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Back in the ‘90’s, they had every port you could imagine, and some STILL felt the need to use a docking station. You really can’t please everyone. I actually like the streamlined setup more these days. Because I’d rather have ports I actually use and that are fairly standardised, as opposed to a bunch of others that are of no use.
I never used most of the ports on my 90’s laptops. Never used a parallel port, PS2, never used the PCMCIA cars slot, etc.
All I really need is a full sized HDMI, a few USB-C’s and one or two A’s for convenience.
I’m glad I can plug in one port and have a dual display setup, all peripherals, speakers, ethernet, charging, etc connected at my desk in one go.
If I want to leave, unplug one thing and I’m good to go.
I’m good with it to be honest. One port that can do it all. Not proprietary.
The longer we keep including legacy ports the longer they’ll stick around on peripheral devices
Manufactures won’t change until forced.
But I already have peripheral devices with older connectors. This just forces me to buy dongles.
Also, USB-C can only “do it all” on paper. In practice you have multiple sockets on any given device that support different subsets of the standard. If you’re lucky, the capabilities are printed right on the device or in the manual. If you’re unlucky you’ll have to figure it out yourself.
You’re usually safe with Apple’s Type-C port supporting a lot.
But I already have peripheral devices with older connectors. This just forces me to buy dongles.
I already have a computer with USB-C - legacy connectors on peripherals force me to buy dongles.
Also, USB-C can only “do it all” on paper. In practice you have multiple sockets on any given device that support different subsets of the standard.
It’s definitely not as good as it should’ve been, but as long as PC manufactures include as many standards as possible it should play well with whatever standard the peripherals are using.
I already have a computer with USB-C - legacy connectors on peripherals force me to buy dongles.
That’s why I want my computer to have both.
It’s definitely not as good as it should’ve been, but as long as PC manufactures include as many standards as possible it should play well with whatever standard the peripherals are using.
Until it doesn’t.
Almost everything I have has a USB A or a DE-9 plug. I don’t have a single peripheral that plugs into a USB C port. I don’t want to deal with dongles and I’m certainly not going to replace my perfectly good hardware.
Eh, it’s been a standard for nearly a decade now. We’d still be on DVI with this attitude.
The big issue in my eyes is that they cut down on ports period. Yeah sure you can do it all. Here’s 2 ports for your trouble. There’s not a meaningful amount of them after. My current personal laptop has 2 USB a, one type c, HDMI and microsd. My work laptop is the same, but flipped usba and c. That’s fine for a lot of people, including myself. But then you look at other machines like the xps 13 Plus which has like 2. Or a MacBook air. Which also has 2 but at least you get a headphone jack.
For sure, 3 on one side and 2 on the other minimum.
Buy dongles and splitter dongles.
ThinkPad gang laughing in redundant tf ports
Even Lenovo is doing it with Thinkpads, the t14 gen 6 has soldiered ram and only two USB A ports
Even the latest P series:
https://laptopmedia.com/au/guides/how-to-open-lenovo-thinkpad-p14s-gen-4-disassembly-and-upgrade-options/You can only add/swap a M.2 SSD, and WWAN modem.
Even worse, build quality and durability is significantly worse due to Lenovo making the T and P series Thinkpads thinner and lighter.
They’ve added upgradable RAM with the Gen 5 models. The WIFI card is soldered, though, which isn’t as bad but still meh for longevity IMO
Lenovo is only a shadow of its former self. Get used to it; everything gets sacrified for the god Mammon and the sake of slimness.
I’m on the other side wishing peripherals would catch up and all become USB-C already. I’m tired of USB-A.
Problem: This is what happens when you pick Apple.
To make our laptops look clean and minimalistic, they made us buy a bunch of dongles and adapters.
Screw it, I’m buying a rugged laptop with the thickness of a desktop PC next
It’s your fault if you buy it
I dunno - I’m pretty sure I’d choose the modern MacBook Pro’s ports over any of these other options.
We’re mindlessly bashing Apple here, we don’t need your sensible reasoning!
Continue bashing, they use apple maths and only have ports on expensive models.
That picture is from the tech specs page of the base 14-inch
From my personal experience Apple products aren’t as great as the fanboys claim but are far far better than they haters say they are.
Where do you see Apple bashing? Most comments are about the general state of notebook ports.
An ethernet port is essential for any computer.
It’s really not. I have one on my work laptop and have never plugged an Ethernet jack into it. That stays permanently in my dock and gets transferred to the laptop via USB-C. All other non-desk work is done via … WiFi. Shock! Literally can’t tell the difference when making money.
Exactly! What are you going to do if your router dies (or you mess something up fiddling w/ things)? I may only need it once/year or so, but when I do, it’s really important and I most likely can’t find the dongle.
An RJ-45 port could totally fit on there if they used one of those flip-down things that Dell has on their professional line.
I just this … https://a.co/d/ijxaPae
If you got that kind of money to spend on a laptop, sure. I really don’t.
Edit: to be clear, I know this is a stack of Mac’s in OPs picture, but the development that the entry models have basically no ports at all is a more recent development. Having to pick the pro just to be able to connect your stuff without dongles or hubs is a bit insane considering the price (and price difference).
Yeah, props to Apple for bringing back the card reader and HDMI. When I bought my early 2015 MBP I specifically went with the older model because these ports were removed on the newer one which also came with the shitty butterfly keyboard as well which they’ve also since discontinued.
Power, HDMI, a few USBs, and headphones, all you’ll ever likely need.
There’s no doubt a dongle for anything else.
