SURFACE LAPTOP: ports or portability

[akul joshi]

the surface laptop is one of the ultra portable laptop options. but for the extra portability are we sacrificing connectivity? with only one usb 3.0 port and no usb type -c, or sd card reader, are we giving up too much. what is it for you? ports or portability?

 

[k1s23]

hey akul, id say portability for me. my current laptop has 2 usb-a ports, an sd card reader, ethernet port, mini display, audio jack, and firewire port. how many do i use? 1 usb-a port and the audio jack. i thought having the ports would be great which is one reason why i got my laptop, but after a few years of using this laptop i dont even touch most of them. however, the reason why i use my laptop as a desktop is because of its weight and thickness. i want to take my laptop to work but dont want to carry that heavy computer, but a slim laptop like the surface laptop is almost half the weight of my current laptop which makes for transporting it much easier.

 

[Chris002]

Portability and weight is very important for a laptop but 1 port is maybe a bit to few. I am among, other things, an IoT and app developer. Therefore I sometimes need 3 ports. Of course there are small USB-hubs on the market but still its easier if you have it on the laptop itself. On the surface laptop I would have liked to see at least 1 USB-port and a USB type-c port. Not that I use, except form my lumia 950xl, type C devices nowadays but it should just be there for futureproofness. As a surface devices it should be representative for the future. So I guess the device might have been a bit thicker in my opinion if that means having a type c-port. Don't get me wrong I still think the surface laptop is an awesome device, it just could be more perfect.

 

[kaktus1389]

the surface laptop is one of the ultra portable laptop options. but for the extra portability are we sacrificing connectivity? with only one usb 3.0 port and no usb type -c, or sd card reader, are we giving up too much. what is it for you? ports or portability?

While it's true it's a shame that the Surface Laptop doesn't have a Thunderbolt 3 port, it still has a Surface Dock with more ports and another adapter is coming from the Surface team that is going to convert Surface connect to USB-C. If you however just need more USB ports, you can get a dongle for under 15 dollars easily.

I'd say Microsoft went with portability for several reasons, and one of them is just that the majority of people don't yet use USB-C and wouldn't understand what that port is used for as they would think it's supposed to be used for charging but it's not.

 

[LawdNikon]

I haven't heard about the Surface Connect/ USB C adapter! That would be great! My big question / wish is this:
Why hasn't Microsoft tried to use the power brick usb port to transfer data? That's a way to add an extra port to the surface without having to build it in the body. They could even sell the adapter as a new accessory like they did back when the SP1 had the battery keyboard (anyone remember that thing!? LOL).
It boggles my mind why MS hasn't done this yet.

 

[k1s23]

I haven't heard about the Surface Connect/ USB C adapter! That would be great! My big question / wish is this:
Why hasn't Microsoft tried to use the power brick usb port to transfer data? That's a way to add an extra port to the surface without having to build it in the body. They could even sell the adapter as a new accessory like they did back when the SP1 had the battery keyboard (anyone remember that thing!? LOL).
It boggles my mind why MS hasn't done this yet.

hey there, heres an article from the verge talking about the usb-c dongle in an interview with panos https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15674254/microsoft-surface-usb-c-dongle

tl;dr is its a dongle for the surface connect that can both charge and push data. it will be sold separately from the surface pro and surface laptop.

id be okay with leaving the charger at home and carrying this dongle in my backpack with the laptop and my external battery pack (which has a usb-c port in it) to give the laptop battery some life while its not being used. its nice to know they thought about this option, are developing the dongle with the ability to charge and push data, and kept the ports that really matter.