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Over time, Chromebooks have evolved to look thinner and sleeker in the midrange and high end. Thinner devices mean less room for an assortment of ports and devices like the original Pixelbook, paved the way for ultra-refined port selection on current Chromebooks. After all, if USB Type-C can do just about everything you need, why not give users a few and move on?
Still, I find that I appreciate the flexibility offered by older ports like SD card slots, headphone jacks, and USB Type A. With these onboard your Chromebook, you’ll need less dongles. , adapters and docking solutions when you’re on the go. Yes they do take up space and yes they look a little less stylish on the outside but over time you actually use your Chromebook they really help make the experience a lot simpler in the long run. .
One port that has been missing for some time on many Chromebooks is the full-size HDMI connector, and it made a little comeback in 2020. Outside of a corporate Chromebook here and there in previous years, that port had completely disappeared from the consumer Chromebook scene. For this one, I kind of get it: the HDMI port is big, ugly, and takes up a lot of space on the ever thinner Chromebooks available today. With a small adapter, any of your much smaller USB-C ports can do the same audio / video tasks, so why not ditch that superfluous port?
I was completely okay with this thought process until a few Chromebooks in 2020 simply changed their mind. Devices like the HP Chromebook Pro C640 and the Dell Latitude 7400 both had this port and most notably the popular Acer Spin 713. With all of these devices I ended up using this port a few times over the course of the year. from the overhaul process and have operated it countless times on my Spin 713 over the past year.
Whether it was connecting the Chromebook to a larger TV for a video call, a presentation, or just to consume media, every time I turned to the HDMI port, it was during a time when I didn’t have my dongle, adapter or docking right there in my bag. My main converter for these kinds of tasks is the dock that is on my desk and most of the time I don’t keep it with me. Now that I have a Chromebook that doesn’t really need it, I just don’t feel the need to have all the extra adapters in my bag all the time, and it’s honestly a liberating feeling.
Look, I’m all for sleek design and minimal appointments, but Chromebooks (and laptops in general) are working machines at the end of the day, meant for productivity and consumption and not really built with clean lines as a # 1 priority. I guess this all ties in with the pointless decision to remove the headphone jack from phones and the arguments of countless creative pros complaining that Apple has removed all ports of their Macbook Pro range. Professionals and students alike need tools, not cool looks, and that same thing counts with Chromebooks, too.
Do I think the HDMI port will make a big comeback on the multitude of new Chromebooks on the way in 2021? Not really. Hopefully a few of them will include it, but I’m not sure that will happen. It’s just a little weird that including some “old” ports on the Acer Spin 713 really helped me see Chromebooks a bit more clearly for what they are: functional devices used to get things done. As a device of this type, the more ports you have, the better. While this won’t fit all the plans of all Chromebook makers, I certainly hope this continues to be the mindset of some of them. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a few less stylish Chromebooks on offer this year that still sit in those old ports for those like me who appreciate simple features.
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