Yesterday we took a look at the Star Hub from our friends at Brando WorkShop, I found it to be very portable, well made and useful with only one small drawback… Today I figured I’d take a look at another USB Hub, this one is from our friends at USBFever and it’s called the World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub. Is it the world’s smallest? Not sure, but I’m betting it is as I’ve never seen any that are smaller… It’s very well made with a metal housing, and of course being so small makes it very portable.
World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: USBFever
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub from USBFever
Product Code#:AL134-A769
Price: US$9.99
Highlights:
Our USB Hub allows you to add more USB peripherals to the PC, also, it supports to connect USB devices through cascading multiple Hubs.
Features:
– Probably the world’s smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub (Dimensions: 5.8 x 28 x 12 mm, approx.)
– Compact (smaller than 2 SD cards, see the 1st picture in our product page)
– Lightweight: 21g (Hub only)
– USB 2.0 and compliant with USB 1.1 as well
– LED indicator (on when power is on)
– Made of high-graded alloy with Metallic Silver Surface
Package Contents:
-Ultra Slim USB 2.0 4 Port Hub x 1
-USB 2.0 cable x 1
A Better Look at Things
:
The World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port hub comes in an easy open plastic clamshell package, just pop it apart and you’ve got access to the contents. On the front of the package you can plainly see the hub itself with the back listing all the specs and features.
Opening the package we find only the hub itself and a nice thick USB cable.
The housing of this hub is metal making it durable and tough. On the front of the hub are two USB ports and an LED indicator light, the back has two more USB ports, the main USB connection in the form of the mini-USB connector and a power connection for an optional power connector.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
To give you an idea of the size of this hub here’s a couple pictures with it next to one of my SD cards:
As you can see it’s about two SD card long and one SD card wide, and a little more than a USB connector tall.
Installation is easy just plug it in and Windows XP/Vista recognizes and installs the drivers automatically, only a few seconds and you’re ready to use this gadget.
I hooked up my OCZ ATV Turbo 4gb USB Drive and ran HDTach from SimpliSoftware while it was attached to the hub and again without the hub connected directly to the computer. I found really no difference at all between the two, I found the burst seed on the hub was .01 MB/s slower than the direct connection which is an imperceptible difference in real time. The read time was the same and as expected from a hub, the CPU Usage was a bit higher, only 2% over the direct connection.
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I took a look at another very small USB hub not long ago from USBFever as well called the Ultra Slim USB 2.0 4-port hub where I thought that was a very small hub, but this one is even smaller than that. Both hubs have their uses though and both are excellent products, the main difference between the two is the cord, the Ultra Slim has it attached and is very short, the one I have today has a very long cord which is detachable and any similar cord can be used.
The only problem I could see with this device is that the USB ports are spaced closely together on the back, depending on the size of the USB drive you connect this might be an issue, but of course having something so tiny requires a small sacrifice I guess…
Summary:
While the title World’s Smallest is still up in the air, this product is a great choice to add a few more USB ports to your computer. It’s well made with its metal housing and it has performance on par with a direct USB connection.
Being so small of course makes it very portable so you can take it with you anywhere you go, just toss it in your bag with your laptop and you’re set.
DragonSteelMods gives the World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Extremely small and portable
-Lightweight
-Very well made, metal housing
-Speeds comparable to direct USB connection
-Fast transfer speeds, comparable to direct USB connection
Cons:
-Closely spaced USB Ports
I would like to thank USBFever for the chance to review the World’s Smallest USB 2.0 4-Port Hub and for their continued support of DSM.
review# 353
You can comment on this review HERE if you wish. Comments, questions whatever…