Is 4 USB ports enough ???

Jay9495 said:

Hey all, just wondering to all the iMac users, is 4 USB ports enough ? If not, does anyone have a USB hub that they recommend (USB 3.0) ?

Thanks in advance

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4 ports would not be enough for me at all! I don't mind USB 2 for a lot devices so any hubs works with me.

Jay9495 said:

Hey all, just wondering to all the iMac users, is 4 USB ports enough ? If not, does anyone have a USB hub that they recommend (USB 3.0) ?

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

I don't have a hub to recommend, but I know my dad uses a mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner, time machine drive, and sometimes uses a USB drive or iPod too.

That's between 5-7 devices. I would say 4 is downright ridiculous in 2012.

How many USB devices do you intend to connect to? Only you can answer this question for yourself.

4 is plenty enough for me. I only use 3 at all times: UPS, External sound card, and a MIDI keyboard. The fourth will be there if I ever need an external drive.

thejadedmonkey said:

That's between 5-7 devices. I would say 4 is downright ridiculous in 2012.

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I would have to disagree. A lot of things can now be just done over the air and wirelessly rather than a direct connection thanks to more support for wifi and bluetooth enabled devices.

Keyboards? Mice? All bluetooth standard on all iMacs since 2011. And ever since iCloud and iTunes Wifi sync were introduced, I've stopped connecting my iOS devices directly to my machine. As for my multi-function printer, that's wifi. My backup drive is Time Capsule over wifi as well. Lacie sells alternative wifi enabled Time Machine drives too I think.

thejadedmonkey said:

I don't have a hub to recommend, but I know my dad uses a mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner, time machine drive, and sometimes uses a USB drive or iPod too.

That's between 5-7 devices. I would say 4 is downright ridiculous in 2012.

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Yeah, having to unplug devices is really not fun. We need four more and a HDMI port. Just put it on the left side next to the lonely power which you can't even see anyway.

USB hub takes up space, money.

Wouldn't be so bad if the iMac could read more cards than just the SD card. 4 is definatly way too low for most people.

lets face it 4 is too many? Most devices if data should be FW, & the rest wifi

andy.barron said:

lets face it 4 is too many? Most devices if data should be FW, & the rest wifi

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If I understood right, you are saying that 4 is enough because you should use firewire and wifi instead?

If so, well here is why I need more than 4 USB, I won't use firewire as it is slowly disapearing.

Wacom Tablet
CF Card reader
2 External HD
1 External Bluray
Mechanical Wired Keyboard
Wired mouse (I just prefer it)

That's already 7, and I always need 1 or 2 free to plug in USB keys once in a while or plug in the gamepad for gaming.

aerok said:

If I understood right, you are saying that 4 is enough because you should use firewire and wifi instead?

If so, well here is why I need more than 4 USB, I won't use firewire as it is slowly disapearing.

Wacom Tablet
CF Card reader
2 External HD
1 External Bluray
Mechanical Wired Keyboard
Wired mouse (I just prefer it)

That's already 7, and I always need 1 or 2 free to plug in USB keys once in a while or plug in the gamepad for gaming.

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You don't have to, but it is an alternative and increasingly popular solution.

I just listed 7 devices as well that I connect to in my earlier post, and I am only connecting 3 of them via USB. In the end it just depends on what technologies you are utilizing and what you care to spend money on. I personally hate cables so I try to get wireless devices whenever I can, and in my case, 4 USB ports is perfectly enough for my 7 device setup.

You said you prefer wired mice, so that's just your choice. And the 2 external drive you have can be switched over to the two Thunderbolt ports on the iMac instead if you so wish to invest in it.

I have just bought a Uspeed 7 port USB 3.0 Hub for when I get my new iMac. Once connected that will give me 10 USB 3.0 ports, and two of the devices I will plug into it are Iomega Minimax Hard Drives which have 3 USB 2.0 ports each. Plus I have one Powered USB 2.0 7 port Hub (mainly used for all my External USB 2.0 Drives). That should be more than enough USB ports for me

Most of my devices are USB 2.0 but recently I have bought a USB 3.0 Multi Card Reader and a two USB 3.0 Hard Drives. I will be using the two Thunderbolt ports for two external monitors

While I use many wireless and wifi devices I still use a lot of USB devices.

The USB devices I will be using with my iMac are:
Multi Function Printer
Card Reader
Joystick
Apple Old type charging/synch Cable
Apple lightening charging/synch Cable
2 x Iomega Minimax Hard Drives
4 x Iomega Hard Drives
2 x USB 3.0 Drives
X-Plane USB Key
Bamboo Tablet
Logitech Web Cam
Apple USB Superdrive
USB Audio Adaptor

Ddyracer said:

Yeah, having to unplug devices is really not fun. We need four more and a HDMI port. Just put it on the left side next to the lonely power which you can't even see anyway.

