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> On the road, you often only need 2 ports - one for charging and one for whatever momentary things you need to plug in briefly.

perhaps that's all you often need, it's a little presumptuous to say so about others




With the hub, you have many more ports - when you need them.

My little Anker has two USB-A, two USB-C (one may be thunderbolt I think), HDMI, and SD card slot.

You're not going to find a laptop with more than those ports. So I stand by my comment that 2 ports (and the optional little hub in your bag) are all you need.

If you somehow need more, then you probably aren't traveling with all that gear... or at least not using it while in transit.


that doesn't work if you don't have the hub, meaning you need two ports plus also to buy this hub and carry the hub around with you everywhere you go with your laptop, and add in the hassle of dealing with it

that is significantly less convenient and more expensive than a computer that has the same functionality without needing the extra hardware or a bag to carry around "accessories" that bring the laptop up to snuff


I'm curious; what external devices are you always needing connected to your laptop? What is this "extra hardware" and "accessories" that you need (and which you seem to think most people also need)?

In my case, the port expander is smaller than a phone, and I rarely need it. My laptop has 2TB of drive space, so I don't need external storage except occasionally at home to do a physical backup. But my important data is frequently syncing to the cloud, so I don't need to travel with a backup drive.

So more than 99% of the time, all I need is the laptop (and usually internet, which I have via wifi or mobile phone hotspot.

And with one 65W Anker power adapter, I have 2 USB and 1 USB-C power so I can charge my laptop, phone, and a third small device if necessary.

The MB Air is very thin, pretty light, and very rigid. That makes traveling so much more pleasant compared to the bulky heavy XPS 15 I previously had. Yes, I only have 13" display now instead of 15", but the difference in screen real estate isn't very significant.


the "extra hardware" or "accessories" there refers to the USB hub that I'm required to carry around in order for the laptop to have the ports necessary for my ordinary usage

the specific use cases aren't as important given that they exist and are unsatisfied by 1 standard USB port (though my latest MBP has zero, lol)




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