This is the mindset that will keep USB-A ports around forever. Somebody has to be the one to move the world forward, and it's usually Apple who's most willing to retire old ports. At this point I would kill for an Anker battery pack with three or four USB-C ports, instead every single one of them contains wasted USB-A ones that I have no use for.
Any USB-C ports on my laptops go unused, so I exclusively buy devices with min. 3 USB-A ports. All of my peripherals and cables are USB-A, and it's so much easier to tinker with USB-A ports due to the smaller amount of pins (easy to jam in multimeter probes etc)
I've been looking for a powered desktop USB hub with both A and C ports and there just doesn't seem to be any reasonable products out there. It's all laptop hub and docs that require that connect to a C port via a 4" cable.
And usually its on the case and not at the back of the MoBo. Mine does have a single one, but on the MoBo since I made sure that I had at least one for my capture card.
It doesn't make sense to extrapolate tech lifetime linearly. Once we hit the physical limits of physical connections, then we can revisit the I/O timelines.
Having two ports with one taken up for charging (so one usable) is inadequate.
But I suppose the problem with adding more is now you need to offer all the things that could be connected on all of them. But you are not willing to provision the hardware to do that. Thats not sunsetting, thats being cheap.
I dunno, I also have a Razer Blade and a MacBook and the lack of that one A port pisses me off regularly. Meanwhile the Razer team managed to fit it next to Thunderbolt and other ports.
It's just such a pointlesslly user hostile move for some Californian dude to make a point about progress.
Every time I find myself wanting to just quickly use a thumb drive by I'm on my M1 Air laptop... sigh Don't have a dongle with me, so guess it'll have to wait.
I'd be fine with 2 of each even accepting 1 of the two USB-C ports will probably be for charging.
Here I am with my stupid USB-C ports that have an ugly, unwieldy dongle attached to them so that I can use my USB-A devices. If this is the future, I don't like it.
I have female-A-to-male-C cables, I have male-A-to-female-C cables. Some of them have the USB 3 pins (which has kind of been a niche case for C in my life), all of them are safe up to 5A power.
All my computers that didn't have C now have at least one, and all of my C-only computers have an A they can use if they need one.
> It seems pointless to spend money upgrading hardware, like mice and keyboards, to a new port when the benefits are questionable, and you probably won't notice a performance difference.
Right? If manufacturers stopped permanently attaching USB cables to mice and keyboards, then the problem is solved. That way you can get the cable you need, or maybe you decide to go cordless. It's up to you.
Sadly, the port is [a few cents] more expensive than the captive cable, especially with USB >= 3.0* on USB-C where a port must handle connector reversal. (And if course if you look at "final price" with including a cable in the box :/)
* e.g. keyboard with USB3 hub
(FWIW my mouse actually has a USB-C port, it's a dual wired/wireless Keychron M6. Really nice way of doing it IMHO.)
Btw, "port must handle reversal" is why USB-C -> USB-C + optional C-to-A adapter have the adapter fixed on so you can't rotate it. It's not just good UX, the adapter would also otherwise need to handle reversal.
Half the keyboards I've used in the past few years are detachable on the keyboard end. :-) Though, they mostly have 2 A ports for N-key rollover support.
VGA isn’t going anywhere so stop removing it. DVI isn’t going anywhere so stop removing it.
What a dumb comment. USB-C has been available for over a decade now. Just drop type A and force everyone to use adapters for their remaining type A devices since we’re all forced at this point to use them anyway.
USB-A had a long life. It's time to move on.
So, how do you know that USB A won't have a lifetime of 63 years (the age of the RS-232 standard for serial ports)?
But a computer I bought new 22 months ago (on which I am writing these words) has 7 USB A ports, 1 serial port and 0 USB C ports.
It's hardly ever more than two, if that.
Having two ports with one taken up for charging (so one usable) is inadequate. But I suppose the problem with adding more is now you need to offer all the things that could be connected on all of them. But you are not willing to provision the hardware to do that. Thats not sunsetting, thats being cheap.
The charger could have a USB C or A port on it easily.
I have a Razer Blade. One USB-A and one USB-C on each side of the machine. It just makes so much sense.
It's just such a pointlesslly user hostile move for some Californian dude to make a point about progress.
Personally I'd rather use a USB C hub anyways. I don't want to plug in more than a cable if I don't have to.
I'd be fine with 2 of each even accepting 1 of the two USB-C ports will probably be for charging.
I have female-A-to-male-C cables, I have male-A-to-female-C cables. Some of them have the USB 3 pins (which has kind of been a niche case for C in my life), all of them are safe up to 5A power.
All my computers that didn't have C now have at least one, and all of my C-only computers have an A they can use if they need one.
> It seems pointless to spend money upgrading hardware, like mice and keyboards, to a new port when the benefits are questionable, and you probably won't notice a performance difference.
Not a very strong or convincing argument.
* e.g. keyboard with USB3 hub
(FWIW my mouse actually has a USB-C port, it's a dual wired/wireless Keychron M6. Really nice way of doing it IMHO.)
Btw, "port must handle reversal" is why USB-C -> USB-C + optional C-to-A adapter have the adapter fixed on so you can't rotate it. It's not just good UX, the adapter would also otherwise need to handle reversal.
What a dumb comment. USB-C has been available for over a decade now. Just drop type A and force everyone to use adapters for their remaining type A devices since we’re all forced at this point to use them anyway.
Just kill it off already.
Weird. The latest Mac Pro has USB A ports.
So does the Mac Studio.