We all wanted slimmer and lighter laptops, but we paid the price for them—fewer ports and capabilities. Fortunately, if you struggle with a laptop that lacks ports, the fix is easy. All you need is something like this Anker 8-in-1 USB-C Hub on sale for $36 at Amazon. That’s 28% off its original $50 price, and it has several solid ports.
All you do is plug this hub into your laptop’s USB-C port, then you immediately have access to 8 useful connections. We start with the 4K HDMI for an external monitor, plus two USB-A and a USB-C for drives and peripherals. You also get SD and microSD card slots, plus an Ethernet port for stable internet. Lastly, a USB-C power port with 85W passthrough charging so your laptop can stay charged even while this hub is taking up its USB-C port. Lose nothing, gain everything.
$36 is a great price to pay for an 8-port hub, so it’s worth jumping on if your laptop lacks ports. That said, if you have a high-end laptop with cutting-edge performance, you’d be handicapping yourself with this and would be better off with a proper Thunderbolt docking station. For that, check out PCWorld’s picks for the best Thunderbolt docks.