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.

If the number of ports is your biggest concern, the Acasis 16-port USB hub is one of the biggest. All 16 ports are USB 3.0, and they all support fast charging up to 2.1A and data transfers up to 5Gbps. There are no compromises, no ports left behind—just full functionality across the entire unit. There are also seven- and ten-port variants if you want something slightly smaller. 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.

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.

We also connected an Android phone to the ports and recorded how many volts and amps it received. The phone charging test was probably the most realistic as it showed what kind of volts and amps a real device would negotiate with the hub. 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.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 has a power adapter and a dedicated power supply, which makes sense considering it’s so large. It should be noted that both the power and main USB cable must be connected for it to work. The chassis is plastic, so no premium materials were used here, but it’s so big it’s hard to imagine anyone breaking this thing without some serious force. It’s about the size of your average surge protector and measures 7.9 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches. 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. Note—USB splitter is bus powered, requires no additional AC power. This hub is intended for low or self powered devices. Not compatible with automotive USB ports 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. Despite this, image quality on our 4K display was crisp and free of any fuzziness, and it’s easy to get a working desktop setup on a laptop or tablet. You might want an extra Type-A port with a higher spec, but if you’re looking for a hub for life on the go, this one’s tough to beat for portability or convenience.

Unlike cheaper hubs, it supports a full 60Hz refresh rate over HDMI, while there’s a Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 port for when you need a physical network connection. The Type-C and Type-A connections could be faster, with our SSD speeds limited to around 458MB/sec, but this is a great fully featured hub that’s still affordable and – most importantly – just works. Key specs – Upstream connection: 1x USB-C; USB ports: 3x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2; Other ports: Gigabit Ethernet, SD Card, 3.5mm audio; Power:135W power adapter; Maximum power load: 90W per port; Dimensions: 190 x 75 x 27mm; Weight: 338g; Warranty: 12 months 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. Seems the more connections used the lower the speeds, how much will peripheral to peripheral transfers slow down peripheral to computer transfers.

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. The chassis is aluminum, so it’s rugged yet lightweight, and it looks great, too. This is the ultimate hub for anyone who wants to connect several devices or transfer data from multiple USB sources simultaneously. It's worth noting that when plugged into a computer, there is some connection latency for the higher-count ports. But the first four ports are fast and responsive.

USB Hubs

Can you please explain the best testing environment setup? How to establish a solid baseline? Software used. What to use for data transfer. All StarTech.com USB Hubs are plug-and-play, providing easy automatic driver installation that’s Operating System independent.