Port ability
March 10, 2026 at 7:53 PM by Dr. Drang
I read Jason Snell’s review of the MacBook Neo this morning and was struck by this section on its two USB-C ports:
So Apple has done the work to put two USB-C ports on the Neo—and those ports reveal a bit more of the struggles Apple had in building this computer. Both of the USB-C ports will let you charge (which is good, because there’s no MagSafe), but only the one that’s furthest back is a fully functional USB 3 port with support for driving an external display at 4K, 60 frames per second. The closer-in USB port only offers USB 2 speeds. (The good news is that Apple has built alerts into macOS that will warn you if the device you’ve plugged into the slow port would be better off plugged into the faster one, so you won’t be transferring files slowly unnecessarily.)
It reminded me of Christina Warren’s angry Mastodon post about the Neo’s ports:
I’m just going to say that pointing out flaws in $600 and $700 laptops and having people instinctively respond “it’s not for real users, these buyers don’t know/care” is gross. Why should we make the assumption that those buyers don’t still deserve better, or at least on par with the 6 year old product it’s replacing that sold at the same price. Stop assuming people who don’t spend $1000+ on tech are imbeciles or deserve subpar options. No one in 2026 deserves a laptop with a single USB 3 port.
My first thought upon reading Christina’s complaint last week was “Why should I care about the configuration of a computer I’ll never buy?” Kind of a Republican thought, I admit, and I’m not proud of it. But I have many reasons to be disappointed by Apple, and I need to conserve my outrage. Christina’s much younger than I am and has deeper outrage reserves.
Jason pointed out the biggest problem with the low-speed port in his next paragraph:
Honestly, I’m more disappointed by the fact that mismatched ports can lead to user frustration—no, not that port, the other one—than I am about the one slow USB port.
Many Neo users will be too young to remember the joy of flipping USB-A plugs back and forth before getting the orientation right. Apple has updated that wonderful experience for the USB-C age.