[zitterbewegung]

They are worth it. Nearly every complaint was addressed in the new MacBooks Pros and I feel like its a return to form for the company. The only downsides I can really see is that Wifi on the laptop should have been 6E and the SD Card should have been SD Express but it seems like it was that way due to the length it took being engineered (which isn't an excuse).

[karmakaze]

It's actually better than "return to form", for once Apple has embraced 'form follows function' with more ports (even 'legacy' HDMI), magsafe power, and a chunky body, rather than function fit into form.

[lvl102]

My only gripe is the lack of USB-A to make it truly dongle free.

[threeseed]

Just buy a USB-C to USB-A adapter and leave it permanently attached.

USB-A is a legacy connector and needs to just die already.

[bee_rider]

Like just constantly have a dongle hanging off the side of your laptop, waiting to get bent? Possibly damaging to port?

[chrischen]

Then don't get the dongle. Just upgrade your accessory to use USB type C. Having a bulky USB A port just to appease the 1% of users who spend $2000 on a shiny new macbook but cheap out on a mouse they've been using from the 90s? I exaggerate, but if you really want to keep your old accessories then leave the dongle permanently attached to the accessory. You can get like a 10 pack for like $5 probably.

[bee_rider]

It isn't really a matter of cost, so much as the inconvenience of replacing all the peripherals I've accumulated over time (ignoring the fact that there isn't even a USB-C version of my favorite keyboard).

Yes adapters are possible, however an even better solution (in that it doesn't require remembering to bring an adapter everywhere) is just to buy a different brand of laptop.

[obscuren]

Just buy a couple of these [1] (can probably find them cheaper even) and leave them attached to the peripheral (not your Mac)

- [1] https://satechi.net/products/aluminum-usb-c-to-usb-a-adapter...

[macintux]

How many peripherals do you take with you when you leave the house?

I've found a single, compact USB-C hub does fine for me, but of course YMMV.

[goosedragons]

Find a new wired mouse with a USB C connector. USB A isn't dead just yet. Also doesn't really help in the scenario where maybe you need to grab files off a client or colleague's flash drive...

[bombcar]

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/keyb...

They’re out there.

Would a USB A be nice? Probably.

[threeseed]

That's because no one even makes them anymore e.g. Logitech has ZERO normal wired mice.

So of course you're seeing USB-A mice because they are probably old models from the 2000s.

[leipert]

More like: constantly attached to the cable. Only USB-A device I use is a printer and I have an adapter permanently attached to the cable.

[bee_rider]

That's a solution I guess. It could result in an annoying edge case if you wanted to for example bring your laptop somewhere else, and borrow a peripheral there. (I'm sure someone will be along to correct me, with the information that using a laptop as a portable device is some niche use-case that Apple shouldn't care about).

[dfinninger]

I keep one of these in my laptop case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CVX3516/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8Q...

It’s worked great for years.

[mattl]

Why does it need to die?

[ghshephard]

There is absolutely zero need for USB-A. None. It does nothing whatsoever that USB-C can't do, and there are ton of things that USB-C can do better. There is no need for two USB "mid sized" plug standards - and obviously USB-C is now the dominant. Almost every single peripheral, device, component, that can run on USB-A runs on USB-C. And there is a huge contingent of devices that could never run on USB-A. As soon as everyone has agreed that USB-A is dead, completely dead, people will cease manufacturing USB-A peripherals, which further enhances the value of a port that almost everyone is now using for everything.

Honestly - the USB-A port should have been wiped out a couple years ago - the only reason it didn't is that everyone has this massive legacy of USB-A ports (Hotels, Airports, Airplanes, etc...) that people plug into, which kept them holding onto those legacy peripherals longer than they should have. Also - some weird hardware dongles that haven't been upgraded to USB-C.

What we need to do is start seeing how quickly Hotels/Cars/Airplanes/Airports/... start switching over to USB-C. When that happens there will be this massive cascade effect - it will be exponential:

   2022 - ~0% of legacy is USB C
   2023 - 1% legacy USB-C
   2024 - 2% legacy USB-C
   2025 - 4% legacy USB-C
   2026 - 8% legacy USB-C
   2027 - 16% legacy USB-C
   2028 - 32% legacy USB-C
   2029 - 64% legacy USB-C
   2030 - 90% legacy USB-C
   2031 - 95% legacy USB-C

I'm guessing by 2032, nobody will be carrying legacy USB-A peripherals anymore. Only wildcard will be if there is a USB-next that will replace C. Please don't let that happen before USB-C takes over the world.

[tzs]

> There is absolutely zero need for USB-A. None. It does nothing whatsoever that USB-C can't do, and there are ton of things that USB-C can do better.

What's the USB-C story nowadays if you have N USB-C peripherals and M USB-C ports where N > M?

Most USB-C hubs seem to have one USB-C for connecting to the computer, one USB-C for connecting to a peripheral, and then a bunch of USB-A for connecting to more peripherals.

To get something that actually increases the number of USB-C peripherals, especially if more than one of your peripherals needs more than low power, and is reliable it appears that you have to get a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 dock and it is pretty pricey.

