5 ms·

Almost every device I’ve bought in 2023 is usb-c now, even low end stuff, and keyboards and mice. By 2025 I’d expect it’ll be rare and unusual to see a micro po

Almost every device I’ve bought in 2023 is usb-c now, even low end stuff, and keyboards and mice. By 2025 I’d expect it’ll be rare and unusual to see a micro port on any new device. USB A is definitely legacy.

layer8 3y ago
PCs still come with half a dozen or more USB-A ports and only a single USB-C port (if you're lucky). Dongles, flash drives, webcams and the like are still prominently USB-A. Logitech's lineup is still mostly USB-A. I'm not sure that there will even be a full transition to USB-C, but if so, it will take quite a while.
- dylan604 3y ago
  I just bought a new device that came with a USB-A to USB-B cable!!!! the horror!! Makes sense, as it pretty much functions like a printer, only subtractive instead of additive process. Then it has Bluetooth instead of WiFi for wireless!?!?
- microtonal 3y ago
  I bought a new machine last week (Intel NUC 13 Extreme). It has three Type-C ports of which two are Thundebolt. We are slowly getting somewhere. Meanwhile my phones, displays, keyboards, all use Type-C connectors. Though some came with a USB-C to A converter. We are slowly getting there.
  - cesarb 3y ago
    Counterpoint: I also bought a new machine, a couple of weeks ago (Optiplex 7010 Micro). It has six USB A ports, four of them USB 3 and two of them USB 2 only, with the option to add a single USB-C port (or instead an extra DP or HDMI or even VGA or serial port); if you add that option, that USB-C port (which has DP alt mode) can be used to power the computer (instead of using the barrel plug), which is nice. Very high end devices might have more than a single USB-C port (which is probably your case, given the "extreme" in the name), and these ports might even be Thunderbolt or USB4, but that's still rare. In my opinion, we are still in the USB-C equivalent of the "only two USB 2 ports, if you want more get a PCI add-on card" phase we had in the serial/parallel/PS2 to USB migration back in the day.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  PC motherboards are often like a study in the history of PC motherboards with vestigial functionality that hasn’t been in widespread use in decades. That’s a fairly poor indicator, and I think it largely happens to buffer the feature sheet, take advantage of cheap pricing on components over time, and copy and paste functionality in their design software. It’s over. The only place for a USB-A is on an aftermarket USB hub. That’s ok. It was nice while it lasted, but it’s time to move on.
  - layer8 3y ago
    There is no incentive for manufacturers to use USB-C over USB-A for applications that neither use charging nor need above-USB-2.0 speeds. A lot of peripherals and gadgets fall into that category. Another factor is the limitation on available PCIe lanes depending on chipset. If you can provide 8-10 USB ports, you won’t be able to give all of them USB 3 speeds, and having USB-C ports with different speeds on the same device would be weird, as there is no color-coding mechanism like with USB-A.
pynappo 3y ago
i think the GP was talking about wired peripherals that plug into usb-a ports on the computer side, not wireless mice/keyboards which use usb-c to charge my current wireless mouse/wired keyboard have usb-c on the peripheral end but I still use usb-a to connect them to the computer
- Gigachad 3y ago
  These days it's common for the wire to not be fixed in. So it's just a usb-c port on the keyboard and you can use whatever cable you want.
- davegirdy2 3y ago
  I'm still confused with the term GP. Shouldn't it be OP?
  - zargon 3y ago
    The OP would be the geenspun.com post or cute_boi, depending on context. The grandparent, in this case, is aslilac.
  - abdullahkhalids 3y ago
    GP means grandparent. It refers to the comment exactly two up. Ex. From my comment, GP is the comment by pynappo, starting with "i think the GP was talking... " Similarly, you can have GGP for great-grand parent, etc. OP refers either to the starter of the post or the top level comment.
  - numpad0 3y ago
    It's always GP in this subreddit.
aslilac 3y ago
going off of you saying “micro port” I think you’re talking about USB B.
- cassianoleal 3y ago
  More likely they mean micro-USB. USB-B is anything but micro.
  - chungy 3y ago
    Micro-USB is a variant of the USB-B connector. The whole point of A and B was that A ports were used on the "host" system, and B were used on the peripheral. If you remember USB On-the-Go, that was an attempt to reverse the trend and allow a USB-B device (including micro ports) to act as a host. USB-C erased that distinction in favor of a full duplex network connection between two hosts.
    - lxgr 3y ago
      USB-OTG ports are technically mini-AB and micro-AB ports that can fit both A and B plugs. And USB-C is neither full-duplex (at least not for USB 2) nor host-to-host; there is a protocol negotiation and some devices can never act as hosts, although some can indeed assume both host and device roles. Even in a “host-to-host connection”, only one side will act as the host.
    - davegirdy2 3y ago
      "some devices can never act as hosts, although some can indeed assume both host and device roles"
    - Dylan16807 3y ago
      > Micro-USB is a variant of the USB-B connector. In the same sense that A and B are variants of each other, sure. Even though it's called micro-B, the design is closer to A, and micro supports both ends with basically the same plug. I would never refer to it as just "B". "B" means the square plug.
  - 3y ago

layer8 3y ago

PCs still come with half a dozen or more USB-A ports and only a single USB-C port (if you're lucky). Dongles, flash drives, webcams and the like are still prominently USB-A. Logitech's lineup is still mostly USB-A. I'm not sure that there will even be a full transition to USB-C, but if so, it will take quite a while.

