5 ms·

This article is from February 2019

by _qulr 6y ago

jwr 6y ago
It's still very relevant, though, and it's actually an interesting data point that after 1.5 years the situation hasn't changed much. I have very few devices with USB-C connectors, and I have to carry a "dongle bag" with me. And I'm actually happy that so few devices use USB-C, because if they all did, I would only be able to connect 3 of them to my MacBook Pro, because there are no decent USB-C hubs available. I'm also fighting a losing battle with the stupid headphone jack dongles. I would have bought one for every headphone that I have, but I actually need TWO, because I switch between an iPhone and an iPad Pro. Those two dongles look identical and I can't count the number of times I ended up away from home with the wrong one. No end of frustration.
- _qulr 6y ago
  > It's still very relevant Regardless, the submission should have "(2019)" in the title.
- dep_b 6y ago
  > I have to carry a "dongle bag" with me. I don't get it. Why a separate dongle for everything? I bought a U$50,-- USB-C expander with pass-through charging for MicroSD, 2x USB-A and HDMI. Done. Cheaper than a 2 meter Lightning cable in some places!
  - jwr 6y ago
    I looked into my dongle bag and it contains: a USB-C expander thingy like you described, but with one USB-A. A hub with 4xUSB-A and a USB-C plug. A thumbdrive with both USB-A and USB-C. Two headphone dongles, one for Lightning and one for USB-C. A USB-C to DisplayPort cable for connecting an external monitor. A USB-C-to-C short cable for connecting an external SSD drive, as well as USB-A-to-C adapter for it, for when I have to connect it to a USB-A system. A USB-C to Ethernet adapter. Two tiny C-to-A adapters. In other words, USB-C has added zero value for me, and created a need for plenty of new cables, dongles, and adapters/expanders. Relevant: https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ If my MacBook Pro had HDMI, 2xUSB-A and an SD Card slot, and if phones/ipads had headphone jacks, I could cut the size of the dongle bag by 3/4 at least.
    - dep_b 6y ago
      On my MacBook Pro 2015 I would have needed the dual thumb drive and SSD cables (unless I wanted to use the faster TB2 port, then I needed a third cable), an Ethernet dongle and still some converters for the Lightning EarPods. But disk speeds would be lower and my power cable wouldn’t be universal. I do miss HDMI as well. I have an adapter somewhere but I forget about it until I need it

This article is from February 2019

by _qulr 6y ago

This article is from February 2019

jwr 6y ago

It's still very relevant, though, and it's actually an interesting data point that after 1.5 years the situation hasn't changed much. I have very few devices with USB-C connectors, and I have to carry a "dongle bag" with me. And I'm actually happy that so few devices use USB-C, because if they all did, I would only be able to connect 3 of them to my MacBook Pro, because there are no decent USB-C hubs available. I'm also fighting a losing battle with the stupid headphone jack dongles. I would have bought one for every headphone that I have, but I actually need TWO, because I switch between an iPhone and an iPad Pro. Those two dongles look identical and I can't count the number of times I ended up away from home with the wrong one. No end of frustration.

_qulr 6y ago
> It's still very relevant Regardless, the submission should have "(2019)" in the title.
dep_b 6y ago
> I have to carry a "dongle bag" with me. I don't get it. Why a separate dongle for everything? I bought a U$50,-- USB-C expander with pass-through charging for MicroSD, 2x USB-A and HDMI. Done. Cheaper than a 2 meter Lightning cable in some places!
- jwr 6y ago
  I looked into my dongle bag and it contains: a USB-C expander thingy like you described, but with one USB-A. A hub with 4xUSB-A and a USB-C plug. A thumbdrive with both USB-A and USB-C. Two headphone dongles, one for Lightning and one for USB-C. A USB-C to DisplayPort cable for connecting an external monitor. A USB-C-to-C short cable for connecting an external SSD drive, as well as USB-A-to-C adapter for it, for when I have to connect it to a USB-A system. A USB-C to Ethernet adapter. Two tiny C-to-A adapters. In other words, USB-C has added zero value for me, and created a need for plenty of new cables, dongles, and adapters/expanders. Relevant: https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ If my MacBook Pro had HDMI, 2xUSB-A and an SD Card slot, and if phones/ipads had headphone jacks, I could cut the size of the dongle bag by 3/4 at least.
  - dep_b 6y ago
    On my MacBook Pro 2015 I would have needed the dual thumb drive and SSD cables (unless I wanted to use the faster TB2 port, then I needed a third cable), an Ethernet dongle and still some converters for the Lightning EarPods. But disk speeds would be lower and my power cable wouldn’t be universal. I do miss HDMI as well. I have an adapter somewhere but I forget about it until I need it