Mac Mini to Lose Its USB-A Ports Later This Year

[hans1972]

Show me the Logitech type C Bolt dongle. I’ll wait. Bluetooth is not encrypted.

Who is the demographic for the mini? It’s supposed to be the cheapest option if you need a Mac. Now out the box it requires a bunch of adapters to even hook up a keyboard and mouse.

Some pro user's can't handle 8Gb of RAM.
Some pro user's can't handle Bluetooth keyboards and mice.
Some pro user's can't handle only USB-C computers.

My girlfriend's mother is over 80 and she can handle all of the above, and she is a complete amateur!
That's why she uses a Mac mini.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If you're not spending money in the Apple ecosystem, you'll be an unhappy user.
Just spend the few dollars on an adapter for each thing you need to connect. The cost is around $2-$3 per adapter.

That's not the issue. The rumor is LESS PORTS, going from either 2T + 2USB-a or 4T + 2U to perhaps 2 or 4T ports and 0U. Each Thunderbolt port allocated to a $2-$3 adapter is quite the waste to convert it to "lowly" USB-A.

Issue 2: the driver of this is apparently to roll out a shrunken Mini... but to get back ports one needs, right next to that Mini in the space saved by shrinking it will be this hub or these dongles to recover ports existing Mini already offers built in.

In other words, some of us believe Apple is going to cut the quantity of ports and are trying to rationalize it to the rest of us with lines like "just spend more" (to buy back whatever they take away). With that mentality, we can hope they sell us an empty box and we can just spend more to buy back ALL of the individual parts of a Mac sold as separate pieces. Just subtract all of it and let us tell each other to just spend more to buy it back.

And why is Apple going to potentially do this? The rumor is to deliver a smaller Mac Mini... a DESKTOP computer that doesn't need the old "thinner & lighter" mentality as we don't carry it around in a pocket or treat it as any kind of mobile computing device at all. To me, shrinking Mini is like getting a tattoo: you get the immediate reaction to the new tattoo and then the "hit" is over... and you just live with the tattoo. I take no issue with form factor evolution at all... but will push back as a CONSUMER when it's accomplished by substation of consumer utility... to be recovered by buying something else to put back what is taken away.

Remove 2USB-a but add 2 more Thunderbolt 4s? OK, that's quite an upgrade in consumer utility (almost no net impact with some added value upside). Remove 2 USB-a and replace them with nothing is simply utility subtraction, fixable- as in all such maneuvers- by spending more... but why do we consumers desire and rationalize "spending more" for less utility? Rhetorical: we believe Apple wants to do this so whatever Apple wants is what we want.

Note how the subtraction in this rumor seems to have no connection to a lower price either... only higher spending by buyers to buy back what is removed... likely to cut costs of the device and fatten the margin a bit more... especially if Apple is then the one to also sell the adapter/hub/dongle as an add-on because people don't know better and pay the Apple premium for the Apple hub.

Shareholders rejoice! 💰💰💰

 

[hans1972]

No, let's imagine THIS out:

• New Mac mini ships with- say- 4 Thunderbolt ports (like the M2 Pro now)
• Allocate one to your $2 adapter and that leaves 3 Thunderbolt ports, one now mostly "wasted" by turning all that Thunderbolt power into a "lowly" USB-A port.
• Need a second USB-A to match what we ALREADY have in Mac mini now? Allocate another $2 adapter and that leaves 2 Thunderbolt ports.

You have misunderstood. You don't buy an adapter for the USB-C port on the Mac mini. You buy one adapter for every USB-A device you want to connect!

Let's say you have 9 devices you need to connect, you buy 9! It will cost you about $25-30 including sales tax and shipping. Each device gets its own adapter which sits permanently attach to the device or the cable of the device. In practise you have converters every USB-A device/cable to USB-C.

This way, no ports on the Mac mini is "reserved" for USB-A.

 

[hans1972]

That's not the issue. The rumor is LESS PORTS, going from either 2T + 2USB-a or 4T + 2U to perhaps 2 or 4T ports and 0U. Each Thunderbolt port allocated to a $2-$3 adapter is quite the waste to convert it to "lowly" USB-A.

You don't "reserve" a port on the Mac mini for USB-A by putting an adapter on one of the ports.
You buy adapters for every USB-A device you want to connect!

 

[darkblu]

The loss of USB-A is not a big deal, compared to the fact the this new-world mini won't ever be on par with a macbook pro. Out the window go the chances for a Max chip variant. I hope we do at least get a Pro variant.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You don't "reserve" a port on the Mac mini for USB-A by putting an adapter on one of the ports.
You buy adapters for every USB-A device you want to connect!

Swapping cables because one has too few ports is NOT the way. If I have 9 USB-A devices as you imagine in your example, I already have a hefty hub to plug in and use. But if one has a few things to connect, a Mini with 2T + 2U or 4T + 4U may be enough to connect all permanently- no swapping required. Strip out them 2 USB-A though and now up to all of the 2T or 4T that remain will also have to be the USB-A port (via dongle) too... unless one pays up for a hub to use only 1 of them (which could be 50% of ALL ports in the base model)... or- as you suggest- swaps cables every time they need to use different things not currently connected.

