Trying to find a device to charge more than one device at a time can be challenging at best.
This is especially true if one has an iPad as it requires a little over 2 Amps in order for it to charge.
When looking for a charger with USB ports or any other device that has USB ports on it the current that the power brick/adapter provides as well as the current that can be delivered at each USB port is important.
While in Las Vegas this last week setting up a network for The Mob Museum it became readily apparent that there was a need for more USB ports but also some additional power to keep everything running and/or charged.
Enter in the Belkin Ultra Slim 7 port USB hub (F4U039).
The adapter supplies 3.5A-3.8A of current to the USB hub. So, there is certainly enough current to work with most devices.
We had an external 500GB 7200 RPM Seagate drive in a NexStar 2.5” enclosure via eSATA plus USB for power, the Toshiba 13” USB monitor, and then occasionally the HTC HD7 hooked in with no power supply issues.
Another advantage to the hub is that it is quite small. So there is no sacrifice in desk space other than the mess of cables that are a part of this kind of portable setup.
With no iPad or iPhone in our repertoire it is obviously not possible for us to test this out yet. We will see about doing so when on-site where many of our clients have these devices available for a test.
In our opinion having one of these with the laptop or Ultrabook is definitely a great idea.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
i have one of these and it definitely does not charge more than 2 items at a time, including tests with multiple phones, ipod touches, and ipads -- dont buy this to charge stuff
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