The difference between a hub and a switch

The main difference between a hub and a switch is on a theoretical plane, called OSI. There are 7 layers to the OSI model, and hubs lye on layer 1, the physical layer, Vs a switch which lies on layer 2, the data link layer. The differences between those two layers is that the physical layer interfaces with a network devices and passes signals along to every device on the network until it finds the proper destination. A hub does this, and it is inefficient because the hub must pass the signal to every port till it finds the right device, thus causing a loss of bandwidth. A switch is able to communicate on the data link layer, which looks at the MAC address of each device connected. Using this information it makes a table and sends the data directly to the device, thus preserving bandwidth and being more efficient. While preserving bandwidth a switch is also able to operate in Full Duplex, which means it can send and receive information simultaneously, which in essence doubles the available bandwidth per connection.