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How to pick
There is one rule here worth knowing and almost nobody is told it. An unpowered splitter shares whatever power your computer gives a single port across everything plugged into it. That is fine for a mouse, a keyboard, a flash drive or a printer. Anything hungry, and a webcam or an external hard drive both count, should either go straight into the computer or into a powered hub with its own wall plug. Getting this wrong is a common cause of video that freezes or wavers on calls, and of drives that disconnect for no clear reason. Check the shape of your ports too. The flat rectangle is USB-A, the small oval is USB-C, and newer laptops often only have the oval kind.
What I recommend
UGREEN 4 port USB 3.0 hub
Turns one USB port into four. Slim, no power brick, and I have had good luck with it. Right for a mouse, a keyboard, a flash drive or a printer. Not the right home for a webcam, because an unpowered splitter cannot reliably feed one. Comes in different cable lengths and the short one is usually all you need.
- Ports
- 4 x USB-A 3.0
- Speed
- 5 Gbps
- Power
- Unpowered, runs off the port
- Cable
- Short, about 0.5 ft
Anker 10 port 60W USB 3.0 hub
This one has its own power brick, so every port gets full power instead of splitting a single port's worth between them. That is the whole difference. If you have a hub that works most of the time but drops things at random, or a webcam that stutters, this is the fix. Ten ports is more than most people need, and that is fine. You will not outgrow it.
- Ports
- 7 data, plus 3 for charging
- Power
- Own 60W adapter, not off the port
- Speed
- USB 3.0, 5 Gbps
- Good for
- Webcams, drives, anything flaky
UGREEN Revodok USB-C hub
If your laptop only has a couple of ports, this hands them back. HDMI for a monitor, USB for a mouse or a drive, a card reader, and pass through charging so you are not giving up a port to gain one. Check what you actually need to plug in before picking a model.
- Ports
- HDMI, USB-A, card reader
- Video
- 4K output
- Charging
- Pass through, up to 100W
- Connection
- USB-C
Related reading
Not sure which ports you have?
Send me a photo of the side of your computer and I will tell you exactly what to get.