With the amount of gadgets and office equipment around now-a-days, it seems that the measly two to four average ports found on a desk or laptop computer is simply insufficient. Between printers, webcams,iPods, flash drives, etc., even an additional hub with four USB ports is not enough. Well, no worries now everyone… enter the Rosewill RHUB-310.
Following the philosophy of “why pay for two meat patties when you can pay the same for four”, Rosewill introduces a moderately priced USB hub with…count it folks… 7 USB ports. Seven. All fast, all compact, and all offered in one hell of a sleek case.
Here’s the specs and features from Rosewill:
- Compliant with USB Specification Rev. 2.0 (Data Rate 1.5/12/480 Mbps)
- Backward Compatible to USB 1.1
- 7 (Max.) downstream facing parts high-speed (480Mbps), full-speed(12Mbps), and low-speed (1.5Mbps) transaction.
- Supports self-powered mode & DC Adapter.
- Supports Over-current detection and individual power control.
Features:
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More about Rosewill
Not long ago we had an idea – bring quality hardware and affordable prices together. From that idea Rosewill was born. Formed from a top team of hardware professionals, Rosewill is dedicated to our mission to compete and win on price, quality, and service. We work only with the best partners – businesses we know and businesses we trust.
The hub itself is beautiful; a real work of art. Its body is black with a sleek, glossy finish (prone to fingerprints, I dare warn), with the company logo scrawled across vertically. The ports are arranged vertically, with four on one side and three on the other. The side with three also houses the plug-ins for the DC adapter and the USB to the computer. The hub supports itself with a small stand, also black, but not glossy. Etched onto the face near each port is a number, 1-7. This seems redundant, but the numbers are so small that they could be considered negligible.
The hub is designed with four ports on one side, and three ports on the other. The side with 3 ports also hosts the USB input (mini-USB input plug) and optional DC in. With this configuration, the 3-port side effectively becomes the “rear”, and you’ll probably want to attach semi-permanent devices (such as a USB mouse or web camera) here. That leaves the 4-port side facing forward, allowing you to hot-plug devices straight in, such as a USB flash drive.
Compared to the Boynq Haspel USB hub that we also reviewed, the Rosewill hub is just as speedy. Topping out at 480 Mbps, this hub never slows down. Even with all seven ports running, I never noticed a slowdown with file transfers from flash drive or iPod to my laptop, nor printing, picture uploading, USB fan speed, or mouse.
This hub also comes with a DC adapter, which is pretty neat for those hefty gadgets that need more power than your laptop or desktop can provide, such as the CoolIT Beverage Chiller reviewed here.
The Rosewill hub is also very portable due to its small and compact size. It fits in the palm of your hand and could also easily fit into a nook or cranny of a laptop case.
Unfortunately, because the hub is so lightweight, gadgets and cords need to be distributed proportionately along its slight frame to keep it from being pulled over due to the weight. Also, space can get a little tight because the ports are all so close together.
Personally, I prefer hubs that don’t attract so much attention. If the hub could lay flat and the stand could be taken off, I wouldn’t be hesitant to use it. For traveling or someone with limited desktop space, this hub may create a problem because it not only requires room to stand up, but space it takes up with flash drives or USB cords hanging off of it is quite large. Although the Rosewill hub is compact overall, it isn’t when it requires standing room or is completely hooked up.
On that note, I also prefer hubs that aren’t as high maintenance (I’m OCD about cleaning the fingerprints off of the surface), but then again, it sure is pretty, and I can check my make-up while writing papers (….lol).
Overall this hub is totally awesome. There are a few minimal drawbacks, but it looks great and if someone whipped it out in front of me at the office, I would be very impressed. It is also very functional with seven ports squished onto a tiny surface area, an optional DC adapter, and a little stand. Awesome attempt by a relatively unknown company.
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