Best USB-C hubs and dongles 2023: Add ports to your laptop or tablet

Can a USB-C hub really feel elegant? This one does. Anker’s 7-in-1 USB-C hub feels surprisingly weighty (3.5 ounces), with a premium metallic (aluminum and polycarbonate) sheen. It’s additionally a bit dearer than its rivals. Anker’s hub was among the many coolest we’ve examined below load, at about 87 levels.

Overall, Anker’s hub is nicely designed, with sufficient spacing between the 2 5Gbps USB-A ports. There’s additionally a 5Gbps USB-C connection for information, plus a second USB-C port for energy enter at up to 85W rated. (The charger permits up to 100W in, however provides 85W.) An HDMI port permits for 4K/30Hz video or 1080p/60Hz video to a single exterior show, customary for the class. Ethernet is excluded, nonetheless, so that you’ll want to use Wi-Fi as an alternative. Cord size is about 8.5 inches, above the usual 6-inch size.

Anker’s hub was among the many quickest we examined to ship information below load, together with simultaneous information switch between USB-A ports whereas the SD ports had been lively. The hub presents an 18-month guarantee, and it even ships with a carrying pouch. 

We suggest not shopping for the dearer $79.99 Anker 8-in-1 Hub on Amazon until you’re glad connecting to two 1080p (and not 4K) shows…which is completely positive. Otherwise, the 2 HDMI ports will solely assist two 4K shows at an eye-wearying 30Hz, not 60Hz.

Yeolibo is probably not a reputation you acknowledge, however this USB-C hub is impressively detailed, with a small however extraordinarily informative guide, clearly labeled ports, and well-rounded performance.

This hub presents three USB 3.0 (5Gb/s) Type A ports, one USB 2.0 Type A port, a USB-C (5Gb/s) port, a USB-C PD charging port rated at 100W of enter energy, and an HDMI port. There are additionally microSD and SD slots able to SDXC playing cards up to 2TB and SDR25 (25MB/s) information charges. There’s no ethernet connection. The USB-C cable measures a snug six inches, although the connector on the finish was a bit of stiff and took some fiddling to insert.

We didn’t have a 100W USB-C charger readily available to check, however the hub accepted 62.5W from our 65W USB-C charger. It stayed cool all through. The hub performed again protected content material through its HDMI port, as anticipated, however dropped extra frames than we hoped for when taking part in again 4K content material over YouTube. (Only 4K30 resolutions are supported, however that’s common.)

Lention’s CB-C35sH feels a bit of low-cost out of the field, with a little bit of a rattle that signifies a nook or two had been lower within the building. It labored flawlessly, nonetheless. This USB-C hub is barely wider than most, with an influence enter rated at 60W subsequent to a HDMI 1.2 enter (permitting 4K decision on an exterior show, at 60Hz) that enables protected content material to be performed again with no issues. (Power enter solely reached 55W in our exams.) The complete hub remained cool, even with a charger hooked up.

In addition to the USB-C enter port and HDMI output, there are 4 5Gb/s USB Type A ports, and that’s it—no microSD slots, ethernet, or audio connections. We would have preferred to see the latter as an choice for many who want it. But connecting a mouse and keyboard, in addition to transferring information over the ports, labored nicely inside the constraints of the USB-C connection.

Both our present total prime decide, the Anker A83460A2, and the Yeolibo 9-in-1 a are higher total choices, with one exception: their HDMI output is just at 30Hz, which may fatigue the eyes over lengthy durations. Lention delivers a extra comfy 60Hz on the similar decision. And when you’ve got points, Lention presents a 12-month guarantee with a 24-hour assist turnaround.

Lasuney’s 10-in-1 hub (two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, two HDMI 1.2 ports (4K@30Hz), DisplayPort gigabit ethernet, microSD/SD, USB-C energy enter) presents loads for your cash, together with an uncommon mixture of not one, however two HDMI ports, and even a DisplayPort. Thanks to ethernet assist, the hub can substitute a lot of your wired connections. Power enter is rated at 100W in, with about 87W out there to the laptop.

But the USB-C bus the hub runs on prime of merely gained’t assist all of the ports getting used without delay, which is a little bit of a gotcha. While we actually just like the pair of HDMI ports for dual-display configurations, the actual fact is, you’ll most likely want to restrict your self to a pair of 1080p shows to keep away from saturating the bus and slowing down the connection. Customers on Amazon have reported that they solely acquired one to work, most likely as a result of the bus itself was saturated. The different drawback we discovered is that the SD card slot is approach too gradual. It took twice as lengthy to switch information in contrast to different hubs we examined. In all equity, our different disk-to-disk exams took about the identical period of time.

Lasuney’s hub is nicely made, with good port spacing. It doesn’t get uncomfortably heat, both. Just be reasonable: We actually like the pliability that the Lasuney hub presents, however don’t purchase it considering you’ll have the ability to use every little thing without delay.

This is the Big Kahuna of USB-C docks—and, given what it does, you virtually marvel why it wasn’t made a Thunderbolt dock as an alternative. At 2.9 x 11.02 x 0.5 inches, it’s a skinny, lengthy, slanted wedge that props up your laptop with a grippy rubber strip. It’s a real dock, with a lot of rear-facing ports optimized for twin shows, with a foot-long USB-C cable to boot.

