Given his penchant for thinness over function, I hope this means we can have a thicker pro laptop again, with all the ports back and a more robust keyboard.
I for one would be sad if they went back on some of the supposedly bold moves they’ve pulled, to be honest. The only thing I wish is that they’d kill that silly lightning connector for the phones so I could have usb-c goodness there too!
I guess that’s just design for ya – it’s often divisive, especially if decisive.
Maybe you don't ever need to present anything from your laptop, but if you talk to anyone who does, they will tell you how awful it is to not have an HDMI port. The USB-C to HDMI is the worst adapter I've ever seen.
And if you're a semi-pro photographer, the lack of an SD card slot is terrible. And of course almost all accessories are still USB-A.
Neither advocating nor deprecating. Only observing.
A buddy of mine used a dongle for his big screen pre-streaming features era TV. He mainly used it to stream games from his phone or iPad to the TV, and Netflix. I think it was chromecast though, not airplay, but same difference really.
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/hdmi-airplay-dongle/s?k=hdmi+airplay+...
Just curious why? I use mine almost every day and have never had issues.
It's not an Apple-branded one though, it's "Cable Matters"... but if anything Apple adapters tend to be higher quality than third-party ones?
(I also use a Cable Matters SD adapter more than once a week to transfer video and it's been working flawlessly for over a year too.)
Actually the Apple HDMI adapters seem to be very fragile. They continue to stop working after moderate use. I have two dead ones on my desk and plenty more that we bought with MacBooks. The offerings of MonoPrice seem to be solid though. Apple's entry also seems to have problems with budget TVs unlike others, it is very weird.
USB-A is nowhere near being on the way out yet. Especially when their own damn mobile devices still come with A cables. We're way into their attempt to push everything to USB-C but I went to Target to grab one for my work laptop (to be able to charge an iPhone or iPad from it) and the C cables that are anything other than C-to-A (for some android phones) are 100% Apple branded. Everything's still A and Micro-USB. A whole wall of that. USB-C? Only in a tiny Apple section. Flash drives? Mostly still A. Everything, really. Having only C continues to suck, and it looks like it will for a while. Apple's switch to C doesn't even seem to have changed things that much—everyone seems to just still do A and assume the poor Macbook users will plug in a hub or use an adapter.
[EDIT] I just think they whiffed well ahead of the ball on this one, is all. No USB-C ports to 100% USB-C ports was premature. I think the percentage of their market that was like "oh good now I can plug all my USB-C stuff into this, which is most of what I have!" rounds down to zero, while all my geek friends and co-workers' reactions were closer to "so... there will be zero things in my home or office I can plug into this without an adapter? And for this I gain... maybe 1mm more of thinness?" with actual experience quickly confirming that concern as valid, as #donglelife continues without end in sight.
Everybody was concerned that the iMac's only I/O port was USB (when others had serial, parallel, and maybe SCSI/USB as an afterthought), and it was completely incompatible with legacy peripherals. For many years USB accessories were considered specialty items for the Mac market.
It kinda sucked at first... but it's not clear if USB would have even caught on if Apple didn't do that. In the long term, Apple clearly made the right move.
At the very least, this isn't outside of Apple's usual playbook.
Here's the problem with that argument; Macs are a pretty small percentage of the computer market, and always have been. Consumer peripheral companies are driven by what people will buy, not moving the market forward.
USB was always going to be what it is, and if you want evidence of Apple's lack of power here just look at FireWire. They pushed it hard, but consumers didn't care so it died.
Only a few people needed a camcorder (the most populous of the firewire-enabled devices).
Macs are definitely a small portion of the computer market, but it’s a big enough market for companies to target. You’ll find Mac-specific keyboards from big-name companies like Logitech, for example. With the iMac, USB went from “weird connector nobody uses” to “we have a guaranteed pool of millions of customers with no alternative.” And because of the U in USB, those products worked with PCs too, if they had USB ports and drivers to make them work. It kicked off a virtuous cycle where more peripherals meant more computer supporting them meant more peripherals.
FireWire wasn’t the same scenario since there was no pressing need to support it. USB was good enough for 99% of what people needed. Unless you needed high speed storage or high end audio, you didn’t need it, and USB versions were cheaper anyway. FireWire was never pushed so hard that it was the only thing available on many popular computers.
The problem is, Apple isn't always right on these things.
