Using my Mac Mini as my main computer, I sometimes wish I had extra USB ports and an easily accessible SD card slot since it’s tucked away behind the many other things I have on my desk. Luckily I had the chance to review the Satechi aluminum USB 3.0 hub and card reader, which adds some extra ports to my computer, so let’s take a look!
Note: Images can be clicked on to view a larger size.
As mentioned, the Satechi USB hub and card reader adds three USB 3.0, Type A ports and an SD card and microSD card reader slot to your computer. It’s also powered by USB 3.0, so it provides data rates of up to 5.0Gbps – which is more than 10 times quicker than USB 2.0 for data transfer.
I really love the build quality of this hub and card reader. It’s aluminum with white plastic edging around the USB and card reader ports, and the cable is coated with a thick USB cable roughly less than a foot long.
This length gives you enough space to plug in into a computer that’s next to your desk, or something such as an iMac where the ports are on the back of the monitor, but just long enough for the hub to sit on your desk under the monitor.
The bottom has a really nice grippy surface so it doesn’t slide around easily on your desk.
The shape of the reader is quite nice so that the angle of it make it easy to plug in your USB devices or (micro) SD cards.
The Satechi USB 3.0 Hub and Card Reader worked great on both Mac and my PC. It works as expected when plugging in any device to a hub or card reader. The only thing to note is that the microSD and SD card slots cannot be used simultaneously. This isn’t a problem for me, but good to note in case that is functionality that you’re looking for. This can also be great to keep in a bag if your laptop doesn’t come with too many USB ports or a card reader. It looks sleek and awesome on any desk, and is affordable considering many hubs or card readers cost about the same price.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Satechi. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.
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I own this exact product. I got it for the USB 3.0 ports so I would have quick easy access to them when needed. It works great, however the memory reader built in is rather SLOW.
I use these for Micro SD readers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0129X0JYW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are very fast. I often will have 2-3 readers going at once. So My advice for this product would be to skip it if you are purchasing it for the SD readers. The Product is useful and reliable but pokey in memory card area. USB 3.0 Ports run at full speed.
Hello,
So, with this reader, we do have no need to purchase a USB card reader and USB adapter separately, right? If so, that could be perfect for me. Honestly, last time, after inserting a SD card into my old card reader, my computer just says the card was in RAW file system and asked to format. Even though the SD card problems were removed by the help of an article: http://www.icare-recovery.com/howto/sd-card.html, I was still thinking whether it was the time to change another better USB adapter
Your review is really nice for me. Thank you very much