On the plus side it does have three USB A ports, and it has a barrel charging port instead of one of those shitty USB-C ports for power. And you can plug USB-C-charging things into a USB A port with just an adaptor cable.
Having a barrel charging port is a serious flaw. I have many devices, but I expect to carry a single charger for all of them; if my laptop has a non-USB-C charger than I need a separate charger for the headphones/phone/Kindle/etc which is extra weight to carry around, extra mess and e-waste.
The world has moved to a single standard for charging for all devices, we're just waiting for the "transition period" to run out as the devices with nonstandard charging expire, it's inappropriate to design new hardware with an obsolete charging approach.
Barrel charging ports provide a superior user experience: they are easier to use because you can insert the charger at any angle.
Barrel connectors are physically much more robust: they can rotate around their axis without imposing any torsional stress on the device being charged, and the longer lever arm inside the charging device (typically 15 mm) means that flexural stress around other axes creates much less force on the connector. Consequently, they break much less often than pre-C micro-USB connectors. It's too early to tell whether USB-C will improve on its predecessors in this regard, and it may, but it seems unlikely to reach barrel-connector levels of reliability just based on its geometry.
Barrel-connector ports are easier to repair when they break: there are only two wires, and they are quite thick. This is true a fortiori for the cables.
Barrel-connector charger faults are easier to diagnose: either the voltmeter tells you it's outputting 19 volts open circuit (or whatever the rated voltage is), or it's not, or, rarely, it has the correct open-circuit voltage but sags under load, the diagnosis of which requires a voltmeter and a power resistor. Moreover, they are less likely to occur; you are not going to break a bipolar SMPS with static electricity, not even if it is attached to a 5-volt USB cable, but you can easily do that to the CMOS control chips necessary for USB-C voltage negotiation.
Barrel connectors pose less of a security risk: they do not, in most cases, have a data connection at all, and a malicious charger definitely cannot execute a firmware upgrade attack on your device through a barrel connector.
Against this list of technical advantages you claim that barrel charging ports are "nonstandard" and "obsolete" — not because of any actual USB-C functionality, nor even because there are more USB-C-chargeable devices in the world than devices with barrel connectors, but just because USB-C is newer and currently fashionable. The maximally charitable interpretation of your post is that USB-C chargers are capable of providing a range of different voltages, so the complexity of voltage conversion goes into the charger instead of your headphones. But that's an extremely weak argument; a buck converter capable of deriving 5 V 300 mA from, say, 19 V is already much smaller, lighter, and cheaper than a pair of wireless headphones, and adding USB-C charging support to your product also requires a significant BOM cost, and the necessity to operate on 5 V as well as whatever it prefers, though maybe less weight than the buck.
What's inappropriate is that you're attempting to dictate decisions of technical functionality on the grounds of mere fashion and social approval, then shaming others for disagreeing with your judgment rather than supporting it by any actual arguments.
I predict that >99% of devices made this year that can only charge through USB-C ports will be nonfunctional in 15 years. That is, they are cheap trash, designed to be discarded rather than repaired. You should be ashamed of yourself for attacking my social standing to convince people to accept this inferior technology. The form of your argument — a veiled personal attack — makes it unworthy of being posted on this site, or, actually, anywhere.
I like it, when both USBC charging, and BarrelJackCharging are available. So I can use the BarrelJackAdapter at home for when in "DeskMode", and only need to travel with the USB-C charger, that can also charge all my other devices.
Also makes for the possibility of "Redundant Power Supply", in case you use your old Laptop as a "HomeServer".
Depending on what/where/how I hook up in DeskMode, I also have Power on USB-C. Mainly depends on how/where I want to route DP/HDMI-output.
Also, POE-to-BarrelJack is a thing, while POE-to-USB-C-with-more-than-5V is not.
Yeah, I'd actually use the barrel charger on the road so that it can just live in my backpack and USB-C (provided by an appropriate dock that's connected to a keyboard, monitor, etc) at home.
> my experience with USB charging ports is that they always break, and then they're a huge pain to fix, and my experience with barrel charging ports is that they almost never break, and then fixing them is pretty easy
The opposite for me. I’ve broken a proprietary charge port and had to wait over a week for the replacement. Never broke a USB-C port, but if I did it’d be no big deal since I have plenty of C connectors in my cabinet. I can solder a replacement in 10 minutes.
> So I think of a computer that can only be charged via USB as a piece of cheap trash. Maybe USB-C is different on this axis
Wait are you saying you’ve owned a laptop that charges over USB, but not USB-C? If so that laptop really was cheap trash. Why compare trash with flagship products?
I've owned many computers that charge over USB but not USB-C. They're cellphones, though, not laptops. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with a proprietary charging port.
USB-A (or quasi-USB-A) charge ports on laptops were a weird abberation for a while. I had a dell with that, and it's now one of the few laptops I've got that I might never be able to power on properly again because the power delivery over the port is 100% proprietary and the AC adapter for it is busted. I don't think there's ever been a high wattage PD standard for USB-A? Even with USB3. So any version of it was just some manufacturer's attempt to jump the gate on PD over USB-C.
USB-C is a completely different ballgame here. It has its flaws but it's nothing at all like that weird little era of laptops.
It's funny; my reaction is the opposite. Yes, I think the barrel charging port is good to have, but only because there is just a single USB-C port. I don't want a barrel port! I have USB-C chargers littered around my house already! And that's how I like it!
And I definitely don't want my default to have to be using adapters for my USB-C devices, so they can be plugged into the USB-A ports.
I guess my experience with USB charging ports is that they always break, and then they're a huge pain to fix, and my experience with barrel charging ports is that they almost never break, and then fixing them is pretty easy. So I think of a computer that can only be charged via USB as a piece of cheap trash. Maybe USB-C is different on this axis; I don't know yet. I really miss barrel charging ports on cellphones. I don't know, maybe I just abuse my hardware.
Yeah, I wish USB was designed to be a little more sturdy in general. I find it disconnects a little too easily (compared with most chargers/AC adapters), breaks far more often, and even the cables I encounter are thinner and more easy to damage.
If we're settling on "charge/power everything with USB!" I hope the next version (USB F?) holds up better to more "abuse" than charging a phone on s desk or end table inflicts.
I never had problems with USB-A ports but I'm not using them much. All my laptops had barrel ports and I'm not using external keyboard or mice. A USB-B port started to get loose on a phone of mine after 6 years of use. I didn't use any USB-C port for more than 4 years yet. They look sturdier but time will tell.