What other stores will I have to avoid if I buy a MacBook in 2019?
Turns out "the technology of the future today" is actually really inconvenient.
But your computer only has two USB-C ports!
No problem, you think. You've run into the same problem before with computers with USB-A connectors. The answer was simple: buy a hub that connects to one of your computer's USB-A connectors and provides several USB-A connectors to hook up your devices.
You just needs a hub that connects via USB-C and provides several USB-C ports.
That's harder than it should be. There do not seem to be many of these available, and those that are tend to not have very good reviews.
In any case I'm grateful that the Mac Mini I upgraded to recently at least offers 4 generous Thunderbolt/USB-C ports.
I've heard this second-hand (or third-hand) and my EE knowledge is nowhere near good enough to say how accurate this is, but: Apparently the power delivery negotiation mechanism in USB-C is vastly more complex than for USB-A, so hubs with lots of USB-C ports would need new, more complex chips compared to equivalent USB-A hubs. It already took a few years for reliable hubs to turn up when we first got USB 3.0. I'm assuming the manufacturers might also be trying to hit USB 3.1 Gen2 speeds at the same time as supporting USB-C, which presumably further tightens reliability tolerances. I'm guessing with all that, they might not be able to hit the desired price points with this stuff yet, and all that complexity probably also takes a lot of power so bus powered USB3.1 hubs with USB-C downstream ports are presumably a tricky proposition too.
I may be mistaken but I think that was the original USB dream as well. It's been a source of immense irritation to me at times over the years to find that I don't have quite the right mini/micro/whatever[1] USB cable to hand to connect whatever device I happen to have with me. USB-C just adds to what is already a mess of a situation as far as I can see.
[1] Don't get me started with cables that have USB-A on one end and some proprietary connector on the other: I'm looking at YOU, Garmin, with the stupid cables for your Fenix line of watches (which aren't great, btw: learn from my mistake and don't buy one), and YOU, Nintendo, for the daft 3DS charger socket that would have been just fine if it were a micro-USB socket.
What Apple did though with MagSafe was simple yet elegant. It is something I do as well with my Micro USB and USB-C cables (making them magnetic; I'm using TOPK cables for that). USB-C as replacement for MagSafe is a step backwards.
Mind you Apple seems to be missing one of the main practical advantage of USB-C by slapping a lightning port on their phones thus ensuring donglegeddon. This drives me insane. Apple for all the puffery about giving consumers what they don't know they wanted is instead giving consumers an inferior choice that ensures lock-in and keeps vendors happy.
FireWire, all speeds: was always coupled with USB or other tech that possibly didn’t carry data as fast as FW, but was “good enough” for lots of things. FireWire never really took off aside from digital video cameras, and that got phased out over time, too. DisplayPort: nope.
Compare that to the original iMac, which dropped the serial and SCSI port. People gasped, but in not too long (at least now, looking back in it), USB was everywhere.
And now USB-C. Would it have been as popular as it currently is - on lots of chrome books, many phones, even the Nintendo switch - if Apple has not been so gung ho on it? Possibly, but a bit of me doubts it.
Just because they ship a laptop with 4 USB-C TB ports and nothing else doesn't mean they're driving USB-C adoption nearly as much as say Samsung or Huawei. If anything because they literally don't use the same port across different types of devices unlike other phone/laptop sellers... They're discouraging USB-C adoption and making dongles more appealing since you will still need dongles if you're using all Apple even if you have USB-C native stuff.
Apple aren't pushing people towards expensive new standards they're just making consumer unfriendly decisions. Making it so you can't use USB-A does not mean you're making it easy to adopt USB-C... They make adopting USB-C unnessecarily painful.
Apple and the fanboys calling it a "Legacy" port are completely out of touch with reality.
It is now a legacy port on Apple laptops. I think it's the correct term to use in context, regardless of fandom. It is referring to ports that existed in the past, and are being phased out on the platform in question.
Soon enough there will be a major shift
Most of the devices I have purchased in the last year have been USB-C. Sony headphones, LG display, my car even has USB-C charge ports. Look at many manufacture lineups and the new flagships are USB-C. I do still have a bunch of USB-A devices, but they're older buys at this point.
I think there will be a few year gap, but 10 years might be a little too pessimistic. Time will tell I guess!
* https://www.gurufocus.com/term/InventoryTurnover/BBY/Invento...
