All the other brands went along

This is my ~8 month old work laptop.

Is a Dell.

2 usb c not pictured.

You have options.

As long as you're not an apple cult member you do.
- Apple brought back the mag charger.
  
  I wish it still had the SD reader and one A port, but it doesn’t really come up that often. Just 3D printing and only because I’m too lazy to set up a octoprint server or whatever.
- I was recently convinced that the M1 MBP is one of the cheapest and most cost effective laptops on the market right now. I know it sounds crazy but it appears to be true. You can get a m1 mbp refurbished (sometimes with warranty) for anywhere between $400 - $700. Making it a budget laptop. It also destroys anything in that price range in terms of performance and what you are getting.
It's beautiful.
While I personally prefer this, I'm going to guess that the majority of people are generally not going to be using more than 2 or three usb ports at once. My take is that for most people, 2 Cs, an A, DP or HDMI would be optimal.

The availability of BT and wifi peripherals make this acceptable for many.

I still have a cutting plotter that uses RS232, but that's connected to an oldish desktop, on the network, so a laptop never gets connected physically.

I'm not saying that this is good, simply that this is probably acceptable for many.
- I have the same mac pictured above, and also a windows laptop with many ports.
  
  The mac I plug into my work center via a single usb-c connection which charges it, connects it to my external monitor, and connects it to all of my USB equipment (about 6 items ranging from m&k to music equipment). Having only the one wire is huge in terms of making it easier to break down the machine from its setup and pack it up for the road.
  
  The pc is connected separately to power as it can’t be powered through the usb-c, and to the monitor separately for some esoteric reason. So then I need a third cable to connect it to my equipment.
  
  So in my case the less-is-more approach is actually preferable
  
  that all being said
  
  I’m sure other windows laptops can be configured with a one-wire solution just fine. And I don’t mean to pretend the 2x usb-c config was a popular choice or anything. Only on like two models or something had it. The newer macbooks brought back sd card slots and hdmi and everything by popular demand.
  
  I looked into it and you can still run everything off of just one usb-c on those ones, so at the end of the day more options is just better for more people
Yep. My work laptop:
Haha I have almost exactly the same one. Probably a slightly older model. Works for most stuff but mine only has 8GB RAM which is a bit of a killer...
- It's most likely expandable, have you checked?
Dell makes some fantastic enterprise laptops
What model of Dell is that?
- Precision 3581
My 4 month old laptop has hdmi on the back, ethernet on the left, four usb 3.whatever slots with two on each side, two USB c slots on the right side, and a microsd slot.

I think it even has a 3.5mm headset jack but I'd have to get out of bed to check. I don't have any peripherals that use 3.5mm anymore though so it's just a nice little bonus.
You have options.

I don't. We have standardized on Macbook Pros at work because otherwise we'd have to use the company-issued image, which really sucks for development work (multi-day turnaround to get anything approved).

I'm interested in replacing my current laptop (E495 Thinkpad), and it's really hard to find anything sensible w/ an RJ-45 port, especially one w/ decent Linux support. I want something in a similar form factor (14", or 16" if the bezels are really thin), but with updated internals (nothing fancy, but the 3500U is getting a bit slow for casual gaming).

I've been thinking of a Framework laptop, but the RJ-45 port is wack, only having 4 ports kind of sucks (they could have better density with those ports), and it doesn't have the Trackpoint that I like so much about my Thinkpad. We'll see what I end up with when I actually buy one though, but maybe I'll have to take another look at Dell's professional line.
- anything decent with an RJ-45 port
  
  Not sure if the current generation still has it, but work issued us techs with ThinkPad L14 Gen 3 laptops and I've been happy with it as a work device. It has an RJ-45 (was considered a requirement when they procured the laptops for techs) and mine has a Ryzen 5 Pro 5675U. Only complaints I would have for it is soldered USB-C connectors (which double as the only power source for the machine) and keyboard isn't as nice as my personal T480 although definitely still fine.
  
  I would caution against the 12th gen Intel i7 ThinkPads, we've had multiple internally have overheating issues or stuck in connected standby. My colleague wishes he never replaced his original work issue (same as mine).
The apple bois wont appreciate this
Look at all those ports I'll never need

We should have had USBC 20 years ago.
- It's still cool to have options

That's the way to do it. I just wish Framework had a better selection of modules available and had more module bays on their laptops.
- Is a dongle that doesn’t dangle even really a dongle at all?
- What module would you like to have.
- I just wish the existing dongles had a bit more density to them. That's a lot of space for a micro-SD slot, they totally could have fit a full SD card in there as well, and perhaps even a micro-USB or headphone jack.
  
  I like being able to swap them, but each USB-C port can handle a lot more than a single-use dongle.
- Why are the modules so wide?
That's hot af
- In case you're not aware, that's a Framework laptop.
- I'll be in my bunk.
- yea this is the way. is only they had more high end components
Love mine.
ok but where's the pcmcia slot! /sees myself out
- It's SDCARD since like 1999. Sheesh, get current mate! 🤣
I have a framework, and while this system is pretty cool, I don't change the cards often and I only have 4 cards. I'd rather have some more built-in ports too.
- I don't change them ever. But I have the exact set of ports I need now
- That's one of the cool things about the framework, though, just the fact that you can, because I swap my ports all the time. I use it to game on my big TV at home, but I almost never need an HDMI port on the go, so I pop it out and pop in another USB-C or something.
Oh my god
Framework baby!!!
This is the way
still only 4 ports thou
What a waste of chassis space.
- Yeah, I wish they had 2 dedicated USB-C ports (one on each side) and had the four swappable bays. The RJ-45 port also look really dumb, I think they could have done something a bit more clever there.

