Why do (desktop) PC have so few USB ports ?
I just bought a new PC, based on Lenovo Legion gaming desktop. It comes with 2 USB port in the front, 4 regular USB port in the back + 1 USB-C port. That's a total of 7 USB slots.
It's been like 2 decades that every possible hardware device comes with an USB interface. Keyboard, mouse, joystick, hard-drive, memory stick, headset, webcam, spot/photo camera, and many others.
Of course it's my fault, I should have thought about USB connectors when shopping for a new PC and check before buying. but seriously, 7 USB slots is so few compared to all the device I have using USB
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Answer: the vast majority of people don't use 7 USB devices at a time. You are an outlier and should have purchased accordingly
Also, it's generally cheap and easy to install a PC IE board for the back of your pc, if you really need it, and you'll have another 6 or 7.
Thank you. I was getting very confused.
7 ports seems like heaps. How could anyone use that many at once.
Keyboard, mouse, usb extension to have a port on my desk, wireless charger, dac, xbox wireless controller dongle and a usb microphone. That's 7 and I'd use an 8th port to charge my vr headset. So yeah, it's not that hard to use 7 ports at once.
Now imagine charging your phone or watch, or using a thumb drive
My VR headset needs two more ports for the cameras as well.
I ended up with a 4 port switch on my desk and a PCI-E card for more ports.
Does your PC do full power to those chargers? Eg. full wattage from USB-C is 240W. Times 8 that would be 2000W.
Huh? Why would it? This is about having enough ports for your stuff. How much power they consume is completely irrelevant.
It's not irrelevant. Why would you connect more things than your PSU can support?
Why would you charge things from your PC?
You could save some ports by using Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and controller, maybe even a wireless microphone. Cables are whil
That way instead of having cables for data and power you can have cables for just power and pay more for the device.
I don't understand the appeal of Bluetooth mice and keyboards while at a desk.
Some people like them for the aesthetics. In my case, I have a custom made desk with a tray for the keyboard and mice so the cables are not even visible. Longevity wise they're obviously inferior and have an expiration date basically. The performance is also worse unless you're using a wireless dongle instead of bluetooth.
I just see three cables on my desk for keyboard, mouse, and headphones and I prefer it like that.
Aesthetics are illogical and often times social conformity rather than personal desire. Like those stupid coiled USB C cables for keyboards that do nothing.
My keyboard has a 2.4ghz dongle, bluetooth and wired connectivity. I choose to use it wired because it has lower latency and I don't have to worry about the battery dying. The mouse is wired and I chose the wired version because it costs half as much (razer deathadder v3) and I don't really have any benefits if'd bought the wireless version (which also uses a dongle). A bluetooth mouse would have much higher latency and a lower polling rate. Same thing with the controller. Bluetooth is slower and not as reliable. Regarding the mic, yeah, no. It's the mic I use for my camera as well and I'm not buying a dedicated wireless mic that would be more expensive and have a lower audio quality. Also, and this goes for everything, batteries can flat out die and they're usually not user replaceable. Not to mention that you have to charge all of these battery powered things and that's a pain in the butt.
Bluetooth latency makes that extremely unattractive
Bluetooth for comms not controls
Even that sucks. Random interference, low battery, etc.
Bluetooth audio is great when you're driving in the car, or like at the gym.
My bedroom media pc (old-ass enterprise tower) has 8 on the back and 5 on the front. So 13 usb ports. It doesn’t have any wireless anything, physical ports only, and there’s no room to add internal cards for it, but plenty of usb ports for dongles!
I use 3 of those ports at most (I use Ethernet, since it’s my acquisition machine, or it’d be 4), and 2 are for keyboards and mice (one handheld with touchpad, the other a normal set).
I’m struggling to even come up with 7 things that would all need to be plugged in together.. I guess webcam, mouse and keyboard if they can’t run off a single port, and headset maybe if you got one that bypasses the audio jacks for whatever reason.. but that’s still only 4.
There's plenty of legitimate reasons to need a ton of USB ports but it's not on the PC manufacturer to appease the edge cases like OP.
It's like getting confused why your house doesn't have a 20amp outlet to the dining room for your 48U server rack.
Chipsets have tons of connectivity available, there's more than enough physical space in the back panel and it's not expensive to add. So yeah, your analogy doesn't make much sense.
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I mostly use 3, sometimes 4 or 5 at most.
I have 4 things plugged in permanently (mouse, keyboard, audio interface, wireless headset receiver). It used to be 5 but I haven't used my wireless controller since I built this PC.
I have a midi keyboard I plug into the front when I'm going to use it. And a USB cable in the drawer if I ever need to plug my phone in (which otherwise sits on a wireless charger plugged into AC)