Best way to get more USB on Surface Pro 4

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Best way to get more USB on Surface Pro 4

Geektastic

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#220328 6-Aug-2017 15:05

The SP 4 has only one USB port - a rather ridiculous choice in this day and age but there we are.

It does not deliver enough power to that port to reliably run a Lexar card reader (according to Lexar).

I also use a mouse that needs a USB dongle.

What is the best, travel friendly and most cost effective way to add more USB 3 ports, ideally with adequate power to run the card reader?

timmmay

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#1839954 6-Aug-2017 16:11

I bought a cheap hub from ebay. It can take a power supply but didn't include one. Probably best to buy in NZ if you want a decent quality one that won't break your surface.

scuwp

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#1839994 6-Aug-2017 16:39

Have these at work. All staff have been provided simple USB hubs, about $30 from PB Tech from memory. Stupid limitation but can't think what else you could do. There is an official MS dock assesory with more outlets, but not sure what that offers over a generic hub setup, other than being ridiculously expensive.

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timmmay

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#1840005 6-Aug-2017 16:47

The surface hub lets you plug in multiple monitors and has from memory 4 USB connections. Surface with external monitors sucks, I basically have to restart every time I dock the computer because it messes the screens up. I'd never buy a surface if I needed to dock / undock regularly. It's an ok laptop, a poor tablet, I'd rather have a proper laptop. The $2K Toshiba ultrabook my work replaced with a surface pro was much better.

nzlegs

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#1840028 6-Aug-2017 17:28

I use a bluetooth mouse with my Surface which does negate the need for an USB port.

gzt

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#1840120 6-Aug-2017 18:40

Does the existing lexar have a power socket?

Geektastic

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#1840281 6-Aug-2017 22:12

gzt: Does the existing lexar have a power socket?

No, it's USB powered. Has one SD and one CF card slot.

Geektastic

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#1840283 6-Aug-2017 22:14

nzlegs: I use a bluetooth mouse with my Surface which does negate the need for an USB port.

To be fair, the mouse will work without the dongle but the dongle is also the charger for the mouse, so needs to be connected at least some of the time.

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Geektastic

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#1840284 6-Aug-2017 22:18

timmmay:

The surface hub lets you plug in multiple monitors and has from memory 4 USB connections. Surface with external monitors sucks, I basically have to restart every time I dock the computer because it messes the screens up. I'd never buy a surface if I needed to dock / undock regularly. It's an ok laptop, a poor tablet, I'd rather have a proper laptop. The $2K Toshiba ultrabook my work replaced with a surface pro was much better.

I hoped it would be useful for editing images (using the pen as a brush tool) and it's OK for that but not brilliant.

Eventually I will probably revert to a MacBook with a Wacom tablet. More weight, more expensive but a far better machine and (for me) a far better OS.

I'd like to use an iPad but because there is no easy way to transfer large quantities of RAW image files from card to backup hard drive (no lightening, no USB) it's tantamount to useless until they overcome that limitation (for me).

gzt

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#1840285 6-Aug-2017 22:27

Geektastic:
gzt: Does the existing lexar have a power socket?

No, it's USB powered. Has one SD and one CF card slot.

Does SP4 power supply have a usb charging port?

ANglEAUT

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#1840300 7-Aug-2017 00:36

timmmay: The surface hub lets you plug in multiple monitors and has from memory 4 USB connections. ...

Correct

timmmay: ... Surface with external monitors sucks, I basically have to restart every time I dock the computer because it messes the screens up. ...

There is a firmware update that was supposed to sort that out.

For me the issue is that on the tablet display, the scaling is set to 200% while one external monitors its 100%. Dragging apps from one screen to the other gets messed up some times.

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