Hands
up all of you who have a Digital Camera with a USB interface.
What about those of you who have a USB Flash Drive? External USB
CD Rewriter? Ok, bit more simple, how about those of you using
USB Keyboards and Mice? Is your printer USB? Scanner? Headphones?
If you have a collection of USB items like these all connected
to your PC, it can be a bit of a juggling act to find enough ports
to be able to use them all, and as your collection of USB devices
grows, so does the problem of connecting everything at once. If
you are a USB Flash Drive user then it can also be an issue if
you want plug the drive in but don't have any front ports on your
case. All of these issues can be solved through the use of a USB
Hub, which allows you to daisy chain from one port into many (USB
supports a total of 127 devices from one). Many different hubs
can be found on the market and we have a couple
from Ultra here in the labs.
Ultra
4-Port USB Mini Hub (Black)
Our
first hub is a USB
4 port Hub designed to work with 1.1 compliant devices and
ports. The packaging for it is very mainstream and designed
to be hung from a hook in a shop. Information on the device
packaging is quite basic but then so is the device; all the
information that you could need is on the packaging. The contents
are nothing more than the hub itself and a registration card.
I'm happy to see that Ultra have also provided overvolt protection
on the hub itself, as whilst this is a feature of the ports
on your motherboard, having the ports on the hub shut down is
more desirable than having to power cycle the PC to bring back
the host port.
The
hub is made up of two main parts; the USB plug lead which connects
the hub to the host port on your PC, and the 4 ports in a black
casing. The lead part is sheathed in silver cabling which looks
quite attractive, and then encased in a transparent rubber like
tube to protect the innards. Both ends are booted with protective
lugs that hold the wire into the device correctly and prevent
you from overly bending the wire at the joints.
The
top of the Hub features 2 transparent windows which give you a
look inside at the circuitry, although this is limited by lines
that have been run along the windows. There's not much to see
anyway but they do serve to break up the black casing a little.
The
4 ports themselves are arranged in a 2x2 fashion with the Ultra
logo printed above them. Being a mini hub the overall area for
the 4 ports is quite tight, so if you happen to have bulky devices
to plug in such as perhaps a couple of fat flash drives, you may
find that the ports being so close together could be a problem.
However if it's simply standard USB boots, perhaps from the leads
of a keyboard and mouse, you won't have issues plugging in more
than one. You would likely have this same issue from the back
of a motherboard, so not a problem I'm overly concerned with considering
the mini nature of the hub.
Ultra
4-Port USB 2.0 Hub with AC Adapter
The
other hub we are looking at is Ultra's
powered 4 port USB 2.0 hub. The box for this arrived a bit
beaten up but the contents were perfectly fine. Unlike the mini
hub, this packaging is bigger to accommodate the extra size
of the hub itself, as well as the leads and power adapter.
The
power adapter for this hub is quite a versatile device with
an input power range from 100 to 230v, allowing you to use this
hub in virtually any country in the world with a simple plug
adapter (that's how I'm running it, we use a 3 prong plug here
in the UK, and the adapter has a standard 2 flat prongs arrangement).
Like the USB 1.1 Mini hub, the USB cable to connect the hub
to the PC is a silver shielded cable with a transparent outer
casing. Unlike the USB 1.1 Mini Hub, the lead for this USB 2.0
hub is a separate item and about a meter in length.
The
hub is constructed from molded transparent smoked Plexiglas
and looks quite attractive without drawing too much attention.
The transparent nature allows you to easily see inside from
any angle except the bottom. At the rear and offset to the left
hand side/corner is the USB Uplink port that connects the hub
to your PC. On the right is the input for the power adapter.
The face edge has the 4 USB 2.0 compatible ports which are nicely
spaced out so you should have no trouble plugging in devices
to all 4 ports at once.
Powering
up the hub, you will see the first of 5 LEDs, a red LED near
to the power adapter in socket which indicates that the device
is receiving power. When you plug in a device, one of four green
LEDs will light to indicate that the port is being used.
I
would have liked to have seen some sort of mounting system for
this hub, perhaps some Velcro sticky pads, as the extra length
of the USB cable and its powered nature make this more of a permanent
solution than a mobile one. The hubs flat style does make it easy
to stick the hub on any flat surface you might wish, and with
the transparent casing it's easy to see the LEDs (not a necessity
anyway) from pretty much any angle. I've personally decided to
mount it under my monitor by a couple of Velcro pads on the bottom
of the hub, and would imagine that sticking the hub to a surface
via the bottom would be a common occurrence.
Testing
To
test the hubs, I'll be timing the transfer of a group of small
files totaling near 120MB as well one singular file of 117MB in
size (the original small files compressed to one file). I'm going
to compare with the original ports on my ABIT AN7 motherboard
and use two flash drives as the transfer medium. One is the DiskOnKey
USB 1.1 device (128MB) and the other is a USB 2.0 Mushkin device
(256MB). The transfer was performed 3 times in each case with
an average derived from the results.
Small
Files
|
Device
|
Time
|
|
Motherboard
2.0
|
0:34.37
|
|
Motherboard
1.1
|
2:45.83
|
|
Ultra
Hub USB 2.0
|
0:34.84
|
|
Ultra
Hub USB 1.1
|
2:46.89
|
Time
in Minutes and Seconds, Lower is Better
Large
File
|
Device
|
Time
|
|
Motherboard
2.0
|
0:27.31
|
|
Motherboard
1.1
|
2:36.33
|
|
Ultra
Hub USB 2.0
|
0:27.43
|
|
Ultra
Hub USB 1.1
|
2:36.99
|
Time
in Minutes and Seconds, Lower is Better
Both
hubs in both situations add virtually nothing to the transfer
times, although the USB 1.1 Hub does seem to have a bigger gap
between itself and the motherboard. However do keep in mind this
is USB 1.1 which is slow anyway, and the fact that the times are
well within the margin for error of someone using a stopwatch.
The results are good in both cases, and both hubs should do you
well.
Final
Words
If
you're looking for a USB hub of either the 1.1 or 2.0 flavour,
then these
Hubs from Ultra will serve you well. Both are easy on the
eyes, both perform well and both are very well constructed. The
1.1 hub does have the ports fairly close together but no more
so than you would find on your motherboard. Being a standalone
unit that is powered from the originating port means it would
be perfect for a Laptop or your Home PC, and the overvolt protection
within the Hub should allow you to keep working with USB devices
in your system even if the Hub is shutdown.
The
USB
2.0 Hub has the advantage of nicely spaced out ports, LED
indicators for power and usage, and of course the bonus of USB
2.0 speeds. Being a powered hub you shouldn't have to worry about
power hungry USB devices drawing to much power and shutting down
your ports, and the power adapter itself is quite universal with
an input rating of 100-240v; a simple plug adapter and the hub
can be powered up anywhere with a socket. I would have liked to
have seen some mounting provision, perhaps some Velcro tape or
something, but not an absolute necessity.
Pros:
Good looks, Good performance, LED Indicators on the USB 2.0 Hub,
Universal power adapter for the USB 2.0 Hub, Nicely spaced out
ports on the USB 2.0 Hub
Cons:
Ports close together on USB 1.1 Hub could be seen as a downside,
no mounting facilities on USB 2.0 Hub
Bottom
Line: If you're looking for a USB hub of either the 1.1
or 2.0 flavour, then these Hubs from Ultra will serve you well.
Questions?
Comments? Hit us up in the forums.
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