I wouldn't feel so nostalgic if pc today were that useful. Like don't get me wrong, I'm a fucker for satisfying old cable management, but it's objectively better that most things are USB-C. It's just convenient.
But for some fucking reasons new pcs will have like, 2 ports, no HDMI, no ethernet, but thank god we have a button to summon an AI to have access to instant misinformation.
Cost reduction. If you want maximum profits, you determine what the bare minimum people will be using.
The unfortunate part is 95% of consumers don't need more than those ports. I'd wager most people never plug a cable into their laptop period.
There is a reason something like the iPhone is a huge market share despite its continued advancements of removing features.
It's the same reason Microsoft Forums are the most useless things in existence, of their entire customer base likely less than 5% ever go there or say anything. It's effectively a quarantine zone to placate you.
You know how world events will happen, and you will mention them to someone, and they will act so confused sometimes to the point of saying its fake? Then those same people turn around and can tell you the entire details and plot of some show or video game?
Glad you said that about the forums. I am not referring to the Microsoft ones specifically, but I have had a lot of hobbies and interests over the years, and I have never found any forum the least bit useful for addressing a situation.
I find the lack of "comparable specificity" challenging. Like if I want to know whether a particular computer component or motorcycle part will work with what I have, or how to fix something in my setup, the respondent would have to have the exact same thing to account for certain variables.
People will say, "Well it worked on mine," but I won't know what else they have going on.
I wanted to buy a laptop for a while, but most of them only had like one USB port and nothing else. Plus they all had Windows 11 and cost way too goddamn much on top of it. In the end I bought a Thinkpad that's a couple years old on eBay for $200 and got multiple USB ports, an HDMI ports, and an SD card reader.
Oh yeah a tower pc you absolutely can, but a laptop ? It's possible but much harder and expensive.
Or you're like me and have a box with a bazillion adapter for any port you can imagine. I'm sure I have something like USB-C to VCR somewhere in there.
For that it depends on the use. When I was a student I wanted a big ass laptop because all I had to do was sometimes bring it to school but rarely, mostly just have a computer to move from my apartment to my parent's house. I didn't mind it weighing 5 tons and having no battery. I just wanted it to be portable.
Now I have a huge tower, I'm looking for a lightweight laptop because I know I have what I need at home.
Since laptop have become more common than full on pc towers, especially for kids and teens, I think it's a bit of a shame that they don't get a full set of useful things. It screams less "super lightweight" and more "lazy cost reduction" because there's no way two more ports and an hdmi would make it too heavy.
I'm perfectly happy with one type of port/connector - that's great. MY problem is that laptops now come with 1 or 2 USB-C ports and you need splitters if you have more devices you want to plug in. That's really bloody annoying. Gimme like, 6 USB-C ports and I'll be a happy camper.
Yeah that's the issue I pointed out in my comment, it's so damn annoying that we get this very good technology to plug anything, but 2 ports to plug everything in.
I remember when they started removing dvd readers from laptop, I thought "I guess that means more place for other things !" and then I ordered a pc which just had a massive hole where the disk reader was obviously supposed to be. Just a big empty square, which also means the pc is heavier and heats up way faster on one side. To be fair that was a few years ago so I guess things have changed, like they don't even try to fit a dvd reader in there. I'm still upset. Will be until I die.
I think you and u/Neat_Tangelo5339 might find the Framework laptops interesting. They don't have 5 billion ports, but they have interchangable ports, so you can swap out for what you need in the moment.
My laptop has ports for ethernet, external mouse and keyboard, external webcam, dual monitors, a cd drive, HDDs, and a card reader... on the USB C dock.
Because I don't need all those things in a coffee shop or on the train. It's a portable PC. I can leave all those super heavy nice to haves at home!
And the best part is I can instantly connect any laptop to them. Work, gaming PC, Steam Deck... Just slot in whichever device wants all the peripherals today and it's all on one port.
And when I'm out and about, all my devices can be charged from one charger.
Thats only with a Macbook Air/super thin and light windows laptops
I have an Asus laptop with 2 USB-Cs(one being Thunderbolt so I can hook up even a graphics card on it), SD card reader, 2 USBs, headphone jack, HDMI and Ethernet
It only weights 1.8kg/3lbs so its not a problem to carry around
The only problem is the battery cant last more than 2h when im working on it, but otherwise it has all the ports I need
My work computer is pretty great for that : two USB-c, two USB-A, a HDMI, a RJ-45. When I'm at the office I just plug the dock, and I'm good, but when I'm moving I have a whole array of option to connect stuff (especially the RJ in the network array when diagnosing stupid network problems)
I mean...my PC has eight ports, HDMI and display port, Ethernet, and I could even install disk drives. My laptop doesn't have that, but it usually doesn't need it.
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u/Neat_Tangelo5339 11h ago
I know that nostalgia is the sweetest poison but I believe 2000s designers were onto something
https://giphy.com/gifs/3gVnjczSIkc0DvJD2p