Hubs are such simple accessories, but they increasingly add more value to the gadgets we already own. Alongside my love of portable monitors, a good inexpensive laptop hub is a handy upgrade.
A while back I spent some time with a full desktop hub solution from EZQuest, and now we’re taking a quick look at a more travel friendly solution. EZQuest sent their new hub for me to take on test drive.
The USB-C Multimedia 8-in-1 Hub is exactly what it sounds like.
You plug a USB-C cable into your computer, and you get EIGHT other ports to play with.
The list is nice for a modern laptop that might lack some of these options.
- 2x USB-A inputs 3.0 (5Gbps)
- SD and Micro-SD Card Readers
- 4K/60 HDMI (Using DP1.4)
- 2x USB-C Gen 1 (5Gbps)
The hub is also a power pass through solution. It accepts up to a 100W charger, and will deliver up to 90W charging for laptops, or lower charging rates for phones, tablets, and other electronics.
Glad in a metal frame, with a reinforced cable boot, and a surprisingly stiff built in USB cable, the MSRP of $69.99 feels fitting. It’s nicely built, adds a bunch of ports, and should complement a nice metal clad laptop like a MacBook or a Surface.
The built in cable is long enough to rest the hub flat next to most tablets and slate PCs.
We’ve seen numerous inexpensive hubs over the last couple years, and as ports disappear from thin frame laptops, these types of accessories become critical companions.
What’s been interesting to see, is how the performance of a hub can be improved. We’re seeing better power management, faster memory card read and write speeds. We’re finally getting more affordable options which include USB-C ports.
This was a bit frustrating when I got my Huawei MateBook years ago. It had two USB-C ports, and connecting a hub meant I lost one of those C ports to get more USB-A ports. At the time that was an acceptable trade.
Lately, I use more accessories over USB-C, and my thin travel laptop is a Surface Book Go 2. It has one USB-C. I really don’t want to add a hub to get USB-A ports and a memory card readers, and not be able to use other USB-C accessories. These new hubs help split those connections, and we can mix and match more accessories.
The performance is good, but it’s always worth comparing different inputs.
The memory card readers always end us as the pokiest transfers. I have Sandisk cards rated for 180MB/s, where the EZQuest topped out at 80MB/s read and transfer speeds. That’s honestly not bad.
However, connecting a Sandisk Pro memory card reader to one of the hub’s USB-C ports maxed out the transfer speed of my card. It was more than twice as fast as the built in card reader.
The USB ports fared better.
Connecting a Sandisk USB SSD directly to my Surface Laptop, I can count on roughly 700MB/s read and 600MB/s write speeds. Connecting through the EZQuest, those were cut to 400MB/s read and 350MB/s write speeds. A little better than half, but these transfers are still decently quick for most interactions.
My primary use case would be shooting content on a camera, and then backing up directly to a portable drive. Those transfer speeds are great writing directly from the card to the drive, if I use a fast USB card reader. I’d be more limited by the built in card reader.
The HDMI is well supported, with 4K/60 immediately showing up in windows settings with my portable monitor. Driving a nice dual display set up is easy these days, even on lower power hardware.
In operation, the case can get noticeably warm to the touch. There’s a lot to manage with power and data, so it’s not surprising. It’s worth pointing out, using something like this, it should be kept in the open where it can cool.
It’s a great portable solution, and I think it would do well as a part-time desktop solution. The thing about portable, you can’t route cabling for a cleaner desk. If you’re looking at a solution that will stay put for a longer time, I’d look at a bigger desktop style hub, get more ports, multiple monitor support, and more surface area to keep things cool.
As a part time solution though, this is also more flexible for other gadgets. A small USB hub plays nice with a lot of other compute devices. Phones and tablets with video output can be quickly connected to other displays, but phones lacking video output can still read external drives and connect to devices like portable audio equipment.
Similarly, we can always use ports and power for things like portable consoles. A Steam Deck will throw video to the hub, and then you can connect more easily to a TV or monitor.
On it’s face, a nice hub can seem expensive, but making one purchase can support multiple other devices.
I’ve had great experiences with two EZQuest hubs now. They’re built well, and look nice. The 8-in-1 is a fast way to add ports on the go.
EZQuest also sells a larger 10-in-1 hub for folks who need ethernet connectivity.