 

[phalseHUD]

crApple loves an adapter. No need to do this on a budget desktop machine… But then again, courage (small c).

 

[kiranmk2]

I’m guessing for the M4 Pro version Apple doesn’t think the 140W is enough to power a device without a battery to fall back on during times of high load. Or maybe it’s just cheaper to integrate the power supply.

There was a time when a lot of Apple products had an external power bricks (Mac minis and Cinema Displays), and they were all different wattages despite some having the same connector. If you bought one used which was missing the brick it would be a nightmare of tracking down one of the correct wattage, and if it required the higher wattage usually being shocked at the price.

The iMac ships with a 143 W power supply (15.9 V at upto 9 A), so a Mac Mini with no screen, speakers or webcam should presumably use less power (a display typically uses 50-60 W).

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[rp2011]

Usb-c to Usb-a adapters and hubs are a thing

My Mac studio has USB A ports in the back that are a hassle to spin around and plug flash drives in and out. I use a little adopter for the flash drives and just plug them into the USB C port. No big deal. The real issue is that USB A needs to disappear.

 

[Spongmincer]

Good. There’s no excuse for USB A ports in modern computers.

 

[HBX]

The 2013 Mac Pro Trashcan with OLPC is looking better and better as I learn more about this gimped Mac Mini, sad because I've been a Mac Mini whore for years and if it's priced at the same price as a Mac Studio I just won't bother and will stick to my 2018 Mac Mini or get the 2013 Mac Pro. I have too many peripherals that use USB-A and having to buy more docks and adapters is a NO from me. Apple can kick rocks.

 

[HBX]

My Mac studio has USB A ports in the back that are a hassle to spin around and plug flash drives in and out. I use a little adopter for the flash drives and just plug them into the USB C port. No big deal. The real issue is that USB A needs to disappear.

Skill issue.

 

[HuskerNKS]

This is not surprising. They did this with the iMac and that is in the same category as Mac Mini. Entry level users connect the keyboard and mouse and use the computer for browsing, email, photos, etc. Not 100%, but those of us with tons of accessories and a willingness to argue on a Mac specific forum are not the majority of entry level computer users IMO.

 

[dazzer21-2]

USB-C to USB-A converters cost pennies. I’ve got two plugged into the back of my Studio Display for my printers.

 

[hans1972]

Umm I guess you don't have speakers connected to your machine. For me the USB A port is connected to the USB B port of my audio receiver/DAC. Thus, I hope Apple does not drop the very useful USB A on newer Studio ultras.

Just get a USB-B to USB-C cable. You're don't have to use the cable which came with the equipment.

 

[mrr]

All said, I will be buying the next Mac Mini on day one. What I really wanted was a 27” Retina iMac but alas, it sadly became an orphan and is no longer OS upgradable. Time to move on.

 

[Abazigal]

You have misunderstood. You don't buy an adapter for the USB-C port on the Mac mini. You buy one adapter for every USB-A device you want to connect!

Let's say you have 9 devices you need to connect, you buy 9! It will cost you about $25-30 including sales tax and shipping. Each device gets its own adapter which sits permanently attach to the device or the cable of the device. In practise you have converters every USB-A device/cable to USB-C.

This way, no ports on the Mac mini is "reserved" for USB-A.

There is no Mac which comes with 9 usb-a ports for you to connect your peripherals to. Either way, you are still getting an adaptor.

If you seriously needed that many, chances are, you already have some sort of hub. Back when the 2016 MBP first out, people made it sound like you were going to be buried in cables and adaptors, whereas in reality, you really only needed 1 usb-c adaptor with the custom selection of ports you needed. In my case, I bought one containing a usb-a port (which I ended up hardly using), a HDMI port and passthrough charging and even then, it was used only intermittently, and barely at all these days.

With my current M1 MBA (2 usb-c ports), I

1) Charge via its usb-c port,
2) Use a wireless mouse (that doesn't require a dongle)
3) Have purchased Samsung T5/T7 drives that let you switch between usb-a and usb-c cables
4) Also have a portable monitor at my desk that connects via usb-c (and which also does passthrough charging)
5) Use AirPods (and I believe the Mac mini will still ship with an audio jack)
6) Everything else that works wirelessly, from cloud storage to airdrop to wifi, would extend equally to a desktop Mac.

And the beauty is that any of this workflow is cross-compatible with my iPad Pro. But sometimes you need that push from Apple to switch.

I am not going to pretend to be like the "third party App Store crowd" and claim that "you don't have to use it if you don't want to" while handwaving away all the issues involved. Rather, my spiel has always been that yes, I acknowledge that with any paradigm shift in technology, there is always a switching cost involved that will likely inconvenience more users than not, but I believe that the long term benefits will be worth it.

