Best USB Hub For Mac Reviews 2018

USB hubs for Mac are available in different types with varying features and prices. The cost of USB hubs for Mac varies according to the quality and features therein. A high-end USB hub for Mac with plenty of features will certainly cost more than a low-end variation with fewer features, although there are some middle-ground ones that have a good array of functional features at affordable prices. Mac products are high-end, so one should expect its add-ons to naturally follow the trend.

The USB hubs for Macs featured in our review are priced from about $10 to around $120, which is an excellent range of quality high, mid, and low-end USB hubs for Mac from brands that are renowned in the field. In the course of our research, we came across many cheaper USB hubs for Mac, but since they didn’t pass our test for quality, we decided to leave them out and concentrate only on brands that we’re sure will deliver excellent value for your money.

Let’s now fully look into the different features and factors that you’ll need to consider seriously, as they directly affect how well your USB hub for Mac will perform. These features include:

• Type
• Power source
• Number of ports
• Size
• Transfer rate
• Extra features

The USB hub for Mac can be wired or wireless. The wired design consists of the USB hub itself and an attached cord that plugs into the USB port on the Mac computer. This type is designed for use with laptops, tablets, and desktops, and thus offers more versatility than its wireless counterpart.

The wireless or cordless USB hub for Mac is mostly designed for Mac desktops. They don’t have a connection plug, but rather feature a USB stick that you can connect to a USB port at the back of the Mac desktop. The cordless design USB hub for Mac has a unique design that blends in with the back of the desktop when plugged in; it looks as if it came with the desktop.

Buying any of the two types is a matter of personal preference, as there’s no functional advantage of one over the other. The exception is that if you’re going to be using it on your Mac desktop, you may want to go for the wireless type as it’ll give better aesthetics than the wired option.

Different USB hubs for Macs are constructed with a different number of ports. Some of them can have as much as 12 ports, while others can have just 2 ports. Having maybe 3 devices you want to connect to your Mac computer, and then purchasing a hub with just 3 ports, doesn’t make sense because there’ll always be that extra device that you’ll want to connect later on. It’s recommended you add some extra bucks and buy a hub with more ports than you presently need to save yourself from spending extra money to buy a bigger one in the future.

Some USB hubs for Macs do not only split the USB function of your Mac system among other devices, but also get their power supply from your Mac system, thus sharing your system’s power resources. For this reason, some brands go a step further to design their USB hubs for Mac with a power cable and adapter so you can plug it directly into a separate power source. This ensures that your USB hub has adequate juice to power the devices attached to it.

Most of them also have the capacity to store energy so you’ll always have backup power if anything goes wrong with your direct power supply. Although the USB hub for Mac with separate power supply may be more expensive, it’s better and safer in the long-run to invest in it than the one that shares power resources with your Mac computer.

USB hubs for Macs are naturally designed to be portable. They may come in different shapes and sizes, but portability is extremely important and a unique selling point for all the different brands manufacturing them. The manufacturing material, be it aluminum or plastic, is always lightweight thereby making it easier to carry around. Using a USB hub for Mac is also quite easy, with no assembly or complicated setup required. Almost all USB hubs feature a plug-and-play design that’s stress-free.

The transfer rate or speed of any USB hub for Mac is quite critical to its performance. You’ll want to be sure that your USB hub will transfer data at lightning-fast speeds that will cope with the volume of work being done by all the devices hooked up to it. This transfer rate is measured in gigabytes per second and the higher the value is, the better.

For improved performance, some USB hub for Macs come with a power button that lets you switch the whole hub on and off, while some others feature small power buttons for the individual ports so you can power off some ports and leave the others on, or disable access to a particular device instead of totally disconnecting it.
Most USB hubs for Macs feature a couple or more dedicated ports that let you charge up your other devices. This feature makes the hub a very handy gadget as you get to charge some of your devices while working on others, all on the same hub.

And for improved performance, some USB hubs for Macs have LED indicator lights, beside the individual ports that show light when a device is successfully plugged and connected to your computer. When the device is not connected or in charging mode only, the light remains off. This greatly helps you know when something isn’t working as it should, or when there’s no data transfer between the computer and the device in question.