USB Hub question

Hope some of our more Tekkie members can help!

I am REALLY short of USB ports - my Laptop has 2 (old USB 1.0), however I have the laptop in a docking station, which only has ONE USB (1.0 speed), so I lose one.

I have a 4-port powered hub plugged in, but 4 USB ports is just not enough any more - I need at least 8 devices plugged in!

I also have 4 USB ports integrated into the speaker panel on my flat-screen monitor, but can't use those ports as my USB hub is not powerful enough to power those ports!!

My questions:

If I buy a new, externally powered 8-port USB hub, will it have an integrated host-bus controller, which will enable USB 2.0, or will it ONLY give the the additional connectivity I need without the extra speed of USB 2.0?

Also, will a new externally-powered USB hub have enough power to drive another hub " daisy-chained" - I'd love to be able to use the hub on my monitor to plug in portable items such as my camera?

(I'd really like to try and get USB 2.0 speed as my skype phone, mobile phone, camera and iPod all have USB 2.0 capabilities, and USB 1,0 is SO slow - it takes HOURS to update my iPod!!

If no one here can tell you, I always ask my questions at My PC Clinic.com and they are pretty good there.

You will have to talk with a techie at wherever you buy the USB hub because I think this all depends on which particular device you buy. I know a lot of new USB hubs have software to update the old 1.0 hubs to 2, but some don't. I would think the new externally powered hub would have enough power to daisy chain other items, but again, the tech should be able to help you because I would think it would depend on the specific device you buy.

I have always found the techs at cdw.com to be very helpful, but I don't know what kind of support they offer online and I know you're not in the US so calling might not work.

I have 1.0 on my laptop also, and it takes almost 5 hours to do a complete backup! :eek: Compare this to about 20 minutes on my 2.0 at work, so you can see that I know what you mean about hating 1.0. I've only recently begun to run out of USB hubs on my laptop (2 of them) and have made do by unplugging certain items depending on what I'm using at any specific time, but I'm thinking the day will come when I'll need to do exactly what you're doing, so let us know what you find out. :)