This one is positively festooned with extra ports. Let's take a look.

USB-C

Plug your power adapter into the hub, and then the hub into your laptop. With most hubs, that's it; you've lost a C port. This has an extra USB-C port - so you don't lose anything. Personally, I'd prefer more USB-C ports.

Instead, you get 3x USB-A 3.0 ports, and 2x USB-A 2.0 ports. That's a lot of room for peripherals. They're all well spaced out, so you should be able to cram everything in.

Storage

All these sorts of hubs tend to have an SD slot and a microSD slot. Read and write speeds hit the limit of the cards I had - but you may be better off using the USB 3 ports if you really need speed. Speaking of which...

Speed

Obviously, if you have a hundred gadgets plugged in - and only one USB-C cable - there's a limit to the total throughput. That said, the Ethernet port topped out my 650Mbps broadband - and I don't have anything much faster than that!

Video

There are two HDMI ports and a legacy VGA port. I'll be honest, I can't remember the last time I needed to plug my laptop into an analogue video cable. But I guess if you go to lots of crappy conference venues it might be useful?

My old laptop was able to drive two monitors at the same time, which was pretty useful. You're limited to one at 4k@60Hz - if you're using two HDMI, you'll only get 30Hz. But if you're happy with 1080p, you'll get 60Hz on both.

Apparently MacOS doesn't support triple display.

Power

USB's Power Delivery mode is a still a bit confusing. I used a 100W Dell charger and, USB-C PD tester saw that about 80% of the power was making it to the laptop.

With the power unplugged, the hub drew electricity from the laptop in order to charge all the gadgets.

Sound

Weirdly, the analogue sound out didn't show up for me in Linux. I'm not heartbroken by that - either my laptop has a speaker out or the HDMI device does. But it is a bit weird that it didn't show.

Linux info

As with all modern devices, it is plug-and-play. All my gadgets worked fine with it. This is what Linux sees:

ID 0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
ID 2109:0817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub             
ID 2109:0817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub 
ID 1a40:0801 Terminus Technology Inc. USB 2.0 Hub
2109:8817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB Billboard Device   
ID 2109:2817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub             
ID 2109:2817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB2.0 Hub  

Verdict

There's a lot packed into a fairly small box. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, you'll pay about £60 on Amazon for it.

It's a neat little halfway house between a small adapter with a couple of ports and a massive docking station. But if you don't need all those ports, there's probably something cheaper.

I guess this is aimed at people plugging in to all sorts of weird screens on their travels. I think a DisplayPort would have been a better choice than double HDMI.

So a bit of a mixed bag. If you need these options, it is close to perfect. But it may be excessive for some.

Discount

Readers of this blog can get 25% off at https://mokinglobal.com/ using code TERENCE25. Offer expires 2024-03-31

Along the side you get 4 USB-C 3.1 ports which are theoretically capable of 10Gbps in aggregate.

At the bottom is a USB-C 3.0 Power Delivery port which can take up to 100W of power.

There's also an obligatory blue LED to let you know it is working.

Speed

As will all modern hubs, there's nothing to install. Plug it in and it starts working. Copying a large file from a USB 2.0 phone got a respectable 90mbps.

When plugged into ethernet, it got up to 660Mbps - which is about as fast as my broadband goes.

And I don't think I have any faster devices than that to check!

Power

I used my USB-C PD tester. I plugged in a 100W capable charger into the hub's PD socket, and the output into my laptop. The hub passed through about 80% of the power I got when I was plugged in normally. So there is a bit of a hit in the power delivery.

That said, it happily charged the laptop and all the devices attached to it. Even without power attached, the hub drew power from the laptop and charged the gadgets.

It doesn't support "Fast Role Swap". So if you disconnect the power from the hub, your devices will briefly disconnect and reconnect again. Usually not a problem unless you're in the middle of a file transfer.

Downsides

The major issue is that there's no monitor output.

This is a USB 3.1 hub. As I've mentioned before, in order to do video over USB, you need 3.2 capable hubs and cables.

Feel free to supply your own rant about USB-C versions here.

Linux info

This shows up as 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub and is supported by modern Linux kernels. I tried it on Ubuntu and Android and it worked just fine.

Verdict

You can get this for about £20 on Amazon depending on whether the algorithm likes you or not.

For the price, I think it is excellent. I can't find anything so cheap or slim which does support video. Or has as many ports.

If all you need are a bunch of extra C ports, this is perfect. Speeds are good, power transfer is good, and it works on Windows and Linux flawlessly. If you need video, try Mokin's USB-C Docking Station.

Discount

Readers of this blog can get 25% off at https://mokinglobal.com/ using code TERENCE25. Offer expires 2024-03-31

You see it is a truth, universally acknowledged, that computers don't have enough ports on them. And laptops? Pah! A couple of USB-C if you're lucky, and one of them has to be used for power. What a world!

