Port Ahoy! Cracking Belkin USB Hub

Advantages: great design, vertical ports for regular items such as memory sticks, led display
Disadvantages: maybe a bit expensive but comparrison but it is quality

...I bought this hub as an impulse purchase but based my decision on: (a) you can never have enough usb ports (b) belkin are a respected manufacturer (c) I liked the design It cost me £12 when I bought it but I think that was the stores mistake as I have seen it advertised at between £19 and £24. Even at that price though this is a good piece of kit. Bearing in mind you can get USB 2 hubs for about half the piece of this one made by companies you may have never heard of, the design and features on this device make it a very attractive and useful addition to your desktop. It has seven USB ports; five on the back and two placed nattily and very usefully on the top. The top ones are what make this great in my view. They are ideal for things you want to plug in and take out on a regular and irregular basis. I use them for usb...

fightgear 17.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub - hub - 7 ports

Belkin 2-Port KVM Switch With Built-In Cabling

Advantages: Advantages: Cheap, all in one solution
Disadvantages: No manual overide or audio support

...stops autoscanning and lets you use the currently selected PC. The Belkin claims support for scrolling mice but I did find sometimes one PC would start up without recognising this facility if it wasn't the currently selected one when booting up and in extreme cases, wouldn't recognise the keyboard and mouse at all. Previous KVM's I've used send the PC fake 'There's a keyboard and mouse here' messages when not selected and it seems this unit does not, which is a pity. Conclusion The Belkin 2 port KVM is a well built unit that works nicely and provides a great way to save desk space and the cost of a second monitor, keyboard and mouse. The long leads are useful and despite the niggles with scrolling mice and the lack of manual switch. I'd say this unit is worth considering at this price if you can live with those shortcomings...

ilaskey 21.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Belkin 2-Port KVM Switch with Built-In Cabling - KVM switch - 2 ports

Ideal switch for the small business or developers

Advantages: Easy to set up, configure and use
Disadvantages: None

...We currently run an 80 user network in our office. While the main traffic of our network is handled by 6, 24 port rack mounted switches, my little IT office has 7 PCs in it with not enough ports on the wall to connect them up. this poses a problem. To connect to our network, you need a network connection on the Wall. There are 4 connections in our office and 7 machines. Obviously 7 into 4 does not go so a solution was needed. The answer? A small desktop based switch that would allow us to connect up to 16 computers to one Network connection on the wall. The Product? Well we use Netgear equipment in our office because you know with Netgear, you are buying quality at an affordable price. So we opted for the FS116 Desktop Switch. The size of it? Well its about an inch high and about a foot long. It is about 6 inches from...

andycharger 06.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe FS116 10/100 Desktop Switch - switch - 16 ports

Belkin 2-Port KVM Switch With Audio Support

Advantages: Cheap, all in one solution, audio support
Disadvantages: No manual overide

...It's surprising how many people have more than one PC at home although even more surprising is that many of them each have their own screen, keyboard and mouse. In many cases this makes perfect sense but sometimes, you know you'll only ever use one or the other - perhaps one is your general PC and the other your music workstation. In these situations you can save a lot of space and money by investing in a KVM switch. KVM stands for Keyboard, Video and Mouse and allows you to use one keyboard, mouse and screen shared between two PCs. This particular unit from Belkin is unusual in that it also includes audio support and also comes with all the leads permanently attached instead of being supplied as a separate cabling set. Wiring it Up Installation is simply a matter of taking each of the two main cables and plugging the sets...

ilaskey 26.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Belkin 2-Port KVM Switch with Audio Support and Built-In Cabling - KVM / audio switch - 2 ports

Netgear GS105 5 Port Gigabit Switch

Advantages: Easy installation, small, sturdy, quiet, auto uplink
Disadvantages: Runs quite hot

...This is a 10/100/1000Mbps switch with 5 auto-sensing ports Visual Description A compact unit measuring 16cm x 10cm x 3cm (approx) Housed in a very sturdy blue metal casing with venting slots on the side and back Looks very professional 5 Front mounted UTP sockets Rear mounted PSU socket (12 Volt, 1.2 Amp, Centre Positive) and Earth tag LED indicators to display 10Mb, 100Mb, 1000Mb connection, Activity, Full Duplex, Collisions and Power Installation The GS105 switch comes supplied with manuals, 12 Volt (1.2Amp) PSU, ethernet cable, and the unit itself. Installation is very simple and requires no configuration as this is an un-managed switch. Simply connect your existing CAT5 cables from your PC to the switch, it will detect the connection speed and cable type. No need to worry about using cross-over cables or straight through...

sj19uk 11.09.2005 (04.12.2005) · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe GS105 - switch - 5 ports

Neat Netgear 5 port gigabit switch

Advantages: Cheap, reliable, simple to use
Disadvantages: None.

