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I just bought a new PC, based on Lenovo Legion gaming desktop. It comes with 2 USB port in the front, 4 regular USB port in the back + 1 USB-C port. That's a total of 7 USB slots.

It's been like 2 decades that every possible hardware device comes with an USB interface. Keyboard, mouse, joystick, hard-drive, memory stick, headset, webcam, spot/photo camera, and many others.

Of course it's my fault, I should have thought about USB connectors when shopping for a new PC and check before buying. but seriously, 7 USB slots is so few compared to all the device I have using USB

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[-] glimse@lemmy.world 130 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Answer: the vast majority of people don't use 7 USB devices at a time. You are an outlier and should have purchased accordingly

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 9 months ago

Also, it's generally cheap and easy to install a PC IE board for the back of your pc, if you really need it, and you'll have another 6 or 7.

[-] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 9 months ago

Thank you. I was getting very confused.

7 ports seems like heaps. How could anyone use that many at once.

[-] potustheplant@feddit.nl 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Keyboard, mouse, usb extension to have a port on my desk, wireless charger, dac, xbox wireless controller dongle and a usb microphone. That's 7 and I'd use an 8th port to charge my vr headset. So yeah, it's not that hard to use 7 ports at once.

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[-] Azzu@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

I mostly use 3, sometimes 4 or 5 at most.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

I have 4 things plugged in permanently (mouse, keyboard, audio interface, wireless headset receiver). It used to be 5 but I haven't used my wireless controller since I built this PC.

I have a midi keyboard I plug into the front when I'm going to use it. And a USB cable in the drawer if I ever need to plug my phone in (which otherwise sits on a wireless charger plugged into AC)

[-] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 9 months ago

My bedroom media pc (old-ass enterprise tower) has 8 on the back and 5 on the front. So 13 usb ports. It doesn’t have any wireless anything, physical ports only, and there’s no room to add internal cards for it, but plenty of usb ports for dongles!

I use 3 of those ports at most (I use Ethernet, since it’s my acquisition machine, or it’d be 4), and 2 are for keyboards and mice (one handheld with touchpad, the other a normal set).

I’m struggling to even come up with 7 things that would all need to be plugged in together.. I guess webcam, mouse and keyboard if they can’t run off a single port, and headset maybe if you got one that bypasses the audio jacks for whatever reason.. but that’s still only 4.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

There's plenty of legitimate reasons to need a ton of USB ports but it's not on the PC manufacturer to appease the edge cases like OP.

It's like getting confused why your house doesn't have a 20amp outlet to the dining room for your 48U server rack.

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[-] wesker 97 points 9 months ago

7 USB ports seems like a decent amount, to me.

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 69 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Those modern high speed USB controllers are not free. They used up available PCIe lanes. The more you add the less PCIe lanes available in the motherboard.

If you have a lot of low speed USB peripherals, just buy some large USB 2.0 hubs so you can reserve the high speed ports for high speed applications such as external disks.

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 39 points 9 months ago

7 seems like a pretty good amount but if you need more, you can always add them if you have a free slot (if not, there's always hubs). Alternately, you could build your own next time you need to upgrade.

[-] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

There are USB headers on EVERY motherboard most have 2 usb 2.0 that can be expanded into 4 usb each

[-] cali_ash@lemmy.wtf 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You can get an USB hub to expand that number as needed. With USB 3.2 ports you can connect all of the things you listed over a single port without any performance issues.

You could literally connect hundreds of devices to those ports, if needed.

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[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 27 points 9 months ago

You bought a prebuilt system, which in general tend to not be very expandable and cut corners in various ways because they target the average customer, and not the enthusiast.

On a similar note, my pet peeve is the limited number of pcie slots in modern motherboards (and to a lesser extent, pcie lanes), but this is also understandable given the trend away from using those ports (except for GPUs).

[-] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 21 points 9 months ago

I don't know if this is a gaming PC or high end etc, but for me 7 USB slots is a lot. I usually need 2, in most extreme situations I would need 4 I think. So maybe the PC is just designed for an average person who is not too tech savvy? I have to think really hard about what I would do with 7 slots.

[-] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago

I have to think really hard about what I would do with 7 slots.

This is roughly what is plugged to my PC

  • Keyboard,

  • Mouse

  • Headset

  • Joystick

  • Rudder pedals for flight sim (OK that one is a bit specific)

  • Audio interface (OK another one a bit specific)

  • Webcam (which isn't even always on)

  • USB 2 wire to load/connect some devices

  • USB C loose wire to load/connect some device

  • USB stick/hard drive on a case by case basis

[-] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Why would you need usb headset when you have audio interface?

[-] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

Audio interface is great to plug the guitar to the PC, and is used when I put sound the speaker. Headset (which is actually a wireless USB, It would make sense to update to Bluetooth) is used when doing voice call/chat(A decade back, I was living abroad, and playing TTRPG through voice chat, got the habit to use a wireless USB headset at this time, but indeed, it's something I could rationalize considering that I don't use it much anymore)

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[-] SparrowRanjitScaur@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

Because the USB standard allows the number of USB ports to be significantly expanded through the use of hubs.

[-] Flumpkin@slrpnk.net 5 points 9 months ago

Try finding a simple 8 port USB hub with USB-C. It's a shitshow too!

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[-] badbytes@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago
[-] JonEFive@midwest.social 15 points 9 months ago

Exactly. USB is designed so that you can have multiple devices attached to one port. 7 slots on the PC is plenty.

And in fact, they probably already have a hub. I can't remember the last monitor that I bought that didn't have a couple USB ports on it. Put that thing to use. Webcam, USB headset/mic, keyboard and mouse can all run perfectly well off a monitor hub as can most other accessories. Save the direct ports on the mobo for things that need the bandwidth like storage devices.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 12 points 9 months ago

I mean... That one's on you, you should have looked at the specs to make sure the PC fit your needs and could have built one yourself (especially if you're into flight sims, why waste money for sub par tech?)...

My motherboard has more ports than your whole PC plus I've got two ports at the front...

[-] cheesorist@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

that depends on what you bought, my motherboard has 10 in the back, and my case has 5 most are usb 3

granted my case and mobo are both 250 usd individually

[-] FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org 10 points 9 months ago

My x570 motherboard has like 10 usb ports lol. And then my case has 2 more on the front. I think Lenovo just sucks lol. They are the OEM for their desktop motherboards right? Like Dell?

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 months ago

Your mistake was buying a prefab.

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[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

It all depends on the case and mother board you buy.

[-] lud@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago

My desktop has 12 USB ports with the option of installing quite a few more by using the internal headers.

[-] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

You can buy pcie usb controllers to give you more ports.

Unless it's like the stupid HP Omens where the motherboard has only one slot and that's for the graphics card.

[-] pythonoob@programming.dev 6 points 9 months ago

Install a PCIe USB expansion card. Will give you an extra 4-8 slots.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 months ago

Nice counting. Now let's do SATA ports and fan power connections. only 3 or 4 for 20 years. What's up with that?!?

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[-] Nemo@midwest.social 4 points 9 months ago

That's why I built my own PC, get it the way I want it.

Though even I rarely used more than 8 at a time.

  1. mouse and keyboard
  2. wifi antenna
  3. printer cable
  4. webcam (only sometimes)

the CD reader takes two, one for power and one for data, but that's only used rarely

if I'm playing games with my kids that's four controllers at most, and I don't leave those plugged in

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this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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