Why would headphones have a USB port? BT headphones that need it for charging?
With the previous generation of MagSafe/MagSafe II power supplies, if the cable gets frayed, you have to replace the entire power supply. If the MagSafe connector gets hosed, you have to replace the entire power supply. Basically, if anything goes wrong beyond the AC input side, you have to replace the whole power supply. I ended up buying a whole bunch of these things over the years, so I am particularly sensitive to the amount of money I've spent.
With the USB-C power supplies, if something goes wrong with the cable, you just get a new cable. If something goes wrong with the connector on the cable, you just get a new cable. The only time you need to replace the entire power supply itself is if something goes wrong internally, or if something goes wrong with the USB-C connector on the power supply. And since cables are engineered to break before cable connectors, that is much less likely.
Don't get me wrong, the MagSafe connector has saved my machine on several occasions. But I understand why they want to be able to cheaply and easily replace just the cable part, because that's the part that is most likely to have hardware failures.
I do wish they had figured out some way to have a standardized cable interface on the power supply itself, and a MagSafe-like connector on the other end. That would have been the best of both worlds. But failing that, I think I will grudgingly take the second-best solution, which is to have a standard USB-C connector on both ends.
Now, this whole concept of mixing USB-C, USB-C Power Delivery, and Thunderbolt 3, that's a whole 'nother Gordian Knot that I really wish they had not created.
https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Adapter-Connector-Quick-Char...
This is true for the existing design but it would have been easy to redesign the power supply to avoid it.
Just look at the other end: the wall-plug end has long been replaceable; it slides out so you can put on a different plug or a longer cable. This could be true on the MagSafe side as well -- then any Mac power supply could be used with any generation Mac, just by switching out the MagSafe/USB-C end.
The boon from the USB-C is that you can charge with a borrowed commodity cable when you've left your adapter at home and aren't in an office full of Macbooks. But it's been left to third parties to implement the concept of combining USB-C and a magnetic joint in the same cable. (I'd have been tempted to get into the manufacturing business if they hadn't...)
I bought a Snuglet, a thin metal shell that inserts into the Magsafe recess on the MBP. It reduces vertical and horizontal clearance between the Magsafe connector halves. In my case, this has completely eliminated unwanted disconnects.
Disclaimer: no connection with Snuglet or NewerTech, just have found the product useful as advertised.
This is a design issue that doesn’t require a USB-C cable to fix.
That's such nonsense. I've never had a thinkpad cable wear out on me. I've got a whole box sitting around somewhere full of them because they never break. But thinkpad cables aren't unusually robust; Dell cables last just as long. Most cables last effectively forever unless you slam a door on them or something unreasonable like that.
The only cables I've seen reliably fall apart after no more than a few years are Christmas tree light strings from the dollar store, and Apple charging cables.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079NJM3VS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
FWIW, you're far better off getting a native cable with a USB-C end like [1] or [2] rather than using a dongle.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-USB-C-Supporting-Black/...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-USB-C-Suppo...
Besides, I'm not fundamentally against dongles, if you REALLY need one because tech has changed or whatever then sure, but let's not require 5 just to operate your computer normally straight out the box.
I really don't see any disadvantage to having an HDMI port, a Type-A USB port and an SD card reader around for making the transition period to USB-C easier. Considering the compromises made to the keyboard, I don't buy that the ports were the thickness limit, either.
My suggestion obviously wasn’t intended to cover your bizarro workplace’s 1980s VGA needs. Because I’m not psychic and have no idea who you are.
Maybe try a different manufacturer.
There is very little reason not to have all ports - hmdi, mini display port (+display port) readily available; connected straight to the video card. There is plenty of room.
I would rather just stick with the one USB-C connector.
I can help with that:
https://www.apple.com/sg_smb_5200/shop/product/MB571Z/A/mini...
Half the charm is lost without seeing the two DVI cables that plug in to it.
I do, almost daily. I even bought the HDMI dongle thinking I might need it when doing presentations outside of my usual workplaces but I have literally never used it. The presentation problem was solved years ago by airplay and chromecast, and the only thing I use HDMI for these days is to hook up things permanently, not temporarily.
