Where are my Ports?!

As you may have already known, I've recently converted myself from PC to Apple. I got the 15.4" Macbook Pro. So far I've been digging the change with the speed, graphics, slick interface, but except for one thing - the lack of USB ports.

People say Apple's a design oriented computer, which I find it quite ironic, with only 2 ports provided by a standard model(PCs laptop usually have around 4). Consider a designer that uses a mouse, an external hard drive. Ok, BAM, that was it, all the ports are filled. What about iPods? Printers? DSLR camera that doesn't use SD cards? Anyway, the list goes on and that didn't sound too unreasonable, did it?

Now I've got a few options - Upgrade it to a 17" with one additional hub, buy an EXTRA wired keyboard for 2 extra hubs and a lot more keys, getting a firewire making it an extra port, or purchase a USB hub for many external ports. Either way is to add extra mulah to the already expensive purchase.

I chose the last, most $$ conservative, alternative:

I got the Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra Mini Hub. One long name with a decently good price(less than 10 bucks). And here's a quite review:
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I don't recommend buying the hubs provided by Apple.

The design can be perceived differently throughout, but specs are all the same, and the price is almost 3 times as much. 見仁見智.

I received my purchase today.

The sealed plastic case is a death trap when opening it. Hardest packaging to open, ever.

There it is, I think it matches my Mac quite well with the silver casing, black bottom, and a red signal indicator that'd light up when plugged in.

The size is about the 3.5x the width of the USB plug itself, so it's quite MINI like the title of the product.

Here are the specs:

-4 USB ports added to the device.
-The new ports are USB 1.1, 2.0 compatible.
-Transfer data up to 480 megabits per second
-Weighs .24 pounds.

I've tested out:

Here are results:

Pros:
-Uploading about 50ish pictures from my Canon DSLR, as if the camera was plugged directly into the laptop.
-Mouse works fine.
-I hotsync my Palm centro with the device, it worked perfectly fine as fast ,too.
-The best deal I found was 8 bucks at Amazon (Shipping included)
-Slick and simple design, light weight and small size is easy to carry for traveling.

Cons:
-Transferring 32 Gb of music from my Lacie external hard drive, took 15 minutes. Then, the external hard drive started acting a little laggy. ( I recommend plugging the hard drive to the laptop itself)
-The cable connecting the hub to the laptop seems abit short, so it's hard to disguise the device.

Overall:
I'm really satisfied with it. People also used it for PS3 and other USB ports needed products.






-Benson|| Follow me on Twitter || Join the movement|| Check the original website

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