Conclusion: the key difference is the power!
Suppose you already know what a USB hub is.
A USB hub is an external device. It is simply an external extender or extension cable for a USB interface. It can be inserted into a USB port and then get more USB ports.
Some USB hubs draw power from an electrical outlet such as a wall socket, which is called a powered USB hub, aka, Active USB hubs, some USB hubs draw their power from the computer connection, that is, unpowered USB hub, aka passive USB hubs.
In a word, the main difference is where the power from!
So when will you choose a powered USB hub? Or how to know whether you need a powered USB hub or an unpowered USB hub?
You’d use a powered USB hub if you needed to run:
- Several devices at once
- Devices that operate on higher voltages, such as:
- external hard drives, HDD devices
- printers
- scanners
- full RGB systems
- Blu-ray players/DVD burner or some DJ Equipment
If you just connect a mouse, keyboard, a USB flash drive, or a mobile phone to transfer data, then an unpowered hub is enough.
One thing to be aware of is, because all these external devices draw power from computer connection, it may lead to crash, such as delays, slow transfer speeds, etc. However, if the external device itself has an AC adapter, charging it should be fine.
In order to make you clearer and don’t waste your money on the hub, we specially make a PROs and CONs table for a more clear understanding.
