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Digging holes in the desert is difficult due to caliche.
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trønderen wrote: Today, it looks as if WiFi is The One and Only Solution.
I've seen software where the manufacturer specifically says not to use wi-fi, only to use wired ethernet, preferably through a built in adapter, so one hopes that the option is still available for some time.
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Um... guess what... optical drives and RJ45s are soooooo yesterday. 
Jeremy Falcon
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But I bought two new CDs on Saturday, and the fee for my fiber connection is due today! What should I do???
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Join the rest of us and sell your soul to big tech. Resistance is futile.
Jeremy Falcon
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How old was the laptop you replaced?
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It was purchased in 2019, but was an identical replacement for a much older HP Pavillion of the same design.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Boy you have been under a rock for a bit. There haven't been any cd drives for about a decade and Ethernet ports disappeared about 5 years ago. I know because I run a repair shop and have external cd drives and usb Ethernet ports at the ready for when it is necessary.
Margins are real slim these days so if it isn't necessary to the masses then cry us a river if you miss it.
You can get a usb to slim cd drive adapter cable and pull the dvd drive out of the old pc (undo it's release screw on the bottom of the laptop and pull the drive out), this is what I did for my old dvdless ASUS QL502 i5 laptop.
And you can get usb to Ethernet adapters for a song. You don't even need to sing good.
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Cheaper to produce, probably.
I think you can still get external dvd writers and wouldn't be surprised if you could get a usb to ethernet adapter.
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As a matter of fact, I ordered both today - about $40. 
Will Rogers never met me.
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What? Not even a Morse-code interface?
Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.
To err is human, to arr is pirate.
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Happily, even the FCC has finally admitted that there's little reason to require hams to know Morse code. That's the only reason I upgraded my license to Amateur Extra. 
Will Rogers never met me.
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prices are going up
ok gut out all possible ports, and shift to a hub
also the transition from Ethernet Port, to one with hinge part to allow thin laptop
the jump to wireless screens seemed like a fantasy in 2014, now every meeting room has screen share
the next cord cut might be wireless USB docking hub
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Roger, my laptop came with both an Ethernet port and a USB-C connector. The USB-C connects to a hub I bought with HDMI, USB-A(2), and Ethernet support. The hub was <$50.
Small giggle: The hub was marked as an Apple product, and it's hooked up to an HP laptop.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Well, a USB hub (C or not C, that is not the question) is fine, but also makes the whole thing less "portable"...
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To me, a portable is acceptable only when hooked up to a 28-30" screen, a decent full-size keyboard and a high quality mouse (preferably wireless), memory card reader, memory stick socket (for now: USB A socket; both this and the memory card reader is built into the screen), and with access to "unlimited" disk space. In other words: It must be seated in a docking station. If I am going to take it home from work, it must have one dock at work, one at home. Using it undocked is only in emergency cases. So what's the use of a 'portable', then? I can bring home the stuff I work on using a memory stick.
The only job where I got a portable was when the employer offered no choice. The portable was docked permanently at the office; I never took it home (or elsewhere).
Today, I have got a private portable and an dock, as a reserve in case the main one fails. I very rarely use it. Even though it is a high quality one, I rarely use it. It is very much like the smartphone: The main reason for having one is that 'the rest of the world' claims that I cannot live without it. I go along, even though I do not really believe in those claims.
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I'm happy to report that today I received a USB-A/USB-C to 2.5 Gb Ethernet port, along with a USB-A/USB-C connected CD/DVD Reader/Writer, both for <$50. Problem solved.
Will Rogers never met me.
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My previous laptop at work had about 11h autonomy, 4x USB A and 1xUSB C and all possible readers and an Ethernet port.
My brand new laptop has only two USB A and a USB C with 2,5h autonomy. SO I have to carry around a USB hub with hanging 20cm cables, plus my power supply - this is not a laptop anymore, it is a thin desktop.  Sure, the laptop is not heavy, but the extra needed hardware is pure nonsense.
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11h runtime on a laptop? You're kidding, right? Or did that thing weigh 15lbs?
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Ralf Quint wrote: You're kidding, right?
Nope... I had a Dell back then that could hold the whole working day in a normal usage. Was like that for two or three years, then I had a problem and the technician came... after that battery life drop 50% or 60%
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Sorry, but I have never seen ANY laptop that would get more than 4-4.5h of "working" time in real life. Of any brand. And I (and a lot of my clients) use Dell's a lot.
The best "runtime" I ever got was a small 11.4" Lenovo with no spinning rust (64GB EMC), 4GB RAM and that could effectively work maybe 6-7h, mostly typing, not even web browsing or email...
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Ralf Quint wrote: Or did that thing weigh 15lbs?
I kid you not, I could work one whole day and sometimes even more without plugging it in. So forgetting my power supply home has never been an issue in the past, for instance.
Our IT would replace the original batteries with some extra(?) and super powered(?) batteries. And yes, it was quite heavy, but far more practical than carrying dangling cables all around, AND you could not forget your "power" since it was IN the laptop 
Since I usually do not carry anything else than my laptop when I have to move it, the extra weight was not an issue. It was a Lenovo, cannot tell you anymore which ref exactly. I miss it veeeery much, I even postponed the normal 3-year-replacement-rate by 2 years to keep it. It unfortunately died from an electrical shock from a failing power supply (how ironical) which short circuited something and had the motherboard die - I did not even think that this was still possible with all protections they have now, but it was 
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The new laptop my employer gave me a few months ago has three USB-C ports and what look like a microphone jack, a card reader, and some little rectangle I don't recognize. It also came with a dongle that gives me one USB-A port and one HDMI port. My manager, who loves Apple products, was overjoyed that Windows laptops have finally caught up with Mac laptops. I hate having to drag the dongle and a USB hub everywhere I go. At home, it connects to my WiFi. At my desk at work, the dock has an Ethernet port. Welcome to the future, I guess.
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Our company supplied laptops have been getting smaller each year. "Too heavy" they whine. Give me a tool - reasonable screen, ports, and "hard disk".
This round, the HP laptop has USB C, HDMI, audio, USB A. But it is nice and thin.
We were issued a USB C "dock" (4 in ^3) that has 2 Display Port, VGA, audio, RJ45, x USB A & x USB C.
Portable docks are available with differing sets of connections.
Or you can collect and carry individual dongles for each connection.
Yes, they boot very quickly, but the storage is not enough to have a full load of tools and local work.
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Some of the business-oriented laptops still come with more ports. I recently got a new Dell Precision laptop at work, and it has a pretty nice complement of ports. The Latitude line also has some similar models, and I think Lenovo also still makes some laptops with a variety of ports.
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