I did think at first that I’d miss MagSafe, but I’ve never had an issue with the cable sticking in the port such that I yank my laptop of the table, and I’ve yanked that cable out a number of times. As another commenter rightly pointed out as well, the move from MagSafe actually meant when my cable got damaged because someone put a chair on it I didn’t have to swap the whole power supply, just the cable. Huge win and since I had extra I could solve it right then and there.
I’m no photographer though, so can’t really say for the SD thing. Maybe that does suck.
I present all the time, but I can't remember the last time I had to plug in. The problem with trying to plug in is that the other side could be anything from VGA to DP. Should VGA ports be stuck back onto the MBP?
> And if you're a semi-pro photographer, the lack of an SD card slot is terrible.
What about the CF, XQD, or mini-SD slot? I'm an enthusiast photographer (maybe even semi-pro as I have been paid for my pics before), and soon I will not have a need for an SD card slot.
> mag power
Mag safe was nice, but I recently took a trip where I needed a single power brick and cable for my MBP and iPad. Once the iPhone goes USB-C it will make traveling even that much easier.
I didn’t even realize how much this would matter to me until I went traveling. All of a sudden I don’t even need anything but the brick, because I’ll just either hook it up to my phone directly with a ubs-c to lightning cable (and it charges crazy fast) or I’ll use the laptop as a hub. I still carry a sugar cube with me just in case, but I never use it really.
Disagree wholeheartedly. I bought a USB-C to Video adapter from Amazon that has DVI, VGA, HDMI, and mDP and it only takes up one space on my MacBook and the only time I ever need to use it is when I'm presenting so I can just keep it in my laptop bag. That also means that I don't have to worry about what tech is being used at the place I'm presenting because I have all the options covered as opposed to just having 1 port or multiple ports on my machine.
At my desk, I have a USB-C hub that's connected to both monitors, storage, power, and my keyboard/mouse and it's also 1 cable and 1 slot on the MacBook. I can hook either up to whatever port on whatever side I want to. The flexibility is way more worthwhile than a dedicated HDMI port to me.
Well, unless you don't use an external display. And in that case why not just get an USB-C hub with video out? Your Thunderbolt-enabled Macbook should work regardless.
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/learn/educ...
http://d810.org/recommended-sd-and-cf-media-cards-for-nikon-...
I agree with you that it's pointless to do that in 2019, but that doesn't change the facts.
Of course, the next CF standard, CFexpress, is XQD-shaped and devices will be backward compatible.
Seriously not awful at all.
When I do presentations in my department's conference room, I just AirPlay to the AppleTV connected to the projector. It was a great solution because it allows anyone on the team to do presentations. All they have to do is mirror their screen and bring their mouse or trackpad into the conference room. It's been a godsend.
If I have to do presentations in other buildings on campus (about every other week), I bring my USB-C to HDMI dongle. It's super small, weighs nothing, and always works.
I've heard that there are some off-brand USB-C to HDMI adapters from Amazon that are flaky, but the Belkin one that the IT department got me is rock solid. I've used it probably 30 times so far.
I doubt anyone who really had to do presentations minds carrying around a tiny dongle, compared to all the other things they'll bring to a presentation.
if you're a semi-pro photographer, the lack of an SD card slot is terrible
The pro photographers in my company's Communications department all say they hate built-in SD card readers. They all use standalone units. I don't know why, though. I'll have to ask.
And of course almost all accessories are still USB-A.
That's the same moaning people did about parallel and serial ports.
That's, uh, great if there happens to be an expensive AppleTV connected to the projector.
Ports are about compatibility with the outside world. That means having the same connectors that the rest of the world has.
I don't get to choose what those connectors are. Apple as a company has some influence on that, but not enough.
It took some time, but other companies started removing the DVD drives from their laptops as well.
Maybe technology moves around Apple after all. If your Macbook does not have a SD Card slot, then SD Cards will soon be dead.
Having a single USB-C, though, is still frustrating.
Also, as someone who still has a iMac with an optical drive, their failure rate (Apple or any other brand) has always been atrocious.
Not a chance - professional photographers won't be ditching their cameras anytime soon.
All of the above plus a thicker battery.
95% of the time I use my MBPr plugged in, but the few times I need to run it on battery power it would be nice to have longer than 2hr run time (late 2013 MBPr 15" w/ Iris Pro/GeForce GT 750M and brand new battery).
