Satechi's Heavy-duty 10-port USB 3.0 Hub Wins the Day
March 2013 Anthony Garland
As USB 3.0 begins to proliferate through the market, manufacturers are realising that an average of only two USB 3.0 ports (especially on a notebook) simply is not enough. Like all good entrepreneurs, when companies like Satechi see a problem, they see an opportunity to sell a solution. This is what the Satechi 10-Port USB 3.0 Hub is: a solution to the lack of ports the average consumer is now routinely running into.
While there are plenty of USB 3.0 hubs on the market, the Satechi is rather unique in its approach to the problem. Instead of simply offering a 4- or 8-port model and calling it a day, Satechi has made their hub a long and narrow device which most resembles a power bar with a touch of industrial design.
Its nine USB 3.0 ports are distributed in three clusters of three with each cluster controlled by a power switch. Each port additionally comes with its own LED to indicate when a device is getting power. Last but not least, Satechi has also thoughtfully provided a separate iPad charging port at the front end of the hub to please Apple users.
The only possible issue anyone could have with this device, besides the $49 sale price, is the fact that it relies upon a single USB 3.0 data port. Splitting even a fast port nine ways could lead to bottleneck. However, considering the size of USB 3.0’s bandwidth and the speed at which most USB 3.0 devices run, this is a minor issue until you hit 5 or 6 devices operating concurrently. Satechi 10-port USB 3.0 hub is currently available online at Satechi’s website.
Nexcopy manufactures a variety of PC-based and standalone USB duplicator solutions.
PC based systems support advanced USB functions such as write protection, CD-ROM partition and multi-partition creation, while standalone systems are ultra-fast, high speed USB copiers duplicating gigabytes of data quickly and accurately.