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USB-A

Ratcheter said:
I’m just curious, why would the new Mac Mini not come with USB-A ports on the back?

I understand laptops not wanting to try to fit these larger ports in their already very tight space. But why would a desktop not include such an inexpensive and useful port?

I want to upgrade from my old Mac Mini to a new one and now I have to go out and get not only a USB hub, but one that is powered because my little mobile scanner that I use on my desktop needs a powered USB-A port.
Click to expand...

Because type-c supports DisplayPort and Thunderbolt (along with more charging voltages) and type A does not.

The world is pretty much type-C for anything new; if you need type A for older stuff, adapters that work are under $10.
 
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rm5 said:
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that it is incredibly annoying, and very inefficient, and looks truly ugly, to have adapters and dongles plugged into more adapters and dongles just to achieve this, which should be simple. Why does Apple need to make this stuff difficult?
Click to expand...
If it bugs you that much, just get a powered dock and run all that legacy crap off a single port on your device.

Or... you know, invest about $50 in enough A-C adapters for every type A cable above (and leave them permanently attached to the type A plugs) and plug them into the type C ports directly.


Whining about missing type A ports when you have type C ports that are faster, can be cheaply converted into A, support more charging standards, can do DisplayPort, etc. just seems.... silly to me.
 
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Ratcheter said:
I want to upgrade from my old Mac Mini to a new one and now I have to go out and get not only a USB hub, but one that is powered because my little mobile scanner that I use on my desktop needs a powered USB-A port.
Click to expand...

www.amazon.ca

BaseNew USB C to USB Adapter 8 Pack,USB to USB C Adapter,Type C to USB Adapter,USB A to USB C,USB C to USB A,USB to USBC-C Adapter for iPhone,MacBook Pro,iPad,iMac and More(Grey)

This is 8 pack usb c female to usb male adapter and usb female to usb c male adapter,Durable aluminum alloy shell material,used to turn all you usb-a ports of laptops,chargers,or other devices into a usb-c port,gives you the ability to connect usb-c peripherals to devices with usb-a ports. ...
www.amazon.ca
 
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nathansz said:
list of usb type-A devices I use regularly:

1. midi contorller
2. audio interface
3. korg minilogue
4. korg microsampler
5. zoom r8
5. two bay hdd dock
6. 2x nvme enclosure

all plugged in to a single thunderbolt dock that only takes up one port on my MacBook Pro while also driving a monitor, providing power to the macbook and charging my phone
Click to expand...
... which you need a $300-500 dock for. I'd rather not buy a Mac mini to need a dock. That defeats the purpose of a desktop computer. Give me all the hate you want, but my opinion is not changing on that. You may be able to convince me of other things, but I am firm on this one. A desktop computer should not involve hubs or docks AT ALL.
 
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rm5 said:
... which you need a $300-500 dock for. I'd rather not buy a Mac mini to need a dock. That defeats the purpose of a desktop computer. Give me all the hate you want, but my opinion is not changing on that. You may be able to convince me of other things, but I am firm on this one. A desktop computer should not involve hubs or docks AT ALL.
Click to expand...

If all those ports were type A you'd still need a dock because the mini has never had enough type A ports to run all of that.

If you only need <=5 of those devices at a time, you need maybe $50 in adapters that fit on the end of the type A cables (which take up like... barely any more space than the type A plug itself), or a sub $200 powered dock.
 
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rm5 said:
... which you need a $300-500 dock for. I'd rather not buy a Mac mini to need a dock. That defeats the purpose of a desktop computer. Give me all the hate you want, but my opinion is not changing on that. You may be able to convince me of other things, but I am firm on this one. A desktop computer should not involve hubs or docks AT ALL.
Click to expand...

It was definitely less than $300

The Mac mini isn’t really a desktop computer though is it?

I mean, it fits in one hand and is in fact smaller than many docks
 
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nathansz said:
It was definitely less than $300

The Mac mini isn’t really a desktop computer though is it?

I mean, it fits in one hand and is in fact smaller than many docks
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It is not a laptop, I suppose if you had a portable battery pack and portable monitor or something you could use it as such, but that’s not really how I see the Mac mini used.

I used one as a daily machine back in the day (a 2012 model) and it had all the stuff I needed. Four USB ports was enough because I only had one external drive at that time.
 
Ratcheter said:
I’m just curious, why would the new Mac Mini not come with USB-A ports on the back?

I understand laptops not wanting to try to fit these larger ports in their already very tight space. But why would a desktop not include such an inexpensive and useful port?

I want to upgrade from my old Mac Mini to a new one and now I have to go out and get not only a USB hub, but one that is powered because my little mobile scanner that I use on my desktop needs a powered USB-A port.
Click to expand...
I would suggest that the Mac mini is the wrong computer for you if you need support for USB-A hardware.

Likewise new products that only have USBA interfaces are the wrong products if you have a mini.

The mini is cutting edge and Apple has always been reluctant to support backwards compatibility.

It took a while with some compromise but everything in my home is now wireless or USBC. I’m so over plugging in an A-cable only to switch it 180° so it fits correctly. #FirstWorldProblems
 
drrich2 said:
On further reflection, while I tend to ding Apple for what seems to me at times over-valuing aesthetics, it's not all on them. On this very forum and elsewhere online, consider the amount of ire regarding:

1.) The notorious 'notch' on MacBooks.
2.) The dynamic island on iPhones.
3.) The taskbar on some prior MacBook Pros.
4.) The placement of the power button on the Mac Mini.
5.) The 'chin' in the iMacs prior to the Apple silicon transition (more of us were using them back then).
6.) Complaining about how competitor 27" displays don't match the build quality and aesthetics of the Apple Studio Display (never mind it's $1,600, +$400 if you want a height adjustable stand, yeah spatial audio sounds (no pun intended) nice, but come...on!).

