Screw it, the rectangles are back

Rejoice, peasants! Your proletarian gadgets may last another year.

I refer to the Mac Studio that Apple just announced. The company made a number of lofty claims about the device's power and efficiency, using various charts that it did not label in any useful way. We need to verify the metrics ourselves before we can make those claims.

We were shown pictures of the device. We have seen it. There are two things we know about it. The computer can enhance.

There are some ports for certain things. There are two little squares to the left of the HDMI. There are two beautiful rectangles.

My friends, these are a new invention. I've always used the PS/2 port to connect mice and keyboards to my computer, but I'm told you can use these to do that. The plugs seem to go in one direction, which seems like a design oversight. I am excited to see where this standard will take us.

Image: Apple

It's just kidding. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw that picture, and I was worried that Apple might ship this device without a plug.

Over the past few years, Apple has messed around with its MacBook generations. I am typing this as we speak on a Pro that only has a reader and nousb-c. The latest MacBook Pro models have a number of ports back, but they are still missing a port.

Over the past few years, the journey with desktop systems has been worrisome. The 2020 Mac Mini had a significant I/O downgrade from previous Mac Mini models. I was anxious as Macs continued to shed ports. I told myself that Apple wouldn't take theusb-a off its desktops.

We got the iMac in 2021. Only theusb-c I was worried that might be the end. Maybe we'd never see it again if Apple was shipping only desktop computers.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

I was quite content to see these images during Apple's studio announcement, and if you were following our live blog, you will know that I was not the only one.

Anyway. There are a lot of valid reasons to prefer the latter over the former. You can use it to charge it. I understand why Apple and Dell want the industry to follow that standard. I will be leading the parade on the day every good keyboard, mouse, and other modern peripheral drops theusb-a.

On the other hand, speaking as someone who often uses a MacBook Pro and a 2021 iMac as daily drivers, here's a brief list of the things I can't connect without a dongle. This is reality for many people.

I apologize, but it's hard to keep track of dongles. Half the time I don't even know where my tinyusb-c tousb-a is, I rely on my tinyusb-c tousb-a for my life. I found it under my couch. I don't know how it got there.

This isn't a situation where the industry is going to follow Apple off the cliff. I am glad the company knows that professionals may still need this port despite the benefits. Multiple of this port.

I hope Apple's consumer products follow suit. I think there is still a need in the consumer space. This audience may be more likely to own older peripherals than they are to upgrade them.

Please join me in rejoicing, at least for now, that theusb-a is here to stay. I will be campaigning for VGA on the next MacBook Air. Just kidding! Kind of.