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Having 4 USB-C's is a bit like having 4 Ferraris. Sometimes you need something a bit more practical. People will still be using USB-A for the next 10 years. Hav

by pentae 7y ago

Having 4 USB-C's is a bit like having 4 Ferraris. Sometimes you need something a bit more practical. People will still be using USB-A for the next 10 years. Having to use a dongle for USB-A on a 16" macbook is pretty ridiculous. There's still a billion USB-A accessories out there and will be for a long time. Apple jumped the gun in a major way. This wasn't like dropping the floppy disc or CD-rom drive considering how small the USB-A port is.

pkulak 7y ago
> People will still be using USB-A for the next 10 years. Possibly. But they'll be using it for the next 100 if no one ever removes it from anything.
- catalogia 7y ago
  If people actually started using electronics for 100 years instead of throwing them out every few years, that would be fantastic. It would also be a very radical departure from the status quo and I don't think it a likely scenario, so rest easy I guess..
  - chongli 7y ago
    While it may be fun to try to design something that lasts s hundred years and that people will want to use in a hundred years, who would want to sell it?
- jedberg 7y ago
  The floppy drive died because a better option came out. If USB-C is truly better, than all new accessories would use it. There needs to be a transition period where everyone has USB-C and USB-A so that the peripherals can naturally move to the better technology. Right now I've never seed a good USB-C to USB-A converter. I work at a lot of conferences, and any time a speaker comes with a new MacBook and a USB adaptor, it's a disaster. They all suck.
  - AdamN 7y ago
    They removed USB-A about a year before they should have, but now the industry has moved on. We can talk about it as a mistake in the past, but it would be wack to put USB-A back onto these devices.
    - Lammy 7y ago
      How can we say "the industry has moved on" when the second piece of media on the linked announcement page has someone doing music production with a visible USB-C -> USB-A dongle connecting some rack-eared music gear. There's even a second dongle on their left that I don't recognize. I long for the C-only future, but we're not there yet. Apple's decision to go C-only always seemed to be an aesthetic one to me.
  - mpweiher 7y ago
    That was true last year. This year, it's been smooth sailing at every conference so far.
    - jedberg 7y ago
      I literally dealt with a broken hub last week. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
      - mpweiher 7y ago
        That's been my experience: at every conference I've talked at this year (three so far: ESUG, Macoun and SPLASH, heise MacDev still coming up in December), I plug in my USB-C equipped MacBook Pro and It Just Works™. Only one of those was an Apple-specific conference. Sorry your experience is still different. Mine was, too, a year ago.
- tim333 7y ago
  I'm not sure I see the problem - if it works and people are happy why not?
ProZsolt 7y ago
There are still devices currently that use floppy disks. The only accessory I have that uses hardwired USB-A is my Logitech C920 webcam. All other stuff has a detachable cable. I will just change the USB-A to (Micro)USB-B cable to USB-C to (Micro)USB-B
skavi 7y ago
The USB A port is very large compared to USB C. Especially in terms of volume.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  On a Macbook Air, maybe, but they can definitely fit one on a 16" device.
  - skavi 7y ago
    While sacrificing something else. Battery, speakers, thermal management, or aesthetics would have to traded off for USB A to be included. Not worth it for an outdated port whose function can be duplicated by an inexpensive adapter.
    - ehsankia 7y ago
      Again, on a small device, yes every mm matters. On a 16" devices, the slightly bigger connector isn't going to make a difference.
acomjean 7y ago
I agree. As the guy who gave up my laptop( MacBook pro 2015) in a meeting to project because the 2 other MacBooks in the meeting only had usb c and the presentation was on a usb a stick. At least they got the projector using usb c with a dongle now.. Nothing like having choices. Why my new personal machine was a linux based laptop.

by pentae 7y ago

pkulak 7y ago

> People will still be using USB-A for the next 10 years. Possibly. But they'll be using it for the next 100 if no one ever removes it from anything.

catalogia 7y ago
If people actually started using electronics for 100 years instead of throwing them out every few years, that would be fantastic. It would also be a very radical departure from the status quo and I don't think it a likely scenario, so rest easy I guess..
- chongli 7y ago
  While it may be fun to try to design something that lasts s hundred years and that people will want to use in a hundred years, who would want to sell it?
jedberg 7y ago
The floppy drive died because a better option came out. If USB-C is truly better, than all new accessories would use it. There needs to be a transition period where everyone has USB-C and USB-A so that the peripherals can naturally move to the better technology. Right now I've never seed a good USB-C to USB-A converter. I work at a lot of conferences, and any time a speaker comes with a new MacBook and a USB adaptor, it's a disaster. They all suck.
- AdamN 7y ago
  They removed USB-A about a year before they should have, but now the industry has moved on. We can talk about it as a mistake in the past, but it would be wack to put USB-A back onto these devices.
  - Lammy 7y ago
    How can we say "the industry has moved on" when the second piece of media on the linked announcement page has someone doing music production with a visible USB-C -> USB-A dongle connecting some rack-eared music gear. There's even a second dongle on their left that I don't recognize. I long for the C-only future, but we're not there yet. Apple's decision to go C-only always seemed to be an aesthetic one to me.
- mpweiher 7y ago
  That was true last year. This year, it's been smooth sailing at every conference so far.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    I literally dealt with a broken hub last week. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
    - mpweiher 7y ago
      That's been my experience: at every conference I've talked at this year (three so far: ESUG, Macoun and SPLASH, heise MacDev still coming up in December), I plug in my USB-C equipped MacBook Pro and It Just Works™. Only one of those was an Apple-specific conference. Sorry your experience is still different. Mine was, too, a year ago.
tim333 7y ago
I'm not sure I see the problem - if it works and people are happy why not?

ProZsolt 7y ago

There are still devices currently that use floppy disks. The only accessory I have that uses hardwired USB-A is my Logitech C920 webcam. All other stuff has a detachable cable. I will just change the USB-A to (Micro)USB-B cable to USB-C to (Micro)USB-B

skavi 7y ago

The USB A port is very large compared to USB C. Especially in terms of volume.

ehsankia 7y ago
On a Macbook Air, maybe, but they can definitely fit one on a 16" device.
- skavi 7y ago
  While sacrificing something else. Battery, speakers, thermal management, or aesthetics would have to traded off for USB A to be included. Not worth it for an outdated port whose function can be duplicated by an inexpensive adapter.
  - ehsankia 7y ago
    Again, on a small device, yes every mm matters. On a 16" devices, the slightly bigger connector isn't going to make a difference.

acomjean 7y ago

I agree. As the guy who gave up my laptop( MacBook pro 2015) in a meeting to project because the 2 other MacBooks in the meeting only had usb c and the presentation was on a usb a stick. At least they got the projector using usb c with a dongle now.. Nothing like having choices. Why my new personal machine was a linux based laptop.