I hope to replace an ageing Dell Dimension desktop. I have eight USB devices so currently use six rear USB ports plus a hub. The Dell Inspiron only has four rear ports and Dell tells me that it is not possible to add any more. Is it the usual practice nowadays to rely on hubs?
Andrew Patterson
There are still machines around with eight USB ports, an example being the HP Pavilion Elite HPE-053uk, aimed at gamers. However, you can add an extra four USB 2.0 ports to many desktop PCs by fitting an internal PCI expansion card such as the NewLink. These and similar FireWire expansion cards are aimed at users with older PCs that only have original USB ports.
You may be able to reduce your reliance on USB by connecting some external peripherals, particularly hard drives, via FireWire instead. External powered hubs work pretty well for many devices, but you would have to experiment to find which of yours work best when plugged in directly, rather than via a hub.
