USB-A isn't going anywhere, so stop removing the port

https://www.pocket-lint.com/usb-a-isnt-going-anywhere/

by speckx • 10 months ago

27 56 10 months ago

pocket-lint.com

kirito13372• 10 months ago

Tbh USB-A is still a part of my daily life.

duxup• 10 months ago

That was a long read to get to this:

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.

taylodl4• 10 months ago

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.

eqvinox4• 10 months ago

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.

tracker15• 10 months ago

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.

JumpCrisscross• 10 months ago

Particularly when the problem is sidestepped with a dongle.

chrsw2• 10 months ago

I’m willing to live with not having a USB-A port on a Mac. Not so much on a PC.

I have a Razer Blade. One USB-A and one USB-C on each side of the machine. It just makes so much sense.

izacus• 10 months ago

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.

goosedragons• 10 months ago

Why exactly? Are you just using the USB A port for a mouse on the PC but not Mac? That's the only sensible thing I can think of.

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.

chrsw2• 10 months ago

I guess it's the type of things I use the machines for. I do a lot of embedded software development and some gaming on Windows so not having USB-A is a showstopper. On my Mac I don't do those sorts of things.

Would I buy a Mac with USB-A? Absolutely.

foxyv3• 10 months ago

I really love that all I have to plug into my Macbook is a single cable for video, accessories, network, etc... I'm totally not a fan of trying to find the right direction to plug in my HDMI and such on my PC. I missed out on video over USBC by one generation and it kind of sucks.

DiabloD3• 10 months ago

I honestly don't give a shit anymore.

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.

1970-01-013• 10 months ago

Same thing was said about floppy drive, DVD, serial ports, and VGA. We're allowed to sunset things.

hollerith2• 10 months ago

Serial ports are still used a fair amount, particularly to interface with stuff that you cannot buy at a local retailer.

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)?

maxerickson• 10 months ago

This is not responsive to the context (which is about what ports ship on mass market devices).

1970-01-013• 10 months ago

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.

barnabee2• 10 months ago

I still use serial ports pretty regularly…

…via USB-to-serial adapters plugged into the USB C port of my laptop.

stefan_• 10 months ago

Ok, then follow through please?

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.

bombcar2• 10 months ago

Since you can buy adapters that let you charge and use the data on the same MacBook port, they should build that into the charger.

The charger could have a USB C or A port on it easily.

ToDougie• 10 months ago

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.

shikon7• 10 months ago

The future is (supposed to be) that you don't have any USB-A devices.

JohnFen• 10 months ago

That future is a very, very long way off.

FireBeyond2• 10 months ago

Apple phased out USB-A years ago

Weird. The latest Mac Pro has USB A ports.

So does the Mac Studio.

tracker15• 10 months ago

Yeah, my M1 air doesn't.

FireBeyond2• 10 months ago

Nor does my MBP. But Apple hasn't "phased out" USB A yet, on their desktops.

tracker15• 10 months ago

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.

bombcar2• 10 months ago

I refuse to buy anything but those thumb drives with both connectors, but of course you’re always using someone else’s …

tracker15• 10 months ago

Not always someone else's but I do have over a dozen 16-256gb drives already. The couple of nvme adapters I have already have both.

andrewmcwatters• 10 months ago

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.

Just kill it off already.

polski-g• 10 months ago

Rack servers still use VGA. Yes, please stop removing it from monitors.

eqvinox4• 10 months ago

Rack servers have IPMI. Yes please stop making me take trips to datacenters ;)

kirito13372• 10 months ago

my daily driver pc has vga and i use it

stouset• 10 months ago

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.

USB-A had a long life. It's time to move on.

barnabee2• 10 months ago

Yep! I keep a couple of C to A adapters in my bag and have literally zero desire or need for USB A ports anywhere else, be it laptops, chargers, or wherever.

foxyv3• 10 months ago

Yeah, I've stopped buying Micro-USB and USB-A cables and just have a ton of adapters for my USB-C cables. Makes life so much easier not needing to dig through a pile of spaghetti and staring at the little metal bits to try and find what I'm looking for.

cleartext412• 10 months ago

With appliances like battery pack the explanation could be that Type A ports are dirt cheap compared to Type C with all the speed and power requirements, so even removing four Type A would not save enough for another Type C.

v9v• 10 months ago

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)

khedoros1• 10 months ago

Same for me, in most cases. I had a work laptop with a USB-C dock. I've got a USB-C ethernet adapter (not used right now, because my laptop has an ethernet port). I've got a couple of USB-C charging cables. Oh, and a DAC dongle that I typically use with my phone.

Then I've got dozens of charging cables, peripherals, storage devices, and such that I've collected across the past 25 or so years, and still want to use.

jmrm• 10 months ago

We already have some USB-C flash drives. Isn't just more practical to have USB-C keyboards, mice, and other devices like that instead of conserving the USB A?

robotnikman2• 10 months ago

It would be nice if there were USB-C hubs like there are USB 3.0 hubs to get more ports. But all the 'hubs' for USB-C are basically docks with HDMI, Ethernet, etc, and maybe give 2 extra USB-C ports at most

foxyv3• 10 months ago

I was looking for this the other day. It's a bit of a disaster isn't it? Generally speaking though, what your are looking for is a "Splitter" like this one:

https://a.co/d/8OieM1k

They don't really call them USB-C "Hubs" like they do the old USB-A ones. Mostly I just use a big old USB-A dock and a ton of adapters now.

robotnikman2• 10 months ago

Now that's what I'm looking for, thank you!

USB-A isn't going anywhere, so stop removing the port

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