Alxum 8-in-1 USB C Hub Review

Many modern laptops, especially the super-slim take-everywhere variety, only have one or two USB-C ports which means you have a problem when you want to connect a storage drive or card reader while charging your laptop. The solution is to use a USB hub like the Alxum 8-in-1 USB C Hub.

As you might guess from the name, the Alxum 8-in-1 USB C Hub has 8 ports which can be connected via a single USB-C port on the laptop. The most useful of these are likely to be the two USB 3.0 Type A ports for connecting things like a hard drive or card reader, the HDMI connection for linking to a projector or other computer when making a presentation, and the USB-C connection that can be used to charge the laptop while you work.

The HDMI connection can support 4K (3840×2160) video at 30Hz and the USB-A ports have transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbps.

In addition, photographers will appreciate the inclusion of an SD card slot – Alxum refers to this as a micro SD card slot on its website, but it’s an SD card slot.

There’s also a 3.5mm jack for connecting headphones and an ethernet port to enable an internet connection where there’s a convenient hub but a poor Wi-Fi signal, plus a VGA connection for hooking up to older monitors and projectors.

The VGA and HDMI connections can be used simultaneously to a maximum resolution of 1080P at 60Hz.

I used the Alxum 8-in-1 USB C Hub with an Apple MacBook which has a single USB-C port. I’ve used all the ports apart from the VGA connection and each performed well.

Conveniently, there’s no need to install any drivers or additional software with the Alxum 8-in-1 USB C Hub, you just connect it to your laptop and then plug in whatever device or devices that you want to use.

The hub has a smart aluminium case that feels durable and each of the connectors seems well-made. For example, an SD card slips smoothly into the SD card port without any of the scratchiness that you sometimes feel.

Alxum claims that the SD card reader has a transfer speed of up to 480Mbps but it took 7 minutes and 40 seconds to transfer 10.28GB (182) images captured on a Lexar SD UHS-II card in the Nikon Z7 II to my MacBook. That’s a transfer rate of around 179Mb/sec, which is pretty slow. So if you don’t need to charge your laptop a dedicated reader is a better option, but it is convenient.

As is often the case with the USB-C connection in the MacBook, you have to take care with the angle of the cable. A slight nudge or tug from one side or the other can lead to the hub disconnecting. This happens with Apple’s own charger too, but it’s more annoying when you’re in the middle of a presentation or downloading some files. To be clear, this is a criticism of the connection type rather than the hub itself.