With the launch of the renewal of the range MacBook Pro 2016the Cupertino-based company took the plunge and drowned. This model, one of the worst Apple has ever launched on the market, had a large number of problems.
The first was the implementation of the Touch Bar, a OLED display located at the top of the keyboard and replacing the row of function keys. And, although it was aesthetically beautiful, the application developers never bet on it and in later versions it ended up being eliminated. Moving from physical buttons to a screen to interact with keyboard functions was a good idea.
Another problem with this computer was the keyboard that uses a butterfly mechanism instead of the traditional scissor design. This mechanism quickly proved to be easily damaged, and she was again forced to return to the traditional scissor design, in addition to facing a large number of lawsuits, which she obviously lost and was forced to return the money she had charged for the replacements.
The last important aspect to highlight within this renewal of the MacBook Pro range was the type of ports which used: USB-C. This machine did not include any USB-A ports, forcing users to buy new peripherals and/or carry around port adapters. Again, seeing what a blunder it had made, subsequent generations re-implemented USB-A ports.
The Mac Mini M4 removes USB-A ports
It’s been 8 years since then and the USB-C port is more than common in most mobile devices, tablets and hard drives, so in Cupertino they have decided to try again with the next generation of the Mac Mini with the M4 processor.
At least that’s what Mark Gurman claims from Bloomberg, one of the Apple leakers with the highest accuracy rate, so his sources have proven to be very deep inside Apple. The Mac Mini’s renewal not only affects the connectivity ports, but also includes a redesign.
This new generation will have up to 5 USB-C portsone more than the current generation which offers 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A. Of the five ports that the Mac Mini with the ARM M4 processor will include, three will be located on the back while the other two will be located on the front.
This represents a radical change that will break with the traditional aesthetics of this equipment, but it will undoubtedly be appreciated by users since they will not have to fight with the device to find a USB-C port to connect a hard drive, mobile phone, webcam or any other device.
At the moment, it is unknown how many of these 5 ports will be compatible with Thunderbolt 4According to previous rumors, this model will feature 4 Thunderbolt controllers, double the number currently offered by the Mac Mini with the M2 processor.
If you are thinking of buying the new Mac Mini M4and still use peripherals that use the USB-A portyou can now start looking for dongles on Amazon to use it. Or, opt for the M2 Pro model, which will surely come in price as the performance difference with the M4 should not be much and it has 2 USB-C ports and 2 USB-A ports.