They're called PORTable Devices for a Reason
Nobody asked for this future. Well, nobody but shareholders.
The next time I buy a laptop, it will have all of the integrated ports I need. If that means buying an older laptop, so be it.
My work laptop is a fancy Dell XPS made in the last year or two. It's “nice” in that in addition to three USB-C ports it also has a SD card reader and 3.5mm jack. Not like MacBooks, which now typically have only two USB-C ports. But I want USB-A ports, too. I want dedicated HDMI. VGA, too, while you're at it. And an Ethernet jack. Laptop prices haven't come down with the removal of dedicated ports. Why should I have to spend even more money on flimsy dongles and buggy hubs? Oh, right. Gotta please those investors. Dongles and hubs are another “revenue stream”. Extract as much money from your customers as possible, and have your marketing machine convince them it's a great idea. They'll even thank you for it.
Every time I have to search for my lightning-to-headphone-jack dongle just so I can plug my wired earbuds into my iPhone, I die a little inside. Remember when phones used to come with a headphone jack? It was useful. It didn't hurt anyone. There was no good reason to remove it. But it posed a major obstacle to selling dongles and wireless earbuds. So it was axed. And the marketing machine went into overdrive. And the people rejoiced.
Bring back the PORTs in portable devices. Please. Bring back some sanity to personal computing.
#100DaysToOffload (No. 28) #tech