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!
- 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.
- Continue bashing, they use apple maths and only have ports on expensive models.
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).
- It really depends on what you use your laptop for. My 2013 MBP lasted 9 years and was how I got my work done. That comes out to 76¢ per day, and I make a fair bit more than that per hour.
  
  But if you’re looking for a personal computer to surf the internet, yes, that could be cost prohibitive. But then it also matters less what device you buy.
  
  As for ports, I’ve never needed a dongle on the 2013 model. I did need one for a USB A drive on the newest model, but this little thing has solved that problem easily. I didn’t even have to buy that since my monitor has USB A ports – I was just too lazy to reach around the back to use it every time. I’m not sure I understand all the complaints about the occasional need for a dongle.
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 and two USB3, 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.
An ethernet port is essential for any computer.
- 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.
- 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.
Power, HDMI, a few USBs, and headphones, all you'll ever likely need.

There's no doubt a dongle for anything else.
- 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.
- SD card reader is nice to have if you fuck around with cameras and microphones.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Zero USB-A ports? Hell, no...
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.
Yeah M1+ Macs are great. I say this as a diehard Apple hater

Fuck firewire. Glad it's dead. USB C is the best thing to happen to peripherals since the mouse.

USB C is the best thing to happen to peripherals since the mouse.

I would agree with you if there were a simple way to tell what the USB-C cable I have in my hand can be used for without knowing beforehand. Otherwise, for example, I don't know whether the USB-C cable will charge my device or not. There should have been a simple way to label them for usage that was baked into the standard. As it is, the concept is terrific, but the execution can be extremely frustrating.
- Hey that's a fair point. Funny how often good ideas are kneecapped by crap executions.
- Burn all the USBC cables with fire except PD. The top PD cable does everything the lower cable does.
- Buying a basic, no-frills USB-C cable from a reputable tech manufacturer all but guarantees that it'll work for essentially any purpose. Of course the shoddy pack-in cables included with a cheap device purchase won't work well.
  
  I replaced every USB-C-to-C or -A-to-C cable and brick in my house and carry bag with a very low cost Anker cable (except the ones that came with my Google products, those are fine), and now anything charges on any cable.
  
  You wouldn't say that a razor sucked just because the cheap replacement blades you bought at the dollar store nicked your face, or that a pan was too confusing because the dog food you cooked in it didn't taste good. So too it is not the fault of USB-C that poorly manufactured charging bricks and cables exist. The standard still works; in fact, it works so well that unethical companies are flooding the market with crap.
- Do not all USB C cables have the capability to do Power Delivery? I thought it was up to the port you plugged it in to support it?
- Yeah, I totally get that there is a need for cheap power only cables, but why are there what feels like 30 different data "standards". Just gimme power-only, data, and fast-data. And yeah, in 2 years there'll be a faster data protocol, so what, that's then fast-data24, fast-data26, etc. and manufacturers have to use a specific pictogram to label them according to the highest standard they fulfill.
- Agreed. They should be labeled with the rating.
  
  This little guy works wonders for me.
  
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002371533933.html
- I would agree with you if there were a simple way to tell what the USB-C cable I have in my hand
  
  https://caberqu.com/home/39-ble-caberqu-0611816327412.html
  
  This would do it.
- There should have been a simple way to label them for usage that was baked into the standard.
  
  There is. USB IF provides an assortment of logos and guidelines for ports and cables to clearly mark data speed (like "10Gbps"), power output (like "100W" or "5A"), whether the port is used for charging (battery icon), etc. But most manufacturers choose not to actually use them for ports.
  
  Cables I've seen usually are a bit better about labeling. I have some from Anker and ugreen that say "SS”, "10Gbps", or "100W". If they don't label the power it's probably 3A and if they don't label the data speed it's usually USB 2.0, though I have seen a couple cables that support 3.0 and don't label it.
I agree with USB-C, but there are still a million USB-A devices I need to use, and I can't be bothered to buy adapters for all of them. And a USB hub is annoying.

Plus, having 1-2 USB-C ports only is never gonna be enough. If they are serious about it, why not have 5?
- Yeah, I'd love at least one USB A type cause most of the peripherals I own use that.
- It’s not that bad
- I bought some adaptors in China for around $0.50 each. It really isn't that big of a deal
- You can't buy a UCB-C Wifi dongle that last time I checked. You have to buy a c-to-a adapter, then use a usb-a wifi dongle. It's nuts that those don't exist.
I hated when mice became the primary interface to computers, and I still do.
- tell me you use i3 without telling me you use i3
- Is this for real?
- You have passed the test. We can be friends.
I agree, I would just like to have more of them.
Nah, USB-A was the best since it replaced serial ports (esp PS/2, which was much harder to plug in) and outlived/outclassed FireWire. USB-C is the best thing since HDM (screw you VGA amd DVI), which was the best since USB-A.

