Do i need a powered USB hub?

Yes. iPods need the extra power to charge. External drives that are powered by the bus need the extra power, but external drive that have their own power may not. Printers generally do not because they have their own power.

Hi Karl

Have a look at the Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 4-Port for Macintosh in the link below:

http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f5u233-apl~7BELU032.htm

It's self powered, has an easy access port on top and wow great price.

Dennis

Yes. The iMac USB bus tends to be on the low side when it comes to powering USB devices. So you'd be better off getting a good powered USB hub.

George

I too had this dilema with a standard usb hub, but after I got the powered hub below, I couldn't be more happier. My iphone, my 2.5" external hdd, and and all my printers now connect flawlesssy.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8339906&st=usb+hub&lp=7&type=produ ct&cp=1&id=1175902229998

I bought a D-Link 7 port USB hub for my IMAC 24".It is self powered and works great. Price wasn't to bad either. It kind of matches the look of the IMAC also.

I'd get the Belkin 7 port USB/FireWire USB hub ($32). Since it can draw power from the USB or FireWire ports, it'll do it all.

I think that iMacs do not have nearly enough USB ports. Whenever I use a hub, when I call someone for support on a device that is not working, they make me reattach the USB into the back of the computer and not to a hub, powered or not. Even the 20" Apple monitor I also have attached does not have USB ports which are considered "on the back of the iMac," but are considered hubs.

Are the tech people who tell me I must connect on the back of the iMac wrong? Should I use a powered USB hub and ignore tech advice that something has to be plugged into back of iMac.

I love a Dr. Bott T3 Hub I have, which is not powered and gives me 3 USB ports out of one port on the iMac. Not powered. Is the very short distance to the port on the back of the iMac to the T3 hub mean it is more likely to work well?

Is there any document available about this topic. Thanks for any help

Hi Karl,

I use a Kensington 7 port hub, this has it's own power supply that provides loads of power for all the extra USB goodies that I use with my 24" intel iMac.

I plug the apple keyboard and a Microsoft Intellipoint mouse into the iMac, all rest of the USB stuff is plugged into the hub.

I've had no problems with any of my gear, Lexmark E232 Laser printer, Canon iP8500 photo printer, two card readers, external backup drive and a memory stick.

A right click of the Intellipoint mouse allows me to unmount any devices as necessary, wherever the mouse happens to be on the desktop. This solves one of Apple's 24" iMac design flaws, having to cross the huge screen diagonal, on occasion, with a two button Apple Mighty Mouse in order to unmount a device.

Message was edited by: BearsPaw

I have Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 4-Port for Macintosh and although it comes with adaptor I never used it. I hook up external HD, ipod shuffle, ipod nano, printer, DVD burner with no problem. keyboard (plastic, old style) usb ports are only USB 1, so pretty much useless. I use them only for midi keyboard.

I think the reason that some companies say "don't use a hub" is so the can avoid explaining powered/non-powered to a customer that may not know any better. So, rather than specify or explain it, they simply just say that so you won't use one. I think if the hub is powered, you should be fine. Because I tool have many USB dev that aren't supposed to be plugged into a hub, and are. Typically, a lot of external controller type things for Pro Audio Recording are USB, so to be safe, they say not to use them to get the maximum stream. Maybe they are right. I wish there were a way to "measure" the thruput data on such devices to see if there is any diff.

Jason