This may be a bit over the usual price for a $5-$10 USB hub you can find here at Amazon or your local Fry's, but the quality and just great look of the product compensate for any problems. It works flawlessly, even with those pesky external drives that require a 2-1 USB cable to have adequate power. Add to that the extra handy ports on top for thumb drives.
It looks great next to my iPod dock and iMac, remember it's not just Apple that makes cool looking products. Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Hub, White
I had to turn my iMac to unplug a USB cable and plug in another. I also have a portable hard drive, though, that is powered by the USB and would not work with an extension USB cord (the light on the drive would go on, but I guess it wouldn't get enough juice to be usable). The Belkin hub, with the AC cord connected solved all the problems. I have more then enough USB ports and the portable hard drive gets power from the Belkin's AC (for lower-power items, you may not need to use the AC cord). And it looks great.
A little surprise: each of the four ports has an indicator light that goes on when the port is in use. I'm not sure why this is helpful, but its nice to see anyway.
I received this hub yesterday; and although I haven't had a long time to use it, I believe it will be the perfect USB hub for me. I currently have my keyboard & iPhone 3G dock plugged into the connections on the back. I prefer to leave my printer hooked up to it's own USB hub on my iMac. This leaves an open USB port on my iMac for one of my backup drives that I use (in addition to the two I have attached to the firewire ports.) This arrangement seems to work flawlessly. I am very pleased with this hub for a couple of reasons. The two top USB connections are very handy for connecting temporary items, such as my digital camera card reader, headphones, etc. Also, it is very small and has enough weight to sit squarely on my desk. One thing I should mention that I don't believe is very clear from the description of this item. THIS IS A POWERED USB HUB. It doesn't have to be, so you can use it with a notebook without power. However, I do have the power adapter plugged in. I figure "why not" since I'm using it with an iMac. VERY PLEASED so far; and I doubt that a Belkin product will prove to be faulty at a later date.
It's pretty hard to get excited over a USB hub, but this one is a rarity. The design is beautiful and the weighted base keeps it in place. The only regret I have is that I didn't buy the 7 port hub instead.
Tried many hubs, liked this one the most. I probably should have gotten the 7 port model, but this is great.
PROS
Self-powered -- works very well without external power, but you have that option for power hungry devices
White, decent design
Heavy enough to stay put most of the time
Uses miniUSB cable, easy to get the length you want
CONS
I would prefer 3 ports in the back and one on top.
Don't see much use for the cable thing on the side.
I am using this hub connected to an iMac with an external Seagate hard drive, an ink-jet printer, and a connection for a Logitech Harmony remote control all plugged in. So OK, the hub in the picture kinda looks like a gear shift hanging on to a USB cable. What the picture really shows is a hub designed with 3 USB ports in the rear that you cannot see (one in and two out), along with a hidden socket for a power cord. What you can see are the two ports on the top which are easily accessed for plugging in USB memory sticks (with one already occupied with a memory stick). That is, they are easily accessed for memory sticks if you place the hub on your desk. This brings up the clip on the end that allows you to anchor the hub to a cable to keep it in place (it is very light). I still have not figured how to use it, so I am quite happy to have my hub sitting on my desk with the cable clip unused. I have had no problem with this hub, except that adding an iPhone with a depleted battery that needed charging seemed to be calling for more power than the hub could supply. Don't blame the hub: I think this would have been a problem even if I plugged the iPhone into the ports on my keyboard. A little rearranging made everything work just fine. Just remember to eject (MAC) or deactivate (Windows) the USB device before yanking it out out the port if you are still using the computer.
Bought one of these when I got my webcam last year and I have to agree with the other reviewers that this unit really is well designed. Nice weighted base makes it stay in place, and the rear two ports keep my webcam and scanner running while the top two ports handle my flash drive and an iPod connection. Unit is powered and the attached cable minder keeps another cable (or cables)close by. The unit has given me no problems in the nearly year that I've had it.'
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