My first laptop was a Surface, so was my second, both having the magnetic Surface Connect port. Recently though, I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad, which charges via USB C. My first thoughts were that the USB C was a lot less convenient. With a magnetic connector, I could just wave the cable at the port and more often than not, it would connect without me even having to look at it, whereas with the USB C port on the Lenovo, I actually have to tilt my head toward the side of the laptop and visually find the port before I can plug it in correctly. I know that USB C is tons more versatile than a proprietary port and especially more versatile than a proprietary and charging only port like the older MacBooks had, but IMO they’re a lot more convenient for charging itself.
What do you think? Do you miss magnetic charging ports and do you feel about manufacturers including them in 2021? Especially curious about responses people who used/use one of the older MacBooks that had (from what I heard, never owned one) one of the best magnetic charging ports on the market.
If there was a campaign to make a version of the USB C or Thunderbolt connector that was magnetic, would you support it? Theoretically someone could just publish an open source design for a magnetic port that is pin compatible with USB C. As long as the open source project says it’s just a generic 20-pin port that can carry whatever signal, there wouldn’t be any licensing issues with the design itself, since some manufactures do have custom ports that can carry USB C or Thunderbolt signals, right.
I definitely prefer a magnetic port. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, because I feel like most magnetic ports are also specifically designed for a product and I’d rather there just be a single standard, but I’ve used a few surfaces/macbooks with magnetic ports and they were all a million times more convenient. I’m not super knowledgeable on hardware/connectors, so I don’t know anything about the feasibility of your proposal at the end, but something like that would be ideal.
My phone has a USB-C port and one of the biggest issues is that the charger tends to just smash lint/dust into the port and it has to be carefully cleaned out occasionally or the connection begins to feel loose. Every magnetic charger I’ve used has been relatively shallow, making this a lot less of an issue. Would love a magnetic port on my phone.