USB hub takes up space, money.

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USB hub takes up space and money inside the iMac too.

I think 4 is too few. Especially with the optical drive removed. I have a printer and wired keyboard (always have trouble with wireless ones and like having the number pad.) I used to use firewire for hard drives, but frequently have trouble with the firewire for some reason and need to reset them too often. So I am going to switch to a USB 3.0 Time Machine drive. I also usually leave a dock (lightning) cable plugged in. So now all my ports are full and I have no place to plug in the optical drive they left out. My USB hub gave me trouble as often as firewire does. I may look into the Thunderbolt hubs next year.

I find the flash card slot to be of marginal usefulness on the back, I would probably use a small USB multi-card format reader instead located on the desktop.

Instead of the flash slot ... I would rather see a eSATA port on the back!

Jay9495 said:

Hey all, just wondering to all the iMac users, is 4 USB ports enough ? If not, does anyone have a USB hub that they recommend (USB 3.0) ?

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

4 is okay for most laptops because keyboard is integrated, (many/most have optical drives) trackpad instead of mice, and if generally used as a laptop is is frequently moved around (so it doesn't have to sit on your desk and act as a hub for all your peripherals--most people are not going to plug in a billion things because they will have to unplug them in the morning when they go to work).

However, for the imac, 4 is definitely too few, there should be 6 in my opinion.
It would not be illogical for a person to have, for example
1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
At all times
3. Printer
4. USB Stick
5. Portable hard drive
6. Optical drives
7. Ipod/Iphone/camera/etc.
Some times (and because its sitting on your desk and never moving you are probably going to want to plug stuff in and forget about it - just plug your printer in and never worry about unpluging it).

Depends on your use. For me it wasn't enough:

4 ext. USB HDs (Boot, Music, Photo/Video, Time Machine)
1 printer -- arguably I could have used ethernet too
1 USB Apple SuperDrive (must hook directly to iMac, not hub, even powered)
1 Dock Connector cable
1 Lightning cable
1 USB Keyboard (also has 2 non-powered USB ports but like to keep those free for fast hook up of temporary devices)

I hate that it only has 4. I ordered a USB 3.0 hub yesterday to add 7 ports as I have a lot more than 4 USB devices to connect.

Jay9495 said:

I'm thinking of getting this one, do any of you guys know if it is any good ?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-Port-U...ries&hash=item19d5a66db6&_uhb=1#ht_2217wt_689

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Looks like generic Chinese junk. $30 seems pricey for an off brand, but I'm not familiar with what computer peripherals go for in Australia. FWIW in the U.S. generic 3.0 4 port hubs can be had for about $20.

Jay9495 said:

Hey all, just wondering to all the iMac users, is 4 USB ports enough ? If not, does anyone have a USB hub that they recommend (USB 3.0) ?

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Pretty much any USB3 hub these days should be fine. Check out Amazon or visit Frys or Best Buy.
The main issue you should care about is whether you want a powered hub or not. Powered hubs are more expensive and have, duh, an extra power cable, but they are essential if you plan to connect more than one device which uses a substantial amount of power (eg scanners or bus-powered drives).

aerok said:

If I understood right, you are saying that 4 is enough because you should use firewire and wifi instead?

If so, well here is why I need more than 4 USB, I won't use firewire as it is slowly disapearing.

Wacom Tablet
CF Card reader
2 External HD
1 External Bluray
Mechanical Wired Keyboard
Wired mouse (I just prefer it)

That's already 7, and I always need 1 or 2 free to plug in USB keys once in a while or plug in the gamepad for

Click to expand...

You bought it with what it had fix it and moan on....sorry I mean move on.

Jay9495 said:

Do any hubs work with Mac, or is there certain ones only ?
Thanks

Click to expand...

From a technical standpoint, a 3.0 hub is a 3.0 hub. They all will work with anything with a USB 2 or 3 port. No drivers are required so compatibility isn't an issue. The difference is build quality.

As above, it depends.

2 is enough for me on my MBP when at a desk, my keyboard plugs into one of them, mouse plugs into the keyboard if i'm using a wired mouse, and that leaves one free for a USB stick or external hard drive that I occasionally use.

I'm i'm not at a desk i don't use any.

YMMV - it depends on how many peripherals you regularly use.

I'll be using a powered 7 port USB 2.0 hub. My iPad, iPhone, iPod, Suunto Ambit, speakers, keyboard are all USB 2.0. I'll use the 3.0 for an external drive and an optical drive.