Greatest USB-C hubs and dongles 2023: Add ports to your laptop computer or pill

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.

General, 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 knowledge, plus a second USB-C port for energy enter at as much as 85W rated. (The charger permits as much as 100W in, however provides 85W.) An HDMI port permits for 4K/30Hz video or 1080p/60Hz video to a single exterior show, commonplace for the class. Ethernet is excluded, nevertheless, so that you’ll want to make use of Wi-Fi as an alternative. Twine size is about 8.5 inches, above the usual 6-inch size.

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

We advocate not shopping for the dearer $79.99 Anker 8-in-1 Hub on Amazon until you’re completely happy connecting to 2 1080p (and never 4K) shows…which is completely advantageous. In any other case, the 2 HDMI ports will solely help two 4K shows at an eye-wearying 30Hz, not 60Hz.

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

This hub provides three USB 3.0 (5Gb/s) Kind A ports, one USB 2.0 Kind 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 as much as 2TB and SDR25 (25MB/s) knowledge charges. There’s no ethernet connection. The USB-C cable measures a snug six inches, although the connector on the finish was slightly 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. (Solely 4K30 resolutions are supported, however that’s commonplace.)

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) provides rather a lot to your cash, together with an uncommon mixture of not one, however two HDMI ports, and even a DisplayPort. Because of ethernet help, the hub can change a lot of your wired connections. Energy enter is rated at 100W in, with about 87W out there to the laptop computer.

However the USB-C bus the hub runs on high of merely received’t help all of the ports getting used directly, which is a little bit of a gotcha. Whereas we actually just like the pair of HDMI ports for dual-display configurations, the very fact is, you’ll most likely must restrict your self to a pair of 1080p shows to keep away from saturating the bus and slowing down the connection. Prospects on Amazon have reported that they solely bought one to work, most likely as a result of the bus itself was saturated. The opposite downside we discovered is that the SD card slot is manner too gradual. It took twice as lengthy to switch knowledge in comparison with 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. Simply be practical: We actually like the pliability that the Lasuney hub provides, however don’t purchase it pondering you’ll be capable to use every thing directly. In case you want that functionality, have a look at one of many dearer USB-C docking stations, under.

Current laptops have begun providing a USB-C expertise known as HBR3 with DSC, which we’ll clarify extra absolutely within the sections following our suggestions. The underside line is that the expertise provides one thing much like the DisplayLink expertise under, however as an business commonplace. In our expertise, though the expertise 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 slightly sharply below load. But it surely 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 toes, snakes out from the facet of the dock. (CA’s handbook and documentation is awful, by the best way, so we’re not fairly clear what HDMI port expertise it makes use of.) On the entrance is one other USB Kind 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. In any other case, this can be a powered dock, and it’ll provide 90W of charging energy to your laptop computer, too.

At 2.8 x 0.31 x 1.22 inches, IOgear’s Journey Professional Mini Dock is an odd duck: a reasonable, comparatively tiny USB-C dock that plugs instantly into your laptop computer, with no connecting twine.

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

That’s advantageous, after all, in case your laptop computer’s USB-C port is all by its lonesome. In any other case, the Journey Professional Mini Dock will block ports because it tries to supply enlargement 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.

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

Plugable’s UD-6950PDH doesn’t enable the bandwidth for the most recent HDMI or DisplayPort interfaces, however it preserves what we like about Plugable’s docks: two pairs of optionally available DisplayPort and HDMI connections to select from, in addition to 100W of charging energy to your laptop computer. One omission, nevertheless, 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, nevertheless, the worth is totally proper for a DisplayLink docking station. Simply don’t neglect your smartphone charger.

Weirdly, what you’ll purchase at Amazon (the Ugreen USB-C Triple Show Docking Station) doesn’t match the identify on the field (the USB-C Multifunction Docking Station PRO). The opposite hitch? It is a powered dock…however you’ll want to produce the charger.

These are some odd quirks, set in opposition to what is kind of a pricy product. Get previous these, although, and that is actually a strong system — it really drives three shows! Simply ensure that to obtain the DisplayLink software program as detailed in our assessment, under.

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

Along with the USB-C enter port and HDMI output, there are 4 5Gb/s USB Kind A ports, and that’s it—no microSD slots, ethernet, or audio connections. We might have favored to see the latter as an choice for individuals who want it. However connecting a mouse and keyboard, in addition to transferring knowledge over the ports, labored nicely inside the constraints of the USB-C connection.

Each our present general high choose, the Anker A83460A2, and the Yeolibo 9-in-1 a are higher general choices, with one exception: their HDMI output is barely at 30Hz, which may fatigue the eyes over lengthy intervals. Lention delivers a extra snug 60Hz on the similar decision. And you probably have points, Lention provides a 12-month guarantee with a 24-hour help turnaround.

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

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

The Rshtech hub wouldn’t at all times establish and connect with a bus-powered SSD, however it discovered each different system we linked to it. The efficiency of a powered exterior onerous drive plunged to about 20 % when all ports have been occupied, however surged to about 67 % when the optionally available energy cable was plugged in—which Rshtech recommends when linked to exterior storage.

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