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> people expect the display to become the only visible component of the computer ... from a usability as well as a design perspective I'm not sure putting the

> people expect the display to become the only visible component of the computer ... from a usability as well as a design perspective I'm not sure putting the ports on the rear of the e.g. iMac improves usability. It certainly looks nicer, but I wouldn't consider the required neck acrobatics to plug in a thumb drive a usability improvement. (But I guess it makes sense in the long-term with everything going wireless.)

jacquesm 12y ago
Simply hook up a short cable and let it dangle from the rear.
- FireBeyond 12y ago
  Although arguably overpriced, the Bluelounge Jimi (http://www.amazon.com/Bluelounge-Jimi-Extension-Unibody-JM-USB-01/dp/B00JU56IB6/ref=sr_1_2 http://www.amazon.com/Bluelounge-Jimi-Extension-Unibody-JM-U...) does a good job of making this workable.
- SwellJoe 12y ago
  What? How is that more aesthetically pleasing or more functional than simply putting the ports where you can reach them easily?
  - derefr 12y ago
    There are basically four kinds of devices: 1. interaction peripherals where Bluetooth+batteries is workable (keyboards, mice) 2. interaction peripherals where Bluetooth+an external power cable is workable (speakers) 3. low-power data peripherals (CF cards, flash drives) where low-speed USB is acceptable 4. high-speed data peripherals and controllers (RAID storage, discrete GPUs, etc.) that effectively need a PCIe channel 1 and 2 are wireless, obviously. 4 doesn't get reconfigured much, so it makes sense that Thunderbolt and related "extension" ports are on the back of the device. (They were previously inside the device, after all.) 3 is the main problem, then, that currently suggests accessibility of ports: the small, transportable, label-able data-containing devices that descend from floppy disks. But why not think of alternative solutions, if "lightweight" data storage devices are the only constraint? One design I always thought fondly of was having small magnetic-backed data-storage "pucks" with no plugs as such, and making the non-screen part of the computer (e.g. the front-bottom panel area of an iMac) a magnetic attach-point for them. You would literally "mount" the your drives onto the computer. (Presumably it would inductively power them while they're there, too.) This wouldn't be a very fast storage device class compared to something using actual wires, but it wouldn't need to be; fast storage is what Thunderbolt et al are for. It'd likely also have other uses: for example, magnetically attaching your ID card (which is also a smart card) to a corporate computer to cause it to log in—and also to indicate to anyone else walking by that the computer is in use.

jacquesm 12y ago

Simply hook up a short cable and let it dangle from the rear.

FireBeyond 12y ago
Although arguably overpriced, the Bluelounge Jimi (http://www.amazon.com/Bluelounge-Jimi-Extension-Unibody-JM-USB-01/dp/B00JU56IB6/ref=sr_1_2 http://www.amazon.com/Bluelounge-Jimi-Extension-Unibody-JM-U...) does a good job of making this workable.
SwellJoe 12y ago
What? How is that more aesthetically pleasing or more functional than simply putting the ports where you can reach them easily?
- derefr 12y ago
  There are basically four kinds of devices: 1. interaction peripherals where Bluetooth+batteries is workable (keyboards, mice) 2. interaction peripherals where Bluetooth+an external power cable is workable (speakers) 3. low-power data peripherals (CF cards, flash drives) where low-speed USB is acceptable 4. high-speed data peripherals and controllers (RAID storage, discrete GPUs, etc.) that effectively need a PCIe channel 1 and 2 are wireless, obviously. 4 doesn't get reconfigured much, so it makes sense that Thunderbolt and related "extension" ports are on the back of the device. (They were previously inside the device, after all.) 3 is the main problem, then, that currently suggests accessibility of ports: the small, transportable, label-able data-containing devices that descend from floppy disks. But why not think of alternative solutions, if "lightweight" data storage devices are the only constraint? One design I always thought fondly of was having small magnetic-backed data-storage "pucks" with no plugs as such, and making the non-screen part of the computer (e.g. the front-bottom panel area of an iMac) a magnetic attach-point for them. You would literally "mount" the your drives onto the computer. (Presumably it would inductively power them while they're there, too.) This wouldn't be a very fast storage device class compared to something using actual wires, but it wouldn't need to be; fast storage is what Thunderbolt et al are for. It'd likely also have other uses: for example, magnetically attaching your ID card (which is also a smart card) to a corporate computer to cause it to log in—and also to indicate to anyone else walking by that the computer is in use.