Until there are cheap reliable 1 to many USB-C hubs USB-A is not going to go away.

[kingcharles]

Also, it always takes three tries to get a USB-A plug into the socket.

[mattl]

I have a USB-A Yubikey and I prefer it to the crappy USB-C one that’s just too small.

[ghaff]

The argument is that it's legacy and it will die because USB-C is better is a variety of ways. And in true Apple fashion, Apple is killing it somewhat aggressively. Though it's not just Apple. Something like a Google Pixelbook is USB-C only as well.

[rnk]

The same thing can be said for the unnecessary apple lightning plug - it serves no purpose other than apple selling adapters and blocking usb-c use. Yet it keeps being used. Lots of companies have things with only usb-c but the real problem is not new use, it's the billions of devices with usb-a plugs on them. In my house there are probably 10 usb-c plugs across several computers and 100 usb-a things to plug in.

[tinus_hn]

The Lightning connector was introduced in 2012 while USB-C was introduced in 2014.

My theory is that Apple made commitments to keep supporting the Lightning connector on their phones for a number of years to get manufacturers to create devices with it.

Say whatever you want, when it was introduced it was clearly a big improvement over the micro USB connectors everyone else was using. By now it’s holding them back though.

[ghaff]

The main purpose lightning serves is that it removes a barrier to Apple customers upgrading to the next iPhone. Apple will get to USB-C--probably sooner rather than later; I wouldn't bet against this year--but that's actually a case of getting onto a standard even though there's no real advantage right now for Apple customers and some pain.

[dekhn]

because inferior tech that lasts a long time has a constant tax on productivity.

[mattl]

I think I’m less productive with a dongle to use a USB type A device on my laptop than I would be with a single port.

[moralestapia]

o-rly? Aside from my phone, every single thing I have in my home is using USB-A.

[dontlaugh]

Exactly. USB A would be far more useful than the SD card slot for almost everyone.

[threeseed]

MacBook Pro is not designed for everyone.

Content creators rely on SD cards everyday and cameras actively sold today use it.

Devices stopped being shipped with USB-A a long time ago now.

[smoldesu]

I have a hard time believing that people use SD cards more frequently than they do USB-A. Sure, photographers probably get good use out of it, but developers, students, content creators who aren't shooting with DSLR, animators, musicians, 3D artists, regular artists and video editors will probably never touch it.

There are plenty of fairly common USB-A peripherals still in use anyways. A lot of audio interfaces, mice, keyboards and webcams rely on low-bandwidth but ubiquitous ports like USB-A. Apple and their pride would never put one on a modern Mac, but we're really at an impasse: neither side will adopt either standard, so it's more likely that we'll simply see wireless peripherals gain popularity instead. Not exactly bad, but kinda an asinine take for a company that just released a professional desktop computer with USB-A, but refused to add it to their laptops.

[realityking]

How many of those devices have fixed cables? I bought a few USB-C to Mini-USB/Micro-USB/Micro-USB3/USB-B/Lightning cables and replaced all the cables on my devices.

Now if only my car had a USB-C plug…

[smoldesu]

Mice, keyboards and webcams are typically non-negotiable. Audio interfaces are pretty regularly replaceable, but it certainly doesn't improve the compatibility quotient by leaving the ports off it.

[tentacleuno]

> Devices stopped being shipped with USB-A a long time ago now.

Are you talking about Macs or devices in general? My 2021 laptop has an SD card slot, x2 USB A and x2 USB C (well, Thunderbolt 4). Despite how much I like USB C (all the devices I take with me have it), USB A is still here and will be for quite a while.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my laptop also has (full-sized!) HDMI and a headphone jack.

[spiderice]

> Devices stopped being shipped with USB-A a long time ago now.

I interpreted this to mean the male side. Sure you can still buy laptops that accept USB-A, but I haven't seen any peripheral that still uses USB-A in a long time. I'm sure you could still buy a thumb drive with USB-A, but I wouldn't.

[hollandheese]

>I haven't seen any peripheral that still uses USB-A in a long time.

Wired Mice, Wired Keyboards, Thumb drives, external hard drives, printers, webcams, external cd/dvd/bluray drives, etc..

What peripherals do you look at? Barely any of them use USB-C unless they're explicitly USB-C docks, or Thunderbolt peripherals.

[markstos]

Photographers use SD Cards. Most Everyone uses keyboard, mice and plenty still have USB thumb drives.

[ghaff]

The strongest argument for a built-in SD card slot is it can give you something like 1TB of cheap additional storage as well as serving as a backup when traveling. Probably not a super-common use case though.

(Yes, photographers use SD cards although they often connect cameras directly and USB SD readers are cheap.)

[zitterbewegung]

I use my sd card slot for additional storage by buying this: https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-JetDrive-Expansion-MacBook-...

I use it for noncritical data because the sd card is slow and it could fail. Mainly recent downloads or video files.

[ghaff]

I'd need a hub in my office anyway. But when traveling it would be nice to have a USB-A so that I could mostly get by without plugging in a hub or at least a dongle.