Hacker News Reader

Comment by rtpg | Hacker News Reader

There's a bit of a bet going on in Apple's mindset. For most people, USB drives are no longer a thing (Dropbox, mail-to-self, etc.), so why put ports in the front? If they're in the back you can set up your keyboard cable or w/e nicely and keep those out of the way.

_If_ your USB usage is not 'often plugging/unplugging stuff into the port', then having the ports in the back is better for usability and the like.

Of course this doesn't work if the bet they make is wrong (see MBP dongles)

View on HN

Because there are a zillion things other than USB drives that people plug into those ports. Phones (both to charge and occasionally to sync), headphones, 2FA authenticators, cameras, gamepads, printers--the list is long and it isn't getting much shorter over time.

None of these things inherently need to be plugged in. Wireless and battery technology need to continue to improve.

Most 2FA USB devices do not support NFC to make them wireless. Even if you do have an NFC enabled 2FA device, Macs don't have NFC. So, wireless is not an option.

The thing is people will plug their printer in there because it's the first slot they see, then the cable management will look really bad and ruin the industrial design the PC maker wanted. I'd like to see a Mac Mini/NUC with a Qi charger on top to charge a phone.

Some Mac keyboards have two USB ports on them.

> Phones (both to charge and occasionally to sync)

iCloud, and a wall-wart is probably going to charge faster, also wireless charging

> headphones

Bluetooth

> 2FA authenticators

TouchID

> cameras

iCloud Photo Stream

> gamepads

Bluetooth (or a custom wireless protocol)

> printers

WiFi, also printers are very uncommon these days outside of the office

We have a Mac Mini and Dropbox and the Mac Mini sits backwards on the table mooning the user because we still need the USB ports.

Don't the power/HDMI/ethernet cables get pretty obtrusive? I'd just get a USB hub and velcro it to the desk.

Yeah, but the whole point of the Mac Mini was to be less stuff on the desk. I wish Apple would have given me the USB hub on the front of the machine.

I use them frequently for cameras, dongles for stuff like steam controllers or internet etc. Apple still have them on their machines because they know people use them - if nobody used them they wouldn’t be there at all.

They put them at the back because to them how it looks in the Apple Store is more important than their users being irritated every time they use it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com