What's a nice USB hub?

[piedad]

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I need a USB hub for my Mac Mini. Bought this small cheap hub but it just got toasted last week (literally overheated). Any recommended hubs? Anyone selling those mac-mini lookalike hub/drive bay locally?

[booblanco]

You'll get tons of info from this site:

http://www.everythingusb.com/

I suggest you get a USB2 hub that has an NEC chipset for the ultimate in compatibility across all USB and USB2 devices. If you'll be connecting devices that will draw a good deal of power from your Mac Mini's USB2 port, the best option is to get a powered USB2 hub.

I use a powered Edimax EU-HB4S USB2 hub and it's available at PC Options for about P1.3T:
http://www.edimax.com/

[piedad]

i only connect the keyboard, mouse, and printers to the hub (only on when needed). Is the Edimax reliable for continuous operation?

[booblanco]

My Edimax is always plugged to the AC and my Mac hasn't complained about devices drawing too much power from the USB2 port yet (unlike my old generic USB2 hub). In fact, the Edimax specs state that about 127 USB2 devices can be daisy-chained to this hub. Webcams, the iPod, PDAs, and USB speakers like the Soundsticks are examples of devices that will draw a good deal of power from your Mac's USB2 port.

However, certain hardware like this external HDD that I'm using cannot be connected to hubs and requires its own USB2 port.

Besides, piedad, you'll never know what other USB2 gadgets you'll be plugging to your Mac Mini in the future, eh?

[piedad]

Anyone knows of any seller here of the mini-looking hard disk case + usb ports?

[Sabonis]

Hi Piedad, do check out the Shuffle Charger by Belkin. It has 4 ports (powered) and although it is described as the shuffle charger, it still is the same USB 2.0 port. On port on top for the Shuffle and 3 at the back. I have seen this at Apple Center Rockwell and it really looks good. :yes:

Check this out Belkin - Shuffle Charger