Inateck HBU3VL2-4 USB 3.0 Hub & HBU3VL3-4 Hub Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Inateck HBU3VL2-4 four-port USB 3.0 hub is only available through Amazon, but it has some great savings attached to it at the moment, up to 59% discount. For some weird reason it hasn’t arrived in the US yet, but it can had for just £11.99 at Amazon UK and for €12.95 in Germany. North American readers might be able to get it from the Canadian Amazon for $17.99 CDN.

The Inateck HBU3VL3-4 three-port USB 3.0 hub with Ethernet is already available in all regions, but it also costs a little more due to the increased LAN functionality. You can find it at Amazon in the US for €23.00, Amazon UK has it listed for £19.99 and German readers can find it for €24.99, again at Amazon. Just as with the pure hub brother, this one can be had with massive savings at the time of writing, up to 60% discount.

Conclusion

Let us first talk a little about the general design of Inateck’s USB 3.0 hubs as both have that in common. The hub is small enough to carry around wherever you go and is equally lightweight so I doubt you’ll notice if you carry it or not. That is a big bonus for a hub that is designed for laptops, notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets. The passive function does limit how much power we can draw at one time, but it also removes the need for an extra power supply; that is something that we don’t want to carry around if we don’t have to.

The simple black design makes it look like such a unit should look, but it also features an aluminium plate at the top to add a little flair. The placement of the fourth port at the end of the unit rather than the top is equally useful for both units. On the pure USB hub it will allow you to plug in large connectors without blocking access to other ports and it is simply a smarter position for the RJ45 plug on the model with network connectivity.

When taking a look at the performance, I have to say that I’m impressed. The USB hubs barely had any influence on the data throughput and presented nearly identical results to the direct onboard connection. The HBU3VL3-4 with Ethernet impressed even more by performing better than the onboard LAN in one of the tests.

Couple all that with the low price and great discounts available at the moment and we have a no-brainer. If you need a USB 3.0 hub for your portable computer, get either the HBU3VL2-4 USB 3.0 hub or the HBU3VL3-4 USB 3.0 hub with Ethernet.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Great price
• USB performance equals direct connection
• Excellent LAN performance

Cons

• none

“Inateck have created two highly recommended USB 3.0 hubs. The HBU3VL2-4 four port and HBU3VL3-4 three-port with Ethernet abilities more than convinced me with their performance and functionality.”

Thanks to Inateck for providing us with these samples