I dont know why this is controversial. I'm way more happy with 4x USB-C, than 5 unique ports, that will likely never be used on a regular basis, even when they were relevant

4 USBC would be cool. Most of these devices only have 2 or 3, minus 1 required for power delivery. If you have peripherals a hub is almost required.
- Content note: shilling
  
  !https://frame.work/!<
- I do have 4, but except for extremely rare circumstances I only ever use one. A single USBC cable handles an external display, power, plus extra accessories like a keyboard via a built-in hub in the monitor. If you wanted to that monitor also supports daisy chaining another monitor without having to plug it into the laptop.
  
  Obviously it's quite a subjective thing, but if you happen to use tools from after USBC was a thing and your laptop routine is pretty established, I think you can get a ton of simplicity and function out of those ports.
How about this:

4x USB-C (can't see why I'd need 4 though, 3 is plenty)

2x USB-A

HDMI

RJ-45

headphone jack

microsd

That should still fit just fine on the chassis if they didn't do the stupid curve thing, and it certainly wouldn't make it thicker.
- There is still a headphone jack, it's on the other side.
- Especially the HDMI and jack are just silly to drop.
- I would prefer 10x USB C than that shit, lol
- I honestly wish every company would just stop using USB A. So many companies still including it are preventing device manufacturers from going all in on C.
- They already come with what you ask, minus usb-a and honestly fuck usb-a
  
  2024 16" macbook pro: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/121554
  
  Charging and Expansion
  
  SDXC card slot
  
  HDMI port
  
  3.5 mm headphone jack
  
  MagSafe 3 port
  
  Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for:
  
  Charging
  
  DisplayPort
  
  Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s)
  
  Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
  
  USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
- RJ45 and HMDI in particular are way thicker than usb-c
You like a little baggy of dongles and adapters?
- All you need is a travel dongle with hdmi displayport some USB-A and ethernet (If you really need that, tho) for me laptop screen on the go is good enough, have no usb-A devices (and those who have are upgraded to C using permanent usb legacy adapter mounted on the cable) and on the go, wifi/hotspot is good enough.
  
  At home, ethernet and USB A are connected through the usb C 4k monitor.
- I've got an external screen that connects with a USB-C-to-C cable to that thunderbolt port.
  
  Finding a cable supporting that is harder though, it needs both Power Delivery(PD) as DisplayPort(DP), and most cables don't support the bandwidth for DP.

As long as a computer has 4 usb-c ports, I think you’re covered for everything.

Yes we had more different ports back in the days, but most were never used.

Usb-c is way more practical. Still that implies that you have more than 2 Usb-c ports.

At work both my monitors and networking go through the same port. The monitor also acts as a usb hub.

You can buy an adapter and plug everything in one port.

I love it personally.
- I only have one Usb-c port on my Surface Go 1, but it’s linked to my screen with 4 usb-A ports and one more Usb-c port.
  
  Same as you, I feel I have enough, at least when it’s hooked up to the screen.
- You can only do that because your monitors are not high resolution and high refresh rate. The data cap for usb-c is not that high.
Yeah guys it's way more practical to carry 11 usb c dongles everywhere you go
- That's the most straw in a straw man I've seen in the whole thread.
  
  Most new laptops have USB-C, A, and SD/micro SD, and HDMI. That's 95% of all uses.
  
  If you really need more then you just bought the wrong laptop. Get a Thinkpad or framework 16. If you need to interface with old hardware, get a contemporary machine.

I'm no Apple fanboy (never owned a product of theirs and never will) but to be fair, those two USB-C ports can do everything the old, removed ports can do and more. The real crime here is not putting enough of them on the laptop.

Edit: The only port I'll lament the removal of is the headphone jack. USB-C headphones are rare, adapters get lost, and bluetooth headphones compress the audio and have input lag. Everything else can go, though, and won't be missed. (Okay fine ethernet can stay too.)

And there's the soldered RAM and storage, and glued-in or screwed-in battery...

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

Get a Framework
- I would love one but spending that much for something I won't use that often seems like a waste on money, especially since my current laptop got a decade of life left with Linux.
oh really?

2024 16" macbook pro: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/121554

Charging and Expansion

SDXC card slot

HDMI port

3.5 mm headphone jack

MagSafe 3 port

Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for:

Charging

DisplayPort

Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s)

Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)

USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
- I do like apple as a company over Microsoft and Google but that's like saying you rather eat a frog over spiders and cockroaches.
Sff desktop duct taped to a portable generator and mini projector.

To keep the size down I will use my phone as a keyboard and mouse.

Is this rage bait? Those are different macbooks. I think the bottom ones are pros. My current Pro M2 has HDMI and magsafe. My M1 (Air?) is like the top one, but is not in fact a pro and therefore does not provide as many ports.

It’s a repost of a 6 year old Reddit post.
Yes this is rage bait using an old meme from back when Johnny Ive was working for Apple; the top MacBook is from 2015 and for the last few years they put back MagSafe, HDMI, headphone port, and SD card readers.
Imagine seeing a stack of macbooks and becoming enraged!
The MacBook Pro still doesn’t have USB-A ports. I have an apple silicon model for work and have to use multiple dongles to connect all my peripherals. This is ridiculous for a 2000+ dollar computer.
- USB A is bad and ditching it is the one good thing Apple has done.
  