At least with USB-C Macs you can bring a separate standard USB PD battery pack and charge off that. There was no such option for the MagSafe Macs (there was a third party company that made one but Apple sued them to death)
Also once iPhone new iPhone will have a type c charging you will be able to use a cable from your MacBook to charge your phone, so you will only need to carry MacBook charger without worrying about a separate cable for your iPhone
When I first got a new air I loved the new keyboard - I really like the feel - but now I have repeated keypresses I have fallen out of love with apple.
If you're a semi-pro photographer you should stop wasting your time with a built-in SD card slot and get an external USB 3.1 Gen 2 card reader. Fstopper running the numbers:
> Even if you don't want to spend the money on a more expensive memory card, buying a nicer ProGrade card reader is still worth it.
This is the reckoning. I’m glad they had the courage to hold the leader responsible.
Setting the standard for laptops implies that other manufacturers are racing to keep pace with their changes. Fortunately (in my opinion), there has not been a giant uptick in other laptop manufacturers removing standard keyboard keys, making devices thin to the point of fragility, and requiring a myriad of dongles to perform many basic tasks.
Engineering and design need to meet to produce a product that is beautiful and functional. Unfortunately, the keyboard fell short and the limitations imposed by the design made those failures maximally painful for customers.
I actually mind the touch bar, because I like having actual keys for brightness adjusment, keyboard backlight, and volume.
But putting the ports millimeters apart on the side of a computer that offers at least nine inches of space is idiotic: https://i.imgur.com/0HGp7O0.jpg
The new keyboard is insufferable; you might as well just go to a membrane keyboard at this point. The deletion of a dozen keys for the sake of the emoji bar is embarrassing, especially on a "pro" computer. Now programmers are supposed to step through code with a featureless strip that goes to sleep every few seconds? The crowning offense is not even OFFERING the option of real keys, when the "consumer" Air has them.
The big trackpad is a mistake because the heels of your hands are in contact with it all the time, necessitating who knows how much spurious-touch-rejection logic that simply fails occasionally and sends your cursor to some other part of the screen or document... or your hand simply executes an unintended click or right-click.
Another baffling failure: Why doesn't the Pencil work on those giant touchpads? Now THAT would be useful!
I’ll keep my multi port Mac Pro till it falls apart at this point
So, if it is divisive, why not make both kinds? Why does there need to be a single compromise across the entire line?
I hate the fact that I am reduced to living in fear of what will be taken away the next time they present a computer. I find it bizarre that we have pretty much accepted that we need to give something up for the "new thin and light", and we just wonder what it's going to be and explain to ourselves how we didn't really need all those USB ports or headphone ports after all.
Also, magsafe saved my bacon many times, and I'm looking at a USB-C connector on my wife's laptop and its so worn out that the plug is almost falling out. Magsafe was a much better solution.
And yet: nobody else comes close in terms of providing me with a complete ecosystem where I can get things done. And I do know: I regularly use both Windows and Linux.
I wish there was a serious competitor to Apple.
I’m guessing because it’s probably cheaper and easier to produce fewer models, and not enough benefit to producing more. It obviously rubs some people the wrong way, but perhaps not nearly enough, no matter how vocal they may be.
I’m paying that price for IntelliJ so I don’t see why I couldn’t afford an OS for employees.
But $300 per year is more or less the prime for Apple products, but the drawback is their hardware loses features.
I doubt they sell enough Macbook Pros for it to ever make sense to make multiple "editions" like that; I doubt they'd get that many more sales.
If you are a software developer you really don't have to buy a Mac these days. Linux is great on Dell and Lenovo laptops and they offer a lot more selection.
For me the primary reason was, that at the time of the switch the MBP was only available with 16GB RAM - just like the MBP I had purchased five years before. There was nothing "Pro" about that. That was last year.
Never regretted the switch. For work related stuff Linux is optimal. Docker for Mac alone is the pest.
Having ports available when you need them, not running out of battery, having a keyboard optimised for comfort and accuracy, and having a screen that is visible in all lighting conditions are core requirements for a device that is there to enable you do work. Most changes to the MacBook Pro have been driven by aesthetics and minimalism.
The keyboard is the worst keyboard I've used in at least 15 years, the giant touchpad pisses me off constantly with no benefit, the OS just copies other people now, the touchbar is the least offensive thing but still stupid, and the loss of the magsafe is a bummer. Huge disappointment.
But, that's ok, turns out Ubuntu as a desktop is amazing, and so I'm really happy with the switch!
