This $24 Surface Pro 6 port expander works great (but looks terrible)

The Surface Pro – including the Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro (2017, 5th gen) and new Surface Pro 6 – is not known to have a lot of options for ports. Merely one USB Type-A and a mini DisplayPort are available, which, equally noted in our review, is getting dated.

The Eletrand Multi-Function Surface Pro 4 USB 3.0 Hub is low-cost, and it feels similar it. But information technology too packs just nigh every port or adapter y'all would ever desire for the Surface Pro, and it works quite well.

Expand your horizons

Eletrand Multi-Function USB Hub

From $24

Bottom line: It'south ugly merely it gets the chore done and makes the Surface Pro vi much more powerful.

Pros:

• Adds HDMI and Ethernet ports.
• microSD and SD readers are great for photograph work.
• Compact.
• Affordable.

Cons:

• Dual Type-A ports are very close together.
• LED is useless.
• Feels and looks cheap.
• Ugly.

Eletrand USB 3.0 Hub features

The Eletrand Multi-Part Surface Pro USB three.0 Hub uses both your current Type-A and mini DisplayPort to operate. The tradeoff, however, is worth it. You lot get:

• Total SD card reader.
• TF/microSD card reader.
• Two USB Blazon A iii.0.
• Full 10/100/one thousand Mbps over RJ45 Ethernet port.
• 4K HDMI adapter (4K/2K@30Hz; 1080P@60Hz).

Ditching mini Display Port in favor of 4K HDMI is an excellent selection if HDMI is easier to leverage for yous. Many hotels and conference centers rely on HDMI still, and while mini DisplayPort has its advantages (such equally bandwidth), HDMI is just sometimes more than straightforward to employ.

The addition of a full RJ45 Ethernet port is also useful where Wi-Fi is limited or high-bandwidth connectivity is desired.

The rest of the ports are great for productivity – doubling Type-A is useful for plugging into multiple accessories, and dual card slots for microSD and full SD brand photo editing a breeze.

Build quality is an issue, though. The Eletrand is plastic and feels a bit hollow, but that'due south OK. It's a low-cost, knockoff hub with decent build quality. It'due south all black, salve for some silver trim. The hub fits in the palm of your hand but withal looks large and gangly when plugged into the Surface Pro 6.

The Eletrand hub is angled where the connectors are and then information technology lines up nicely with the Surface Pro'south tapered edge. With both the native USB Type-A and mini DisplayPort beingness used, it too gives the hub a stable and firm connectedness to the Surface Pro with no wiggle.

Eletrand Multi-Part Surface Pro USB 3.0 Hub usage

The Eletrand performs as expected. Doing a speed test with the Ethernet port maxed out my dwelling house connection matching my router output exactly, and then there is no detectable data loss. Likewise, for the SD carte du jour reader which matched my SanDisk bill of fare from my Nikon camera at xc MB/due south sequential transfers, just as it should.

I much prefer using HDMI over mini DisplayPort, and the conversion worked well there too. Unused bandwidth from the mini DisplayPort is used for the other ports on this hub, including the dual USB Type-A ports, card readers, and Ethernet. That'due south a clever substitution for those of us who are OK with total Hard disk drive at 60Hz for an external display. (Y'all can do 2K or 4K, but y'all'll driblet to a less-desirable 30Hz.)

Due to the size of the hub, yous'll desire to remove it from the Surface Pro during transport every bit you could risk it snapping off. The hub has a business firm grip on the Surface Pro, too, so you need to give a solid yank, but that is better than it being too loose.

So should you buy information technology?

At that place are much cheaper hubs bachelor for the Surface Pro 6, but they omit the HDMI converter and RJ45 Ethernet port. Those extra "premium" features bump the price from about $13 without those capabilities to $24 with them.

The Eletrand Multi-Role Surface Pro Hub is still a bargain. Instead of one Type-A port and a less-useful mini DisplayPort, you gain five other functions. Sure, it looks terrible, but that'south no big deal, at to the lowest degree not for me.

There is another downside with those dual Blazon-A ports: they're very close together. That makes using two pollex drives cramped - if not impossible - especially if ane of those drives has a big body. To make it piece of work you may need a port-extender cablevision, which makes the whole gangly setup fifty-fifty worse. While it's dainty Eletrand jammed a lot into this hub, information technology may be also much to be practical.

The LED on the side is also useless since it'due south not visible when using the Surface Pro. It would take been prissy to take an activity LED on the front to evidence that the hub is active or transferring information.

Putting these gripes aside, though, for $24 the Eletrand hub gives y'all an HDMI port, Ethernet, and the ability to direct edit photos from two SD cards at the aforementioned time. That'southward cool, and information technology makes the Surface Pro that much more than useful when on the go. So, yes, if yous're looking for an affordable way to expand your Pro'southward ports and aren't too worried about looks, buy this. You won't be disappointed.

Useful and cheap

Eletrand Multi-Function USB Hub

A compact, ugly, but useful USB hub for the Surface Pro 4, 2022, or vi.

It won't win awards for quality or beauty, just this USB hub for the Surface Pro brings a lot to the table for very little coin.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/eletrand-surface-pro-review

Posted by: beasleydody1988.blogspot.com

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