usb hub...

A

ali68

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I'm running out of USB ports, should I go for a powered hub or a standalone one i.e just plug it into the usb port and away I go.

What are the disadvantages/advantages.

Is it worthwhile upgrading to USB2 when I'm at it. (Printer is USB2 friendly,Epson R300)

Thank you
 
powered usb better, non powered draws its power (well that of devices connected to it) from the pc
 
If you intend to upgrade to USB2, you will need to add a USB2 card to your PC (a PCI version). This is assuming you don't already have USB2 ports.

Plugging a USB2 hub into a USB 1.1 motherboard socket will cause it to run at the slower speed. You need to add the USB2 interface directly to the motherboard.

I do agree that a powered hub is the best idea.
 
Powered every time. Before you know it you will have 10 USB devices, it's easy to do. Not really a good idea for unpowered hubs.

To be honest, you are unlikely to notice any improvement in printer performance from sticking it on a USB 2 port. If it was a scanner, I would say "go for it", but as a printer, you are pretty safe keeping it on 1.1 for now.
 
Thanks Guys , Is there one that shines above the rest or do they all do a similar job.
 
A USB port can, in theory, supply 500mA. I say "in theory" because my old cronk (HP Vectra VE5) has two USB sockets with a common 1A supply. The point is that if you expand your system using unpowered hubs everything has to share that limited supply. A powered hub removes this restriction, but beware.

There are a lot of cheap, nasty hubs out there. I once tried one of these. It's power light flicked on and off at random then it went off and stayed off - and all the USB devices disappeared from Device Manager. I removed the hub and plugged a device straight into the PC. Nothing there. That hub had pulled some whopping current out of my PC's socket and blown a track off the motherboard. I patched this with some extreme micro-surgery and took the offending hub straight back to the shop. Moral - get a good one.
 
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