Well since this person didn't know that the lack of ports would cause them problems, I think it is safe to say that Apple has room to improve. Not sure you can make buying a computer perfectly simple for everyone though.
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M1: iMac lack of ports
- Thread starter Bill Av
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Time for the rest of the world to join us in the year 2021.
I spoke to apple about the situation. Their answer was that they were unaware of the issue I was having with a hard drive through a hub. There is more than enough power going through the hub for the hard drives and yet it keeps having issues. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a Mac that was not immediately easy to get up and running on. It’s my fourth iMac. If I want to try and trouble shoot to get the drive working I’m going to have to try different drives, cables, hubs, software fixes, etc. I’ve already spent more time in terminal on this than I should have to. So the experience of owning the two port Mac was not apple like, need four ports minimum it would seem, unless updating wirelessly to a hard drive. I seriously considered doing wireless updates to hard drive because that’s what i was using at work, but I want all my audio files with me all the time and it’s hundreds of gigs.
This isn’t a Mac-specific problem. There’s no way Apple is responsible here. If you’re plugging bus-powered hard drives into a passive hub, you’ll have problems on ANY computer.
Its been this way since USB was first introduced nearly 20 years ago.
Oddly enough the hard drive still works with a PC but is refusing to play nice with the Mac even if it’s the only thing plugged into the dongle. Not Mac specific but I don’t think other manufacturers make AIO with this few ports. Hopefully not a point that they emulate apple on.
I get how 7 core gpu is justified because not everyone needs max gpu power and they can save chips from being binned. I don’t get the cost savings of taking out two USB ports except if they had made a low end eMac.
There's been a couple comments/threads on certain USB controllers having issues with current Apple devices; it may be possible there's some incompatability with the specific drives you're using.
Remember that pricing of differentiated non-commodity goods seldom has any relation to costs.
Also, note the concept of the Decoy Effect as well as other marketing concepts related to product positioning. By offering a lower-spec model they entice customers into making the mental committment to buying a model, and then as the customer investigates the options it is easier to make the mental leap of "it's just $200 more"...
Apple is a successful global megacorp for a reason - they know how to market high priced items and upgrades.