The incredible range of USB peripherals available and the shortage of free ports on many machines – particularly laptops – means that a USB hub is practically a necessity if you don’t want to waste precious time plugging and unplugging devices. Sanwa’s 12-port offering doesn’t quite match Brando’s effort in the number of ports, but is definitely the more eye-catching of the two when loaded up with devices. Its circular design means that it might be ok for those rare occasions when you need a high tech table centerpiece, but will likely have cables running every which way on the desk when fully loaded.

The Sanwa 400-HUB009 12-port USB hub is available from Sanwa for 4,980 Yen (approx. US$55 at the time of publication).

Via Akihabara News.