I want to say I’ve broken every headphone jack I ever had. Yanking on them, debris getting in the switch, debris triggering the optical if it had one. 3.5 was never a great design. Too many physical ways for it to break, from static from a loose connection, debris stuck inside like pebbles getting jammed, debris stuck under the switch preventing recognition. False positive or accidental triggers that take a while to track down why the speakers are muted.

Of all the parts on electronics I have owned i would put headphone jack just behind power supply for least reliable and that it was set to override digital settings when something was connected felt like a loss of control.

I am very forgetful, wireless has been a godsend by comparison and I don’t get hurt with cable snags. I’d pay extra to remove it before shipping if it were an option.

Agreed, losing the headphone jack on something the size of a phone was already questionable space saving for a bigger battery. But on something the size of a laptop, it is a joke. I'm sure it has more to do with saving $1 per laptop than any user benefit.

For a school laptop it’s a unfortunate omission IMHO.

Cheap wired headphones are the default choice in the classroom, in my experience.

Bluetooth headphones that need charging aren’t really what you want.

It’s easy enough to get cheap USB headphone adapter, but still, I t would nice if it was built in.

Apple knows what they are doing sometimes it seems! :-)

I have to say, I prefer dongles lately. There are many inexpensive hifi dongles that sound great with in-ears. They’re also USB class-compliant audio devices and work everywhere. Obviously a preference, but as other commenters have mentioned, 3.5 jacks do break, and I’ve personally broken plenty.

When the laptop is literally the thickness of a headphone jack? Because a USB-C port is less than 2mm, but a 3.5mm headphone jack port is more like 6mm. That becomes a problem when the actual shell it need to go in is 7.5mm.

Did it need to be that thin? Heck no. But it is, and yeah there is absolutely no room for one because of that decision.

no jack doesn't mean wireless only. Not having TRRS 3.5mm is a bit annoying but there are lots of usb-a or usb-c headset that have an embedded DAC + you can always use the DAC/USB soundcard of your choice. Also many laptops only had TRS which really killed the appeal of having analog wired equipment if you were forced to use the embedded laptop microphone.

3.5mm TRS jacks might cost 10 cents to include and then hundreds of dollars to service when they break. The issue is not the BOM cost.

I like a good old headphone jack, but then the USB DACs these days are also super small and portable that I just keep connected to my wired sets. I have couple nice IEMs, and because my phone doesn't have jack, I've to carry around USB DAC anyway.

>> what does this cost for dell to include?

1) a few cents of components

2) the opportunity cost of selling you a high margin dongle

3) minus the risk of a lost sale if you buy a competitor

There are USB headsets, that usually provides a few extra handy features, like volume/mute and call answer/hangup buttons.

Does it have to be wired via headphones jack?

Surely a usb c headset would work

repair costs, more substantial than bom.

> I insist on a wired headset

usb audio generally works great, and because it's powered, you often get better audio quality (with microphone arrays for anc)

and even neat features like system volume integration with buttons and ANC

i have a yealink uh48 but you can get almost-as-good functionality for a lot less (or pay more for even better!)

I think they probably just aren't used much any more. Plus if you really need one you can get a tiny dongle for virtually no money that will probably better sound quality anyway.

Many headphones can do audio over usb-c if you want a wired connection. If you want to use a fully analog set of cans, you can also just get a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter for a few bucks.

No need for wireless and battery, just not the plug you were expecting.