Specifically, there’s three USB 3.0 (Type A ports), one HDMI 1.4 port for 4K30 video, one DisplayPort 1.2 port, gigabit ethernet, one SD/SDHC port and a microSD slot (each USH-I), VGA, a 3.5mm jack, and a USB-C port for up to 100W of exterior charging. Some of the extra ports include some caveats: The VGA connection have to be used solo, for instance, and not together with both DisplayPort or HDMI. Remember, all that information handed alongside the USB-C cable can intrude with each other, however IOgear performs it a bit conservative; the guide says that two onerous drives can’t be related concurrently, however that’s not true.

Be suggested that the BC 1.2 port supplies up to 1.5A of energy for quick-charging telephones, although the port isn’t suitable with the specialised quick-charging schemes of OnePlus or Samsung. (Phones from each producers reported “charging” when related, reasonably than “Fast charging”.) Thermal points weren’t an issue, and efficiency was surprisingly good, even with HDMI and ethernet related. The doc helps Power Delivery 3.0 up to 85W, and consumes 15W by itself; in different phrases, when you’ve got a 100W laptop charger feeding energy to the hub, 85W might be left over for your laptop to use.

A worth of about $125 or so is far more than you’d anticipate to pay for a USB-C hub, however it’s nonetheless lower than a higher-speed Thunderbolt dock. Still, this USB-C hub is extra of a USB-C dock; it’s not likely transportable, and the shape issue lends itself to a everlasting spot on your desk.

Recent laptops have begun providing a USB-C know-how known as HBR3 with DSC, which we’ll clarify extra totally within the sections following our suggestions. The backside line is that the know-how presents one thing related to the DisplayHyperlink know-how beneath, however as an trade customary. In our expertise, though the know-how is considerably supported in laptops with Eleventh-gen Core processors, it really works finest in Twelfth- or Thirteenth-gen laptops.

This slim plastic dock measures a hair over 6 inches broad and about 3 inches deep. It lacks a stand, and warms reasonably sharply below load. But it packs a pair of HDMI ports on the rear, 4 5Gbps USB-A ports on the again, in addition to gigabit ethernet. The USB-C cable, measuring about 2.5 ft, snakes out from the facet of the dock. (CA’s guide and documentation is awful, by the best way, so we’re not fairly clear what HDMI port know-how it makes use of.) On the entrance is one other USB Type A port and a USB-C port, too.

The latter USB-C port can be utilized to cost your smartphone, because it places out 6.7W of charging energy, or sufficient to fast-charge a smartphone. Otherwise, it is a powered dock, and it is going to provide 90W of charging energy to your laptop, too.

This is our entry for an upgraded DisplayHyperlink dock, which has its personal execs and cons—barely dearer than a USB-C docking station, however extra options, too.

Plugable’s UD-6950PDH doesn’t permit the bandwidth for the newest HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces, however it preserves what we like about Plugable’s docks: two pairs of elective DisplayPort and HDMI connections to select from, in addition to 100W of charging energy to your laptop. One omission, nonetheless, is a devoted charging port for powering a smartphone, or any USB-C port in any respect. (VisionTek’s VT7000 consists of these, however for a considerable premium.)

At about $199 MSRP, nonetheless, the worth is totally proper for a DisplayHyperlink docking station. Just don’t overlook your smartphone charger.

This Rshtech RS-516 USB-C port splitter makes use of an unusually lengthy 2-foot cable to break up a 5Gbps USB 3.0 enter (over USB-C) and divide it amongst 4 USB 3.0 Type A ports. It’s additionally unusual to see these ports managed by LED-lit button switches, and an elective 5V/2A adapter powering the entire affair.

The port splitter takes the 5Gbps enter and splits it among the many ports, that are solely lively if the corresponding LED-lit button is depressed. This applies to each energy (the hub will cost, although not fast-charge telephones) and information. Port spacing isn’t a problem, and the ABS/aluminum assemble handles warmth nicely.

The Rshtech hub wouldn’t all the time determine and join to a bus-powered SSD, however it discovered each different gadget we related to it. The efficiency of a powered exterior onerous drive plunged to about 20 p.c when all ports had been occupied, however surged to about 67 p.c when the elective energy cable was plugged in—which Rshtech recommends when related to exterior storage.

That cable (with a proprietary plug) is a ache, and the problems discovering our SSD gave us pause. But we actually preferred how the hub allowed us entry to and management of exterior onerous drives, which spin up and down loudly and randomly.

At 2.8 x 0.31 x 1.22 inches, IOgear’s Travel Pro Mini Dock is an odd duck: an affordable, comparatively tiny USB-C dock that plugs immediately into your laptop, and not using a connecting wire.

“There’s no way this will work,” you may assume—however it does, with simply sufficient room for your laptop’s USB-C charger to sneak in a single facet of the dock, subsequent to an HDMI wire, then a USB key or wire, and a 3.5mm jack. (The Mini Dock helps up to 60W of energy in from an exterior charger.)

That’s positive, after all, if your laptop’s USB-C port is all by its lonesome. Otherwise, the Travel Pro Mini Dock will block ports because it tries to provide growth capabilities—and that’s an issue for laptops just like the Asus ZenBook, which forego a 3.5mm headphone jack however cram their USB-C ports too shut collectively to make IOgear’s dock possible.

We like the concept, however there are cheaper, higher docks on the market with extra flexibility.

1.

What is the distinction between a docking station and USB C hub?

2.

What is the distinction between USB-C and Thunderbolt?

Both USB-C and Thunderbolt ports are common in that the identical enter can be utilized for each, however they don’t seem to be precisely the identical. USB-C enter ports permit for information switch charges of up to 10Gbps and energy charging. Thunderbolt ports permit for information switch charges of up to 40Gbps, energy charging, and video output up to 4K decision.

3.

Why do USB-C hubs get so sizzling?