Technology

I really don't think it's that stupid. Your particular machine has a lot of ports, yeah. But there are plenty of machines out there, like the 12-inch non-pro macbook, that have ONE USB-C PORT and absolutely no other ports. That's clearly limiting. Like, you can connect it to ethernet, if you buy an additional USB-C ethernet adapter, but if you want to be able to ethernet and have it connected to power at the same time, you need to buy a special power brick that combines the two functions, because they didn't include any other ports.

Plus, there are a bunch of things that still use USB-A. I've got a bunch of old thumb drives that work like that, especially for transferring video files to my TV, which only supports USB-A itself. Wireless dongles for mice and game controllers, which still offer a latency advantage over bluetooth, tend to be USB-A as well. I've also got a wearable pulse oximeter that requires a special cable to load data, and the other end of that cable is USB-A only. Again, you can get an adapter dongle, but that's never as convenient as just having the right port in the first place.

I went a bit out of my way to get a laptop with a decent collection of ports (and it's a bit of a less portable laptop as a result, maybe more like a desktop replacement), but even it has for some reason dropped the SD card reader, which I would have used a lot. I had to get a dongle for that. And I had to get one that used USB-C in particular, because my USB-A ports are usually both filled.

Basically the selection of ports used to be something that laptops used as a point of differentiation and pride in a crowded market; but Apple managed to invert this, making the prestige marker having a slimmer laptop with as few ports as possible, and that was a dumb change. I do think the pendulum is swinging back, as with your Pro macbook, but I don't think it's unreasonable to be frustrated with the way this element of the market went in such a consumer-hostile direction for a while.

This post is actually so stupid, they didn’t take shit from us, it’s still right there.

It's not. it's quite visibly not there.

USB-A/B is very outdated.

I take it you are offering to provide me with the adapters needed for all my USB-A devices, and my square-USB printers, for free? Because your mouth certainly runs well oiled.

USB-C can be used to deliver audio, video, ethernet connection, etc. You didn’t lose any functionality. Worst case scenario you’d need a hub for the card readers or a usb to usb-c adapter, or ethernet to usb-c.

Worst case scenario is if you have one sole USB-C connector and it breaks or is damaged. You'd lose all the eggs you had in one basket, whereas with separate adequate connectors you'd at least get to keep some workflow.

The recent macbooks are heading back in the right direction.

I think a lot of the complants come from wanting a portable computer/setup, and having a hub or a bunch of adapters takes away the portability.

I think the ideal I/O for me would be;

• Power
• 4x USBc (displayport, high speed, etc.)
• 1x USBA (flash drives are still mostly A, and if you have a wireless USB mouse, not needing an adapter or dealing with bluetooth is great)
• 3.5 headphone/mic combo jack
• Ethernet
• HDMI, at least until more monitors have USBC inputs, although having an adapter cable isn't too bad.

This is where I like framework approach with the customizable IO, but I think they need to shrink the blocks to give 6-8 ports. 4 is simply not enough, with one used up for power.

Agreed, but I do wish there were more USB - C ports

Exactly, I’m looking at these pics and don’t even have cables to fit any of these other than a USBC anymore. And I love that I can charge with a regular cable and don’t have to bring a charging brick anywhere. Just a phone charger works

Oh sure, they didn't take away everything. The weight stayed.

Enjoy your dongle hell.