  There's going to be a transition period, but we're at a point where you can buy USB C peripherals for pretty much anything
- As an fyi, the USB 4 spec doesn't include USB A anymore; only USB C.
- I can’t believe they cancelled 32 pin serial sort and D-sub VGA on 2000 dollar computer!
- Good.
  
  Apple removing the disgusting pile of shit of a connector without a single redeeming quality was a big part of the fact that cables have C ends instead now.
- People still use usb a?

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 glad I can purchase an external dock for an extra few hundred dollars to get the functionality back that existed in older models
- It would be pretty annoying to have to unplug/plug in everything that the previous commenter mentioned every time you wanted to move your laptop. So for something that's meant to be a portable work station, I think it makes sense to use a stationary adapter over a bunch of individual ports on the laptop itself. It would be nice if it was common for laptops to come with an adapter that includes all the ports that are commonly used though.
- Few hundred? What, are you stuck in 1995?
  
  Less than $100 for my current one, and it supports our Dell, Lenovo, and Mac (and I'm no Mac fan).
  
  That said, you'll take my USB A ports from my cold, dead, hand.
- they start around $10 or $20. don’t think you need to waste hundreds for a few extra ports
- We bought some for work to trial and they cost 65€, so hardly hundreds
Outside the Apple world, a dock connector has been the norm way before USB C was invented.
- I miss actual dock connectors. Cramming everything into a single USB-C connection has always been problematic for me. I have a lot of stuff.
  
  My work laptop has a USB-C dock where I have Ethernet (1000mbps), three display port displays, mouse, keyboard, wireless headset dongle, and a dual head USB to displayport adapter.
  
  That's a lot of bandwidth.
  
  I frequently have little problems keeping everything working correctly.
  
  Luckily, I don't push high bandwidth video though any display for work, so generally I don't see many bandwidth problems.
Yup, and that's fantastic if you're working at a consistent desk or something. I have a USB-C hub at home and a USB-C monitor at work, which is pretty nice.

However, what's not nice is connecting ad-hoc. Let's say I go to an unfamiliar meeting room, HDMI is the way to go. Or if I'm going to plug in to my TV at a rental property or something. Or I'm at a friend's house and I want to transfer a bunch of data and they have a USB-A drive. I'm not going to bring a hub around with me everywhere I go, I'd prefer to just plug in whatever I need into the laptop directly.

USB-C is great, not having other options as well isn't great. Give me 2-3 USB-C ports that can all do charging, display out, and data, and also give me a handful of other ports (HDMI, USB-A, RJ-45, headphone jack, etc). It's very rare to find a laptop too thin to support it, most "thin" laptops are merely curved at the edge to make it look thin, when really it's plenty thick to support even full-fat RJ-45 (which it doesn't even need to, I've seen thin laptops with a flip-down port).

I'm on the other side wishing peripherals would catch up and all become USB-C already. I'm tired of USB-A.

A fan of buying new things, eh? I'm on the "keep it until it catches fire" side myself. Why buy new USBC headphones when my 20yo 1/4th>3.5mm Sennheiser HD555s work just fine for both my PC and my receiver connected to the turntable? The only reason is "because companies have decided to phase it out so I have to buy new headphones."

Well, jokes on them, needed a new laptop anyway and Framework has hot-swappable ports including a 3.5mm in addition to being highly fixable, so guess who got the sale over the "nooo you must have MY ports and buy a new one for a busted hinge" companies.
- If it means I only need one charger/interface cable for my phone, tablet, laptop, keyboard, mouse, external drive, yes, I'm a fan. I already switched to wireless headphones when my cat chewed through my second or third pair of Etymotics (honestly forget by now). He forbids me from wearing anything with wires. Other than that, give me USB-C or give me death.
- I mean even Apple hasn't released a laptop without a 3.5mm headphone jack, going back to the Macintosh Portable in 1989†. Even the 2017 MacBook 12 inch that only had a single USB-C port still had a headphone jack.
  
  1/4th>3.5mm
  
  Oh wow you need a dongle? Why don't laptops include 1/4th jacks, there were perfectly fine, industry keeps changing things
  
  †edit: looks like the PowerBook Duo subnotebook series between 1992-1997 also lacked headphone jacks
Like mice and webcams?

.... Yes, I do use Logitech products, why do you ask?
- Rocking an MX Master 3. Best mouse I've ever used. It boggles my mind that the mouse can charge with USB-C but the receiver dongle is still USB-A.
If most devices had a usb-c loop through, that would be amazing.
Like, a stackable connector would be cool

They remove the extra ports because they take up space in the board.

That aside if you’re buying Mac you took it from yourself. No one made you buy it.

As someone who daily drives a laptop for work and does field work on server facilities, finding a modern replacement that has both a RJ45 port and square USB (USB-A?) ports available on both sides, has been a pain in the hassle.

And I'm not even crying over the loss of VGA any longer. That one I can live without.

The annoying thing is they're not even that much thinner. They've just reshaped the edge to make it look like there isn't room for real ports.

Yup. You can only make heatsinks and batteries so thin...

I love USB-C, but I don't went only USB-C. I'm excited to get upgraded at work to the new Macbook Pro because it has HDMI and the magnetic power adapter. I'll never understood why they got rid of those, they're so useful.