Unless you want a desk setup. I have 2 monitors, kb, mouse, external dac, usb extension for thumbdrives, ethernet, usb soundcard for my mic and a kvm. That’s dp, hdmi, 6 usb-a, ethernet and I still sometimes plug-in 1-3 devices to charge them.
It sounds like you need a desktop computer or a docking station.
That’s a use case for a laptop dock if ever there was one.
Like I already said to another user: No. There are more than a few use cases that require a mobile set up for demos for example but that you’d also want to use in a desk setting. For example, architects or sw dev.
Why are you making an effort to justify getting shafted by corporations?
We aren’t justifying getting shafted by corporations. What I and the other person are saying is that at some point as your connections and cables multiply, you need to consolidate and streamline your setup for it to be more practical and actually mobile. I’m all for having all the basic necessity ports on my laptop, but when your desk ends up as a mess of cables and pulling out and putting back your laptop becomes bothersome with having to attach/re-attach everything every time, having a dock makes it much simpler. Subjecting yourself to setting up all those cables on both ends instead of just one end is the opposite of having a mobile workstation for quick setup and cleanup.
You’re still missing the forest for the trees.
There’s no real reason why you’d have to choose having a few ports + a hub or tons of ports + the option of using a hub.
If you prefer to “consolidate” your devices to a single poinf of failure on an external device then by all means, go ahead. I just think that it’s pretty crappy that options are being artificially limited and users of all people are making excuses for it.
In this situation a hub is still better. You can pack all the stuff away plugged into the hub for easier set up. If your plugging that all into your laptop, you’ll need to plug it all back in again when you move.
Which might be an issue for you but it’s not for me. Also, I prefer the flexibility to have all of the ports I might need, natively.
With that many connections, using a dock or a monitor with thunderbolt seems more practical than having a ton of stuff plugged into your laptop.
It’s not about it being practical. It’s about if it’s actually doable or not and how well it would work. Having the native ports will always be better that using a hub/dock.
Strongly disagree. I use a laptop with a thunderbolt dock. Being able to plug in a single cable to provide power, connect my monitor, all of my input devices, Ethernet, and anything else in a single cable is awesome. If I had to plug 10 things in manually it would be quite cumbersome. I disconnect the laptop daily as I bring it between work and home, as well as use it, well, as a portable laptop.
Kudos to you.
What you could do now is step out of your bubble and consider that other people have different use cases and might need or prefer to have more native ports.
You literally lose nothing by having more connectivity options.
Except the device inevitably ends up bigger and chunkier.
Yeah, because plugging in one thing is way harder than plugging in six.
This is a classic use case for a laptop dock.
That’s a very lazy, short-sighted and first world problem way of looking at this issue.
Why would having the option of using either a hub or plugging things on separately be worse than only being able to use a hub?
Because I don’t want a chonky boi laptop to carry around.
Cause I live toting a do gle around and risk breaking the laptop because of it.
I did enough of that in the 90’s, TYVM
in the ’90s*
Username checks out.
SD card reader is nice to have if you fuck around with cameras and microphones.
Yes, and it’s better to be downgrading USB-C ports with adapters than to be stuck adapting a USB-A port to USB-C or ethernet.
Cause I live toting a do gle around and risk breaking the laptop because of it.
I did enough of that in the 90’s, TYVM
in the ’90s*
I have an M2 Air, and all mine is missing from that is the SDXC slot, third TB4 and HDMI, and honestly, it’s fine. A third TB4/USB would be nice for when I’m doing my radio show and have to plug in my controller and mic while also charing my phone, but I already have a hub so it doesn’t bother me.
That said, the limited ports on my M1 mini are quite problematic. Two TB3/USB, but one of them is lost to a DisplayPort cable for my second monitor. So I have a desktop computer that functionally has three USB sockets, which ain’t great. But again, I have a hub, so it’s not a huge problem.
Zero USB-A ports? Hell no…
Yeah M1+ Macs are great. I say this as a diehard Apple hater
Where is the removable battery? Did ANY Apple laptops have that?
Yes, pre 2013 models had a screwed in battery. I had a 2011 pro that I changed/upgraded the ram, hard drive, and battery myself.
Oh sweet child. What has Apple done to people? A removable battery looks like this:
https://www.ifixit.com/products/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-x220i-x230i-replacement-battery
You just snap it onto the computer. No disassembly. No tools. No screws. All laptops and cell phones except Apple used to have them. You could carry several charged batteries with you and swap them as needed. Some laptops even used two, so you could hot swap with no power interruption.
And we walked to school barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways. :)
I love it personally. At work I have two monitors, networking, mouse and keyboard all going through one port. So much easier in my opinion.
All the people saying buy a dongle are forgetting to mention that dongles stop working all the fucking time. It’s yet another potential point of failure that stops ALL work dead in its tracks if it happens.
On the other hand, ports on laptops fail too, so having several USB-C ports that can do basically everything is great for if one or two of them somehow break.
If the HDMI port on your laptop breaks, and the only other stuff you have is 3xUSB-A, ethernet, and an SD card slot, you’re shit out of luck if you want to output to a monitor or TV.
You’re not really expected to repeatedly remove the HDMI port itself from the laptop
They still break
Out of the two, you’re more likely to have the dongle break first. Those cables have a limited life of bending before snapping or the internal wiring coming undone or a failed connection or just cheap hardware. My first dongle I bought about 2 years ago is getting to that point with me carrying it in my backpack.
I still have my IBM ThinkPad running Windows 95 that has all of its ports still working to this day. The screen hinges are the only thing that has broken on it in all this time. Same for many other laptops I’ve had over the years. Even a gaming laptop I had had its plastic housing break along the sides of the ports due to a fall, but no ports were ever damaged or became inoperable in its life.
Just one port to rule them all