This is the MOKiN USB-C Triple-Display Docking Station - MODK1402. It's a bit over £100 depending on the deal you get.

Shiny! This turns one USB port on your laptop to fourteen extra ports.

So, what's it packing?

On the back is:

• Ethernet.
• USB 2.0 - for your slow gadgets.
• HDMI.
• 2x DisplayPort.
• USB-C host. Take the included 1 metre long C-to-C cable and connect your laptop to the hub.
• USB-C power input. Shove a 100W adapter in there and it will power your laptop, gadgets, and toaster.
• There's also a Kensington Lock port on the side if you're worried about theft.

On the front is:

• 2x USB-C. Yes! This is what I'm here for! They won't do PD levels of charging, but you can happily plug in your phones to charge, transfer data, or anything else.
• USB 3.1. The highest speed USB-A port. Plug in a drive and watch the bits fly
• 3.5mm TRRS port. Stereo audio out, mono mic in.
• Bright white LED. Stick some tape on it and never have it bother you again.
• SD & MicroSD slots. A bit weird, but I guess useful to some.
• 2x USB 3. Another couple of USB slots.
• Power button. Hold to toggle.

Testing

On both Windows 11 and Linux, everything worked just fine. Sorry there isn't anything more interesting to report there! No drivers to install. No weird command-line incantations. The promise of Plug-And-Play is met.

Well... Mostly. See the niggles section.

I tried using a single 1080p external monitor over HDMI and that was picked up. My 4K DisplayPort monitor also worked. I also tried a 720p TV on HDMI - and it happily displayed on all three screens.

I don't have a Mac to test with, but it all should work⁰.

The Ethernet maxed out my 500Mbps Internet connection. I was able to quickly transfer files from between the SD card and the drives. All the USB gadgets I plugged in worked. Again, super boring - which is just what I wanted.

The volume from the audio output was loud and stereo separated.

I had a dozen things plugged in and it kept on chugging.

There's no fan, so there's no noise from it. Basically, it is a small and boring box which does its job extremely well.

Now, a quick disclaimer. I am not a particularly demanding user. I don't have 3x 4K displays which are streaming live video from a USB stick while I download all of Wikipedia via Ethernet onto an SD card at the same time as blasting 5.1 audio and charging a dozen laptops. There's always going to be a limit to how much data and power you can squeeze through a single cable.

Niggles

I found that after my laptop went to sleep it sometimes didn't detect the HDMI output. I pressed the power button on the hub to turn in off. Then - and this will shock you - turned it back on again. HDMI sprang to life without a complaint. Perhaps it's my laptop, or my monitor, or the HDMI? Either way, not a show stopper.

Windows complained that the cable wasn't providing enough power and I should use the original Dell®™ charger. But it charged up quickly. I don't have a PD cable tester to see how many Watts it is actually delivering.

It did get a little warm after a few hours use. Nothing to be concerned about, but don't cover it with a cloth.

The audio out is louder than I was getting via HDMI and there is a bit of cross-chatter. If your speakers' volume is up high, you'll hear a bit of an electronic squeal / hum when no sound is playing.

The white LED is - like all modern electronics - bright. I'd have preferred something a bit more subtle.

Personally, I'd rather have extra HDMI than DisplayPorts. But I get that it is more efficient and better future-proofed.

It takes up a small amount of desk-space. A tower-design might have been nice. But I suspect the heat dissipation might have been an issue.

These are weak complaints. In terms of price:port ratio, it is excellent.

Linux Info

For nerds like me, this is what lsusb spits out:

Bus 004 Device 014: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet
Bus 004 Device 013: ID 0bda:0326 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card reader
Bus 004 Device 012: ID 0bda:0411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Hub
Bus 004 Device 011: ID 0bda:0420 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 042: ID 0bda:1100 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. HID Device
Bus 001 Device 041: ID 0d8c:0134 C-Media Electronics, Inc. USB PnP Audio Device
Bus 001 Device 039: ID 0bda:5411 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5411 Hub
Bus 001 Device 037: ID 1b3f:2008 Generalplus Technology Inc. USB Audio Device
Bus 001 Device 035: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 034: ID 0bda:5420 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub

Lots of hubs just smushed together! I didn't bother cracking the case open. If you do, please leave a picture in the comments.

Triple monitors?

The MODK1402 can drive 3 external monitors. But, again, there's a limit to how much you can squirt down a single USB-C cable. They aren't magic!

Here are the configs that it lists. I don't have an 8K monitor to test(!) so please report back if you do have a suitable set of monitors.

Verdict

If you need multiple USB-C ports out from your hub, this is one of the few devices which is capable of doing so. Having 4 extra USB-A ports is excellent. Three monitors is overkill for me - but it is good to be future-proof. The long cable makes it easy to swap between laptops which have their ports on different sides.

At the end of the day, one cable turns into 14 working ports. All for a bit over a hundred quid. Nice!