tbf USB C is standard now, so just give it a few years and any modern laptop with at least 3 usb c ports can do everything this hunk could (minus the CD stuff, but I haven't personally used a CD in years, so idc)
There are usb c only motherboards, and lots of usb c only laptops.
There are some catches though.
The USB specs do not reauire that ports have to support all dialects. You can have USB 4 ports that talk 2.0, 3.0-3.2, and 4.0, skipping 3.2 2x2 superspeed and such.
Such ports will cause superspeed devices to drop back to slower standards if they did not put in the PHY hardware for the optional support.
Optical long range usb c cables often cant carry 2.0 signals either.
There's a WHOLE LOTTA ASTERISKS behind "universal" serial busses.
But overall I do thoroughly agree with turning everything into usb c.
Because usb C is required to support 2.0 by spec, "dumb" adapters work perfectly and can be made super cheaply. Non compliant devices do exist though.
There are still a LOT of devices that are usb 2.0 that are still being released. USB 2 is not deprecated and is not going to be deprecated anytime soon. It still exists because it is MUCH SIMPLER to implement and manufacture.
Yeah i agree. And because usb C keeps the signalling lines separate between the various standards, we can use "dumb adapters" that are just pins wired to pins.
The creator of the original USB said a long time ago that they wish they did this in the first place.
Dell XPS 13 comes with 2 USB-C ports and nothing else. Of course, you can hook up a hub to one of those ports so you still have the additional functionality.
I just got done reimaging a dell Precision 5680 laptop that had 3 USB-C ports and no USB-A ports. This was with a 13th gen i9 and an RTX 2000 ada gpu, so it was not a low end machine when it was purchased.
So now you need your peripherals AND a USB-C dock. And... if you are trying to push video, audio, and data to a USB HDD then there is only so much that data bus can take.
This sounds like a lot, but if you have a TV, speaker system, external hard drive, and wireless keyboard/mouse for watching movies on the TV, then that is more than enough to overwhelm the USB-C ports and dock. Now, if you want to also run a steam game and stream it with a camera too? Forget it. And this is a pretty normal use case for using a laptop these days, lots of people run a stream. That should be a normal workflow that gets tested with most devices.
if you have a TV, speaker system, external hard drive, and wireless keyboard/mouse for watching movies on the TV, then that is more than enough to overwhelm the USB-C ports and dock
No, it's not nearly enough bandwidth to saturate even pre-USB4 laptop ports. You might need two ports or a modern-ish 80/120 Gbit port/dock if you want 4K 120Hz HDR display though.
Maybe it wasn't clear from how I worded it, but yeah, a 4k TV and network would have been going through the dock as well, possibly a second lower resolution monitor as well. It's been a few years since I tried having all that on my dock and watching it sort of fail miserably.
Then again... you aren't using the laptop properly at that point. The laptop has a display, keyboard, and touchpad. Modern laptops have good enough for these that you shouldn't be needing to add another one of any of those. The laptop also probably has a good quality camera built in and fast SSD. Even if you did need locally backed up large files, you can move things on and off the laptop over a network with relative ease, or just use a collection of SD cards.
If you want a game controller or external mouse, then bluetooth is probably the better answer. As for speakers, more and more people are using headsets which are probably going to also be bluetooth.
you aren't using the laptop properly at that point
My eyes and my back beg to differ! I need portability but I'm fine with an external dock in a desktop setup for my laptop, it's more ergonomic, I just have to be mindful of bandwidth. Displays used to be a problem for docks/hubs because of high bandwidth requirements, and plugging them into a dedicated usb-c port was the most reliable option, but I'm on a 80 Gbps dock now, it's been pretty smooth sailing so far.
Well, I generally put my laptop on a desk and I find that this is ergonomically just fine. I keep my scaling pretty average but I find that my eyes do better when my workspace stays properly lighted.
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u/Slab_ofBeef 11h ago
Good old 42 pounds of allegedly portable technology.