Review: Belkin Stacks An Updated USB2 Hub To Its Range
Don Bradbury looks at Belkin's latest, neatly stackable, four port USB 2.0 hub
| Product | 4-port USB 2.0 hub |
|---|---|
| Company | Belkin |
| Web | www.belkin.com |
| Price | £39.99 inc VAT |
| We like | Functional; stackable |
| We don't like | A tad expensive; LEDs do not show activation |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
One of the first things a serious PC user does after unpacking his new machine is to plug in a USB hub on the end of a decent lead. The reason is obvious; having USB ports at the rear of the system box is close to useless in terms of hot-plugging devices. That is after all one of their more endearing capabilities.
So how many ports do you need to bring to the front for easy access? Well that clearly depends on how many USB devices you have, but four would seem to be a useful minimum number and that's standard for most hubs.
Actually, there's another consideration. The computer we're using to work on this review has no fewer than four hubs, featuring a mixture of USB 1.1, USB 2.0, Firewire, and multi-functional (extra USB, Parallel, and Serial). In order to keep these tidy, a stackable system for the hubs is useful, and Belkin have a neat arrangement for their various offerings; the base of one slides into the top of another, keeping them nicely stacked on top of one another.
USB hubs don't need a driver loading (unless you're on Windows 98SE), so all you have to do is locate a spare USB port at the rear of your system box, plug in the hub, and unwind the provided lead to bring the hub by the side of your keyboard or other convenient position.
Compliance
Of course the port you plug the hub into should ideally have a USB 2.0 compliant host port and so if your PC is more than a year or two old you might have to add a USB 2.0 PCI card inside the system box. USB is backward compatible however so any USB 2.0 devices you add to a system fitted with only USB 1.1 ports will still operate but only at 1.1 speeds (ie considerably slower).
Assuming your computer is suitably equipped, this Belkin four port hub will sit grandly on your desk awaiting suitable devices to be added. In terms of functionality a red power LED and four green port status lights at the front are all you get beside the ports themselves - if you ignore the rather superfluous manual - though the LEDs are 'port in use' only, not activation indicators.
An included mains power supply adds the capacity to cope with power consuming USB devices (up to 500mA per port) though these PSUs do seem unnecessarily bulky for their relatively low power duty. The upstream USB 2.0 lead similarly adds the capability to cope with the higher spec of the 2.0 standard.
In conclusion
This Belkin four port USB 2.0 hub, albeit very bland in all-grey plastic, will be all that most require to add high speed USB devices to their system. Forty times speed advantage over USB 1.1 you will not see from the 2.0 standard, but a decent speed increase will certainly follow if you can connect to an appropriate host.
Featuring per-port current detection and protection, and compatible with Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, and XP, this unit is recommended. Look for discounts on the RRP.
