Why two power ports on a budget laptop??

[dsimic]

Possibly.  But what charges with a female USB-A?

The whole point is that with a barrel jack, you can charge it with any power supply that supplies correct voltage, in a pinch. At one time, annoying manufacturers would use an odd-sized barrel plug so that you'd have to buy their wall wart. When you can't get one, and you must power the device, you do what you have to do. It's the worst case scenario.  At least, it's the least possible workable situation.  Obviously it could get much worse such as having no source of electricity, but you just don't have a chance then.

It was said earlier that a USB-C is more useful in the worst case scenario, and I disagree, with reason.

There are various chargers with female USB Type-A ports, for example.  Furthermore, any USB Type-A host port on a computer belongs to that category.

Sure, barrel jacks are "dumb", which is good in this case, and can accept pretty much anything with correct voltage and enough current.  In that case, the worst-case scenario is that one has no original "barrel-style" charger, but has soldering skills and good access to the required tools and parts.

On the other hand, Type-C chargers are quite smart and a whole lot of negotiation is required between the charger and the charged device.  As we know, there are different "languages" spoken by the chargers and the devices, which many times ends up in no understanding.  In that case, the worst-case scenario is that one has no original Type-C charger, but has a number of other Type-C chargers lying around.

I guess it's all up to one's perception of the worse-case scenario.