Over the years, laptops have gotten more and more slim and slick. Manufacturers have been placing a lot of emphasis on the aesthetic and minimalism has been the name of the game as of late. This has resulted in some slick looking pieces of hardware, but in many cases, it has come at the cost of usability and functionality. The latest MacBook Air looks elegant and is super thing, but it only comes with two USB-C ports plus an AUX. That’s all. Laptops used to come with way more. If you want a return of having extra USB ports and more features added on, you’ll need a USB hub like this one from Anker—and it happens to be on sale.
Right now, Amazon has the Anker USB-C hub going for 28% off. This unit typically sells for $50, so the discount ends up taking the price down by $14. You’ll only have to pay $36 for a limited time.
8-in-1 Functionality
The Anker USB-C hub comes with eight separate ports that add various functionality to your laptop. Among these are two USB-C ports and two USB-A. One of the USB-C ports can be used for power delivery, allows for high speed passthrough charging for laptops that support charging over USB-C. This port supports speeds of up to 85W. The other USB-C port can be used for data transfer, as well as the two other USB-A ports. These each can transfer files at speeds of up to 10Gbps.
Beyond USB functionality, the hub also houses an HDMI port. This output can allow you to connect to an external display, supporting resolutions of up to 4K while running at up to 60Hz.
Next we have both a microSD card reader and standard SD card reader. This can be a complete gamechanger for any photographer or videographer that regularly is working with SD cards and transferring photos and videos to and from them. An SD card can also be a cheap and easy way to expand you storage on your laptop.
Lastly, we have an Ethernet port. Wi-Fi isn’t always available or reliable, so having the option to connect into a network directly can keep you connection more consistent while maybe even allowing for faster upload or download speeds than you would have experienced over Wi-Fi.
You get all of this in just one hub. You are sacrificing one USB-C port to get this, but that’s a fair trade to get three more USB ports plus these extra features.