NT1110
A Port Expander is a hardware device that allows a user to use more than one device on a single port. A good example of a port expander is a USB hub. Most USB hubs allow you to hook up 3 to 5 USB connections from only 1 USB port on your computer.
The disadvantage of using a port expander is speed. The single port you are connecting to only operates at a set speed; example of this is a USB 2.0 port operates at 480 Mbit/s. If you have a portable hard drive that runs at 300 Mbit/s and a digital camera running at 180 Mbit/s that leaves 0 Mbit/s left for any other USB device on the USB hub; you could run into a bottleneck situation if you are trying to run another device at the same time. I have used several USB hubs in the past and they seemed to work really well for me. I was not using all devices I had plugged into the hub at the same time. I found it was a lot easier than plugging and unplugging devices all the time just to plug in another device.
There are some advantages of using a port expander. It is generally cheaper running a port expander than to actually buying “real” ports. Port expanders are generally computer specific, however there are exceptions to that rule. USB hubs only require that a USB port is available for the hub to plug into. A port expander is also known as a port replicator. Port replicators do not add new hardware to the computer. It provides a physical connection between a device and the computer.
Types of ports available on expander hardware:
* Ethernet Port Expander Hardware,* FireWire Port Expander Hardware,* DB-25 Port Expander Hardware,* Serial Port Expander Hardware,* USB Port Expander Hardware,* VGA Port Expander Hardware,* DVI Port Expander Hardware,* SCSI Port Expander Hardware,* Audio Port Expander Hardware,* Video Port Expander Hardware,* Microphone Port Expander Hardware,* RS-422 Port Expander Hardware,* Modbus Serial Port Hardware,* SATA Port Expander Hardware,* SAS Port Expander Hardware,* SSD Port Expander Hardware
The disadvantage of using a port expander is speed. The single port you are connecting to only operates at a set speed; example of this is a USB 2.0 port operates at 480 Mbit/s. If you have a portable hard drive that runs at 300 Mbit/s and a digital camera running at 180 Mbit/s that leaves 0 Mbit/s left for any other USB device on the USB hub; you could run into a bottleneck situation if you are trying to run another device at the same time. I have used several USB hubs in the past and they seemed to work really well for me. I was not using all devices I had plugged into the hub at the same time. I found it was a lot easier than plugging and unplugging devices all the time just to plug in another device.
There are some advantages of using a port expander. It is generally cheaper running a port expander than to actually buying “real” ports. Port expanders are generally computer specific, however there are exceptions to that rule. USB hubs only require that a USB port is available for the hub to plug into. A port expander is also known as a port replicator. Port replicators do not add new hardware to the computer. It provides a physical connection between a device and the computer.
Types of ports available on expander hardware:
* Ethernet Port Expander Hardware,* FireWire Port Expander Hardware,* DB-25 Port Expander Hardware,* Serial Port Expander Hardware,* USB Port Expander Hardware,* VGA Port Expander Hardware,* DVI Port Expander Hardware,* SCSI Port Expander Hardware,* Audio Port Expander Hardware,* Video Port Expander Hardware,* Microphone Port Expander Hardware,* RS-422 Port Expander Hardware,* Modbus Serial Port Hardware,* SATA Port Expander Hardware,* SAS Port Expander Hardware,* SSD Port Expander Hardware