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USB-C is a great technology compared to the clumsy precursors of USB-3.0 and MicroUSB, but if your tablet or computer only has USB-C ports, you might have grown to hate it too. Instead of managing a collection of dongles, tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ instead tests out the Plugable 7-in-1 Multifunction USB-C Hub and finds it's a solid alternative at a surprisingly affordable price. The Plugable 7-in-1 features 4K HDMI, 3 USB-3.0 ports, MicroSD, SD Card and USB-C compatibility with power passthru. But is it fast? Let's test it out!
Check it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/32SpFSO
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USB-C only? I don't think so. Let's check this hub out
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Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this. This is the Plugable 7-in-1 Multifunction Hub
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and it's pretty slick. So, let me give you a tour of the edges and all the plugs
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then we'll plug it in, then we'll see how it works. So, first off, on this side you see
0:29
three USB 3.0 plugs. Super helpful. On the end is HDMI, and I want you to know that's a 4K HDMI
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plug, so whatever you plug in is probably going to work just fine depending on what you plug this
0:43
into. Of course, it also has to be able to actually generate that higher res 4K data
0:49
And then on the other side is the more interesting, or most interesting, or one of the interesting
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sides is the SD card, micro SD card, USB-C with power through. So, it can power through up to 87
1:05
watts, and I'll show you. I'll be charging my laptop through this while I'm using all of these
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other devices, and you can use this for DisplayPort because it uses what's known as Alt Mode, so you
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can use a USB-C display, and that can be at 4K at 30 hertz, or at 3440 by 1440, and of course
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it's going to work just dandy at 1920 by 1080. So, if you're in the dorm, you can plug this into your
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TV. How about that? Of course, you're more likely to actually do HDMI to your TV, but either way
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it will work. Now, built-in cable. There's no way to take this off, but I kind of like that. It's
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just a nice, simple design, but honestly, it's a piece of hardware. So, let's plug it in, and I got
1:52
a whole bunch of things I'm going to plug in. So, we're going to plug it into a MacBook Pro, and
1:58
then let's do this in order. We're going to plug in an HDMI external display, which I have over my
2:04
shoulder. I'm going to plug in a USB flash drive, sorry, USB 3.0 flash drive, and then I have a
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Western Digital My Passport Air. We're going to plug that in also via USB 3.0, and I'm probably
2:21
doing this in the wrong order, because now I have to get in the microSD, which has pins up, and then
2:31
the SD card, which has pins down. Took me a little while to get that to figure out and work right
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and finally, I happen to have a USB 3.0 that's giving me power. So, I'm going to plug that into
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the USB 3.0 port, and I already heard my computer make some sound. So, let's turn this thing on and
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see what occurs. It's got all of a sudden a lot of new devices and everything happening, but let's
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see what occurs. So, that fired up. That's great, and on my desktop, let's see what shows up. So
3:06
let's see. The Passport Air is showing up. Let's see what else will arrive
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Make sure everything's plugged in. Okay, there's the SD card. I'm going to actually show you what's
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on my screen. So, let me go ahead and switch to that, and then you'll be able to see some
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performance things. All right, so we're looking at my Mac desktop, and here you can see some of
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the devices are obviously labeled and others not so much. I'm going to go off the Passport Air
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and I'm going to go ahead and grab this 800 meg file, and we'll see how fast that copies
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So, here's the copy thing, and that's pretty darn fast, but okay, things move fast. Now
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let's take that same file and copy it onto the little flash drive. That's a hard drive
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and now we're copying it onto a flash drive. Flash drives are slower, and write is always
4:00
slower than read. So, you can see this is taking a little bit of time. While that's going on
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let's go ahead and look at that micro SD card. Looks like there's pictures in there
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and let's look at the SD card, and that's this one. And again, both of these are coming out of
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cameras, so there are pictures here, and here's a picture, and that's going to be too big. So
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you can just see the previews right here, and let's see how's that copy doing. Oh
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that's done. So, let's open up the flash drive. Of course, every folder shows up in the wrong place
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and you can see the movie's already right there and looking good. So, that's all there is to it
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really. Let's just go ahead and switch back to me being on camera. There you have it. Got everything
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plugged in, copied files from one to another, and while that was going on, I was opening up
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yet more devices. Meanwhile, that screen has been showing Twitter non-stop, and I've been charging
4:58
my Mac. So, really, this little pluggable is actually a pretty darn handy unit. Now, I'm going
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to be really honest. There are a zillion multi-function USB-C hubs, because as soon as Apple
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and Toshiba, and HP, and all these companies decided, hey, you know, if we only do USB-C
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that makes life really easy. So, as soon as that happened, all of us users ended up having to say
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well, how do I deal with that? So, the answer is, oh, and we got something different going on there
5:31
Let me open this up again. So, well, we'll just have that be Twitter. There we go. So, you know
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we end up having to deal with it by buying these dongles, or hubs, or whatever, and that's a hassle
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Now, the first generation of hubs either wouldn't let you use all the ports simultaneously
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wouldn't charge properly, or were just super expensive. And we now are into, I don't know
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generation three or generation four, and that's where this pluggable one's really nice, because
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it's really, really affordable. And as you can see, you can use everything simultaneously
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and it all works flawlessly. There was never a glitch or a hiccup on the HDMI. My MacBook will
6:12
be more charged when I'm done with this video than when I started, even as I'm using all these
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different devices. So, pretty sweet. Now, I have to be candid, is that I did have to unplug and
6:23
plug in both of those micro or the SD cards to get it to work. And I think my mistake was you
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can't plug everything in and then turn on your computer. Had I have done it in the other order
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plug the USB hub in, open my computer, and then plugged in all the devices, that would have worked
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fine. And that's more likely what you're going to do anyway. So, just wanted you to know
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nonetheless, all working, all working great. I have no issues with this. Really, the thing to
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talk about is the price. But before we get to the price, can I ask if you can click or tap on that
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subscribe button? Really appreciate when you subscribe, and I give you really candid, honest
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reviews. That's my thing. Not super hypey. I don't have animations. I don't have, you know
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funny visual effects. I don't know, maybe I should. Leave a comment. Tell me. But suffice to say
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super reliable, super honest. If it's not working well, if there are issues, I'm going to tell you
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that. So, if you can subscribe, really appreciate that. Great. Now, this, I know it's a little hard
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to see with all these little arms sticking out, but this is the Plugable 7-in-1 Multifunction Hub
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and it's a remarkably inexpensive $29.95 at Amazon.com. And that's with a two-year warranty
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So, not a bad deal. If you have some issues with this after a year or something, then you're good
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And it has a nice, heavy cable. This is something I didn't mention, but the cable and the plug are
7:49
really nice quality. This is something that I feel is going to last a whole lot of abuse
7:55
a whole lot of rough use, banging around in my computer bag. I think this is going to work
8:00
just fine. So, definitely worth checking out. This is, like I said, the Plugable 7-in-1
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I'm Dave Taylor, and I'll catch you in my next video
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