One of my favorite desktop Macs of all time was actually a Hackintosh. It had ALL the ports, a bunch of USB, serial, parallel, SCSI, internal Blu-Ray drive AND DVD-RW drive, 10TB internal storage, VGA, DVI, and a bunch of PCIe slots in case I wanted to add more stuff. I want Apple to build THAT kind of machine.
Me, too, but they won't. Their so-called 'desktops' are notebooks minus display, keyboard and battery - no drive bay expansion, etc...
For whatever reasons, Apple seems adamantly determined to not put out an affordable mini-tower desktop Mac with expansion bays for internal storage. I'd love to know why not, but it is what it is.
Then they should still be able to buy these so that their legacy clutter doesn't hold up our technology:
Since both port types can co-exist on the desktop Mac, 'their legacy clutter' doesn't hold up your technology. Where USB-C offers prominent advantages, it proceeds apace - people buying external SSD drives, etc... Where it does not (e.g.: a Logitech universal wireless receiver for wireless keyboard and mouse, or somebody's old USB-A thumb drive collection), USB-A should be harmless.
USB-A continues to exist in the market because there are use cases for which it is functionally equivalent and cheap. I've noticed some hubs, docks and chargers tend to offer few USB-C ports.
The only concern would be if people needed more USB-C ports and the USB-A ports were crowding them out.
In contrast, it's the PC manufacturers who lack any real ability to influence the state of affairs in the market, because there are so many of them, each peddling the same filling as everyone else. If an OEM sold a laptop lacking usb-A ports, a customer would simply switch to a competing alternative.
Yes, in the Apple ecosystem, Apple is essentially the dictator with top down control, and on the Windows PC side, due to multiple vendors consumers have choices and vendors who want to take their product a given way have to persuade customers to buy in. I agree.
That the former would be considered preferable, though? Wow. How many of us would dearly love Mac clones that offered mini-towers with internal SSD expansion bays for user upgradable 3rd party SSDs at high internal speeds without paying inflated Apple prices, legacy ports, etc...?
I find it absolutely incredible those who advocated for the death of lightning for the reasons of "usb-c is the future" and "we need to stop producing XYZ port because the ENVIRONMENT" are now walking back on those statements because they want to keep using USB-A
If it seems incredible, I think that's because you're omitting a key difference. Lightning was used for iPhones and iPads, devices with one connector only (other than older models with headphone jacks). So, it was 'either/or.'
Desktop computers in particular aren't like that. If the question where that the Mini could have only one port, USB-C or USB-A, then it would be an analogous situation, and we don't think anybody would be pushing for 'A.'
Apple pulled USB-A from their laptops years ago, and they’re still selling laptops like wildfire. Cause everybody figured out how to deal with it.
Yes, by buying expensive hub dongles.
Why keep the HDMI port? Just make it another USB-C/TB port. If someone needs HDMI there are multiple USB-C/HDMI adapter cables.
Because while Apple might wish we'd all switch to Thunderbolt monitors (preferably ASDs), we live in an HDMI world.
Many years ago, PCs and Macs tended to ship without much productivity software included. There was Windows Paint and Solitaire, people coughing up large sums of money for new computers were often fairly new to computers, and likely a bit disgusted the thing wasn't useful out-of-the-box. Cue the iWorks suite, Microsoft Works, included MS Office on some systems, etc... When people drop the money on a new computer, telling them to then go buy dongles, hubs, docks, adapters, conversion cables, etc..., yeah, that can be done...but it's a bit distasteful. Especially when the PC people don't need to do that.
And ironic considering how Apple with Johnny Ives got a reputation for minimalist sleek, thin aesthetics. But now it's dongle time!
I'm less enthused than some with Apple getting leadership ideas. I recall when they had floppy drives...and chose a proprietary format (Bill Gates sent a letter to Steve Jobs making the case for a universal format standard, but no). And Apple was late to the USB-A party, because they wanted a proprietary technology called GeoPort. Remember the years of the widely disdained 'hockey puck' mouse - which I suspect reflected some perverse determination to not copy what the Windows PC world was doing with mice (e.g.: 2-button mice), so they stuck it out till they could come up with an Apple original (the Magic Mouse).
I'm not suggesting a USB-A port or two should replace USB-C (or Thunderbolt) ports. I'm saying having them built-in was handy for many people with use cases for which they worked fine.
Some of the examples I've seen mentioned in this thread aren't good equivalents. CD/DVD drives and floppy drives were way larger than USB-A connectors. Parallel ports were large, and the cables mainly only useful for printers.
The Mac Mini originated as a desktop Mac where people could use the peripherals they already had laying around; it wasn't billed as the gateway to the future.
It would be fascinating if Apple put out the Mac Mini as expected in this article, but also a Mac Medium with the same case as the current M2-series Mac Mini, and let the customers decide. Oh, but at Apple, the tail (customer) does not wag the dog (Apple).
