Belkin’s meeting room UFO offers some serious juice

By

The Belkin meeting room power center with 4 AC power outlets and 8 USB ports. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The Belkin meeting room power center has 4 AC power outlets and 8 USB ports. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Modern day meetings around the conference table may be a rare occurrence in our often-mobile and telecommuting world, but when they happen, the incoming mass of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks need a lot of electricity.

Instead of making all your employees figure out where the outlets are (under the table? behind them on the wall?), why not provide a big fat power center in the middle of the action? The Belkin Meeting Room Power Center aims to do just that, with a huge, round UFO-looking power hub that sports four actual plugs and a generous eight USB ports.

That’s a lot of power.

While I wouldn’t necessarily want to drop this big round UFO onto my coffee table all the time, it’s relatively small footprint and easily accessed AC and USB ports make it a great match for a small to medium sized conference table in a modern office.

It looks good and provides enough USB and AC outlets to power through your next agile development session, for sure.

The rounded shape of the power center assures that folks on all sides of the table can plug in their laptop or USB-powered gadget with ease, and the weight of the thing and its non-slip bottom makes sure it stays put on that fancy table when you’re all slamming in your power cords before the big meeting.

The USB ports provide 2.1A of fast-charging power, which means you can successfuly plug in a power-hungry iPad 3 without any worries. The hub has a 1080-Joule energy rating and an LED surge protection light to show you that your pricey iOS devices are grounded and protected. Heck,it’s even got a $25,000 warranty against any problems with your connected equipment. That’s pretty solid.

There’s a missed opportunity on the top of this tabletop power hub, though. Instead of the Belkin logotype, why not put another couple of USB ports, or maybe even a bluetooth speaker for those iPhone conference calls? The big round top piece is just a waste of space on an otherwise super useful power device.

If you’re looking for a power strip that will look better on top of your table than, well, a power strip, the Belkin Meeting Room Power Center is your best bet. It looks good and provides enough USB and AC outlets to power through your next agile development session, for sure.

Power CenterMeeting Room Power Center by Belkin ($99.99)

The good: A ton of fast-charge USB ports and AC outlets make this essential meeting room kit.

The bad: The top of the hub needs some functionality added.

The verdict: Solidly built and protected by a $25,000 connected equipment warranty, this UFO-looking power hub will keep you powered up through any meeting for a nice price.

Buy from Belkin

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.