First, curious as to how many folks on here remember sitting at and working on a 286 PC? Apparently very few. 386? 486? Pentium? And so on. Anyone ever work on an Apple II? Classic Mac? The first PowerPC Macs?
I have, on all of them. The evolution of the personal computer has not, in my opinion, always been great or useful. Personally I hated the first front-facing ports. Sloppy. Wires all over. Running everything from the back of the computer and strapping the cables together made for a much more pleasant workspace. And right there is the key; a workspace you can spend time at and not feel crowded or disorganized. As a very long-time IT professional and professional photographer my workspace is the key factor in deciding what hardware to get. I have had all versions of the iMacs, and laptops, and I have never once found myself inconvenienced with ports on the back.
I work in IT, have for over 25 years, what am I missing that would cause people to have to constantly swap devices and cables and plugs? Good lord. On that issue, you simply suffer from poor planning and a poor purchase. I have several DVD drives, multi card readers, five external drives, two iPads and an iPhone, Wacom tablet, two printers (standard and high-end photo printer), and a film scanner. I move nothing. I unplug/replug nothing. Never have to. Everything is gently tucked away behind or off to the side. No cables staring me in the face and I am able to function with no disgruntlement about having to reach here or there.
The amount of whining I read each day is astounding. Instead of griping about a computer and what it doesn't have for you, or how it doesn't or won't work for you, plan out your purchase. Buy what you need, not what you want. The new iMacs are stunning, a proper evolution of design, and they work just fine for those who need them. My rMBP excels, but if I needed what a Lenovo or HP offered I would have bought that. Maybe those of us who purchase based on need over pure want are a dying breed.
Getting worked up over having to reach around the back of a computer... Would that everyone's life was so trouble-free as to have that magnificent insurmountable inconvenience as the sole belly ache of the day.
Buy a damn hub and suck it up. And as for the headphone problem, go to the store and get a three inch plug adapter, plug it in and let it dangle. Barely noticeable. Plug your headphones into that. No reaching. Trust me, it can be done.