Shopping For New Laptop - Confusion About Usb Terminology

The specs for a new Windows 10 laptop indicate a total of 2 USB ports but also indicate there are 2 type A ports & 1 type C port. Isn't this really 3 USB ports? Am I not understanding some technical detail? Or am I just being too picky?

 

Type A could be USB 2.0 (black or white) or USB 3.0 (blue).
The colours are not part of the USB specification.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Receptacle_(socket)_identification

Type C is very different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

 

USB type A is the traditional size that flash drives, printer cables, etc. use. On better laptops, the type A ports will be 3.0 or 3.1 (often indicated by the port being blue inside or the letters "ss" beside it). The benefit of 3.0 or 3.1 type A ports is much faster data transfer speed than older 2.o ports when using 3.0 speed storage media.

USB type C is a newer technology that can do additional things like transferring video signals and data at the same time. Here's an article that explains it:

https://www.pcmag.com/article/332797/what-is-usb-c-an-explainer

Hope this helps.

 

It would be good if we could see the spec for the specific notebook you are talking about. Got link, or at least the brand and the full and exact model number?

Note it is common to have several similar models within the same model line - so the full model number is needed.