As for hubs in general. Since I have the mid-2011 27" iMac, I have a superdrive, Wired Keyboard/Mouse Combo, UPS sensor line plugged directly to my mac. Then I have a 24-Port USB 2.0 hub plugged into the last port to handle all my iOS devices, external backup drives, flash drives, and whatever I may need to plug into it at the time.
Thanks for the heads up on the Monoprice, iMac Sam. Am ordering one. I can flog my two sometimes functional Belkin(7) & Connectland(4) powered ports at my local MOOSS club, and simplify the rats nest of wires hanging behind my desk.
The remark in your second site ref about continuing to find more USB items is pertinent. I've gotten everything going with a couple empty sockets left over, daisy chaining the above two and trial swapping wires, but the rats nest remains a little worse even, so the MonoPrice will be a big improvement. One less AC adapter wire mess, one less little black box, and no more daisy chain cable.
I also opened up one USB port, with a LaCie 3TB Thunderbolt at a good price which is really a whiz after my older drives. Time Machined in about 25% of the time it took for initial backup on my USB2 drive.
After six months, the new 2012 27" souped up iMac is a marvel after six years with my old G5 tower. After 29 years since my first Little Mac, and 8 or 10 other Macs in between before the G5, the new one is a different world, but I still miss the old, free, MacDraw. Why hasn't someone replaced such a simple little tool, maybe not free, but still just a few bucks instead of hundreds for behemoths that can do jillions more than MacDraw but never get used?
