Pros:
Looks good
Very Small

Cons:
External Power isn’t enough to actually power anything

Rating: 2/5

After cleaning the room in which my computer sits, I was faced by the challenge of putting all of the equipment back into the room. When it came to connect all of my USB devices to the computer, it came to my attention that I did not have enough USB ports to accommodate all of the things wanting one.

You will probably be wondering why I didn’t notice this problem before, especially since it would cause unnecessary plugging and unplugging of USB cables. Well, up until now, I used the ports on the front of my computer as well as on the back. After completely cleaning and tidying the room, I felt it would be foolish to have a mess of cables coming from the front of the computer as I had just spent a day untangling cables and making them look neat.

The solution to my problem was simple. Either use only some USB devices at a time or buy a USB hub. Actually, I already had a hub, however it only cost 99p ($2) and did not function correctly. The bottom fell off and two out of the four ports did not work. As well as that, this particular hub was not powered, meaning that I could only plug certain devices into it – i.e. Things that get plugged in to a power outlet anyway. After careful consideration (about two minutes), I went out to buy a hub!

After a trip to a local computer store, I returned home with £12.99 less than when I went out, and a ‘Trust 4 Port USB2 Powered Hub’. The hub itself is very small, measuring about 10cm in total. It is a triangular prism (‘Toblerone’) shape with 4 ports along the front. In colour, the hub is silver with metal on each edge. One thing I like about this hub, is the blue LED on the side, illuminating when the hub has power from either the computer or a power outlet.

Although I am pleased with my purchase, I am, in fact, disappointed with the hub for one reason. It will not work unless plugged into it’s own socket. I may be wrong, but I cannot get it to work when it is plugged into an extension with other devices using electricity aswell.

Overall, this is a small and neat hub, ideal for anyone needing something that will not look out of place or untidy wherever it is put. I lost the video file of the unboxing so I, unfortunatley, cannot upload it to YouTube. You can however watch it on Ustream.tv! Just go to http://ustream.tv/jak-e I will, when I get to it in my list of videos to record, do it again and then upload it to YouTube.

EDIT
The hub doesn’t work – it doesn’t seem to ‘recognise’ any external power.
I will not be recording the video again.

Tags: hub, Review, Unboxing, usb

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