I never considered that angle. An unused port, just sitting there is going to chew some power, just to be "on"? If so, and it's of any significance, they'd weigh that against how much a person is typically using said port? Unless you're working for National Geographic or Vogue, the constant usage may not be there.
Apple being Apple, they're sitting on these numbers/data. They should have a pretty solid idea of who's using/needing what. If the numbers are telling them not enough users are taking advantage of a certain feature, it'll fall under that cut-off/threshold and they'll yank it. They have to consider all those shifting numbers and intangibles too.
All interesting stuff. When these new models are unveiled and we see the first "reveal" footage appearing on the screen, everyone's going to be looking at the sides to see what the port situation is! Nobody's gonna even notice a new design, smaller bezels, tweaked edges/corner radii, tweaked aluminum coloring, etc.
PS - On a completely stupid, and unrelated, note...I do miss the glowing Apple logo. If
that were to return, I wouldn't mind at all. But it may be more hassle than it's worth, so I'm fine either way. But it certainly acted as a "flag" for years and years. You'd spot a fellow Mac dork from across the airport terminal *like that*, and there was always something nice/comfortable about that.
"Shine on, pal...".
