Would you like my collection of Apple adapters? I'll send it over in a cart pulled by two Oxen.
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Mac Mini to Lose Its USB-A Ports Later This Year
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It is progress. The industry is stuck in a timewarp by still manufacturing outdated tech to accommodate persons like yourself who will not adapt your setup. I'm sorry, but I think feel hands need to be forced to phase out USB-A as fast as possible.
For someone like myself who has already upgraded to the latest and greatest (that was released 10 years ago), it makes alot more sense to have more USB-C ports.
I could understand if there was a massive expense involved for the slow-to-adapt, or compatibility issues but there isn't.
Jump drives are not supposed to be permanently attached to a computer, it can damage them.
*hint* It's in the name.
Oh, I've got 'em, just tired of needing an adapter, dock or dongle for all things Apple, and USB-C is no prize either.
It is, though. USB-C is better in every way. The only temporary and dwindling advantage of USB-A is pervasiveness.
It is. It’s also more flexible and adaptable and convenient to have Thunderbolt 2, FireWire, and SAS.
Just 2 oxen? Not much of a collection.
🤣
Well, that I did not know. Apple not following their 'rules' lately, probably due to the limitations of the base M chips.
C'mon, it's a bit of a stretch comparing the prevalence of USB-A with any of those standards...
One more point to consider is power draw. USB C can offer 15W to a peripheral, whereas with USB-A we commonly saw 7.5W or less. Many devices that are high bandwidth and USB-C (but not TB) need the higher power availability. So offering more USB-C ports (non-TB) requires a larger power supply for a host. If one is planning to use a low powered device, then this extra power is not needed. But a manufacturer still needs to account for it in design/cost for those that will be using the max power.
um, you mean exactly like the mac studios that have usb 3 at front and thunderbolt at back ?
I actually like having USB-A ports, but since you brought up the strawman, I’m just pointing out that e-waste is a bogus argument for this, when there are many other valid arguments, such as inconvenience and the annoyance of having to use adapters. If e-waste is truly your driving concern, you should be wanting the smallest mini with as few ports as possible, especially no A ports since they are larger and the mass manufacture of these devices is what actually creates more e-waste. I’m fine with you wanting A ports, but the e-waste complaint is in itself a strawman complaint if you are going to use it to just keep adding more parts to a newly manufactured device. I like USB-A and would be quite happy for Apple to keep it, but arguing that they should use more materials to manufacture new items for the sake of the environment is simply a hypocritical argument.
And the e-waste argument for any consumer electronic item is inherently a contradiction. Apple designing the next mini to make it not appeal to you actually reduces e-waste the most, if it prevents you from buying that mini.
Except it just isn't, and repeating that same mantra isn't going to make it true.
For the majority of mass-market peripherals, USB-C is just a differently-shaped hole for connecting devices running the same old USB3 and DisplayPort protocols - offering the exciting opportunity to buy new cables, adapters and hubs to get exactly the same performance as before. Even the newer 10Gbps USB 3.1g2 speeds can use USB-A connectors (although Apple hasn't chosen to support that). Devices that actually use the faster, more efficient TB or USB4 protocols still cost a lot more than the USB 3.1-over-USB-C equivalents.
The M-series processors have a fixed number of USB-C controllers - currently 2 for the M3 and 4 for the M3 Pro - maybe 4 for both M4 and Pro. Also, full TB ports need to be able to supply 15W each - quite a big deal if you're going to rely on a tiny internal PSU. So, the new Mini is unlikely to have more than 4 TB4 ports - any extra will be USB-only and, quite frankly, I couldn't care less whether they're type A or type C provided they are there. They'll perform the same.
...but it sounds like they won't be there - the rumours are talking about 5 "USB-C" ports - so, at best 4 TB4 + 1 USB-only, down from 4 + 2 on the M2 Pro Mini. Last I looked, 5 was less than 6. That's not "better in every way". That's the way it crumbles because extra USB-C ports are more complex, more expensive and use more CPU resources than the so-called "legacy" connectors they replace.
At least the rumours suggest that HDMI and Ethernet are staying - otherwise, anybody who uses those will have 1-2 more things to plug into the reduced number of ports.
