Comments on: Lenovo Power Hub Features 4 USB Ports in the Power Brick

By: Nate Weber

Nate Weber — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:17:50 +0000

Brilliant. I hate powerbricks and I hate having only 2 USB ports. I am all over this is an aftermarket one comes out for macbooks. It would be perfect in pro since there is a USB port right next to mag adaptor.

By: Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:22:40 +0000

Lol You have to love talking through text, sometimes it just doesn’t get through. And yeah, that’s what I was kind of leaning towards. Putting the USB ports on the power brick alone was out-of-the-box enough for me, figured going out a bit further wouldn’t be too crazy. Having both options would be cool, for sure.

By: bemymonkey

bemymonkey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:18:31 +0000

By the way:

” This device combines a 65W laptop AC power adapter with a 4-port powered USB hub for your peripherals. Three ports offer standard USB data transfer and charging capability, while a fourth dedicated “power” port charges devices, like most mobile phones.”

From the Lenovo page…

By: bemymonkey

bemymonkey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:17:12 +0000

Hmmm, looks like the comment system doesn’t go deep enough ;)

Re: “I didn’t assume anything. I just made a note that there’s no word on a Media Sync feature. And considering that it is just a power brick providing power to a USB device, I wouldn’t assume that it would have that ability. However, to make sure that the “base was covered,” so to speak, I pointed out that there wasn’t any media sync feature that you could get from plugging in your USB device to the power brick.”

You did assume something: That the USB connection between the laptop and the power brick _might_ be superfluous.

Although I’m starting to get the feeling we’re talking about two different things here. I’m talking about data transfer to gadgets plugged into the power brick.

Is it possible that you mean data transfer to the power brick itself? *scratches head*… As in, a power brick with a built in hard drive or some NAND flash? That would be fun… completely bonkers, but fun :p

By: Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:11:45 +0000

I didn’t assume anything. I just made a note that there’s no word on a Media Sync feature. And considering that it is just a power brick providing power to a USB device, I wouldn’t assume that it would have that ability. However, to make sure that the “base was covered,” so to speak, I pointed out that there wasn’t any media sync feature that you could get from plugging in your USB device to the power brick.

By: bemymonkey

bemymonkey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:09:14 +0000

“You plug the charger into the wall outlet like you normally would, and your laptop keeps on charging”

That makes it sound like the laptop continuing to charge is abnormal or a special feature of some kind ;)

As for media sync – like I mentioned in my previous post… why would you assume that the USB cable leading to the laptop is there for anything _other_ than media sync (=data transfer)?

By: Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:06:16 +0000

I didn’t say that it would stop charging. Not sure why it would stop charging if you plugged in a USB device, either. I’d hope that wouldn’t happen, or something might be wrong.

And no, “media sync” isn’t “MacSpeak.” At least, I don’t think it is. I don’t even own a Mac, so I’m not sure I can mutter “MacSpeak” fluently enough. And, you’d be right that the power brick is indeed just a power brick that will charge your USB devices. Which, aside from the one line in there, is exactly what the article says.

By: bemymonkey

bemymonkey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:54:59 +0000

“You plug the charger into the wall outlet like you normally would, and your laptop keeps on charging, while you can charge your other devices at the same time. There’s no word on any kind of media sync with your ThinkPad itself, but considering it’s going through the power brick, we don’t think it will do anything more than charge your gadgets.”

Wha…?

1. Why would your laptop stop charging if you plugged a USB device into one of its USB ports to charge?

2. Why would you need a USB cable going to the laptop if there’s no data connection (what you’re referring to as “Media sync” – what is that, MacSpeak?)? I’d presume the power brick is just acting as a superpowered USB hub… just like a regular USB hub, but capable of supplying a lot more power ;)