...I liked this switch so much, I bought two of them. Netgear have a reputation for cheap and reliable networking equipment, and this 5 port unmanaged switch is no exception. When I bought my two, they were retailing online for approx £35 each - but these days you should be able to get one for approx £25 (inc VAT.) The switch is more or less the size of my hand (yes, I have big hands). With 5 ports on the back - all are auto-sensing, as is the gigabit standard, so you don't have to worry about crossover cables if you're daisy-chaining switches... The only other port on the back is for power, which is the usual "wall-wart" plug in transformer you get with most home networking equipment. Given the switch is unmanaged, you can just plug desktop computers, laptops, XBOXes, network printers straight into the switch, and not worry...

sjhill 20.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch - switch - 5 ports

Belkin Powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-port Hub

Advantages: Fast USB 2 Hub, Ports well spaced out
Disadvantages: Only for Desktop PC's really, Must have adequate PSU

...It should first be stated that this product is intended for use with a desktop computer and indeed it would only be practical to use it in such a manner. The hub comes with an AC adapter which has a good length cable to reach the mains socket. A USB cable is also included to connect the hub to your computer. The hubs cannot function without the AC power. There is nothing more frustrating than ports or sockets being too close together, meaning that large or bulky adapters or plugs can't fit in next to each other. This problem is avoided by the Belkin 7-port hub as the ports are well spaced out with four on one side and three on the other. There is an indicator light for each port to indicate whether it is working or not (on or off). There is no switch to turn off the hub - this would have to be done by disconnecting it from...

patwanet 20.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub - hub - 7 ports

Trust External 4 Port USB Hub

Advantages: Price.
Disadvantages: You have to destroy the box to get the unit out.

...Trust 4 Port USB Hub. Basics first I suppose. For the non techies out there, this device is used to connect up to four USB devices to your P.C., such as digital cameras. If like me you only have two USB ports on the back of your pc then this little device is a good investment for you. It is external, so there is no need to take the sides off of your computer and start mucking about inside. The box contents are as follows. USB Hub USB Cable Velcro Tape Protective Carry Case Multi Language User's Manual. The hub is a small black unit with single connecting point on the back and four USB ports on the front for your USB peripheral such as digital cameras and MP3 players. A really big well done for Ciao for not putting a picture up, as I did provide the web address so that they could. The dimensions are 75mm...

tokenboy 08.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of Trust 4 Port USB Hub - HU 4140p

Targus Ultra Mini 4-Port USB Hub

Advantages: Funky glowing lights
Disadvantages: Cheaper "clones" are available

...I bought the Targus Ultra Mini 4-Port USB Hub as I have more USB items than USB sockets on my laptop docking station. Its compact dimensions (width 9.5 cm, depth 4 cm, height 1.5 cm, weight 40 g)and included USB connection cable allow it to fit anywhere on the desk, and its four USB 2.0 ports (480Mbps data transfer) allow rapid connection to all sorts of peripherals. It's also backward compatible with older USB 1.1 devices, and Apple devices I believe, too. Installation (with Windows XP SP2) is a doddle, with no drivers aor anything to install, just plug it in, wait a few seconds while Windows does its stuff, and we're off. Connecting USB peripherals previously connected directly prompts Windows to repeat its "Found New Hardware" business, but this takes just a few seconds. When peripherals are connected, the plastic around...

matt_fantastic 07.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Targus Ultra Mini Hub - hub - 4 ports

Switch it !

Advantages: Performace at an excellent price
Disadvantages: 4 ports may not be enough

...No, no, not like your Switch card or Visa card... You're in the Networking section now :-) Although I'm sure if you're reading this you have SOME idea about networking, I will explain first the basic difference between a switch and a hub (Network experts please forgive the following paragraphs) >>> A hub will usually work at an elementary level, making a verbatim copy of all data it receives on each of its ports to all of its other ports. As you can imagine, for a 10 port hub, this means that 80% of all its output is completely redundant (reaches a destination that simply ignores it) >>> A switch is a LITTLE more intelligent. A switch will check the unique "MAC" address that the data is destined for, and assuming it has seen the machine that that MAC address belongs to connected to one of its ports, it will pass on received data...

one47 09.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe FS105 10/100 Desktop Switch - switch - 5 ports