streamlined Why built-in USB ports are better than USB hubs.

[Ertio]

As you may have noticed, laptops don't have as many USB ports as they used to have. Typically, a laptop has one to two USB-A ports and one USB-C port, where as laptops until the early 2010s often had four USB ports, and some gaming laptops even had up to six.

 

I wish we lived in a world where newer would always be better. Sadly, that simply isn't the case. We hear laptop vendors advertise superficialities like which generation of Intel Core they use this time, but all of this processing power is not useful if you don't have enough USB ports to work with.

 

I am sick of hearing "just use USB hubs" in response to criticism of the low number of USB ports on modern laptops for nonsense reasons like "minimalism" and "premium design" and "streamlined design" (seriously, when I hear this extremely euphemistic S-word, my BS detector goes over 9000) and "slick" and [insert more marketing buzzwords here] that no one cares about.

 

Everyone wants more USB ports but when the number of USB ports took a plunge, we realized how much we are are at the mercy of laptop vendors to give us something as close to what we want as possible.

 

For these reasons, USB hubs are not as good as built-in USB ports:    

• Speed: The bandwidth of multiple USB ports is not limited by the bandwidth of an USB hub connected to a USB port.
• Stability - one less device that can disconnect due to a worn-down connector.
• When you connect a new device, the movement of the USB hub might cause all other devices to disconnect.
• Every connector and cable between the computer and the peripheral adds resistance, hence a loss in voltage. Too much voltage loss = USB devices refuse to operate.
• Power throughput. Good luck running multiple external portable hard drives from a USB hub. Oh, and if one external HDD consumes too much power, the entire USB hub with all its devices will disconnect, which could corrupt file systems.
• external adapter - one more device you have to carry everywhere you go. This is why a USB hub will never be a replacement for built-in USB ports. *What if you want to use a USB mouse and copy files between two external hard drives? Well, guess what. With modern laptops, You can't.  You bought a portable 2.5-inch hard drive to avoid having to carry an external adapter, yet now you need to carry one anyway for the USB hub.

 

A USB hub means more loose connectors that can disconnect when you move stuff on your table, and before you can even connect the USB hub to your computer, you need to unmount and disconnect whichever device was already connected to that port.

Edited September 9 by Ertio
added "When you connect a new device […]"

[OhioYJ]

  On 9/10/2024 at 6:42 AM, Ertio said:

• Power throughput. Good luck running multiple external portable hard drives from a USB hub.

Honestly you should not be using a non-powered hub. These just encourage people to do dumb things, like overload USB ports. A quality powered USB hub, will have no issue with this situation.

 

  On 9/10/2024 at 6:42 AM, Ertio said:

• Stability - one less device that can disconnect due to a worn-down connector.

This is one reason I actually like hubs. Hubs are cheap and easy to replace. The port on your motherboard, no so much.

 

Overall, I absolutely agree with your overall point. The onboard USB ports are better, and I wish manufacturers would include more.  Those two points though, I felt you could argue weren't the best for this debate.

 

However, I have two 8 port powered USB hubs sitting on my desk right now, so I doubt I'll get away from hubs anytime soon anyways. 

[Ertio]

  On 9/10/2024 at 6:53 AM, OhioYJ said:

Honestly you should not be using a non-powered hub. These just encourage people to do dumb things, like overload USB ports. A quality powered USB hub, will have no issue with this situation.

Usually, non-powered hubs have enough current for very low-power devices like flash drives, but once you add a mechanical hard drive that has no external power supply itself, and it tries to draw too much current, the USB port will lose voltage and all devices on the USB hub will shut down for a short moment.

 

The problem with externally powering a USB hub is that you have to carry one more adapter. Laptops with fewer USB ports might be a few millimeters thinner, but you have to carry an additional power adapter for the USB hub.

 

  On 9/10/2024 at 6:53 AM, OhioYJ said:

Hubs are cheap and easy to replace. The port on your motherboard, no so much.

Didn't think of it that way. The problem is that USB hubs add three weak links between the USB device and the laptop: the USB input port of the USB hub and the integrated controller of the USB hub and the USB output ports of the USB hub.

[PDifolco]

I suppose 90% of people are happy with a pair of USB ports on a laptop

And just using KB/M and USB sticks can be done on one hub with no issue

Then if you have to use multiple HDDs (that are heavier than a laptop if they're 3.5"...) and several other things you'd be better with a desktop, my board has a gazillion ports (like 13) plus the case has 4 and the monitor has 2...

[Ertio]

  On 9/10/2024 at 7:22 AM, wowsocoolz said:

would you recommend a powered hub for this, or can I use a non powered hub

USB hubs that can be powered externally usually work without external power too, except you can not connect high-power devices like portable hard drives or optical drives.