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Comment by scarface74 | Hacker News Reader

Optical drives, FireWire, 32 bit software, and VGA in 2020? What next? No PS/2 ports or ADB ports.

I use the VGA port in many conference talks I give. Modern, digital projectors are still not a guarantee and it is very awkward to go ask around for another laptop or a dongle.

I have FireWire hardware still around that I have no plan on replacing until it breaks.

Around half my games are 32-bit.

I have a library of BluRays with my favorite shows at home. I also bought some kid shows for my daughter 6 months ago that came in a DVD set.

But yeah, go laugh and make a comparison with PS/2. Everyone I listed is still in use today and many laptop vendors provide ports for them. Some will go out soon, some won't for years.

For digital media, especially for kids, there are many better alternatives -- including ripping the DVDs, copying them to a MicroSD card and buying a cheap Fire tablet. But, Disney+, with an iPad ($329), and Apple Arcade (no ad ridden, play to win games) is a godsend for kids.

Why would I ask for dongle. I know plenty of sales people who live and die by adapters like these: https://www.amazon.com/QGeeM-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Compatible-...)

You seem to want the equivalent of a Homermobile for laptops.

My time is worth way more than dealing with ripping DVDs, to be honest.

Yes, streaming platforms are convenient, but no, I don't want to be limited to whatever Disney+ or Apple Arcade wants me or my kid to watch/play. I choose what shows/games are worth, not the other way around. I will pay to watch a show in streaming, but I don't pay streaming to have something to watch. If that makes sense...

Ripping DVDs is something that takes very little time.

Open the drive, put DVD in, click "go" on HandBrake. Rinse and repeat.

You have all the time in the world to work while your machine is encoding them. And Plex makes the organization brainless.

So it’s more convenient to lug around a bunch of DVDs than a tablet with dozens of movies at your disposal?

I don't "lug" them around, they are placed in this thing called "bookcase". Perhaps you have heard about them! I heard they are legacy now too... :)

If I was going to play optical media, I’d be more interested in getting it to play on my TV than my laptop. Every time I played a DVD on the last laptop I had with a DVD drive it was always a nightmare to deal with power, HDMI, and deal with the laptops tendency to go to sleep. I’d rather just buy a dedicated optical player for the TV and be done with it.

Just because you continue to use VGA, PS2, and FireWire doesn’t mean that everyone needs that. You have extremely niche needs, especially in a laptop, it’s utterly unsurprising that Apple won’t add the hardware to support them.

First of all, I haven't said I use PS/2. Quite the opposite. Trying to group all ports in the same place as a very outdated one is being intellectually dishonest. Things like FireWire and VGA are already on the way out and are not present in new laptops, but laptops used today still have them.

If I have "extremely niche needs", then why do almost all laptops sold include Ethernet/RJ-45, several USB-A ports, HDMI output, card readers, etc.?

Not everyone has bought into $50 USB-C dongle land.

They’re not done migrating to USB-C, that’s why. Every single year non-mac laptops slowly get thinner and trade another USB-A port for USB-C. The fact that all my work colleagues were issued a USB-C dock is going to accelerate this trend.

I can’t tell you the last time I saw a coworker directly use anything other than the USB-C port on their laptops, even on Lenovos with other ports. It’s only a matter of time.

Honestly, the “$50 USB-C dongle” has been great. I plug in a single cord and it provides two displays, power, USB, and Ethernet. This is everything that work laptop docks promised decades ago, except it’s an open standard! If I were to switch from a Mac to a Dell or a Lenovo, I wouldn’t need to change a thing about my current setup. Heck, I don’t even use an Apple power charger when traveling anymore, since my Anker is smaller and can barely keep my MBP topped off.

And the HN crowd should be applauding the move to USB-C it’s an industry standard and the hardware works across platforms.

If anything they should be complaining about the continued use of the lightning adapter on iOS devices.

I think the iPhone switchover to USB-C is inevitable.

Well, that or Qi. I don’t plug my phone in often anymore.

Have you looked at the latest line of business class Dells? Most of them don’t have Ethernet ports nor do they have card readers. Most of the consumer line computers don’t either. Dell is still the number one or number two PC vendor.

>> I use the VGA port in many conference talks I give. Modern, digital projectors are still not a guarantee and it is very awkward to go ask around for another laptop or a dongle

Ever thought about buying your own dongle? Sincle you give many conference talks it might be a great investment :)

I don't need to buy one: my laptop has VGA and HDMI outputs.

That was the point...

How old is your laptop?

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