USB-C does a lot of heavy lifting. Also, MagSafe™ is still there. A little surprised there is also a SD card slot. And a HDMI port. Not complaining about their inclusion, and I do use them regularly, but why did the dongle company give these to us?

Funny you say this. I’ve been screaming at my usb c to mini display port adapter for the last hour or so. getting the idisplay or what they are called to work on my work laptop is just agony, because the adapter is so old and doesn‘t work properly anymore and the thing doesn’t offer any other connection methods..
I’m pretty happy with a usb-c port multiplier doing all the work. Who wants to carry around all those accessories?

When I want to be portable, all I need is my laptop.

when I sit at my desk, one connection gets me power, monitor, Ethernet, keyboard, mouse, headphones, and lots of empty ports
A lot of people give presentations or connect their laptop to a TV, I don't think taking out the HDMI port would go down well at all.
- They re-added out of pressure from pros
because people kept asking for them back! i never use those ports though, and would really really love to have a full size USB port instead of HDMI i would never ever use. so many accessories still have usb-a adapters only
MagSafe™ is still there.

depends on the laptop. macbook air is the costco best seller proletariat mac, and as of a year ago when I bought mine, it just has 2 usb-c on one side and an audio jack on the other. USB-c power is a deep set connection not magsafe. I miss magsafe.

That's what happens when designers boss engineers around. Form over function is pure cancer and it's becoming pervasive in our civilization due to the overwhelming ubiquity of propaganda(marketing). I have nothing but contempt for these trends.

Good function will usually result into nice form anyways. Like old thinkpads for example.

Enjoy this wonderful Posy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjKjZwd_KY0
- I love that there's a relevant Posy video that is only 22hrs old
"Designers boss engineers".

That's what happens when people who know nothing about the industry post their word soup as fact.
- Alright Elon, we know nobody tops your knowledge of manufacturing around the world. Apple has the best design team in the world, they have brought us genius inventions like on off buttons under desktop computers or charging USB-C ports under a mouse. I bow to the obvious error of my ways and sheepishly retract myself from this conversation.
The consumer does not appear to mind, unfortunately.

I miss having a thousand different cables to keep track of /s

really, all we need is the companies to start packing those laptops with thunderbolt3 or equivalent USB-C (USB 4). I love the old ports, but they were unnecessary. I'd rather the industry finally takes on the open thunderbolt standard and we're all good to go. With 10 thunderbolt ports you have 10 HDMI, or 10 USB, or 10 Ethernet, or 10 headphone jacks, or 10 RJ45 or whatever you need + PCIe tunneling.

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. The transition period might be a bit painful, but worth it.

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.
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.
- When a port is extremely high bandwidth, the number of them stops mattering much. I’m plugging everything into a dock via a single cable anyways, the rest go largely unused. We used to need a dozen ports because each one could only handle a single task and all were relatively low bandwidth.
- For sure, 3 on one side and 2 on the other minimum.
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.
- You don't have to replace anything, but you will have to buy a cheap USB-C -> USB-A dongle
USB-C is fairly open, and USB4 can do most things Thunderbolt 3/4 can do, but there are exceptions like daisy-chaining. Thunderbolt 5 is also out now, and it has no open counterpart. And Thunderbolt is very much proprietary, requiring licensing and certification from Intel.

USB-C is awesome though. I carry one charger amd dongle for HDMI and ethernet. It serves my many devices including Steam Deck, phone and laptop.

It is pretty flexible. But ethernet, displayport, 3.5mm, etc require an adapter. Plus, usb-c's bandwidth is typically 40gbps max, whereas DisplayPort is 80gbps, for example. Not to mention that the number of ports is way lower than it used to be.
- Ethernet goes down USB C, 3.5 is built into the computer and Deck.
- The Apples of this generation pictured all support DisplayPort alt mode, and Thunderbolt 3, through those USB-C ports. That means that you could use passive USB-C to DP cables that didn't need active translation in the cable/adapter itself.
It doesn't serve my IEMs
- With the new Mac, on the otherwise of the laptop there is a 3.5mm combo jack, so you can still use your IEMs and headphones.

I actually prefer the standardization here. Sick of having 2 boxes of different cords.

My current phone lacks a headphone jack and I hate it. It would be okay if it was replaced with two usb c ports, but there's only one which means I either choose between headphones or charging, or I must use an adapter. Or wireless, but I don't want yet another fucking battery to charge.

<--->

Oh yes, the port that HTML passes through

Apple has always been an appearance over function company.

I don't see the problem. Type-C ports can replace all those ports. If you want more ports, buy a dock.

And that becomes annoying if you constantly need more devices connected than what the Mac offers, and constantly have bring the dock.

In the past that was a non-issue. I can see why people would be annoyed by changes like that.
- I have one dock at home, one dock at work. The docks stay connected to the peripherals and I just have to plug in one cable into the laptop to connect everything. I much prefere that over having to plug in 3-4 different cables in the past.
- The dongle is about the size of adult thumb
And this picture doesn’t show the more recent models with the mag lock power, hdmi, and sd card reader.

