When it comes down to which Transformers do or do not have certain pieces of anatomy, I think you could experiment with it. You could come with fancy world building explanations too, which is probably my favorite part. We've seen that mechs constructed cold can be.. altered before they're decanted, so to say. IDW Lost Light readers..
There's so, so much corruption and bigotry in the Transformers universe that it is depressingly easy to expand upon. So when I play with carry-capable valveplug, I lean heavily on how repair and upgrade-able Cybertronians are.
Plug and play and sparkplay I usually do not restrict. In fact, plug and play is interesting because I think it has general usages as well. If you don't have a port array and aren't expected to have one, I think people generally assume you're having less interface than you possibly are.
I play with this:
Forged Mechs: Generally have port arrays, gestation capabilities, and other supplemental anatomy.
Cold Constructs: Varies by batch. This one changes the most depending on what I want the wider setting to be like. To cut manufacturing costs or restrict reproductive rights, may not have arrays. And some puritans go for 'why have a port without a gestation chamber?' and don't bother. For political or 'higher-quality' products, some might have port arrays.. supplemental anatomy may or may not be included.
Cold Construct Made To Order: MTO's vary a bit from the regular cold constructs, because Cybertronians really just. Love war. (Exhausted) Commissioned soldiers are the least likely to have a port array, since their life expectancy honestly isn't good, and their purpose isn't to be fucking around on the clock. It's been suggested that in order to power the.. more intense weaponry they're usually outfitted with, any charge that might otherwise be Horny Charge is diverted into those weapons power cells.
The fun part where cold constructs are trans coded again you can pry this from my cold dead hands- is when reformats and modding come into play. If you have access to the parts, I believe it's possible to install a port array into a mech without one. It may involve some finangling and a lot of detail work for proper sensory function, but yayyy bottom surgery.
I think it's possible to go even farther, and with enough code updates, install a gestation tank and the necessary systems. But it's a bit more delicate and might involve a little spark work that spooks some medics away.
You can also get them removed yay bodily autonomy they assassinated the senate you can get a robo-hysterectomy if you want. Hell, yoink the whole thing.
I love array modding I think it's so cool. I think some cold constructs (cough, Brainstorm) who may have them installed later get kinda wild with the customization, though. Since they're putting a whole new system in and not just altering components, you should let them fuck around a little. As a treat. I suggest the fic 'you can touch, you can play' by naughtyskeletonpuns on Ao3 for a really fun example of this.
World building, man, I love world building,,
I think if Prowl was built with a port array, it was a political / quality deal, and there's no forge up there. You can think about the narrative implications of that if you want.
The Prowl bottom surgery fic,, I will get it out eventually. Might get rid of the smut to shorten the writing process up.
