Right now I’ve got a power cable plug resting on my leg. If I were to tilt the laptop backwards even slightly it would put preasure on the cable and force it out or possibly break it.
I also have a rigid wireless reciever for the mouse plugged into the side. If that were to be knocked it would surely break.
Why hasn’t someone invented flexible ports which are not rigid to the frame but surrounded by rubber or something, so that if whatever’s plugged into the port gets forced, it has a good chance of surviving intact.
The first thing you have to understand about consumer electronics, and computers in particular, is that if there’s some way to save a fraction of a cent, the makers will do that. Quality, functionality, etc. all mean zip nowadays because the American consumers want the cheapest crap possible.
What you want costs money, ergo, they won’t do it by default. Somebody probably tried to do some of the things you want once, but they sold so few that they couldn’t get the production up to where it would pay off.
(And you’re lucky I don’t have my Official Soapbox handy now.)
I broke the speaker plugin in the side of my laptop last year. Had to replace the whole motherbord when a bit of loose metal from it messed some stuff up later on. I’d be glad to see a flexable port on the market.
Has anybody ever used one of those specially tricked out laptops (for military and industrial contractors, as I recall) that can supposedly be run over my a Humvee and survive? I’d think that would be the place where flex ports would start, and then that technology might trickle down to the prosumer then eventually, consumer markets.