In summary, short term pain for long term gain. Right now, many of you are probably moaning and groaning at the thought of having to get new dongles and adaptors. In the long run, look towards switching and upgrading to usb-c accessories where possible (like what I have done) and embrace the future of computing (impressive power in a thin and compact package that can easily expand via usb-c peripherals as needed).

 

[uptownnyc]

If this thing doesn't have four SCSI ports and a VGA port I'm definitely not buying it.

 

[forced-to-have-a-username]

This is just the inevitable future, if we are to go USB-C then we should just start going all the way with it. No more figuring out which way is round on both ends.
Of course, now that USB-C is beginning to become standard, something else will come out and screw up the USB standard again I'm sure. LOL!!!
Actually, shocked at the number of USB hubs that only have one USB-C port. I guess that will change now.

Agreed, I get all the anger as well, but Apple can use it's power in the industry to push type C adoption. The sooner type A dies the better, if that is part of what it takes, fine, I'll take it. A adapter costs like 2$.

 

[Jamie0003]

just make it pocketable or something the size of an apple tv. it's too big.

That’s exactly what they’re doing

 

[ric22]

It’s a desktop that doesn’t get moved around just use a hub or inexpensive adapter

Fewer overall ports can force reliance on hubs, and they're not always perfect at dealing with certain devices.

 

[WhisperingBobcat]

The iMac ships with a 143 W power supply (15.9 V at upto 9 A), so a Mac Mini with no screen, speakers or webcam should presumably use less power (a display typically uses 50-60 W).

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And it comes with an ethernet port and a proprietary cable and connector to connect to the iMac. It's a $140 ethernet dongle because Apple couldn't find any room in the iMac for the ethernet circuitry. As I said before, they could have made the new mac mini worse and just built it to use this power adapter.

 

[StellarVixen]

That's completely untrue. The G3 iMac came out in 1998, and floppies were the only popular form of writeable media at that point - zip drives etc existed, but for most people floppies were still what they used, hence why there was such a market for USB floppy drives (many of which were transluscent bondi blue to match the iMac).

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk:


The lack of a floppy drive on the iMac was a shock to everyone at the time, and was highly controversial, as much so as was the use of the USB standard rather than parallel and serial ports.

Still nowhere near ubiquity of USB-A today. I am almost 100 percent sure in 10 years there will still be millions of USB cables and devices out there. In 2008 floppy drives were already gone

 

[ric22]

Same for USB hubs. Apple needs the courage to remove all but one USB-C port.

Haha, imagine, a desktop without a single port. Bravery 😅😅 Then they could sell a special hub which connects wirelessly.

 

[Jamie0003]

That's not the issue. The rumor is LESS PORTS, going from either 2T + 2USB-a or 4T + 2U to perhaps 2 or 4T ports and 0U. Each Thunderbolt port allocated to a $2-$3 adapter is quite the waste to convert it to "lowly" USB-A.

Issue 2: the driver of this is apparently to roll out a shrunken Mini... but to get back ports one needs, right next to that Mini in the space saved by shrinking it will be this hub or these dongles to recover ports existing Mini already offers built in.

In other words, some of us believe Apple is going to cut the quantity of ports and are trying to rationalize it to the rest of us with lines like "just spend more" (to buy back whatever they take away). With that mentality, we can hope they sell us an empty box and we can just spend more to buy back ALL of the individual parts of a Mac sold as separate pieces. Just subtract all of it and let us tell each other to just spend more to buy it back.

And why is Apple going to potentially do this? The rumor is to deliver a smaller Mac Mini... a DESKTOP computer that doesn't need the old "thinner & lighter" mentality as we don't carry it around in a pocket or treat it as any kind of mobile computing device at all. To me, shrinking Mini is like getting a tattoo: you get the immediate reaction to the new tattoo and then the "hit" is over... and you just live with the tattoo. I take no issue with form factor evolution at all... but will push back as a CONSUMER when it's accomplished by substation of consumer utility... to be recovered by buying something else to put back what is taken away.

Remove 2USB-a but add 2 more Thunderbolt 4s? OK, that's quite an upgrade in consumer utility (almost no net impact with some added value upside). Remove 2 USB-a and replace them with nothing is simply utility subtraction, fixable- as in all such maneuvers- by spending more... but why do we consumers desire and rationalize "spending more" for less utility? Rhetorical: we believe Apple wants to do this so whatever Apple wants is what we want.

Note how the subtraction in this rumor seems to have no connection to a lower price either... only higher spending by buyers to buy back what is removed... likely to cut costs of the device and fatten the margin a bit more... especially if Apple is then the one to also sell the adapter/hub/dongle as an add-on because people don't know better and pay the Apple premium for the Apple hub.

Shareholders rejoice! 💰💰💰

Then don’t buy it. If you’re plugging a million devices into the thing you probably aren’t the target market anyway. Buy a Mac Studio or *Gasp* a windows machine