Type c ports are the best. I connect my monitor through one and it has a type ports on it for a wired keyboard and speakers.
- I can just plug my laptop into a monitor via USB-C, and with that one cable I have:
  
  the display/audio signal going to the monitor
  
  USB passthrough to the monitor that has my wireless KB+M dongle plugged into it
  
  65W charging for my laptop
  
  It's great.
- I have one of the more recent models. When I sit down at my desk, I just plug it into a Thunderbolt dock anyway, through a single port. All those extra ports just sit unused, despite having a USB-A keyboard and mouse, Ethernet jack, and 4k monitor at that desk. Plus the dongle provides power to the laptop.
  
  I do use the SD reader from time to time, though. I used to have an external reader that was a bit unwieldy on the laptop, but it was also a requirement from when I was shooting pictures on a CompactFlash, which has never had a built in reader on any laptop.
Right ?

My m1 MacBook is my first after a lifetime of thinkpads and dells etc.

For about a week, I thought I was short a few ports. Then I got a £20 dongle that takes 1 Port, gives me : 4 usb A, 1 USB C, all the card slots, HDMI and Ethernet.

You can plug anything into it. Life has never been easier.
- It is a straight downgrade. The day you forgot to bring the dongle you are stranded.

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. :)

The desktop equivalent is "What happened to all my PCIe expansion slots?!"

(Note: processor PCIe lane count has gone up, used to be like 16 from CPU, 4 from chipset, since a GPU didn't need an x1x6 in terms of bandwidth - see SLI/crossfire. These days, it's just that many lanes go to M.2, with each using up to 4 lanes - vs having 6 SATA driven off the chooser)

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

Nobody uses a firewire cable anymore, USB-A/B is very outdated. On my work macbook with is a M1 Macbook Pro, I have a card reader, a usb-c and an hdmi port on one side, and a headphone jack, 2 usb-c ports and magsafe power ports.

Even if there wasn't, and it was just all usb-c, you can accomplish all of the same things ports. The old macbooks only had these ports on one side and the other had like one firewire or something.

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.

My work provided me with a usb hub that includes usb-a/b slots, hdmi, ethernet and power, which takes a single usb-c port. They're cheap and work just fine if you really need more than 4-5 ports.

Don't take it from me though!

2024 16" macbook pro: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/121554

Charging and Expansion
SDXC card slot
HDMI port
3.5 mm headphone jack
MagSafe 3 port
Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports with support for:
- Charging
- DisplayPort
- Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s)
- Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
- USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)

Not Lenovo, my ThinkPad P1 has lots of nice ports

This pic leaves out the latest generation of MacBook that brings back some of those ports.

I guess OP would rather generate outrage upvotes, rather than spread the truth.

Yup, and it's glorious. My coworkers have the newer MBPs, and it's really nice having HDMI. They mostly still use USB-C, but they each use HDMI at least once/week (older TVs w/o airplay, for example). I'm upgrading soon, and I'm excited.
- Excuse my smugness, but being excited for your premium laptop maker to bring back a feature that is standard basically everywhere (all of my four laptops have HDMI, and out of those, my two non-work ones also come with DisplayPort) is such an Apple thing
  
  It's like these people claiming that you need that connectivity for a lot of work were right.

Oh no! They took out ports the vast majority of users would never use in their entire life, making production cheaper and also making room for new technology to develop and evolve, while enabling whoever needs a specific port to simply buy a fucking dongle and get the job done. Oh and this also made it possible for the entire machine to be lighter and thinner, more thermally efficient and have infinitely better battery life.

The horror 🙄

Yeah which ports are folks actually missing here? Looking at various ports.

Magsafe: This has returned on the new machines. I like it for the green / orange charge indicator. RJ-45: Ok I kinda of get it, but it’s such a tall port. Personally I’d prefer a thinner laptop in this instance. Mini DVI: long dead. Replaced with HDMI. The MacBook pro’s have HDMI FireWire: long dead USB A: Replaced with USB-C. Ok one A port here would still be useful. Headphone / Mic: Still there, just as a combo port on the other side. SD card reader: The MacBook Pros have this. Mini Display port: Long dead. Replaced with DP over USB C

In short if you want HDMI and SD card reader and are anti dongle you get a MBP which has both.

Either way now have ports that can push insane bandwidth and route USB, PCI, HDMI and DP over the same cable which is incredibly versatile.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_over_USB
- Mini DVI: long dead. Replaced with HDMI. The MacBook pro’s have HDMI
  
  HDMI has always been inferior to DisplayPort, for computer displays. I'd personally consider DP to be the natural successor to DVI.
infinitely better battery life

All my laptops have a battery as shitty as ten years ago.
- Then get a Mac.

Yes, they should totally bring back the firewire port!

To be fair, USB-C, especially with Thunderbolt, is much more universal. There are adapters for pretty much every "legacy" port out there so if you really need FireWire you can have it, but it's clear why FireWire isn't built into the laptop itself anymore.

The top MacBook Pro is also the 2016+ pre Apple Silicon chassis (that was also used with M chips, but sort of as a leftover), while the newer MacBook Pro chassis at least brought back HDMI and an SD card reader (and MagSafe as a dedicated charging port, although USB-C still works fine for that).

Considering modern "docking" solutions only need a single USB-C/Thunderbolt cable for everything, these additional ports only matter when on the go. HDMI comes in handy for presentations for example.

