The Plugable USBC-9IN1E is a compact nine-port hub that works the moment it is plugged in - no drivers, no vendor software, no configuration. How-To Geek scored it 8 out of 10 after running flash drives, an SD card and an audio interface off it at once without the hub losing track of any of them. It drives one 4K display at 60Hz over HDMI, passes power through to the laptop, and warms up noticeably when everything is in use. Portable workers who need one screen and a lot of ports are the fit; anyone running two monitors is not.
Full review
Nine ports and a 7.48-inch captive cable
The hub weighs 0.29 pounds and carries its USB-C lead permanently attached at 7.48 inches, which reaches a laptop sitting immediately beside it and not much further. Ports run along one edge with Ethernet on the opposite end, which keeps cables from bunching in a single place. The metal shell feels solid and the whole thing disappears into a laptop sleeve, which is the reason to buy this rather than a desktop dock.
One HDMI at 4K60, and that is the ceiling
There is a single video output: HDMI at 4K and 60Hz with HDR. For a laptop plus one external display that is entirely adequate, and the picture stays clean with no lag reported in use. For two monitors it is a dead end - no DisplayPort, no second HDMI, and no DisplayLink path to add one. This is the limitation most likely to send a buyer to a different hub, and it is worth checking against the desk before ordering.
Around 315Mbps down over gigabit Ethernet
The Ethernet port runs at gigabit, and How-To Geek recorded roughly 315Mbps down and 36Mbps up through it - figures that describe the internet connection at the other end rather than the hub's ceiling. File transfer over the USB-A ports moved 26GB of video in about ten minutes, averaging 43 megabytes per second, consistent with the older drives used for it. The SD and microSD readers are UHS-II, which matters if you regularly pull large card loads.
Plug it in and it works
No drivers and no vendor software: the hub enumerates on connection and devices appear immediately. How-To Geek's reviewer ran three USB-A flash drives, an SD card and an audio interface simultaneously off a MacBook Pro while charging the laptop through the hub's host port, with everything recognised on plug-in and nothing dropping out. That is the whole argument for this product over more capable docks that come with a driver stack and a firmware updater.
It gets warm with everything connected
Under a full load the hub runs warm to the touch. Nothing throttled in use and nobody describes the heat as alarming, but it is a small metal body dissipating everything passing through it, and it will sit warm on a desk across a long session. Combined with the fixed short cable and the single HDMI, that defines the setup this suits: a laptop on the same surface, one screen, and a handful of peripherals.
Strengths
- +Plug-and-play - devices appear the moment it is connected, with no drivers or vendor software
- +Single HDMI output drives a 4K display at 60Hz with HDR
- +Passes 100W of USB-C power through to the laptop while every port stays live
- +0.29 pounds with a captive cable, small enough to live in a laptop sleeve
Watch-outs
- −Built-in USB-C cable is rather short
- −Only one video output (HDMI) limits multi-monitor setups
- −Hub gets warm with multiple connections
How it compares
The Plugable USBC-9IN1E offers a plug-and-play design and 140W pass-through charging that outperforms the Anker 555, but lacks the HDMI output and USB-A ports of the Anker 563. Unlike the CalDigit TS4, it's more compact and affordable but provides fewer ports and no 98W power delivery. Compared to the UGREEN Revodok Max, it's more affordable and easier to use, though it lacks the Thunderbolt 4 performance and vertical stand capability of the UGREEN.
Rating sources
Our 4.0 score is the average of these published ratings. More about methodology.
