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

[turbineseaplane]

Do Logitech wireless non-gaming keyboards and mice have USB-C receivers?

Today, Logitech’s wireless keyboard and mice mainly use USB-A receivers. However, many of our wireless keyboards and mice also connect via Bluetooth® Low Energy technology. Starting in Sept 2021, t...

support.logi.com

That really isn't a solution
BT still isn't as low latency and native feeling as their RF connections.

(I have no idea why -- just know it to be the case from 1st hand experience)

Also not as convenient to be able to plug in a dongle on one end and have the peripheral "just work" without pairing (pre OS boot for instance)

 

[nt5672]

They sell A to C adapters for next to nothing.

That's exactly the point, I have a MacBook pro and the finding or needed the adapters suck. Two connectors for every USB connection (usb-c and usb-a) is terrible for reliability. usb-c connectors have terrible retention.

 

[bgillander]

Adapters are significant contributor to e-waste. You are really going to argue the adapter which adds e-waste is avoiding e-waste?

You know what avoids even more e-waste? Waiting to phase out ports on a desktop that are still widely used - leaving that port in is inconsequential.

Adapters are not e-waste until they are disposed of, just like the cables and devices they are used to convert, and ports added to devices that are never used. I do have a use for USB-A ports, but many people here obviously do not, so they can rightly make the argument that the additional port is e-waste to them.

But arguing e-waste for a USB-C to USB-A adapter is like complaining about a raindrop in the ocean; it is a tiny fraction of the material to which it is connected and, unlike the ports, is only occurring if/where it is actually used, so is just an argument for the sake of argument. There is more e-waste in buying a longer cable than you absolutely require.

 

[ender78]

I really hate this. Nothing extends the life of an older machine more than storage upgrades.

I used to feel the same way about RAM but… at 16GB I’ve not been running the same amount of RAM for a decade. That’s so strange.

What I would love to see on all Mac's is the ability to add M.2 storage. Apple can put all they want on die but I want an M.2 slot so I can easily add storage.

 

[ignatius345]

That's exactly the point, I have a MacBook pro and the finding or needed the adapters suck.

Buy new cables. They make them in every combination you can think of.

 

[ikramerica]

A glance at all other manufacturers and USBA is prevalent on the backs and fronts of desktop machines. Why? Because it’s cheap to implement and people have a lot of legacy A peripherals, thumbsrives, etc.

 

[SactoGuy18]

If I were Apple, I would offer an optional little unit place on the bottom of the new Mac mini that has USB Type A and additional USB Type C ports.

 

[dandeco]

It's a good thing I've got a CalDigit TS3-Plus Thunderbolt 3 dock I use with my M1 MacBook Air and was planning to use with such a new Mac Mini anyways. Though I will kind of miss having a USB-A port built in.

 

[Nekronos]

I am thinking that many things we take for granted today likely started out as being "weird" or "controversial" at some point, and Apple did play some role in normalising them.

For example, the design of the AirPods when it was first announced in 2016. I am sure the loss of so many ports was a shock to many people when the OG MBA was released in 2008 and took some getting used to for some, but today, it's pretty much an acceptable tradeoff if you want a thin and light form factor. The OG iPhone without a physical keyboard, or even the 1st gen iPad which was at the time criticised as being just a larger iPod touch. All-in-one PCs doesn't seem to sell for Windows OEMs (and to be honest, the ones I do find tend to look and work like crap). Even the square face of the Apple Watch is now synonymous with its design, forcing competitors to either opt for a round face (which I feel is a subpar design choice) or be seen as an Apple Watch clone.

Even the decision to go with all usb-c ports isn't really so new, because as was pointed out above, Apple already did something like this with the iMac, which also placed the audio jack by the side because the screen was simply too thin to accommodate it. And I don't really hear any criticism regarding this (perhaps the iMac was just less popular amongst the "pro" crowd here?)

You know, I honestly thought there would be more support for adopting usb-c across the board, given how fervently the crowd here had argued in favour of it coming to the iPhone.

