Hacker News Reader

For me, ports are not an issue. I am rarely using any plug-in devices when away from a desk, and there are numerous USB-C hubs that provide charging, USB 3.0 A-type sockets, SD card readers, ethernet ports, HDMI and DVI connectors, yadda yadda.

You do not need to buy a dozen Apple dongles, just one USB-C dock/hub/whatever, with the ports that you regularly use. Have one on your desk with monitor, drives, keyboard, mouse, network all connected so you only plug in one cable.

When you go on the road you might want a dock with HDMI so you can plug in to various displays. But you won't need a dozen dongles. Just a hub.

It is just a slightly different way of working rather than plugging all the cables into the laptop and having a huge clumsy mess.

>For me the issue is with ports. I have exactly zero devices that I can plug into the new fancy USB ports. None of my monitors will connect. I know, they are better, yadda yadda, but I am tired of being held hostage until the "industry" understands how the new ports are better.

Then Apple is not the company for you. They have always been first to obsolete things. Remember the hoopla when they canned the DVD drive? Firewire? Literally every other port that isnt USBC

They also dropped the floppy drive and went all-USB with the iMac, abandoning all their previous Mac peripherals which used ADB.

So this seems to be the problem. You're definition of Pro includes "all the ports". The author's definition of Pro includes "avoid HDMI, SD slot, Display Port". It can't both have and not have all the ports.

The author's definition of Pro also includes 16GB RAM, but most posts I've seen complain about not being able to order 32GB RAM. It seems that Apple can't win no matter what they do.

The RAM issue is a different one. Someone who wants 16GB RAM isn't likely to complain if 32GB is an option.

Well, given how many millions of devices they sell, maybe they can allow a couple more options. We don't all need the exact same device.

(tbh, avoiding sd and hdmi doesn't make sense to me. What do you have to lose?)

In sum, you want to sacrifice choice with convenience.

USB-C works with all the monitor you have and also with all the monitors you'll have.

You can use any port on the laptop and crucially charge the laptop and connect to a display with the same cable, and can be even used to connect to other peripherals using the same cable.

Your argument is that you don't want to spend $10 in adapters, you'll end up spending more in the future and be limited in terms of compatibility with newer hardware.

"Stick every Port in it" is ridiculous also.

What laptop does have Ethernet, infiniband, USB-A/B/C, thunderbolt 2.0, miniDisplayPort, MiniUSB, MicroUSB, RS232, Centronics, PS/2, VGA, EGA, PCMCIA, SCSI, eSATA, S-video, etc?

"$10 in adapters"?

This is Apple we're talking about. The only thing they've ever sold at a $10 price point is the MagSafe 1 to MagSafe 2 adapter. And, frankly, even that was overpriced.

Good thing is that you don't have to buy from Apple with UsB-C.

Meanwhile, all those craptastic laptops that are "better than the MacBook Pro", you'll have to buy a specific adapter from the OEM.

If you want to try to run, e.g., graphics and power between your $2000+ MBP and your $700+ 4k monitor (like the LG panel) on a $10 cable ... uh, have fun with that. I hope it works out for you.

what's your problem? it works, end of line.

Yes, it _should_ work, but there has been lots of stories already about fried computers because of faulty cables

They're selling the 3.5mm-lightning adapter for $9: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-...

No, my argument was not about spending money. I specifically noted that I don't much care about the pricing.

My point was that adapters are something that I have to think about, carry separately, and sometimes forget or lose.

I don't know why people keep repeating "USB-C works with X" (replace X with whatever). It might work if I get all the dongles. For the moment, as I said, out of ~40 devices around me there are exactly ZERO that I can plug into the new machine.

Also, let's not get into extremes here: I would not complain if they at least kept at least one or two USB 3 ports.

> What laptop does have Ethernet, infiniband, USB-A/B/C, thunderbolt 2.0, miniDisplayPort, MiniUSB, MicroUSB, RS232, Centronics, PS/2, VGA, EGA, PCMCIA, SCSI, eSATA, S-video, etc?

Yes, "every" port is ridiculous. In particular, I think most people would happily do away with anything that hasn't been in wide use in new hardware over the last decade.

I like machines with a port for wired network, a port or two for wired video, an SD slot, and 3-4 USB ports in a mix of USB-A and USB-C. For a Mac, I'd argue that some Thunderbolt ports would make good sense, too. I'd rather have my laptop be a self-contained system than have my bag filled with the half-dozen converter dongles that I'd need to provide the connectivity that I use with my current machine.

Thunderbolt 3 is aimed to replace all currently existing ports, even a charging port, and that's great.

When my current machine dies, hopefully >5 years from now, I'll have the opportunity to evaluate new machines based on my current needs and where the market's at then. The company that gets my money will be the one that matches closest to what I want, not necessarily what's being marketed as the Next Big Thing at that time. Between now and then, Thunderbolt will either become dominant, or fall by the wayside like Firewire did.

> or fall by the wayside like Firewire did.

There are reasons for this no happening. TB3 is compatible with USB Type-C port format, it has a very high bandwidth and it's supported by Intel.

Meh. It'll happen, or it won't. The market's volatile and fickle.

It doesn't mean will it happen or not, Thunderbolt 3 is great thing for now.

It's a neat, but very niche, piece of technology. It's not dominant, in any sense of the word. It might be in the future, but it's not a sure thing. The fact that you can find hardware that supports it isn't interesting to me. It'll be interesting when I can be just as sure that a machine will have a TB3 port as I can currently be that it'll have a USB-A port.

One of the things I actually dislike about it: a port can be USB-C without being TB3. That's going to be fun with the plain USB-C port in my laptop.

It's not a niche anymore, Intel 7th gen has native Thunderbolt 3, so no extra chips needed, that should expand its popularity. Actually any modern laptop already comes with a TB3 ports (see Dell/HP/Apple stuff).

> a port can be USB-C without being TB3

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12824538

It doesn't need to be dominant as in "every PC has it" and everyone needs it. Most people, all they need is an iPad.

It is dominant in the market where USB falls short, that's what matters.

Everyone doesn't "need" it. It'll just be nice. As you point out, most people don't "need" anything more than a tablet, and those aren't exactly known for their high levels of connectivity.

> It is dominant in the market where USB falls short, that's what matters.

It isn't dominant in the market yet, and that's my entire point. When it is: cool. I don't have much argument against it (aside from the dongle-hell I'll be living in). But right now, I don't own a device with any version of Thunderbolt, even with several new laptops around.

You like that, and people like other things.

I hate on board ethernet, it's stupid, almost all of them have only one NIC and only 1Gbps, which is laughable in this day, much more in the 4 or 5 years a laptop usually lasts.

So... welcome TB 3.0 (which can be used for 40Gbps daisy chain networking), and 10GbE adapters someday or another.

I'll welcome TB 3.0 ports, in addition to what I have. Expanded functionality is always nice.

> almost all of them have only one NIC

Why would you need more than one NIC on a laptop?

Ethernet is ubiquitous in corporate. I'm yet to see an office with Thunderbird ports.

"Thunderbird"...

Haha I didn't even realize I did that. :-)