Your laptop computer by no means has sufficient ports—particularly if it is the Macbook Air this information was written on. You may carry round an array of dongles to plug the whole lot in, or you’ll be able to nab one among these USB hubs. Hubs broaden the quantity and type of ports obtainable from one system so you’ll be able to lower down on the litter. After testing dozens over time, these are the perfect USB hubs I’ve discovered for various wants.
Attempting to find extra home-office gizmos and devices? Take a look at our different guides, together with the Final Work-From-House Gear, the Greatest Workplace Chairs, the Greatest USB Flash Drives, and the Greatest Transportable Exterior Storage Drives.
Replace Could 2024: Added the Monoprice 5-in-1 USB-C Hub, Satechi USB-C Multiport 8K Hub, and Ugreen Revodok Professional 211 Docking Station.
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Do You Want a Hub or a Docking Station?
USB hubs are small, moveable units you’ll be able to plug instantly right into a port in your laptop computer to get additional USB ports, SD card readers, headphone jacks, and different additional connections. Nonetheless, in the event you plan on usually connecting your laptop computer to a full-blown workstation—with a keyboard, mouse, displays, the entire shebang—then you definately would possibly wish to contemplate a docking station as an alternative.
USB docking stations are bigger, dearer, and are designed to spend most of their time in your desk. They usually have an influence provide to cost different units and supply a number of monitor outputs, plus Ethernet connections. In case you regularly use your laptop computer at a desk, we’ll have a brand new information quickly on the perfect docking stations, so keep tuned.