Every professional developer I know that has a mac is refusing to switch away from their previous model (or older) macbook.
I can get with the rest but stating that is absolute insanity to me. It has something like a 10-20% failure rate on a medium timeline.
It's very easy to brush aside the failure rate until it happens to you.
We haven't met, but hi. I have that complaint. The omission of a physical escape key is the reason I cancelled my MacBook Pro order. I tried training myself on my MacBook with a remapped Caps Lock but to no avail. Vim habits die hard.
Back on topic, though: thankfully the new Air has an Escape key and enough grunt to develop on (the MacBook being underpowered for some tasks). I was not looking forward to exiting the Apple/OSX ecosystem for my next laptop.
I think there is a very tiny but vocal minority, particularly in the tech community, who have issues with it. Most people have few complaints if you are talking about the most recent keyboard. It may still have some room for improvement but the last couple generations of butterfly keyboard have improved each step of the way.
Gruber put it rather succinctly: "These keyboards are the biggest mistake in Apple’s history." https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/04/26/johnston-macboo...
There has certainly been more criticism than praise for the butterfly keyboard:
The New MacBook Keyboard is Ruining My Life https://theoutline.com/post/2402/the-new-macbook-keyboard-is...
Unreliable MacBook Pro Keyboards https://mjtsai.com/blog/2017/10/18/unreliable-macbook-pro-ke...
The 2018 MacBook Keyboards Have the Same Old Problems https://mjtsai.com/blog/2018/10/16/the-2018-macbook-keyboard...
Apple Engineers Its Own Downfall With the Macbook Pro Keyboard https://ifixit.org/blog/10229/macbook-pro-keyboard/
An ode to Apple’s awful MacBook keyboard https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/01/an-ode-to-apples-awful-mac...
Appl Still Hasn’t Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm https://www.wsj.com/graphics/apple-still-hasnt-fixed-its-mac...
Apple owes everyone an apology and it should start with me, specifically https://theoutline.com/post/7315/apple-keyboards-still-suck-...
Nearly half of the third-gen Apple butterfly keyboards at Basecamp have failed https://www.techrepublic.com/article/nearly-half-of-the-thir...
Apple's MacBook Pro Keyboard Replacement Won't Fix Your Laptop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvsi2e3M5Ek
Why Is Tim Cook Hiding His Fix For The Embarrassing MacBook Problems https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2019/04/25/apple-mac...
Judge Rules Apple Must Answer for Failing to Disclose MacBook Keyboard Problems https://www.idropnews.com/news/judge-rules-apple-must-answer...
Apple's Butterfly Keyboard Continues to Plague MacBook Owners https://ifixit.org/blog/14776/apples-butterfly-keyboard-cont...
MacBook Pro Keyboard Failures: Why Apple's dust excuse is bullsh—! [Teardown + Explanations] https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/bjtyaw/macbook_pro_k...
For me being able to plug in USB type-A is a non-negotiable part of using a laptop still, 4 years after the move. Same with HDMI. I also regularly plug SD cards in.
It doesn't make the laptop thinner, it makes it bulkier because the adapter is a necessity.
While I disagree with pretty much everything else you said, this is 100% on point. That they haven't moved iPhones and iPads to usb-c yet, or at least include a usb-c to lightning cable in the box, is mind boggling to me.
Mine worked well for 6 years, but it had a hidden defect where the graphics card would cause a kernel panic. Even though it was a factory defect, Apple said it was "vintage" and I was forced to upgrade. Sad part is Apple will never make a Macbook like that especially with a starting price of $1600.
If they included a USB-C cable, everyone would complain that they needed a USB A cable
Wouldn’t it be cool if Apple had like:
- a thin-above-all laptop, called like... MacBook Lite or maybe MacBook Air
- a pragmatic laptop for the professionals who need something great for work. Maybe call it like... MacBook Work or maybe MacBook Pro
Too bad that is only a dream currently. I think that would be a cool future vision for Apple.
My workstations have become a dumpster fire of dongles and I constantly have to unplug something to use the ports for something else. The previous model was so much better.
Point being: whether a design is good or not is mostly subjective, and great design is often polarizing. A more scientific survey would be interesting, but it's still fun to see all the diverse responses here.
The macbook should be closer to the current pro, rather than this basically an air/but not an air thing they have going on.