The 24" iMac, M2 Minis and Studios have all managed to provide extra USB-only ports as well as hanging a TB3/4 port off each available TB controller on the CPU. Probably using extra PCIe lines or internal USB required for keyboards, trackpads, battery control etc. in the laptops. Those resources wouldn't drive an extra TB4 port.
Not directly - but Apple has indirectly shown and lead the industry the way quite a few times - including their adoption of USB-C (while getting rid of USB-A simultaneously) in MacBooks.
Except… it doesn’t matter on a desktop computer, i.e. the Mac mini.
They are negligible on a desktop computer - except for their backwards compatibility with older peripherals.
Actually, the M-series chips are better than the Intel chips in that respect - in Intel Macs each TB controller's bandwidth was shared between a pair of ports, In M-series, each port gets its own dedicated controller built on to the chips.
Even with Intel, the base 13" MBP only had 2 TB ports driven by a single controller.
I do care.
For USB-C.
Cause I can use the same cables as for charging with my USB-C power adapter. Or my display.
I mean, I kind of agree that one legacy USB-A port would be handy, if you need to connect an old flash drive or peripheral. Maybe even two, if you have your Mouse/keyboard dongle attached permanentl.y.
But then, we know - and can see - that Apple isn’t really the company to do that, design-wise. They’ll also make the USB-only ports type C - and I’m on the same page with that.
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I own an M1 MBA, and only need one adaptor to go along with with. It has three ports - usb-a, hdmi and usb-c for charging. And I find it use it very infrequently, because I have migrated so much of my infrastructure over to usb-c.
Most of the time, people who need adapters just need to get one which meets their unique selection of ports. I am very curious as to who is having to actually manage a rat’s nest of cables and dongles. Feels more like hyperbole, and the more people rely on exaggerated claims to make their point, the less credibility they will have at the end of the day when all is said and done.
Contrary to some of the folks here, there are still a TON of people using USB-A cables and devices. USB 3.2 devices too. Here's to more ewaste because Apple has to fix something that's not broken.
If you are concerned about credibility on an anonymous internet chat forum... wait, did you actually want someone to respond to all the issues in that paragraph or did you just need some self reassurance that your very own personal experience is a perfect reflection of the entire world, where all the worlds thumb drives and peripherals you need to connect to are USB-C and we all have access to every org & companies wifi wherever we go and can just airdrop everything we need, and no one ever has to use external drives to store their user data because it's outgrown the irreplaceable SSD and Apples Bluetooth modules never die and USB-C jacks & ports don't wear out this fast because they're undersized for the physical load and everything is sunshine and roses forever and ever amen?
Since these issues don't exist in the real world, I'd like to see your stats on "most of the time", since apparently you have data on that too.
My current ****ing cable is ****ing expensive so no!!
Everyone saying "replace xyz cable!" seem to be skipping right past the fact that "I gain nothing", but have to spend money to "gain nothing"
Lovely
/s
If you want to use the same cable to charge you iPhone and to plug your laptop into your display you haven’t yet tried. The first coat $2 the other coat $25 and the both look the same. Don’t mix them up.
Thanks for that reply and also I don't want to change my cable. But overall I'm not worried. I am sure my current Studio ultra will outlive me and if not I have already bought a spare ultra.
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I didn’t need to “try” - I did my due diligence and just bought the correct cable.
Not that hard, when they tell you the supported USB transfer speed, display support and charging wattage.
me buying, probably!
I will be attaching my LaCie drives via FW800 and Thunderbolt 2 + an adaptor
I think I’ll be using fewer adaptors with my new setup - transitioning from a MBP 2016 model with four usb-c ports so won’t need an adapter for hdmi or ethernet
will still need a dock to connect my keyboard and trackpad
Well, assuming you actually buy a computer that doesn't have the old port, spending that money gains you the ability to use the new port.
I realize that venting on the internet does help release some frustration, but Apple is going to ship what Apple ships because the game is dealer's choice. We still need to see what they actually ship, but I doubt anyone is going to change anyone's mind here. MacRumors loves these extra hits, though!
Two years ago when I bought a new car, I was disappointed to find out that it had only USB-A ports in it. I thought to myself, this is 2022 and they’re still putting obsolete USB-A ports in new cars!? 
Sigh.
Sigh.