With USB-C, Apple has conformed to the market by reducing the number of adapters and simplifying the recycling of power supplies. At the same time, however, by equipping its computers with only one or two ports of this type (4 for the Pro series) in order to create increasingly thinner devices, it has made it mandatory to accompany the machine to a hub in order to connect keys. old school but also memory cards, video cables and so on.
There are now dozens of them on the market and each has its own peculiarities, but few are quite as complete as Anker's – the identification name is A8346 but the company simplifies its recognition by calling it Anker 7in1 USB-C hub – which we have tried in the last few weeks. Based on our tests it is among the best currently on the market for more than one reason.
How it's made
Rectangular in shape, with sharply rounded corners and edges, it is built almost entirely of fairly robust satin polycarbonate (it flexes slightly if pressed firmly in the center). The upper surface is covered with a cold aluminum plate that makes it more elegant as well as resistant to possible impacts and probably also useful for heat dissipation.
The cable, with a rubber sheath, is quite thick – it has a diameter of 5 mm – and is reinforced at the joints. The connector is also excellent, built in a single metal piece and strengthened by a very hard polycarbonate plate.
As we said it is not among the smallest that you can buy (it measures about 33 x 5.5 x 1.5 centimeters) and also the weight is not indifferent (140 grams) but it is justified by the technology inside.
As the name implies, it has seven ports: on the one hand we find an HDMI socket flanked by slots for SD and microSD cards and even further on a USB-C socket with Power Delivery technology, or a USB-C through socket to be able to continue to charge the device while the hub is connected to the machine. On the other hand, there are two USB-A ports, a second USB-C data port and the operation LED.
How is it going
We used it with our latest purchase, a July 2019 MacBook Air 13 ”version from Apple refurbished, on more than one occasion. This computer, in fact, like the latest MacBook and the latest generation iPad Pro, has only the USB-C connection (except the audio jack port on the opposite side) and it is therefore essential to add an accessory of this type to it in order to continue. to work with hard drives, memory cards and all other devices we have at home.
As for the power connection, stopwatch in hand, we found that there is indeed a difference in the charging speed between connecting the power cable to the computer's USB-C socket and connecting it to the right USB port. C present on the hub then connected to the machine.
In its maximum operation, that is, with all the ports occupied and in operation, this hub cannot recharge the computer but keeps it at the charge level in which it is. The reason is that this accessory requires approximately 20W to power all its ports, so the 30W charger that Apple supplies with its MacBook Air 13 ”2019 is not enough.
Now, in the case of this machine, the problem does not arise because you just need to connect the hub to the second USB-C port leaving one for the computer's power supply, but if you are using a 12 “MacBook or an iPad Pro, then it is It is good to buy a charger with a higher power taking into account that 20W are needed for the hub to be able to function at its best.
However, this device is able to distribute energy in the best possible way: if in fact we decide to use the USB-C PD port to power the machine and connect only a few USB sticks and a couple of memory cards to the hub, the computer is reloaded at full speed. A more powerful charger is necessary when devices that need to be powered to work, such as hard drives, smartphones and tablets, are connected to the hub (even connecting to an external monitor via HDMI requires some power to function correctly).
The USB-C and USB-A sockets are type 3.0 and, together with the memory cards, support high-speed data transmission (up to a maximum of about 100 MB / s) on external memories with a maximum capacity of 2 TB.
Conclusions
The USB-C hub is an essential accessory for anyone who owns a recent generation device and this Anker is an excellent compromise between build quality, capacity, supported power and price. Not only is it robust but it can also work with more powerful computers than those we tested it with, as long as you use higher-powered power supplies to power it properly and at the same time recharge the connected devices.
It has all the most useful ports: unlike the PowerExpand 7in1 it does not have an Ethernet socket but on the other hand there is an extra USB-C port for connecting more modern accessories. For the rest they are in fact identical and the choice therefore falls only in the configuration of integrated doors.
Price
Anker USB-C 7in1 hub is on sale on Amazon for 39.99 euros including shipping.
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