Dongles, dongles everywhere. If you’ve bought a new MacBook, ChromeBook, or increasingly also any slimline Windows laptop then you will have noticed the severe lack of ports they now offer by standard. Most peripherals may be wireless these days, but there are times when you really need to plug your laptop directly into the printer or use a USB stick – and it is for these moments that we have all become increasingly reliant on dongles.
Today, we’re looking at Aukey‘s slimline CB-C65 USB-C hub, that offers expansion of three USB 3.0 ports alongside an SD card reader and a MicroSD reader.
Look & feel
We’ve reviewed a fair few Aukey products in the past, and have always enjoyed their minimal design choices in the past, and the CB-C65 dongle is no different. It is a small and simple matte black dongle measuring 33mm x 11mm x 99mm and weighting 35g, with a 200mm black rubber USB-C cable physically attached. It’s about as tiny as you will find a dongle with these ports, and is easily small enough to easily fit in even the smartest clutch bag.
Specifications
- Interfaces: 3 USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, SD card slot, microSD card slot
- Connector: USB-C
- Data Transfer Speed: Up to 5Gbps (USB 3)
- SD and microSD Card Compatibility: SDSC, SDHC, SDXC, microSDSC, microSDHC, microSDXC cards
- Total USB Output: DC 5V 0.9A
- Cable Length: 200mm
- Dimensions: 99 x 33 x 11mm
- Weight: 35g
Setup
There’s nothing to setup here, you just plug it in and both Windows 10 and Mac OSX recognise the hub straight out of the box – as it should be.
In use
I have found the CB-C65 invaluable to have in my laptop bag at all times, so that I can quickly grab photos of a camera’s SD memory card or share some multimedia files with friends and colleagues with a USB stick. I’ve even had to use the hub so that I can use a wired printer in the last week – it turns out not everyone has gone wireless yet.
In terms of transfer speeds, when using the hub with an external HDD, we saw transfer speeds and pretty much the same as when we plugged the HDD in directly, so the speeds are good and living up to the USB 3 claims. As normal, the USB-A 3.0 ports are also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.0 devices, so the device should work even with the oldest USB devices, but luckily most peripherals are at least USB 2.0 these days.
The CB-C65 works exactly as expected, with no frills and no fuss, which is exactly what you want from a USB hub.
Conclusion
If you are in need of some USB-A ports or an SD-card reader to make all your peripherals work with your new laptop, then the CB-C65 is a good choice as it is small, lightweight, and does exactly what it says on the tin.
Buy
Price at time of review: £13.99 at Amazon
