Why two power ports on a budget laptop??

[dsimic]

I have done this with barrel jacks, when it was necessary.  This was in the days before USB.  It can be done.  It can't be done with USB.  Well, it would be much more difficult.

I do not intend to take sides in this argument, but you could rather easily wedge two bare wires into the outer pin positions of a female USB Type-A connector, which provide power.  However, it's a whole different matter why would you want to do something like that.