Choosing a USB hub: 2.0 or 3.0, how many ports and why switches are useful
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
Your laptop has two ports, and you need five. A no-nonsense guide to USB 2.0 vs. 3.0, number of ports, power, and switches – with products and prices from our range.
Modern laptops still have two or three, and one of them is often already occupied by the charger. Meanwhile, you want to connect a mouse, a keyboard, an external drive, and occasionally a USB stick. A hub solves that, but the differences between a €9.95 model and a €29.99 one are not always clear from the product photo.
This guide walks you through the four questions you need to answer before ordering: what speed, how many ports, with or without its own power supply, and do you want switches. By the end, you'll know which type suits your desk.
USB 2.0 or USB 3.0: the difference is in the throughput
According to the USB specification, USB 2.0 achieves a maximum of 480 megabits per second and USB 3.0 a maximum of 5 gigabits per second — roughly a factor of ten in favor of 3.0. In practice, the achieved speeds are lower, because the cable, device, and overhead also count, but the ratio remains the same.
What does that mean for you? For devices that hardly move any data — a mouse, a keyboard, a headset, a webcam for video calls — you won't notice any difference. A 2.0 hub is perfectly fine for those. If you connect an external hard drive or SSD, transfer large video files, or use a card reader for photo files, then 3.0 is the difference between getting a cup of coffee and simply continuing to work.
Don't count what you connect today, but what's on your desk. Most people end up with more than they think: mouse, keyboard, headset, phone cable, external drive, USB stick. And count one extra port for things you connect temporarily.
4 ports — laptop with a few fixed peripherals. Compact, fits in a bag.
A common misconception: more ports does not mean more bandwidth. All ports on a hub share the same connection to your computer. If you connect two external drives simultaneously to a 2.0-hub, the speed approximately halves. For devices that only send something occasionally, that makes no difference — for simultaneous copying, it does.
Power: why some devices don't work
A hub without its own power supply — a passive hub — distributes the power supplied by one USB port of your laptop across all its connections. For mice, keyboards, and sticks, that's enough. For an external 2.5-inch hard drive or a device that charges, often just not enough: the drive starts, falters, and disconnects.
If you recognize that, you don't need a better hub but a hub with its own power supply, or you connect the power-hungry device directly to the laptop and put the rest on the hub. If you purely want to charge and not transfer data, a separate charging station is more logical: the USB charging station with 8 ports, Fast Charge, and PD costs €14.95 and keeps your phones, earbuds, and power banks together. On the go, you take the compact 3000 mAh power bank (€14.95) with you.
Switches: the underestimated feature
Hubs with an on/off button per port cost a few euros more and are in practice the most convenient of all features. You turn off a device without unplugging it — useful for an external drive you don't want to run continuously, a light that can be turned off in the evening, or a device that keeps your computer from sleeping.
Two details that are rarely on the wish list but play a daily role. Firstly, the cable: a hub hanging from your laptop with a short tail is always awkwardly placed. The 4-port USB 3.0 hub with 100 cm cable (€14.95) can be placed behind your screen or under your desk. If your computer is further away, you can bridge that with the 2-meter USB 3.0 extension cable for €9.95.
Secondly, the casing: a metal housing dissipates heat better and slides less across your desk than light plastic. The aluminum USB 3.0 hub with 7 ports costs €9.95, making it unusually sharply priced for this type.
If the cables at your desk become the problem instead of the ports, a set of cable protectors, 4 pieces for €1.95 helps: they prevent the most used cables from bending and breaking at the connector.
And for those who want their desk to be not only functional: there are 4-port hubs in the shape of a banana, an avocado, or a chili pepper, all €12.95. Technically just plug & play; especially nice as a small gift for someone with a heavily stickered laptop. For those who prefer lighting: the 10-port hub with RGB lighting costs €24.95.
In short
Do you only connect a mouse, keyboard, and sticks? USB 2.0 with 4 ports is sufficient.
Do you use external storage or card readers? Go for USB 3.0 — the price difference is small.
Fixed workstation with many devices? Go for 7 ports with individual switches.
Does an external drive on the hub falter? That's a power problem, not a speed problem.
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