Apple has also lagged on a number of things even though it was the first to drop the 3.5mm - a port I still use extensively - bluetooth still isn't capable of the highest quality audio that 3.5mm provides. Airpods come in handy at times but wired headsets still reign king in terms of audio sound.

All in one PCs do actually sell ok and they work just fine, iMacs don't have much sales either, it's a niche market - I don't know where you are going with some of this. All in one desktops come with peripherals so you aren't going to see as many complaints in general though there are plenty of complaints about the fact that iMac is still using lightening.

People argued in favor of USB-C on iphone because it's been quite the laggard in adopting it across devices and lightening had been inferior for years.

I think you are missing one of the main differences here, desktop vs mobile devices, there just isn't a compelling reason to drop USB-A on a desktop, if the rumors are true and the mac-mini is getting even smaller - than that might be a reason but does the mac-mini really need to be smaller - particularly at the expense of a widely used port?

 

[Nekronos]

Adapters are not e-waste until they are disposed of, just like the cables and devices they are used to convert, and ports added to devices that are never used. I do have a use for USB-A ports, but many people here obviously do not, so they can rightly make the argument that the additional port is e-waste to them.

But arguing e-waste for a USB-C to USB-A adapter is like complaining about a raindrop in the ocean; it is a tiny fraction of the material to which it is connected and, unlike the ports, is only occurring if/where it is actually used, so is just an argument for the sake of argument. There is more e-waste in buying a longer cable than you absolutely require.

Your argument has multiple contradictions, and frankly is a strawman.

By your logic of adapters not being e-waste until disposed of, which is going to be sooner than later given the transient nature of design, so too are unused ports. Same is true for your throwaway point about a longer cable - I'd agree in the sense that buying more than you need is an inefficient allocation of resources but by your logic its not waste until discarded. People also buy houses and vehicles for everyone possible scenario even if 95% of the time they could get by with much less. The average person uses USB-A more than USB-C. I don't use USB-C on my desktop or laptop, does that make it e-waste?

Straws are a raindrop in the ocean too aren't they? Last I checked they cumulatively add a lot of waste. Just because a port isn't used or even perhaps is rarely used, doesn't make it e-waste. Removing ports that are widely used on new devices which forces consumers to buy adapters or additional components or new devices entirely that don't use USB-A, is doing nothing but creating e-waste.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think you are missing one of the main differences here, desktop vs mobile devices, there just isn't a compelling reason to drop USB-A on a desktop, if the rumors are true and the mac-mini is getting even smaller - than that might be a reason but does the mac-mini really need to be smaller - particularly at the expense of a widely used port?

(Narrator) No, absolutely not and it makes no sense

 

[Chuckeee]

Apple has also lagged on a number of things even though it was the first to drop the 3.5mm - a port I still use extensively - bluetooth still isn't capable of the highest quality audio that 3.5mm provides.

24” iMac have a 3.5mm jack port

Current MacBooks have a 3.5mm jack port

Current Mac mini and Studio have a 3.5 jack port

Current rumors point to to the new Mac mini will have a 3.5 jack port

What current Mac are you writing about?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Removing ports that are widely used on new devices which forces consumers to buy adapters or additional components or new devices entirely that don't use USB-A, is doing nothing but creating e-waste.

One would think this would be easy to understand ... yet somehow folks are arguing the opposite
😵‍💫

 

[Timpetus]

Amazing how many people are terrified of progress. I lived with a 2016 MBP as my primary computer for years, and I never missed USB-A or any of the other ports. Honestly, USB-C with TB is as close to perfect as we've gotten when it comes to standard ports.

 

[diskrisk]

It's silly to compare Lightning, a proprietary connector used only by Apple on mobile devices for a solitary decade, to USB-A. That's not even comparing apples with oranges, that's comparing pebbles with binoculars. 😅🤦‍♂️

It’s really not. Both are old ports (USB-A is much older) that are slower, less capable than their replacement and limited by their form factor. Type-A is even non-reversible and less durable so in some ways it’s worse than Lightning. To insist USB-A should stay despite all that is indirectly a defense of Lightning, and if we advocate for USB-C to replace lightning on everything (even in those cases where it has no real technical advantage to do so like charging an AirPods case or a keyboard) it’s stupid to not have the same energy for USB-A.
“But a lot of peripherals still use it!” We’ve gone through this many times already with floppy drives and CDs. It’s good to give a push to people to move to better alternatives to a widely used technology if necessary. The death of USB-A needs to happen.

