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7 points johnnybzane | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.202s | source

I'm on the market for a new laptop (with windows OS) and I've noticed quite a few laptops are USB-C ports only now.

I even saw one laptop that only had 2 USB-C ports, with 1 of them to use for charging. (Dell XPS 13 for example)

It's very important for me to connect my laptop to a monitor, and to use earbuds, be connected to ethernet, and to have a charger going, all at the same time. I have an old laptop with an HDMI output port, USB, and direct audio jack for earbuds.

I'm struggling to accept that dongles are fast enough or reliable enough. What if I get a HDMI dongle or audio dongle and the connection keeps dropping on my video calls? A direct connections feels "safer" to me than a USB-C splitter.

What do you think. Should I still look for laptops with direct HDMI/Audio/USB connections, or are USB-C only laptops still reliable enough even if you need a dozen different dongles?

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sharpshadow ◴[] No.41882759[source]
Look for docks instead of dongles. Check the usb-c spec of the laptop and dock capabilities.
replies(2): >>41883139 #>>41907657 #
1. WorldPeas ◴[] No.41883139[source]
I second this, I'd recommend looking on ebay for used thunderbolt docks, I've had good experiences with those made by dell.