Strange USB ports



  • I've seen the following USB ports on several laptops now; not been able to find out a single thing about them:

    USB ports with four holes in the prong

    Notice the four holes in each socket's prong, presumably for taking pins of some kind. The above photo is of a Dell Latitude D530, which Dell describe simply as having "USB ports". No mention even of them being USB 2.0 (that's what the + is for in the USB logo). I've seen the same on both a Sony Vaio and a Toshiba laptop. The Dell Studio 1555 has at least one as well.

    Anyone got any ideas?



  • I'm half guessing that those 4 holes don't actually mean anything, that it's just part of the manufacturers design, however it does kinda fit with some USB 3.0 port designs. USB 3.0 is just starting to show up on some mobo's. I've never noticed that + on the usb logo before, but if it was USB 3.0 it should encorporate either one of these logos instead:  or



  • It's most likely just something due to manufacturing, as you said.  It looks sort of hollow, so maybe it lets the tab be a bit more flexible or is cheaper to make or something.  It's definitely not USB3, which has 5 extra pins on the very tip of the prong (they would be facing down in this photo).  Also, the Latitude D series is too old to have USB3.

     

    mod: removed useless fullquote -dh



  • I have an E4300 which has a combined USB and E-SATA port, but it doesn't look exactly like that, here's an example:

     Yours looks like it's a combined port without the SATA bit enabled...or something.



  • @boh said:

    I have an E4300...

    That's only a 13.3" laptop!  That's so tiny!  You must have a very small penis.

     

    It's like you just shouted out "my wife is unsatisfied by my miniscule, flaccid microcock!"



  • Doh. Seems the forum has stopped e-mailing me when someone replies! The Real WTF is …

    If you look closely at the combined USB/e-SATA port, you'll notice that the four holes have the same irregular spacing as on the Latitude. I guess it could be an artefact of the tooling of whoever it is makes these USB and USB/e-SATA ports.

    I guess the only way to be 100% certain is to dissect the port of a dead laptop.



  • @Daniel Beardsmore said:

    I guess it could be an artefact of the tooling of whoever it is makes these USB and USB/e-SATA por
     

    This was my guess, as it's cheaper to have 1 factory machine spit out a multi-use component, than 2 machines || 2 alternating machine modes. I see the same thing on my desk chair: the connectors bits of various parts have unused holes and odd shapes, and the only sensible explanation is that the same bits are used in a different model chair, with different holes.

    Then again, what possible use could the holes have? The function of the bit is to create a robust guide for pluggin/unpluggin. No pins go into those holes.



  • In a “duh” moment I realised that the four holes are spaced identically to the electrical contacts.



  •  I see your weird USB ports and raise you a molex back panel on my PC.



  • @DOA said:

    I see your weird USB ports and raise you a molex back panel on my PC.
    I don't see your molex back panel.



  • @belgariontheking said:

    @DOA said:
    I see your weird USB ports and raise you a molex back panel on my PC.
    I don't see your molex back panel.

     _________
    /_o_o_o_o_\



  •  @DOA said:

     _________
    /_o_o_o_o_\

    That's just a group of people under a low roof.



  • @dhromed said:

     @DOA said:

     _________
    /_o_o_o_o_\

    That's just a group of people under a low roof an overturned canoe.

    FTFY


  • @DOA said:

     I see your weird USB ports and raise you a molex back panel on my PC.

     

    Mine's on the same plate as two eSATA ports. The Mobo also came with a double Molex to SATA power cable and one eSATA to SATA cable. This means I can hot-swap SATA drives without a caddy under Linux, but Windows doesn't seem to like it.



  • @Daniel Beardsmore said:

    I guess it could be an artefact of the tooling of whoever it is makes these USB and USB/e-SATA por
     

    Quite possibly...There are often some weird things about parts that were there simply for the "pick & place" machinery that manufacture something.


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