Now imagine the visual contrast of a USB-A port on the front of the Mac Mini. Just being spared the firestorm of complaints makes plugging in a hub seem like a small price to pay.
Click to expand...

On this forum, there are complaints about everything tbh.
 
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I have Bose companion 5 speakers with sub that connect with usb an and that doesn’t work with my m2 Mac Studio for some reason. I even bought a usb c to a cable and that didn’t work.

So be wary of older devices not working even if you have dongles etc
 
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rm5 said:
... which you need a $300-500 dock for. I'd rather not buy a Mac mini to need a dock. That defeats the purpose of a desktop computer. Give me all the hate you want, but my opinion is not changing on that. You may be able to convince me of other things, but I am firm on this one. A desktop computer should not involve hubs or docks AT ALL.
Click to expand...
I'm inclined to agree that needing hubs and docks to connect normal computer devices to your desktop computer is silly. It makes it look like a computer without its case, just parts sprawled all over -- a pathwork solution.

I use the built-in hub on my Dell U2723QE and have populated all 3 USB-A ports, plus regularly use the spare USB-A for things like thumb drives or getting my Apple keyboard to pair after it's been used on my PC (which shares the monitor).

Apart from my newest cameras and one SSD, everything else is USB-A. Devices like keyboards, mice, audio interfaces, thumb drives, etc don't need speeds higher than USB-A 3 anyways.

Don't get me wrong, I love USB-C and Thunderbolt. But like Ethernet hasn't been replaced by Wifi, USB-A ports are still super handy to have on a computer for many users.

The first time I booted up the M4 Mini from the box, I had to connect and mouse and keyboard, both of which I only have in USB-A. I had to laugh because even with two wireless Apple keyboards (one that came with iMac Pro), the setup process wouldn't let me pair them until later on. If I didn't have the built-in hub, I'd have been stuck unable to use my new desktop computer, all for want of one of the most standard and widely used peripheral ports going back almost 30 years. I wonder how many people got home and weren't able to set up and use their computer without another trip to a store.
 
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The hanging snot of the adapters is not aesthetically pleasing.
However, the Mac mini M1+ was not originally a self-sufficient product, and was supplemented by a "bottom box", which contained both an SSD and a USB hub.
 
While it may be currently sold, a quick search shows me the Brother DS-640 was introduced back in March 2020, almost five years ago at this point. Everything is moving to USB-C, like it or not. Your scanner has a micro-USB port, just get a micro-USB to USB-C cable, no dongles or adapters needed. It’s a cheap cable.

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Product Specification: 2* USB C To Micro USB cable
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I can understand after many years the transition to usb c. A dear friend just gifted me a little usb c Hub with also the classic usb a port's, I'm enjoying it ...it's definitely doable
 
Ratcheter said:
I could definitely understand getting rid of a CD or floppy drive, they take up so much space and cost money.

But a standard USB-A port just doesn’t make sense to me. It takes up almost no space in a desktop computer and it costs almost nothing.
Click to expand...
You only could understand this now when no one uses the floppy or CD drive. Some people didn’t understand it back then. That’s why I said Apple sometimes does these things too early for some people.

I don’t think these design changes are based on cost because there’s other ways Apple could’ve cut significantly more without causing too much ire.


Allen_Wentz said:
?? No, Apple has not brought low-bandwidth USB-A "back on the MacBook Pro."
Click to expand...
nathansz said:
Huh? What current MacBook Pro has usb-a?
Click to expand...
Apparently none. My apologies, I thought it came back with the redesign. It’s just HDMI for a projector and SD card slot. I don’t have the MacBook Pro because the MacBook Air works perfect for me.
 
I like the flexibility and bandwidth of the thunderbolt ports on the mac mini.

This $16 hub will give you four USB 3.0 ports at 5Gbps each: https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Splitter-Compatible-Chromebook-Supported/dp/B0C4QBC3QP

This hub will give you four USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports at 10Gbps each if you need that kinda speed: https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-4-Port-Portable-Aluminum/dp/B07VQJSJXN

I have this $14 hub that gives me two USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 ports at 10Gbps and another HDMI port, and two USB-C at 10Gbps:

www.amazon.com

UGREEN Revodok Pro USB-C Hub 6 in 1 10Gbps USB C 3.2 & USB-A 3.2 4K 60Hz HDMI, 100W Power Delivery for MacBook Pro/Air, iPad Pro, Thinkpad Rog Ally and More.

UGREEN Revodok USB-C Hub 6 in 1 10Gbps USB C 3.2 & USB-A 3.2 4K 60Hz HDMI, 100W Power Delivery for MacBook Pro/Air, iPad Pro, Thinkpad Rog Ally and More.
www.amazon.com
 
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I was briefly annoyed by the removal of USB-A and then gave my head a shake. USB-A (and its superposition) needs to die and every time a Windows hardware revision comes out and is still 90%+ USB-A, I get annoyed. I use Brother printers and will now give them a quick scolding.
 
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I just leave the adapters connected to my usb-a cables, or order new cables with usb-c on the end.

My favorite part of usb-c is the end of this:

1736945644689.png
 
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