14 DAY TRIAL // Ultrabooks may soon become much better at interfacing with other products, be they USB-connected gadgets or devices that can link to others over a local area network. Indeed, we're looking at a hybrid device.
Lately, when we say hybrid, we usually end up talking about a tablet that can turn into a laptop, or a laptop that can turn into a tablet, either by detaching half the notebook or spinning the screen over or underneath the keyboard somehow.
Nevertheless, there have been a significant number of hybrid adapters as well, and the one from I-O Data is something along those lines.
I-O Data has formally introduced the 4-port USB 2.0 Hub with wired LAN adapter called “US2-HB4ETX.”
I-O Data made it for Apple MacBooks, but it should work just fine with ultrabooks as well.
As far as applicable standards go, the newcomer fits IEEE802.3 (10BASE-T), IEEE802.3u (100BASE-TX), at transmission speeds of 10Mbps and 100Mbps, respectively. Power consumption is of up to 200 mA.
Compatibility-wise, the USB 2.0 interface is supported by lots of things, although it isn't as fast as USB 3.0 (480 Mbps versus 4.8/5 Gbps). The adapter does supply current on all four ports though.
Moving on, the supported operating systems, as demanded by compatibility with both Apple and Wintel / Windows on AMD systems, are thus: Windows 8 (32.64 bit), Windows 7 (32.64 bit) and Mac OS X 10.5 ~ 10.8.
Furthermore, the power supply voltage is of DC 5V (USB bus power) and the adapter is compatible with VCCI Class A and RoHS Directives to boot.
Sales should start soon, if they haven't already, for a price of 3,255 Yen (about $32 / €25). A manual and support software CD-ROM are included in the box, making everything weigh about 90 grams in total (3.17 ounces, give or take).