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Comment by connor4312 | Hacker News Reader

> Where could you possibly go where (a) there are three monitors, a mouse, and keyboard waiting for you, and (b) none of those devices have a built-in USB hub

That describes my workplace. (But with two rather than three monitors.) Standard monitors that operate over HDMI/DVI/etc don't have USB hubs without a separate USB connection, most keyboards are the same way.

> Either you're mobile and need the USB ports, or stationary and there's a hub there. What use case am I missing?

Sure, you can work around the lack of IO by buying a hub, but the point was that previously you would not have needed yet another dongle.

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So buy the USB-C hub/dock/whatever and leave it at work. No need to carry it around with you. This isn't really any different than the case of a traditional laptop with a dock, except instead of some weird giant proprietary connector, you have a small standardized connector.

> USB-C hub/dock/whatever

There aren't that many good one's. What I would need would be one which handle's at least, 4-6 USB, two HDMI, Ethernet and charging would be a bonus.

That would be pretty cool actually, so only a single connection for everything? Like a docking station! Why isn't Apple making one?

They already did, it's called the Thunderbolt Display.

Because Apple does not NEED to make every single necessary object in the universe. LG is making them, they are 5k, they have wide color gamut and 3x USB-C out, and they are in the Apple Store. That's good enough. This enables Apple to focus on what they are good at.

If we stretch this approach, Apple will become good at making the iPhone and nothing else.

The display was the soul of the desktop Mac. It's easier to perceive your Macbook as another PC when your window into it is another mostly generic-looking LG display, even if the panel in the Apple branded display was manufactured by LG.

Perhaps they want to focus on the iMac again and don't want the MBP + display combo to cannibalize it. But again, with extreme focus soon they'll be abandoning the iMac for good.

(I still love macOS and I enjoy how the new MBP looks)

Can I tempt you over to the Microsoft side? The Surface Dock has exactly those connections - I leave everything connected to the dock as my "workstation", and carry my Surface Book travelling when need be.

If you're being tempted over to the Microsoft side, you might as well just buy a Dell or HP or Thinkpad or whatever, and get Mac-level specs at half the price, and usually a good collection of today's standard ports.

It's hard to match the Surface Book on specs, at least if you care about the size and weight and resolution and touchscreen. I went shopping 6 months ago with requirements of: thin and light (13" or smaller), available in the UK, NVidia graphics, 12gb or more of RAM, reasonable processor, and touchscreen; I wasn't expecting to walk out with Microsoft hardware but the Surface Book was the only laptop I saw that (more-or-less - it's 13.5") matched up to that.

I think the Surface Pro is still pretty competitive, though the Book and Studio are really out there on price. But that's the great thing about the Microsoft side... You have choices like buying the HP it the Dell.

Who wants to run Windows?

Apple's idea is that your monitor will be the hub. See the new LG Ultrafine Display. Just connect your Mac with one cable and you're ready to work.

Can we say that, at this time, Apple's idea here is a bit dumb/half-baked/incongruent/silly/frustrating and it will materially hurt them in the longer term?

None of what you said is remotely true. Betting entirely on USB-C as the one true connector is not half baked and is quite reasonable. And by using it solely it will force accessory manufacturers to build the docks, monitors etc.

This has all happened before with the original iMac. And it was universally seen in the long run as one of the best decisions they made.

It's the short term where the pain will be felt if there is any. The long term is clear, USB-C throughout which I think is a good thing. What I'm confused about is why the iPhone7 was also not USB-C. I fully expect to see the next iPhone switch over.

while I 100% agree the next iPhone SHOULD switch over to USB-C I'd be very surprised if it actually does...Apple isn't going to want to go through a second port transition in such a short period of time (30 pin to lightening) and certainly won't want to change anything after the headphone port this year. Especially b/c next year is the 10th anniversary, and it's understood that they really want it to be something special,

I agree they won't change so soon, but I just realized there have been as many lightning models as 30 pin models.

Thing is, it's not "just" the connection. They are losing hearts and minds for many reasons... it is not easy to replace that.

On the contrary, it is exactly what I want. And also exactly what I do now with the 27" thunderbolt display. The same way my TV is now my universal HDMI switch.

Monitor-as-dock makes a great deal of sense for the roving user with a fixed base.

I wouldn't buy a $1300 monitor that worked only with a Thunderbolt 3 device. It must work with USB-C and DisplayPort, even if only at UHD resolution than 5K. If I buy a Windows laptop tomorrow, and it doesn't have Thunderbolt 3, I can't throw away my monitor and buy a new one. Or if I want to plug my new monitor into any existing Mac model, which doesn't have Thunderbolt 3.

I would be happy if an adapter exists for this job. The monitor needn't natively support DisplayPort.

Look at Thunderbolt 3 docks instead, theres a better selection of options...and I'm sure in the next few weeks there will be even more.

http://plugable.com/products/ud-ultcdl/

came up in a quick search. Looks good to me!

not available in my country tough.

> That describes my workplace. (But with two rather than three monitors.) Standard monitors that operate over HDMI/DVI/etc don't have USB hubs without a separate USB connection, most keyboards are the same way.

But your run of the mill Dell office monitors do have a USB hub, most often 2 ports on the back panel for keyboard/mouse and 2 ports on the side for flash drives and other transient accessories.

colanderman's point is that you should get a USB cable and use that hub instead of individually plugging everything into the laptop. Three video connections and one hub connection gets you all the connectivity you need at a desk. If you're mobile, you'll certainly need less.

My run-of-the-mill Dell monitors at work don't have USB ports.

I have a Dell U2410, which, while not exactly run-of-the-mill (it is wide-gamut), isn't that fancy yet does have all the ports wlesieutre mentioned. (Granted, they require a separate USB connection, but it is an older monitor.)

At work I have an Apple monitor that has multiple USB ports and an Ethernet port on the back of it. I think it has speakers too. All that and the display run across the mini-DP connection. Again, not exactly run-of-the-mill, but well within the price range of Apple's target market, and given Apple's push in that direction, it's liable to be commonplace in a couple years anyway.

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