Review – Kensington USB hub K33979AM

When looking for a nice usable powered USB 3.0 hub for a personal computer, it is quite surprising how many products on the market don’t make the grade. Many have fundamental flaws or they seem to be what you need but on closer examination, because of poor or cheap design, they are less than practical.

What I need in a USB hub is enough ports that are fast enough and that can also all deliver enough power for charging devices. This is why, after a few false starts of purchasing and returning of inferior products, I have settled on the Kensington USB hub model K33979AM, described as a USB 3.0 4-port hub & charger.

Each of the four ports is USB 3.0 up to 5 Gbps speed and with 3 amps of power available total, shared amongst the ports, so unlike other systems where some ports are not suitable for charging, this hub has four equally resourceful ports. With that amount of power, you can connect and charge devices, such as an iPad, which require relatively higher charging currents. Also, no problem to connect several USB external hard disks at once.

The one thing that I don’t like is that the hub is very small and lightweight. Much of this is the result of electronics now using fewer dedicated chips, and SMD technology throughout. The light weight means it can flop around on the desk and the cables may pull it over the back of the desk if you’re not careful, so you may need to figure out a way to secure it if it becomes annoying. Of course for portable use it has an ideal weight!