I'd love to see at least a single USB-A port on the MacBook Pro, but that's likely never coming back. USB-C to A adapters exist though, so it's not a huge deal. Ethernet can be handy as well, but most use cases for that are docked anyway.

I like the Framework concept the most, also "only" 4 ports (on the 13" at least, plus a built-in combo jack), but using adapter cards you can configure it to whatever you need at that point in time and the cards slide into the chassis instead of sticking out like dongles would. I usually go for one USB-C/Thunderbolt on either side (so charging works on either side), a single USB-A and video out in the form of DisplayPort or HDMI. Sometimes I swap the video out (that also works via USB-C obviously) for Ethernet, even though the Ethernet card sticks out. For a (retro) LAN party, I used 1 USB-C, USB-A (with a 4-port hub for wired peripherals), DisplayPort and Ethernet.

I use an in-house tool to connect to equipment over Ethernet for the company my company contracts for. Built in Ethernet is so good for it and getting very hard to find. When it was time for a new laptop my boss was able to find a decent one with built in Ethernet. I even offered to pay the difference in price.

I used two USB dongles in the past and it seems like they worked when they wanted to. It's most likely a software issue because the in-house tool is garbage.
- Recommendation would be to use a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter so it can directly connect via PCI Express. These USB Ethernet dongles are often crappy.

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.
- 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.
- You're not really expected to repeatedly remove the HDMI port itself from the laptop

Laptops from the 2010s represented a peak in design and performance, but since then, it feels like we've seen consistent downsizing and downgrades. Take the latest Intel CPUs, for instance—it's as if the marketing pitch is, 'It may not be very powerful, but at least it’s energy-efficient.' It’s almost as though manufacturers are catering to a market they perceive as indifferent, and we, as consumers, continue to accept diminishing returns while paying increasingly higher prices. This trend reflects a broader issue in life today: settling for less while being charged more.

This picture captures the essence of that realization, and it is truly heart-wrenching.

Not all. If I dont get 2 USB-A ports, I ain't buying. Fortunately thinkpads still have them

The pursuit of the "perfect body."

All the other brands went along

(My 2020 G14 has 3 A ports and ethernet, but still...)

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.

ThinkPad gang laughing in redundant tf ports

Well do you sell me a docking station with that laptop?

Or are you going to let me get buy some adapter dongles?

How about more USB c ports?

The new (not that new anymore) macbook PROs do have separate DC input, HDMI, SD card slot and HDMI. And to be honest, for an average computer user those ports are pretty useless, however if you do need them it comes at a rather steep premium.

Fades is either drinking Apple flavor Kool-Aid or has been fully brainwashed by apple into thinking everything is okay because a company said "you don't care, you're stuck here with us."

It's really sad how people will bootlick for any company once they bought enough products.

Look how they massacred my boy.

The 2nd from top has two lightning sparks. To charge the laptop, I have to connect them to the two holes in my outlet, right?

And everyone went ahead and purchased it anyway.

Companies always chase profit, if people would stop buying shittified products companies would stop enshittifying them.

Do the bottom two have the same charging port? Impossible!

Also, my first time seeing the newer FireWire and whatever the video output is...

Even Lenovo is doing it with Thinkpads, the t14 gen 6 has soldiered ram and only two USB A ports

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.
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.
- 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
- Even worse, build quality and durability is significantly worse due to Lenovo making the T and P series Thinkpads thinner and lighter.

Just one port to rule them all

I believe that the topmost (M1?) MacBook still has a headphone Jack on the other (right-hand) side.

PS: by no means am I an apple fanboy, but I inherited an old Retina MacBook Pro that I installed Linux on and now use as my daily driver. It still holds up extremely well considering it's 11 years old. The only ports it's really missing is an RJ45 and (nowadays) USB-C.

we need 7 firewire ports and micro dvi ports with 1 mini usb

You'll pry my RS-232 and PS/2 ports from my cold dead hands!

Useless old school holes? I am glad they did.

Wow is that firewire? Haven't seen that in a while

to be fair, the bandwidth of all the ports on the bottom laptop probably fit in 1 (maaaaybe 2? Just spitballing here) Thunderbolt 5 ports depending how fast the ethernet port is. BTW, why would you want a port that isn't reversible like USB C lol...

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 card slot, etc.

All I really need is a full sized HDMI, a few USB-C’s and one or two A’s for convenience.

Buy dongles and splitter dongles.

If it doesn't have a VGA port, I don't use it.

Asus G16 2023 has 2 USB-A, 2 USB-C (one of them supports Thunderbolt), Ethernet, HDMI, 3.5 mm jack, and a micro-SD slot.

Too bad it's got that shitty ROG branding for cringy weebs. Almost worse than being seen with a MacBook.

I am happy that things have converged over time to a single, truly versatile multi-bus capable port (USB-C/Thunderbolt 3) ... however, the vendors IMHO should be legally bound to supply down-converters for all the peripherals that used the older buses for the next 10 years, transitively for 2 generations of buses.

If USB-C supports bus 'X', then there should be inexpensive and easy to purchase down-converters from USB-C to 'X'. If Bus 'X' replaced bus 'Y' in the last 10 years then there should be a down-converter available from bus 'X' to 'Y'.

