to small designs that can be directly plugged into a USB port (see the "compact design" picture). "Short cable" hubs typically use an integral 6-inch (15 cm) cable to slightly distance a small hub away from physical port congestion and increase the number of available ports.

Almost all modern laptop computers are equipped with USB ports, but an external USB hub can consolidate several everyday devices (like a mouse, keyboard or printer) into a single hub to enable one-step attachment and removal of