Apparently the two USB-C ports are different specs [1]
- USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support
- USB 2.0 480 Mbps
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/04/macbook-neo-features-tw...
Makes sense, the iphone has only one port after all. Interesting that it supported a second one though, or maybe that's the Pro revision designed for this use case?
The second port is likely necessary for USB hubs that rely on both ports. I had one for my M1 Air. I assume it'd still work with the 2 different speeds, but I'd be curious to try it.
I'm going to get a Neo for my wife once it's available in my country.
The USB 2.0 should be the one on the back, so the charging cable does not interfere with me plugging and unplugging things from the good port.
> - USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support
I'd like to run the external display plus an external SSD at USB 3 speeds, so I'd be waiting for experience reports on whether the one port can handle both without constraining the filesystem transfer speeds.
Since it's just USB and not Thunderbolt, wouldn't it use DisplayPort Alt mode for the display leaving data transfer untouched?
Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed it from the SP line)
I don't think this is intentional to cut cost. I simply think that the chip was primarily made for devices with one port (iPhone, iPad) and this is a bit of an afterthought.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a future product with 2x USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support on the next generation, A19 Pro or A20 Pro maybe, if the product has enough success.
This is going to be a primary complaint people have (even if it's not terribly important) - hopefully they have some circuitry that warns you if you're plugging something into the wrong port (e.g. a USB 3 device into USB 2 at slow speeds).
> This is going to be a primary complaint people have
No. Most people never plug in anything to their USB ports where they'd notice a speed difference. Definitely not people picking up a $600 MacBook for school or casual web browsing.
I'd bet 90% of folks never do anything other than charge through these ports...
I don't think people will have many complaints about this thing, but I do think this will be one of the primary (even though it's basically a non-complaint).
It will definitely be used to justify spending $300-1500 more for a better laptop.
What do you think Neo users are going to plug in where they’d actually notice the USB speed differences?
If they want to get these things into schools it would be insane to expect the schools to also supply everyone with AirPods or some other kind of wireless headphones.
I've heard wired EarPods are great or a USB DAC is under $10. It's still easier to have the headphone jack though.
AirPods have too much latency for playing music. You want wired audio for running GarageBand or Logic Pro with a MIDI controller. They could have gone with a USB-C to audio adapter, but then you wouldn't be able to plug the MIDI controller and charge the computer.
... Only a few people make music with a Mac, but it's been an important part of its history, and Apple cares about it.
This is the answer.
Hey, it took courage to remove that headphone jack.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/07/courage/
This is 2026. iPhones use standard USB C headphones, you can charge your phone at the same time while using your wired headphones using MagSafe and you can even by low end $59 Beats Flex headphones that have all of the Apple magic.
I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s
In my experience, USB-C ports are more fragile than 3.5mm audio jacks for repeated plugging in / unplugging cycles.
I've never had a USB-C port fail with many of them being plugged / unplugged multiple times a day for years. At most they fill with dust you have to fish out. Aux ports would often get in a state where you had to very carefully position the jack for it to work.
As soon as those headphones sound better than the analog alternatives, sure.
But they don't. And won't.
I am a huge 3.5mm jack defender and I am still upset at how Apple created a post-USB C world. But this is a common misconception.
USB C headphones and 3.5mm headphones (and Bluetooth, USB A, etc) are all equally as "analog" as one another (with the exception of someone with all-analog equipment, of course).
You need a DAC somewhere between the chip you're getting the digital signal from and the speakers that are playing an analog signal. And so the quality of that depends on (among other things) the quality of your DAC.
With USB or Bluetooth headphones, the DAC is somewhere in the headphone. With the 3.5mm jack, the DAC is behind jack. If you have a device with a crummy built-in DAC giving you a noisy signal, you'll be better off using a USB DAC.
I haven't used Apple's USB C earbuds, but Apple does make a $10 USB C to 3.5mm DAC that performs very very well for its price point.
The difference is you always can buy USB C headphones with a known good consistent DAC. A 3.5 inch headphone jack serves no purpose in the age of USB C - even my wife’s mixing board has USB C input that she can plug her iPhone into.
Next thing HN folks are going yo want the iPhone to come with a SCSI port.
I think that is silly, I haven't used an SCSI port since I was a tiny child but I use a 3.5mm almost every day of my life.
And technology moves on either way. There is not a single high end phone that still comes with a 3.5 inch headphone jack in 2026. The number of people who care in 2026 is probably less than the number of people who want to run Linux on their phone.
Yes, but that's different than what we're saying. I think many more people want and use 3.5mm jacks than they do SCSI ports. The 3.5mm jack is excellent. We're in a thread about a new device released with this wonderful port.
Also, many people want to run Linux on their phone. About 7 in 10 smart phones run Linux, and smart phones are devices billions of humans use every day.
We are in a thread on HN where you have people who complain about not having root access on your iPhone, want to run Linux on everything and bemoan the fact that most websites don’t work with JavaScript disabled.
This is as far from the mainstream as you can possibly get.
Come September it will have been a decade since Apple dropped the headphone port - the world has moved on
I would very much like root on my phone and most of the websites I use don't require JavaScript. Apple hasn't dropped the headphone port, they even announced a new product today called the Macbook Neo with one. There is even a thread on HN about it :)
You have a wee bit more space on a MacBook Neo than an iPhone.
Do an experiment. Jump in a pool with both your iPhone and your MacBook and see which one works when you get out.
Why do they need to sound better? Also, in a lot of instances, they do sound better because they can offer powered functionality such as ANC. Can’t get that with a truly analog headphone. I’d never use analog headphones on a plane, for instance.
I can’t think of an instance where analog headphones would sound better than USB C headphones using the same hardware.
So USB headphones sound worse than analog ones? Does vinyl sound better to you to than CDs?
Low-end wired earbuds come in packages with dozens of units. I buy cheap earbuds because my kids love breaking them. Not everyone optimizes for the same thing. Analog remains the bees knees in certain settings.
Just a quick search on Amazon shows a two pack of USB C headphones for $10
Or 100 analog ones for $36.
So you are worried about saving money and consider $5 for a pair of headphones and you bought an iPhone????
It's a mobile CPU. They did not modify it. Mobile devices run with a single USB port.
> Well the costs had to be cut somewhere.
its investment into next generation of loyal apple users, they more likely be selling it at loss.
Nope, not Apple
Charging in and DisplayPort out on the same socket would mean an additional dongle or hub or something, so there's at least that reason for having both.
Couldn't one charge from the display connected to?
Both ports support power delivery, so you can still be plugged in and use DisplayPort out.
Not necessarily - you just need a display that has USB-C input and supports USB-PD.
Im surprised that they’re doing DP and not thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt would presumably make it much more expensive, the spec has a ton of USB features that go from “optional” to “required” to be able to go into TBT alt mode, like supporting active cables
IIRC it's because the iPhone chip doesn't have thunderbolt
this new macbook does not have Thunderbolt