USB-C for Surface Pro after all... via dongle

[convergent]

Microsoft has created a Surface USB-C dongle for ‘people who love dongles’

I missed this at first, but according to this article, Microsoft is going to provide a dongle for their proprietary dock port that will turn it into USB-C. The USB-C world is a dongle world, so they are providing "a dongle for people that like dongles".

 

[hughlle]

Thanks for the post. Was completely unaware of this.

As much as I hate dongles, I think that this is the better aproach to go with, than attempt to redesign the whole surface to include a port. So few people use usb-c at this point in time that it is better to offer a dongle for the few who need it than offer a port that few know what to do with.

 

[convergent]

Thanks for the post. Was completely unaware of this.

As much as I hate dongles, I think that this is the better aproach to go with, than attempt to redesign the whole surface to include a port. So few people use usb-c at this point in time that it is better to offer a dongle for the few who need it than offer a port that few know what to do with.

I missed this in all the initial reports this morning too. I think the USB-C hysteria is a bit over the top. Its a non-standard standard at this point and while it would have been cool to have one, I'm not going to decide to buy it or not because of it. Having this dongle option seems like a reasonable way to go as a compromise.

If taking this approach is allowing them to have a less "buggy" launch by not redesigning the whole system board, then that is a good trade off too.

And it means that anyone upgrading that already has a dock will be able to keep using it.

 

[hughlle]

Exactly. Best of both worlds if you ask me. I know one can argue that they've had all the time in the world to incorporate and get it working, but as you say, usb-c just isn't really a reliable standard, and isn't really used at all yet. I say save it for the next big surface update when everything has calmed down and niggles worked out and buyers (as in the majority) have a reason to use it. All I know is that I'll take the amazing magnetic charging port over usb-c any day, unless they manage to make some form of magnetic breakaway usb-c charger, but that again falls into the potential of a non-standard standard.

 

[macmee]

For me this sucks because I wanted thunderbolt 3 support so I could do an eGPU.

Macbooks have TB3, just sayin'