug and supplies steady power, which you need for external hard drives, charging, or running several devices at once. If your drive randomly disconnects on a hub, that's the sign you need a powered one.
For a keyboard and mouse, USB 2.0 is fine and cheaper. For external SSDs, backups or moving large files, a USB 3.x (or USB-C) hub is much faster and worth it. Remember the connected device only runs as fast as the slowest link — a fast drive on a USB 2.0 hub will crawl.
Match the hub's connector to the spare port on your machine. Older desktops and many laptops still use USB-A; modern thin laptops often only have USB-C. Some USB-C hubs also add video output and Ethernet, blurring into docking-station territory — if you need monitors and charging, look at a dock instead.
Count the devices you keep plugged in, then add one or two spare. More ports cost more and, on a bus-powered hub, spread the available power thinner. A 4-port hub suits most desks; go higher only if you genuinely run many peripherals. Quality of the ports matters more than sheer quantity.
Usually it's power or the USB version. A demanding device on a bus-powered hub may not get enough power — switch to a powered hub. A slow or flaky connection often means a fast device on an old USB 2.0 hub. Also try a different port on the PC and a different cable before assuming the hub is faulty.