One problematic example is Firewire.. Apple used to make Thunderbolt-2-to-Firewire800 dongles, but they stopped and now they're rare as hens' teeth and ungodly-expensive.

They still sell Thunderbolt-3-to-2 dongles, but how long will they keep selling those?

Oh, and while I'm wishing for ponies, the drivers/specifications for all such adapters should be open-source and royalty-free.

Didn't the last Apple model with FW ship about that long ago? Last of their computers with said port I can think about is the 2012 Macbook.
- You may well be right.. sigh, how time flies. Yet I have two perfectky good fw audio interface/mixers I want to keep using.

I'm not very tech savy but for years I wondered if I could somehow cram a desktop computer in an aluminium suit case. The challenge is getting to the point I will just take it.

Meh... Did they really? Or do you just choose the worst?

And look how much thinner. A large part of that is the need for physical ports which although they may loom small on the outside, also take up space inside for the boards that convert signals. Now those conversions happen in the dongles if needed.

The real problem is that USB didn't implement a hub standard so most hubs have had to use old hub standards and just have a single USB-C connector and the rest USB-A, hdmi, etc. There haven't been many purely USB-C to USB-C hubs to allow for connecting lots of USB-C devices to a single port and usually they end up losing features or splitting bandwidth instead of sharing the full bandwidth.

My brand new ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 has HDMI, two USB-A 5Gbps ports, a headset jack, a half-height Ethernet port, as well as two thunderbolt 4 ports and an optional smartcard reader.

I agree that Apple kinda inadvertently ruined the port selection on many laptops for a while but it's gotten better over the years; even Apple brought back HDMI and SD-Card readers.

As long as the bare necessities is available e.g 14" with HDMI, 2 Type C with PD and DP Alt, MicroSD/SD card reader, smart card reader(?), 2 USB A 3.1, 1x 3.5mm jack, 1x ethernet port, kensington and easy maintenance, for me it's enough. VGA connectors (dang those older projectors) can be handled with VGA to HDMI adapter.

My daily device is T14 G1 AMD with dualbooting separate SSD (M.2 WWAN slot used as SSD).

well… the new one has gained some ports back, also usb c is absolutely OP (if you have the money for the Accessories lel)

Honestly for some specific use cases where the computer being very light is needed, this is great, but the fact every mac has this now is a little crazy.

Where's the magsafe ?

M1 Air.
- were you replying to me ?

Toslink, or what's that?

Yeah, but at least they permit you to use the right mouse button.

I have a ton of the bottom three laptops, wanna trade for the shitty one up top?

My thinkpad is also light in the connectivity area and I absolutely adore the $30 dock I got for it. Click the laptop in place and LAN, displays, audio, power, keyboard, mouse, external storage are connected instantly; if I had to connect each one separately, multiple times per day, I'd go insane.

this is another reason why I hate apple. other tech companies would rather follow apple than forge their own design path.

I also hate the tech reviewers who reinforce the belief of apple design superiority that pushes this false belief that encourages those bad design changes.

WTF is this boomer facebook post shit?

no, no, he has a point
- It misses where apple brought back audio and magsafe
- What point? That there are laptops with fewer universal ports? That the universal ports improved throughout time and includes more function that it did before, which means we require fewer ports in total?
  
  What is the point without dumb rage-bating Linux nerds?

I never use the ports on my laptop. It never bothered me that they removed them all. Granted I know that’s just my use case I can t speak for everyone.

All you need is a couple of USB-C ports and maybe a HDMI port on most modern laptops. More is good but not a requirement.

Hard disagree. 3.5mm and USBA devices are still too common and I use a lot of MicroSD despite the phone companies' best efforts (flipper0, GBC flashcart, GBA flashcart, soon rPi devices, etc), I need both of those more than I need HDMI tbh, my TV has a USBA drive and I can just drop whatever movie on a jump drive and slap it in the TV hole.

Tbh I think Framework got it right, hot-swappable ports. "I don't need my USBC on the right at the moment but I'm next to the router, let me slap in my eth port instead and plug in for faster internet." I absolutely love it.
And USB A since most devices, USB sticks and peripherals still use that format

Why not complain about them not having a floppy drive anymore while you’re at it? That’s as obsolete as the non USB-C ports.

Back pain?

Most things are wireless these days. I only actively use two ports: one for monitor + charging, and another for the second monitor. Mouse, keyboard and headphones are via Bluetooth.

For me the top one works fine for my day to day use. And it takes up less space in my backpack.

Wireless means you have to deal with batteries. I'd rather plug stuff in and never worry about it.
- I like being free of wires on my desk. Having to replace batteries of my mouse and keyboard once every 6 months is a price I’m willing to pay.

The sb part of the acronym means Serial Buss which is what all external peripherals used to connect to the system. The u part means Universal as in one size fits all. Every iteration of the spec has led up to this point. We had A,B,Micro, and now C. Everything could also be wireless today if there were enough spectrum available

This aged like milk, the newest MacBooks have magsafe

That's what I mean when I say that Apple is the worst even ever happened to technology.

Dude if you need that many ports just buy a P50 workstation

I'm okay with USB-C and a headphone jack on my laptop. The other shit is for the birds.

It looks like you're just a dumb follower.

Nobody took anything FROM you. You're just a blind consumer, fool.

Careful not to cut yourself on that edge