Your laptop computer by no means has sufficient ports—particularly if it is the Macbook Air this information was written on. You’ll be able to carry round an array of dongles to plug all the things in, or you’ll be able to nab certainly one of these USB hubs. Hubs develop the quantity and type of ports out there from one machine so you’ll be able to minimize down on the muddle. After testing dozens through the years, these are the perfect USB hubs I’ve discovered for various wants.
Looking for extra home-office gizmos and devices? Try our different guides, together with the Ultimate Work-From-Home Gear, the Best Office Chairs, the Best USB Flash Drives, and the Best Portable External 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.
Particular provide for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This contains limitless entry to WIRED.com, full Gear protection, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions assist fund the work we do day by day.
Do You Want a Hub or a Docking Station?
USB hubs are small, moveable gadgets you’ll be able to plug immediately right into a port in your laptop computer to get further USB ports, SD card readers, headphone jacks, and different further connections. Nevertheless, in the event you plan on commonly connecting your laptop computer to a full-blown workstation—with a keyboard, mouse, displays, the entire shebang—you then would possibly need to take into account a docking station as a substitute.
USB docking stations are bigger, costlier, and are designed to spend most of their time in your desk. They sometimes have an influence provide to cost different gadgets and provide a number of monitor outputs, plus Ethernet connections. Should you ceaselessly use your laptop computer at a desk, we’ll have a brand new information quickly on the perfect docking stations, so keep tuned.
