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The USB port as we knew it is growing old. Every Thursday it nips down to the Post Office to collect its pension and chat to its fellow retirees, PS/2 and parallel. And who does it see outside but that rapscallion USB-C port, with its weird talk of memes and Love Island. Standards, especially in the field of computers, can prove useful as different companies build their kit to fit in with, and take advantage of the currently accepted methods of achieving device partnerships. However, due to their popularity, the family of Standards does tend to grow. An obvious example of this is the USB Standard which started life as a device that could be daisy-chained but that it never happened. Now we have several different USB connection formats. Looking into the Standard conundrum, Kingston Technologies has come up with the Nucleum solution.
But then it started to act weird. My iPad would connect and disconnect from the hub while sleeping. The iPad screen would wake up, and the icon that shows USB-C connections would appear. Worse, the iPad would reboot itself while connected.Estimated delivery times are provided to us by the respective delivery companies. We pass this information onto you, the customer. If you opt for a powered USB hub, your data transfer speed will be significantly increased, but to really maximise the efficiency, you need to look at the transfer speed. If you only occasionally transfer files, this won't be much of an issue, but if transferring is a big part of your work, this could be worth noting. I tested the Nucleum with my chromebook, plugging a power adapter into the right USB-C port, a mouse into the right USB-A port, and a USB drive into the left USB-A port. I also connected the hub to a TV over HDMI and inserted both SD and microSD cards into their slots. Bundled documentation is rather sparse with this product. It just consists of diagrams featured on the rear of the box containing the Nucleum device. Fortunately the omission of a User Guide should not be a handicap for even novice users. At least this product did not require me to make use of a magnifying glass due to the use of a small type face.
You can initially notice that this USB-C hub is a little on the larger side which really is its only unattractive feature. The reason why it’s bigger in nature is because it houses a wide range of different connections as well as Thunderbolt 3 tech. Usually associated with gaming peripherals and internal PC components, you might be surprised to find that Corsair actually manufactures USB-C hubs too.I appreciated the compact size of the Nucleum, which makes it ideal for travel, and the variety of ports that it provides was perfect for me. It offers all of the ports that I need on a daily basis (primarily USB-C, USB-A, and an SD card slot), and everything worked as expected with no surprises. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test. As a side note, the Nucleum does not need to be plugged in to a power source other than the host computer for it to function. Using the passthrough charging feature is optional. I did notice that when I unplugged my USB-C power adapter from the Nucleum or when I plugged it in, that it would cause the hub to shut off for a second. That means that any hard drives or other accessories I have attached temporarily disconnect, so you're going to want to be careful not to plug it into a power source or unplug it during file transfers.
All in all, there are a total of seven ports available on the hub, which is not too bad for a device of this size. I don't often need more than two USB-A ports at a time, so the two-port setup worked for me, and it's nice to have access to both microSD and SD card slots for camera accessories. As mentioned earlier, Nucleum works with PC and Mac computers that feature a Type-C USB port. Support is provided for Windows 7 and later, Mac OSX 10.9 and later, Linux 2,6 and Chrome OS. Whilst your gritting you teeth at the cost, bear in mind it should easily last for the life of your laptop. Plus it’s so light that you can sling it permanently into your bag. All things considered, it’s a deserving winner of The Big Tech Question’s new Buy Now award.
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Moving to the design of the actual Dell USB-C hub, it’s certainly different to what you usually see with a disk-like look and feel rather than the go-to ‘bar’ look that most other companies opt for. This makes it nice and compact rather than a long rectangular body that is sometimes cumbersome. Moreover, the wire for connecting to your PC or laptop is conveniently wrapped around the core of the device, hiding it from plain sight and not getting tangled.
When using the power delivery USB-C port with your USB-C cable and power adapter for charging purposes, the hub is able to deliver up to 60W of power. That is sufficient for charging the 12-inch MacBook (29W) or the 13-inch MacBook Pro (61W) but it falls a bit short of the full capacity of the 15-inch MacBook Pro (87W). Which is my long-winded way of saying that modern laptops all include USB-C ports these days, with the USB Type-A port that dominated for a decade rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Plain and simple, there are two ways in which you can connect USB-C hubs to your machine – via a wire or directly inserting it. These both offer advantages such as extending the reach of the hub if it’s wired, or having a more compact feel of a direct connection. But, there are disadvantages too, with a wired hub more prone to failure thanks to the cable, and the direct connection being limited in its flexibility.The Nucleum doesn't require external power to function, so you don't need to keep it plugged into your charger if your connected device has enough power to run. It still outputs over HDMI and all device ports and slots stay active running just from the USB-C connection to your device. If you do use a charger, however, be careful to unmount any attached storage or put your device to sleep before plugging it in or unplugging it. Switching from powered to unpowered mode makes the Nucleum switch off for a moment. In my experience, it was up and running in only a second, but my notification bar filled with dire warnings about the dangers of suddenly removing storage from my chromebook because of the switching process. The USB has had multiple upgrades since it first came out, with each iteration introducing vast improvements and new features. USB 1.0s are generally not found much these days unless you have a somewhat ancient device, so the models you need to focus on run from USB 2.0 to USB 3.3. In short, the Nucleum’s USB 3.1 port is just as fast as a native USB 3.0 port. Probably faster, but even the fastest USB drive I could find can’t take advantage. Kingston Nucleum review: One small caveat
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