May God Save Me From Yet Another Dongle

October 26, 2007 4:06 PM

Looking for a non-crappy USB2 hub for a permanent parking place on my desk. Bonus points for heaviness.

I've read all the related threads and done my duty with Google and eBay, but I'm having trouble finding a good USB (2.0) hub to help me untangle the mess on my desk.

I have an ad-hoc "docking" desk where I park my MacBook Pro most days, connecting my big monitor and keyboard and mouse and iPod and such. The two USB2 ports on the laptop really don't cut it, but I've always gotten by with swapping things in and out when needed. OSX 10.5 is making me want to keep an external hard disk online all the time for Time Machine (background backups), though, so I need to finally buy a USB hub, I think. I'd like to also fix my snakepit of cables that all this plugging and unplugging has caused, since 90% of these things (everything but the iPod) never leaves the desk anyway.

I know there are $9 hubs at Wal-Mart, and everywhere But all the hubs I can find are flimsy little "ultra-small" and "portable" things that are little more than dongles. This won't help with my cable mess, and in fact just adds a couple more loose bits.

So I'm looking for a solid (bonus points for heavy so it stays put) and powered hub to help reduce all the "permanent" usb connections I could possibly have (printers, external HDs, cameras, whatever), so that I could just plug ONE THING into my MacBook when it's at home. I think a minimum of six ports is needed, here, but 8+ would be better.

Brick is fine. Wall-mount is fine. Big box under monitor is fine. Just something "permanent" like so it doesn't add to the problem of rats-nesty cable mess.

Powered makes more sense, and looks are not important. A big steel box would be lovely. I've even dug around for rack-mounted ones, since those would be big and solid, but I'm having no luck -- I don't need a KVM, just a dumb powered hub.

Has anyone dealt with such USB overload successfully?

posted by rokusan to computers & internet (10 comments total)

You could probably use 3m mounting foam squares to attach a smaller hub to a weight.

I am using this and it's small and light, but has a nice square shape that could be attached to whatever hefty thing you wanted.
posted by aubilenon at 4:13 PM on October 26, 2007

I've had this guy (Belkin 7 port) for about 5 years and has never failed me. The top ports are great for USB keys and quick connections.
posted by mphuie at 4:35 PM on October 26, 2007

Yeah, used double sided tape or hook-and-loop tape (better known by the brand name Velcro®) to secure whatever hub you buy... you can get quite fancy with building up your desk.
posted by wfrgms at 4:46 PM on October 26, 2007

I've got a Kensington DomeHub which has plenty o' ports and is nice and weighty.
posted by zsazsa at 4:59 PM on October 26, 2007

I bought this combo iPod dock and USB hub on Clearance at a Radio Shack some months ago, and it has been fantastic. Only gripe is that the USB ports are a bit too close together to use with old skool Shuffles or other large dongles.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:50 PM on October 26, 2007

“I've had this guy (Belkin 7 port) for about 5 years and has never failed me. The top ports are great for USB keys and quick connections.”

That's funny, because of all the USB hubs I've had, that expensive Belkin model is one of the very few that have stopped working.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:46 PM on October 26, 2007

I have a small powered hub that I have fixed to my desk using a small C Clamp. It stays put, its kind of neat looking, somewhat of a conversation piece and if I need to transport it elsewhere it is small and portable.
posted by mmascolino at 8:36 PM on October 26, 2007

Small hubs + hot glue + housebrick.
posted by flabdablet at 10:32 PM on October 26, 2007

seconding mphuie's belkin 7 port. I have two at work, and one at home -- Love them.
posted by frwagon at 8:55 AM on October 27, 2007

Months later, I am marking Zsazsa the best answer points since I did end up with a DomeHub, and it's worked out perfectly. Also, this nicely closes the thread for anyone finding this years later, right?
posted by rokusan at 7:01 PM on March 22, 2008