# Are most USB ports on laptops upside-down?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-usb-ports-on-laptops-upside-down/271636>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 28, 2004, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-usb-ports-on-laptops-upside-down/271636 "2004-10-28T08:33:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-usb-ports-on-laptops-upside-down/271636/21 "2004-10-28T23:31:30Z")

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> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Whoever designed the front USB ports on Dell desktops needs a good clubbing.

Agreed. I have one Dell with normal front USB ports, but my other Dell box has the idiotic downward-angled ports that you can’t see, **and** which are mounted upside down.

And I seriously doubt it’s for dust protection, because the whole assembly has a big plastic lid (which, incidentally, is also badly designed, since it doesn’t open far enough to actually get completely out of the frickin’ way).

For the OP: the USB ports on my laptop (a Toshiba) are sideways. And any orientation besides right side up (USB logo on top) is annoying, because you want to be able to predict which direction the plug is going to go in, so you can do it without having to get your face back there and see the port.

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-usb-ports-on-laptops-upside-down/271636/22 "2004-10-28T23:39:30Z")

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I know the Dells you’re speaking of, and OMFG I HATE THEM. My MP3 player (which I regularly use to transfer bulk lots of images) doesn’t fit in _any_ of these sleek angled front ports :mad: …and even plugging in a set of headphones involves crawling on the floor.

And how the hell did they decide that a fancy ‘looks flat’ front panel was necessary once people had half-a-dozen cables trailing out from it? :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-usb-ports-on-laptops-upside-down/271636/23 "2004-10-28T23:42:11Z")

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Oh, and some of the low-profile Dell desktop units have a USB slot so close to a slope in the case that even a small flash drive won’t go in.

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