4 USB ports

[synp]

The specs for the new PMs say 4 USB ports, 2 on the back and 2 on the keyboard.

IMO this is a bit misleading - One of the back ports is taken up by the keyboard, and one of the keyboard ports is taken up by the mouse.

This leaves you with one port on the back - usually occupied by a printer, and one on the keyboard for everything else.

Am I reading this right or am I missing something?

Thanks.

[Beej]

You're reading it right. You don't sell a computer with '2 free' USB ports, you sell it with 4... obviously you're going to use them to stick stuff in...

[firewire2001]

The thing is, though, if you buy an apple monitor you get an additional two usb ports on the back/side of the monitor that are very useful.

I have a G4 cube with a studio display (crt) and i have a total of 4 ports free afyter pluggin in my keyboard and mouse.

However, the port on the keyboard doesnt provide very much electricity so depending upon the printer, sometimes you cant use it from there, though it would be a hassle to have it plugged in there anyways...

[sparkleytone]

its not misleading at all. its four USB ports. so what if two of them get used. thats what they are THERE for. no we wouldnt want to see apple UTILIZING the technologies they put in their systems.

[benjaminpg]

Apple has advertised USB ports this way for a while. On the eMacs and iMacs they claim there are five USB ports, three on the machine and two on the keyboard, when in reality there are three free ones. However, although this is fairly deceptive, it is true, and further more, most people don't base their hardware purchases on how many USB ports there are.

[medea]

Doesnt have enough ports for ya? buy a usb hub.:p

[Backtothemac]

Oh, man not this again. Seriously. There are 4 USB ports on the system. Two are used leaving two total free.

;)

[Griffindor73]

You gotta admit, its a bit mean only having that many on a PowerMac- When i first saw the new PowerMac I thought those funny holes in the front were USB ports- it is a bit crap to only have two free when the keyboard and mouse have to use the other ones, especally as hubs dont really work that well. Six would be better (two for keyboard and mouse) I am not a pro user and I have a printer, scanner, CD Writer and Floppy drive to plug in and I am forever pulling leads out and in, even though I have a hub, the scanner, printer and CD Writer will not work through it (in fact I wished I hadn't bothered buying the bloody thing!)