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Comment by starsinspace | Hacker News Reader

> Moving back to older USB ports really would make no sense. They're obsolete.

I sure wish I could join you in the year 2030 where USB-C is everywhere, but unfortunately I’m stuck here in 2019 and USB-A is still the de-facto standard on just about everything.

It’s nice to design a product to be forward-looking and adopting standards early when it’s foreseeable that they will soon become big. Like the Mac mini 2018, with its 4x USB-C and 2x USB-A. Got the future ports, but also the still-current ports. Awesome! But designing a product with USB-C only, for a future that is many years away, is pretty stupid, it just makes the product inferior and inconvenient in the here-and-now.

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You can get USB-C monitors, external hard drives, most modern phones connect via USB-C. What else do you need? Bluetooth fills in the gaps for things like external keyboards and mice and most modern printers can be connected to via wifi.

I appreciate my needs/requirements are not everyones but USB-C isn't exactly elusive these days.

Sure, if I throw away all the USB-A things I have and start over now... but that would be quite a waste.

Also, try to find a true USB-C hub. With that I mean a box with one upstream USB-C input and several (>= 3) USB-C downstream ports. As far as I can tell, such products still do not exist. There are many USB-C-docks with USB-C input, various other downstream ports, and sometimes an additional USB-C port which is power-delivery-only, with no data connection.

I have only found one such product at all, but it fits the description just barely: Belkin has a USB-C-hub, but with only 2 USB-C downstream ports, and only supporting 5Gbps and no Alt-DP-Mode on any of the ports.

Do you still hang onto that old VCR because DVD players won't play your tapes and it'd be a waste to throw that VCR away?

At some point we have to upgrade if we want to stay current. This is the same with any technology, not just USB-C.

I just bought a brand new (released 2019) wireless Logitech mouse. Wireless dongle and charging cable are USB-A

I just bought a brand new (released 2019) audio interface, connects with USB-A

In fact, besides my recent 2018 external SSD which came with an interchangeable USB-A/C port, none of my newer devices are USB-C

So, this is more like... I've got my VCR and a DVD player, and all the new movies are only coming out on VHS

Edit: I'll add to this - it's also frustrating not having any other ports on the MBP as well. I recently had surgery and was bedridden for a while, and the nest of cables I needed for ethernet, HDMI, mouse, etc.. was insane. Normally it's not a huge deal, but there's a lot of factors that have been making me regret not getting a Razer Blade when I was deciding between the two.

I probably won't be buying another Apple laptop.

That National Instruments DAQ on my bench isn't going obsolete any time soon. Going to more mundane things, neither are my keyboard and mouse.

I get your point, and at some point in the future I’m sure USB-C will prevail. My point is that we’re not there yet, and right now, having at least one old-fashioned USB-A port on a laptop is just useful.

Right now, it’s like throwing out your VCR and all VHS movies when DVD just came on the market and there’s barely any movies released on DVD yet. Did anybody with a sizeable VHS collection throw them away the day DVD arrived?

It’s too soon for “USB-C only” - at least for me - it would mean constant need for all kinds of dongles.

You can buy cords with USB-C on one end and USB-A or USB-B on the other end. No need to dump all of your devices.

> Also, try to find a true USB-C hub.

I don’t understand why USB-C hubs and USB-C on power strips don’t really exist yet. They would be very useful.

When I looked into the issue of USB-C hubs some time ago, all I could find is this claim in a blog article [0] that suitable chips for such USB-C-hubs are not available:

> Update (2018-07-30): Accidental Tech Podcast reports on a rumor that next year Intel will finally ship the chip that’s needed for making a USB-C that adds additional type-C ports.

[0] https://mjtsai.com/blog/2017/10/14/the-impossible-dream-of-u...

You need to learn more about what the current Mac ports actually are, clearly. Hint: Google "Thunderbolt 3". Then Google "Thunderbolt 3 dock".

> most modern phones connect via USB-C

The iPhone doesn't.

I bet a future iPhone will. And you'll note the "most" in my comment.

I bought a USB-C to alighting adapter for my phone, got USB-C Sony wireless headphones, and a couple USB-C adapters for my regular USB 3 devices. Kept all my Thunderbolt peripherals (bought a TB2->3 adapter), and a hub and a video adapter or two (HDMI and Display Port)

$200 later I’m happy but when I use my old 2013 MBP I feel kind of slighted.

You can buy cheap cables with USB-C on one end, and USB-A, USB-B, Display Port, mini-DP/Thunderbolt, HDMI, Lightning, mini/micro-USB, etc. on the other end. No need to change devices, just get new cables. There are even tiny little adapters that fit on the end of your existing cables; you’ll hardly notice them.

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