Modern desktop PCs usually have back sides full of enough holes to give a tryptophobe
an aneurysm, but those ports have all gone through a lot of different iterations over
the years. Sure, we might rely on many staples like HDMI and USB now, but many more didn't make
it. What about the ports that were just the absolute worst?
What happened to those guys? You might think it's a bit cringe to start dunking on things like old display connectors
or proprietary Apple ports, but in some cases they kind of deserve it.
For example, the high-density interconnect 45 or HDI 45 was released on March 14, 1994
with the PowerMac 6100, 7100, and 8100 computers to use with the AudioVision 14 display and
then never used again, meaning this connector enjoyed a fulfilling life as long as those
PowerMac models were being produced, so for a whole two years.
But during that time, the HDI 45 had the distinction of carrying the signal for your speakers,
microphone, and video in stunning 480i on a single cable.
If for some reason you didn't want to use this glorious connector, the AudioVision
14 also had an S-Video import port on the side, which wasn't supported by Apple and
went unused. Why did they include it in the first place?
The answer is lost to the sands of time.
You know what hasn't been lost though? Molex.
Why is the Molex power connector stuck around for so long? The answer is that it is cheap, and that's pretty much it.
It certainly didn't survive because it was easy to use, as anyone who's ever tried to
pull apart a male and female Molex connector can attest, because the bond of true love
is unbreakable. One of those little, like, squeezy things that would push them apart.
That was a high-end feature. Fun fact, the standard 4-pin connectors that we call Molex today are actually based on
a design from AMP, which now goes by TE Connectivity, called the Maitan Lock, which was itself
based on a pin-and-socket design originally produced by the Molex connector company.
But the Maitan Lock design did little to address many of the original's problems.
Back when they used to be standard power connectors for hard drives and disk drives, the pins of
Molex connectors would often be pushed out of the back if they weren't perfectly aligned
with the pin holes. The connector also had deceptive little handles on them that no human hands could really grip
onto nicely and tell power supply manufacturers made things a little bit easier with these
little pinchy-tab things I talked about earlier. On top of all that, the connectors had a penchant for just breaking, if manufactured in a subpar
manner, which many, many were. Remember, these are cheap.
While Molex became a vernacular term used to refer to any number of similar 4-pin connectors,
Molex, the company, is alive and well.
And the connectors that we all think of when we say, Molex, still infest most desktop PCs
to this day. Thank you, Molex. Thankfully, the world is starting to heal from the infestation of another horrible port,
MicroUSB.
Designed to take up less space than its predecessor, MiniUSB, MicroUSB was supposed to have an
estimated lifespan of 10,000 insertions. Oh, that was a funny joke.
In reality, the tiny port, haha, we're going for size now, huh, too, was so weak that it
would often end up mangled well before it could hit the big 10-0-0-0.
If the near microscopic clips that kept it nestled into its destination device got improperly
bent or shaved down over time as, you know, friction does, you'd have yourself a cable
that might just fall out if you looked at it the wrong way. If the port on your device ended up mutilated, which inevitably it would because, again,
friction, you'd be looking at either replacing it yourself with a very difficult soldering
job or replacing the device entirely, as most people, unfortunately, would do.
Thankfully, MicroUSB has been largely replaced by the much more user-friendly USB Type-C
connector, which does have its own set of problems, but nobody's perfect.
And that ain't even the half of it. As much as MicroUSB may have sucked, at least it was actually a standard.
Something that can't be said about PCK's front panel connectors.
For decades now, every PC builder has been forced to reckon with a jumbled mess of single
or coupled wires with tiny bits of plastic on the end labeled in a miniscule font, which
then had to be matched up with average spikes of metal on the motherboard, marked with even
smaller letters. These cables for ants?
Some motherboard manufacturers have taken pity on prospective builders and included little
plastic guides to help out, but if you didn't buy a motherboard from one of the good ones,
by the time the motherboard is in the case, you'd best have a flashlight and a magnifying
glass handy to find where your wires are supposed to go, lest you find yourself with a non-functioning
power button. Speaking of ports that aren't functioning anymore, our last, worst connector is the mysterious
and short-lived Micro DVI. Carrying a video signal, but not audio?
It was not much smaller than a standard USB or HDMI port, both of which it actually resembled
depending on where it was used. So where was it used?
Only on two laptops released in early 2008.
The original MacBook Air, where the Micro DVI port could easily be mistaken as a USB type
A port, and on the ASUS U2E subcompact notebook, which featured the port disguised as an HDMI
port, what is going on here?
Apparently, a port in two form factors was confusing for everyone else as well, because
by the time summer arrived in 2008, the sun had already set on this abomination of a standard,
and Micro DVI's house had been foreclosed for good. Are there any other PC ports, cables, or connectors you simply cannot stand?
Let us know in the comments down below and maybe we'll roast them in a future video
too. And if you thought this was going to be about game ports and still want to know more about
that, then why not check out our video on why PC game ports still suck.
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