I don’t mind how thin and light laptops have gotten these days, but one unfortunate side effect of that design trend is the steady disappearance of USB ports. I remember when laptops were loaded with them. Now, as laptops have gotten thinner, USB-A ports are often pushed aside in favor of USB-C. That’s great if all your accessories are USB-C — and to be clear, I like USB-C — but when USB-A devices are still everywhere, it can be a real pain.

To work around this, many people, including myself, turn to a USB hub, a simple device you plug into your laptop to expand the number of USB-A and USB-C ports it has. They can be incredibly handy if your laptop doesn’t have any USB-A ports, but you still rely on things like USB-A flash drives, keyboards, or other peripherals, or if you don’t have enough USB-C ports either.

That said, USB hubs aren’t perfect. One of their biggest drawbacks is that they’re limited in the amount of data and power they can handle. Depending on the type of hub you’re using (such as a USB 2.0 or 3.0 hub) and what you plug into it, you could slow down certain devices or even experience random disconnects. With that in mind, here are four things you should avoid plugging into most USB hubs to avoid these types of issues.

Brand

Anker

Connection

USB-A

Ports

USB 3.0 x4

This affordable Anker USB hub features four USB-A ports that run at USB 3.0 speeds. Perfect for plugging in a basic keyboard and mouse into your PC, or a USB flash drive.

Your phone

A lot of USB hubs don’t support fast charging

I’ve been guilty of this myself, but as tempting as it can be, your phone is often one of the worst things to plug into a USB hub. The biggest reason is that most USB hubs don’t support fast charging and are strictly meant for data transmission. Your phone might charge, but it’ll be painfully slow, and in some cases, it can even cause the hub to heat up more than it should.

Some hubs are upfront about this and flat-out say they don’t support charging at all. Others technically allow it but deliver so little power that charging barely works — if it works at all. That’s because most USB hubs are designed for low-power accessories like flash drives, mice, or keyboards, not for topping up a phone’s large battery.

If you’re trying to charge your phone, you’re always better off using a wall charger or plugging it directly into a USB-C port on your laptop, both of which can deliver the power your device needs to charge quickly and safely.

External SSDS

Most USB hubs aren’t fast enough

Another device I’d avoid plugging into a USB hub is an external SSD. While most hubs support data transfer, they often can’t deliver the speeds needed to fully take advantage of an external SSD. Modern SSDs are significantly faster than USB flash drives or external hard drives, with many capable of exceeding 1,000 MB/s — speeds that many USB hubs simply can’t keep up with, especially since many more affordable USB hubs only support USB 2.0 or USB 3.0.

On top of that, power can be an issue. Just like with charging your phone, many USB hubs don’t supply enough power for an external SSD to run reliably. That can lead to sudden disconnects, failed transfers, or even data corruption if a file transfer is interrupted.

If you’re using an external SSD and want the best performance — and fewer headaches — it’s best to plug it directly into one of your laptop’s built-in ports instead of routing it through a USB hub. That said, if you need a USB hub that supports an external SSD, they do exist, but are often more expensive than the typical $10 USB hub most people have. They typically support USB 3.2 speeds or are Thunderbolt hubs, which can handle the power and speed of an external SSD.

4K webcams

Too much bandwidth

Webcams are another gray area when it comes to USB hubs. Lower-end webcams, such as basic 720p models, usually work just fine because they don’t use much bandwidth. It’s higher-end webcams, particularly 4K models and even some 1080p ones, that can be problematic.

Because 4K webcams push significantly more data than 720p models, plugging one into a USB hub can lead to choppy video, dropped frames, or audio-video sync issues during calls. In most cases, the hub simply becomes a bottleneck because it can’t handle the webcam’s bandwidth, especially if the hub is already being used by other devices, in which case the webcam is already fighting for bandwidth.

The good news is that most laptops already have built-in webcams. Admittedly, they might not look the greatest, but software can help close the gap. On newer Windows PCs, for example, Windows Studio Effects can improve your webcam feed by blurring the background, keeping you properly framed, and adding a portrait light to brighten things up.

It is worth noting that, as with external SSDs, some USB hubs can handle the higher bandwidth a 4K webcam needs, but again, those are typically the more expensive USB hubs that support features like Thunderbolt, and not the $10 USB hub that most people might have floating around in their laptop bag.

Wireless gaming mice

If you want ultra-low latency, stick with a port on your PC

For the most part, mice and keyboards are perfectly fine to plug into a USB hub. Where you want to be more careful is with wireless gaming mice, especially those with very high polling rates.

High polling rate mice send data to your PC extremely frequently to minimize the delay between your hand movement and what you see on screen. In competitive gaming, every millisecond counts, so adding anything that could introduce extra latency is something you generally want to avoid.

Plugging a wireless gaming mouse into a USB hub can introduce a small amount of additional latency, which kind of defeats the whole point of buying a low-latency mouse in the first place. If you’re using a high-polling-rate wireless gaming mouse, you’re better off plugging its receiver directly into your PC.

Again, for most people and most setups, using a USB hub for a regular mouse or keyboard is totally fine. This really only matters if you’re running a low-latency, high-performance gaming mouse and really care about squeezing out every last bit of responsiveness.