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Laptop Ports: Is USB-C only fine, or should I get HDMI,USB,Audio if I need them?

25 points johnnybzane | 2 comments | 18 Oct 24 19:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.516s | 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?

1. walthamstow ◴[23 Oct 24 06:32 UTC] No.41922397[source]▶
I use USBC everywhere including my home office dock. The ease of plugging one cable to dock is great, it keeps the desk tidy and has excellent spousal approval factor.

Most dongles are absolute crap, though. Caldigit is the only brand I trust.

replies(1): >>41926476 #
2. falcolas ◴[23 Oct 24 16:12 UTC] No.41926476[source]▶
I'd put a vote in for J5 Create as another good brand. I've had some of these adapters for a decade now, replacing them only as the technology they're built on (VGA, Lightning, etc) go obsolete.

Specific to the OP, my work laptop is plugged into one dock that manages power, ethernet, USB-A adapters, and 4k 30FPS HDMI. It also has an unused VGA, SD & Micro SD. It's a nice amount of functionality for only consuming one Thunderbolt-capable USB-C port.