The pro should be for actual professionals, not for anyone that wants a laptop with more than just 2 cores.
Please give me back an sdcard reader at minimum. VGA port is probably too much to ask for but literally every conference room on the planet still has that as their default with other options being a bonus and I'm sick of accidentally leaving my adapters behind.
"Is the Touch Bar a gimmick?" Among those who own it, 72% say "yes". https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/19/touch-bar-a-gimmick/
"Does the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar improve your workflow?" 38% say "No, I only use it for function keys it replaced", 23% say "Waiting for more app/function support", 21% say "Yes, it improves my workflow", 16% say "Other". https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/24/macbook-pro-touch-bar-poll/
Twitter poll: "Just out of interest, with @marcoarment in mind, does anybody actually like the Touch Bar of the new MacBook Pro?" "With over 1,000 responses, the results were effectively 50-50." https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/04/03/twitter-poll-to...
I actually prefer the aesthetics of early MacBook / MacBook Pro unibody and iPhone SE. And they were a pleasure to use. Good key travel and easy to hold with one hand, respectively.
I hope there is a bit of function re-introduced into the design equation, so that products become more balanced.
I ask because I'm encountering the same conundrum and wondering if I should just force myself to make the switch to a different OS and way of working now.
4S was the pinnacle of miniaturization tech. The SE screensize would fit in the 4S form-factor.
Most popular comment was “I can fit this in my pocket.”
I feel the same way about pre Touch Bar MacBooks - not that I have anything against Touch Bar (I think it’s fine and should probably be a lot more hackable) but the new keyboard just causes me cramps and finger pain after very little time. The old keyboards were so so good. Tactile, clicky and solid.
You could easily plug it in even if blindfolded. And no problem when the cord got unexpectedly pulled or tripped on.
Every time I plug in my new macbook I miss it.
You can use any charger, use battery packs and any third party cable which means far more reliability and quality.
Ironically, it happens more often than not the other way around. Anecdote incoming. When I had to use a Lenovo laptop last month for a week as my on-call machine, the Lenovo charger refused to charge the laptop. It would register, because the power button would blink when I plugged it in, but the laptop would refuse to turn on even after an hour of charging. Plugged it into a macbook charger, and it turned on like a charm instantly.
It’s the software which continues to be the issue for me.
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Adapter-Connector-Quick-Char...
Moments where you'd find yourself with a laptop but without a charger are far harder to imagine for me... If you're carrying around your laptop it means you're using some sort of bag or backpack, at which point there's no reason not carry a charger in it too.
Magsafe's main function (safety against falls), on the other hand, has saved my 2013 MBP more times than I can count. It is a godsend, specially for people that live around small children or pets.
A while ago I left my charger at work and the next day was working remotely.
I used a phone charger, but had to power the thing off for lunch because only then it charged at the maximum rate of 8%/h.
Plugged in I was actually losing charge faster because the laptop though it was connected to a 60W unit, not a 10W one.
Battery pack are necessary to work on long haul flight.
Similar for other long trips e.g train.
Apple's laptops are 3x to 5x that price. There's no reason why Apple couldn't have just done both MagSafe and USB-C.
I find it a great compromise. During travel, I only take a usb-c charger. But for home/work, where it is plugged most of the time and at most risk of accidental cable-kicking, I use the magnetic charger.
Current MBP hardware is nothing exciting to me. But my previous MBP was lasted me 2009 to 2016 I believe, with a few upgrades. And I like the OS.
I don't mind working in Linux or Windows but I prefer a lot of things about the Mac.
A lot of conveniences, and things that I feel have better execution. Rather predictably decent performance and good integration between software and hardware. That sort of thing.
I was OK with USB-C as it matches my Android phone and the iPad Pro. I'm down to a single charger for travel. It has drawbacks but makes a bit of sense. Not a fan of the new keyboards, really don't like the Touchbar. But overall I'm still fairly happy.
So that's why I, personally, bother. I care about whether they improve it because in spite of the Mac as a platform not hitting the sweets sports as well as previously for me it is still worth the premium they charge. To me.
I consider Macs expensive, I'm not sure that I consider them overpriced. Under-featured I'd dismiss out of hand, I'm sure they could be to some but it really depends on what you are looking at.
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch-space...
Here's the laptop I bought in September 2017 for about $1200 or $1100, now down to $840.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Omen-15-ax250wm-15-6-Full-HD-I...