 

[SlightWince]

If true, I love everything about this. Hopefully, a size reduction is on the horizon for the mac studio, too.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

USB-A is just about done for. All my new devices so far have come with a USB-C cable, even new keyboards and mice.

 

[diskrisk]

One would think this would be easy to understand ... yet somehow folks are arguing the opposite
😵‍💫

You’re so right! Let’s all start using floppy drives, all the 512kb flash drives, and all the 16kb SD-cards we’ve moved past from again to save the world too! Let’s handicap overdue technological progress for the planet, because we definitely haven’t invented many ways to deal with it in a way that benefits the planet, no way!

 

[ikramerica]

What I would love to see on all Mac's is the ability to add M.2 storage. Apple can put all they want on die but I want an M.2 slot so I can easily add storage.

Would be nice. Like on a tray you slide in with a set screw to hold it in place on the tray and door on the back?

 

[FineWoven]

If this turns out to be true, then no Mac mini for me, even though I have two mini's that need to be replaced.

bruh just get some USB-A adapters or better yet use a docking hub

I mean it's a desktop ffs how can this possibly be a dealbreaker for you...

 

[ender78]

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

They're showing their true colors and aren't / will never be objective when it comes to design decisions of tech products. They just want the product to work only for themselves without considerations of how other people use these products.

Some users just need a bigger push to embrace new(er) tech.

 

[jicon]

How many ISA 8 bit slots will this machine have?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Amazing how many people are terrified of progress

It's not "progress" to only have USB-C ports
For many users (like myself), it's more flexible and adaptable and convenient to have both built in

 

[drrich2]

I, personally, dislike that Apple added HDMI and an SD card reader to the Macbook Pro.

Given the prevalence of HDMI monitors and t.v.s, and that people often carry MacBook Pros around and might prefer not to have to pack an adapter around, too, it may be useful to many.

What I would love to see on all Mac's is the ability to add M.2 storage. Apple can put all they want on die but I want an M.2 slot so I can easily add storage.

I would, too, but suspect some bean counter at Apple would sooner pass kidney stones than let us have it.

Which makes the upcoming Thunderbolt 5 standard very interesting; I wish it implemented on the pending M4 Macs, but I don't think it's likely this generation. It might finally open the way for external SSDs to offer performance on par with internal SSDs. TB 4 didn't really give us higher performance than TB 3 for external SSDs (notice they tend to still be TB 3).

So given Apple's market position extraction of high SSD upgrade fees for the fastest SSD speeds (internal storage) and the current less palatable but hundreds cheaper option of attaching an external TB 3 SSD and making it the startup disk, what happens when TB 5 rolls out? Will Apple dream up a way to block us from find equivalent 3rd party product performance?

Satechi has a popular budget hub with ports and an SSD slot made to pair with the Mac Mini (creating the superficial appearance of a mini-tower rather than dangling dongles, etc...). I'd like to see a Thunderbolt 5 version with SSD speeds on par with Mac internal SSDs. Of course, that would undermine Apple's ability to extort high storage upgrade prices out of users.

 

[ender78]

Some of y'all are so neck deep in supporting anything they do or say ... really some introspection would be good.

And some of y'all just want to be negative on everything they do. Some of us just want new shiny stuff. I want more than 4 or 5 USB4/TB4 ports on the Mac. Anything that adds a USB-C port on my Mac mini is a step forward. If the USB-A port is added instead of a USB-C port I see that as a negative. I am perfectly fine not having ANY USB-A ports on my desktop. I have a number of hubs connected because I need far more than one USB-A port, one port is not going to make any difference.