dylan604 3y ago
I just bought a new device that came with a USB-A to USB-B cable!!!! the horror!! Makes sense, as it pretty much functions like a printer, only subtractive instead of additive process. Then it has Bluetooth instead of WiFi for wireless!?!?
microtonal 3y ago
I bought a new machine last week (Intel NUC 13 Extreme). It has three Type-C ports of which two are Thundebolt. We are slowly getting somewhere. Meanwhile my phones, displays, keyboards, all use Type-C connectors. Though some came with a USB-C to A converter. We are slowly getting there.
- cesarb 3y ago
  Counterpoint: I also bought a new machine, a couple of weeks ago (Optiplex 7010 Micro). It has six USB A ports, four of them USB 3 and two of them USB 2 only, with the option to add a single USB-C port (or instead an extra DP or HDMI or even VGA or serial port); if you add that option, that USB-C port (which has DP alt mode) can be used to power the computer (instead of using the barrel plug), which is nice. Very high end devices might have more than a single USB-C port (which is probably your case, given the "extreme" in the name), and these ports might even be Thunderbolt or USB4, but that's still rare. In my opinion, we are still in the USB-C equivalent of the "only two USB 2 ports, if you want more get a PCI add-on card" phase we had in the serial/parallel/PS2 to USB migration back in the day.
fnordpiglet 3y ago
PC motherboards are often like a study in the history of PC motherboards with vestigial functionality that hasn’t been in widespread use in decades. That’s a fairly poor indicator, and I think it largely happens to buffer the feature sheet, take advantage of cheap pricing on components over time, and copy and paste functionality in their design software. It’s over. The only place for a USB-A is on an aftermarket USB hub. That’s ok. It was nice while it lasted, but it’s time to move on.
- layer8 3y ago
  There is no incentive for manufacturers to use USB-C over USB-A for applications that neither use charging nor need above-USB-2.0 speeds. A lot of peripherals and gadgets fall into that category. Another factor is the limitation on available PCIe lanes depending on chipset. If you can provide 8-10 USB ports, you won’t be able to give all of them USB 3 speeds, and having USB-C ports with different speeds on the same device would be weird, as there is no color-coding mechanism like with USB-A.

pynappo 3y ago

i think the GP was talking about wired peripherals that plug into usb-a ports on the computer side, not wireless mice/keyboards which use usb-c to charge my current wireless mouse/wired keyboard have usb-c on the peripheral end but I still use usb-a to connect them to the computer

Gigachad 3y ago
These days it's common for the wire to not be fixed in. So it's just a usb-c port on the keyboard and you can use whatever cable you want.
davegirdy2 3y ago
I'm still confused with the term GP. Shouldn't it be OP?
- zargon 3y ago
  The OP would be the geenspun.com post or cute_boi, depending on context. The grandparent, in this case, is aslilac.
- abdullahkhalids 3y ago
  GP means grandparent. It refers to the comment exactly two up. Ex. From my comment, GP is the comment by pynappo, starting with "i think the GP was talking... " Similarly, you can have GGP for great-grand parent, etc. OP refers either to the starter of the post or the top level comment.
- numpad0 3y ago
  It's always GP in this subreddit.

aslilac 3y ago

going off of you saying “micro port” I think you’re talking about USB B.

cassianoleal 3y ago
More likely they mean micro-USB. USB-B is anything but micro.
- chungy 3y ago
  Micro-USB is a variant of the USB-B connector. The whole point of A and B was that A ports were used on the "host" system, and B were used on the peripheral. If you remember USB On-the-Go, that was an attempt to reverse the trend and allow a USB-B device (including micro ports) to act as a host. USB-C erased that distinction in favor of a full duplex network connection between two hosts.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    USB-OTG ports are technically mini-AB and micro-AB ports that can fit both A and B plugs. And USB-C is neither full-duplex (at least not for USB 2) nor host-to-host; there is a protocol negotiation and some devices can never act as hosts, although some can indeed assume both host and device roles. Even in a “host-to-host connection”, only one side will act as the host.
  - davegirdy2 3y ago
    "some devices can never act as hosts, although some can indeed assume both host and device roles"
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    > Micro-USB is a variant of the USB-B connector. In the same sense that A and B are variants of each other, sure. Even though it's called micro-B, the design is closer to A, and micro supports both ends with basically the same plug. I would never refer to it as just "B". "B" means the square plug.
- 3y ago