At first sight
Expert evaluation
Professionals
Powered dock, which can charge a phone 4 USB-A ports, 3 USB-C ports
Against
Unable to charge a laptop. Other better and cheaper options
Our verdict
Corsair’s USB100 7-Port USB-C/USB-A Hub is only worth it for a very small group of people. For everyone else, our list of the best USB-C hubs has far better options.
Today’s best prices: Corsair USB100 7-Port USB Type-C / USB Type-A Expansion Hub
Retail price
$64.99
Corsair $69.99
Price comparison of over 24,000 shops worldwide
Most USB-C hubs or dongles make sense, even if you don’t end up buying them. Corsair’s USB100 7-Port USB-C/USB-A Hub doesn’t, except for one small and rather unusual use case.
Corsair’s 7-port USB100 model focuses on a very select set of features, leaving out others you might expect. This USB-C dongle (formally known as the USB100 7-Port USB-C/USB-A Expansion Hub) costs $70 and leans heavily on USB-A and USB-C expansion, forgoing common ports like HDMI. But even on the USB side it falls short, as all ports transfer 5Gbps at most – there’s no 10Gbps option.
Further reading: Check out our roundup of best usb-c hubs and dongles to learn about competing products.
Corsair’s USB100 is a powered hub, with a small 65W external charger included in the box. This in itself is unusual. While many competing dongles accept power, they usually do so via your laptop’s existing USB-C charger. And instead of a built-in USB-C cable, Corsair provides one to plug into the hub, which measures more than three feet. However, that USB-C cable doesn’t transfer any power to your laptop, which is probably not what you expected.
Instead, the power brick is used to power a pair of charge-enabled ports: a USB-A port and a modern USB-C port, each of which is designed to supply power to external devices. Only the USB-C port can charge a phone. Neither port, however, delivers the power Corsair says it should: The USB-C port is rated at 15W and delivers 10.2W, while the USB-A port only produced 3.9W, not i 5W expected.
The back of the Corsair USB100 USB-C/USB-A hub, with its charger in the background.Mark Hachman/IDG
The USB100 measures 6.1 x 1.98 x 0.6 inches, all in a solid aluminum chassis. Here’s how the port lineup breaks down: On the front of the USB100 are the two charging ports (USB-C, 5Gbps; USB-A, 5Mbps) and another USB-A port, also at 5Gbps. Around the back are two more 5Gbps USB-A ports, two 5Gbps USB-C ports, and the USB-C port for connecting to your laptop. There are no Ethernet ports, microSD card slots, and headphone jacks. Unfortunately, USB-C ports are unable to stream video.
It’s unclear who Corsair is marketing its USB100 7-Port USB-C/USB-A Expansion Hub to. Competing devices offer more of what you’ll need, and probably for less.
Putting it all together, the USB100 is really just a pretty tame USB port expander, and it makes the most sense if you’ve lost your smartphone charger. Otherwise, the Corsair USB100 proves a bit underwhelming, especially when there are much more capable USB-C hubs available for much less.
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