Screen: 13" vs 15.6"
RAM: 8GB vs 12GB
CPU: i5 vs i7
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 vs GTX 1050Ti 4GB
128GB SSD vs 1TB HDD, you can buy your own 1TB SSD for around $150, far from the $800 upcharge Apple wants to charge you for that option
And mine doesn't need dongles to do basic tasks like plug in a mouse or ethernet cable or monitor.
I've used Mac OS for a week at a time and it really seemed like nothing special.
So $500 less and I get a bigger screen, more RAM, better CPU, much better GPU, much better disk space, actual USB/HDMI/ethernet ports, with no tangible downsides unless for some reason you literally cannot just get used to using Windows 10, which is a perfectly fine OS. Plus being able to run basically whatever games I want.
Edit: And I just noticed the MBP doesn't even have a numpad. Another dealbreaker for me.
If you look for Windows laptops that check all the aforementioned boxes (leaving aside the trackpad, as none of them have good trackpads), you'll be paying just as much as you pay for a macbook.
I've used the trackpad and looked at the screens of MBPs and it was nothing special. Didn't even realize the resolution was more than normal 1080p at the time. Battery life/speakers/microphone/trackpad are fine on mine. I don't see how you could think aesthetics are important enough to skimp out on power.
The ASUS laptop you link to has a poor battery life.
You can't seriously claim that the macbook trackpads are not ahead of the competition.
>Didn't even realize the resolution was more than normal 1080p at the time.
Ok, but macbooks are targeted at the majority of people who can easily tell the difference.
I do use Windows 10 for gaming and some audio/video editing stuff, mostly because of ports and fat hardware. I don't enjoy dev work on it. I could get used to it. But I vastly prefer the way my workflow matches with MacOS. Good terminal, decent package management, good battery for travel.
If I wanted another dev OS it would probably be a Linux.
But I find the quality of execution on MacOS and the surrounding ecosystem to generally be better. I prefer the experience. If it costs a premium but shaves some frustration for me, that feels worthwhile at this time.
It is fine that you don't want to pay that. Is it bothering you that I don't mind the higher price?
It's just one data point in the sum of everything that makes me lose faith in humanity's decision-making ability, like balance bracelets.
Am I correct to understand that you dismiss my arguments about why I prefer another operating system and prefer a certain computer type in spite of higher cost as entirely invalid and part of some intellectual bankruptcy?
You seem to have no interest in seeing how another perspective might make sense to another person. If I were to argue like you I'd go with "No one cares to pay for hardware and software anymore. That's why Google gets away with eroding our privacy. Your hardware is full of bloated driver management tools. Your operating system has ads. It is just one data point telling me that people have no standards and lousy taste."
That's how I experience your arguments, no curiosity. I've been politely considering that your opinion probably reflects your needs. I would have appreciated the same courtesy. But what do I know. I'm just a signifier for humanity's decision-making. Bah.
this is why :)
They probably pay him some kind of retainer because it would be disastrous for Apple if he does any work for, say, Samsung for 100 million.
I absolutely love the current MacBook Pro as it is, keyboard, Touch Bar and all. The only changes I would wish for are an OLED/better screen with a higher native resolution, and perhaps make it even lighter. :)
update:
I know it was designed like that due to air flow considerations. I just pointed out the fact that it seems the design team didn't get input from others, who IMO would've mentioned the similarity sooner, possibly helping Apple alter the design.
People here have been complaining about how Apple has prioritized aesthetics over functionality. It's worth taking a different stance and criticize Apple's choice of functionality over aesthetics in Mac Pro design.
update 2:
Some people actually have fear of holes (Trypophobia) which could be triggered by the design of Mac Pro. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypophobia
It does, at least, look better than the last PC I built.
I have a Coolermaster H500 (I wanted high air flow with filters as I have ambulatory fur producers (cats)), it’s a bit too RGB for me but other than that very very functional and was a dream to build inside.
Against that the Mac Pro doesn’t fair well on cost to function at all.
I do agree that it needs some filters, but other than that, it looks pretty good, and I like it. Does that mean I'm going to spend $6K on a base Mac Pro? Probably not- I have friends with access to everything I need- I'd just have to come up with a design.
????
The model before the "trashcan" was popularly called the cheese grater for a long time, so I'm sure they were well aware of the resemblance already.