Monday, May 6, 2024

Scrappled!

So for the past 5 or so years I've had a 4k projector stuck to the ceiling of my living room. I haven't really been putting it to the best use in that time, so recently I decided to get a USB-C to HDMI adapter for my MacBook Air so that I could more easily play DVDs while sitting on the couch (because I like actually owning media).

So off to the house of bezos I went, and picked one up for the princely sum of $12.

What I didn't quite count on was that my MacBook Air only has 2 USB ports. The DVD drive plugs into the first one, the HDMI adapter plugs into the second one, and the power cable... yeah, it turns out that spinning a DVD for 2 hours straight draws a lot more power than just idly computing away, and the tiny battery that the Air comes with really starts to show its size when loaded down like that (it's usually more than sufficient to just run the computer alone).

Scrappled!

The good news is that this is a problem that's basically already been solved. You just need to buy a mini docking station that comes with extra USB ports and has a USB-C power pass-thru to charge the machine. They're only about $50 or so, which is fine.

Except that they all come with an HDMI port built in, which means that I actually wasted the $12 I spent buying the standalone HDMI adapter.

Truth be told I can probably find another use for it, but it does chafe me a little.

Ah well.

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