Keyspan USB 4-Port Mini Hub
Company: Keyspan
Price: $49.99
http://www.keyspan.com
Wow. Can they really make a 4-Port USB hub this small and have it really work well? In a word, yes. They (Keyspan) did it, and did it very well.
The USB 4-Port Mini Hub is a sleek little thing, easily fitting in my hand. (See picture below.) It has a little door, which is where they hide in male-USB cable that plugs into your Mac. In both sides of the unit are two USB plugs, equaling four all together.
The unit is really meant for PowerBook users, those who may need extra USB connections while out on the road. The Keyspan unit will draw power from the USB port on your Mac, but there are times when this is not enough, thus the unit also ships with an equally small power cable.
In extensive use, I found no faults with the unit. It easily ran four USB devises (a printer, a scanner, a Wacom tablet, and flash media card reader) without a problem. However, with that many connections, I did need to use the external power cord.
The only draw back to the unit is its price. I have seen many four-port USB hubs going for as little as $15, though none were as small as the Mini-Hub, and most have a rather large external power supply brick cord.
All things considered, I would recommend the Keyspan Mini-hub if you are a frequent user of many USB devices on the road, and need the extra ports. If you spend most of your time in one location and desktop space is not at a premium, consider a less expensive model.
MacMice Rating: 4 out of 5
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