Why aren’t motherboards mostly USB-C by now?
philip.greenspun.com
Why aren’t motherboards mostly USB-C by now?::I’m beginning to think that the Windows PC that I built in 2015 is ready for retirement (though if Joe Biden can be president at 78, maybe this PC can last until 2029?). In looking at new des…
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Am I throwing away all my mice, keyboards, DAC, digital pens, and other peripherals just so I can have a connector with more bandwidth than I'll ever need? Nah.
Am I buying them or adapters all over again just so I can be compatible with a new universal standard that I don't need? Double nah.
KVM switches, or breakout hubs that these devices plug into, then a single USB c device goes to the computer is the most logical avenue for a migration. But this will take a long time. Most people don't even have that kind of luxury.
On the other side of that, I’m already stuck throwing away all my Lightning cables and chargers, and ideally want to change only once. Why is it so hard to jump right to C for everything?
What on earth would possess folks to replace their often expensive existing peripherals for no benefit? To totally get rid of USB-A a person will either be out a bunch of money or be stuck with having to keep track of adapters for all their devices they can currently just plug in. An industry move to do so would necessitate the creation of a huge amount of e-waste and would net everyone else precisely nothing.
USB-C is great for mobile devices as it's small, relatively robust, easier to connect, and does pretty much everything from power deliver to video to connecting any device imaginable. Desktops (and even laptops really) don't need to place such a premium on port size. Laptops and other mobile devices standardizing on USB-C for power is great. We can charge all our devices from the same charger. Fantastic!
Making 20+ years of working equipment harder to use and forcing billions of people to buy stuff they don't need (and that many can't afford) would be wild.
Expect to continue seeing USB-A for a long, long time. No need to replace anything with a USB-C version until it breaks (and maybe not even then).
sure, but some people are already in a position where they already have only USB-C (me). I have adapters for the USB-A ports and it sucks. Just let me choose to get rid of the old shit that I don't need please
If you had multiple USB-C ports, you’d have the option of switching whoever you needed to replace something. No one ever said you had to throw everything out and start over
But we're not at the point of debating whether users should replace all of their devices. If motherboards with a single USB-C are so common, we're actually at a place where we're expecting users to buy all their new peripherals to be USB-A as well.