Assuming yes (I'm not sure what else you would be referring to that is a 'recent example'), can you explain to me how you consider a port that can connect to practically any peripheral you can imagine at speeds unmatched by any contemporary alternatives, not to be "functional", while you also consider a single-use video port, and a single-use card reader port, both using versions from close to a decade ago, to be "functional"?
To be clear, its your choice of wording that I'm questioning here.
If you'd said convenient, or more accurately convenient for some/many, I'd still disagree that the benefit of the convenience is worth the cost of losing flexibility, but I'd agree that the port(s) do offer more convenience for some people/workflows.
But you didn't say that, you said "functional".
I currently use all four TB3 ports on either a 2018 Mac Mini or 2018 MBP15, (without using one dedicated to power); I already run two 4K displays from a single TB3 port (either via the eGPU on the mini, or via a DualDP adapter on the MBP). Only one TB3 device I use is daisy-chainable (i.e. has a downstream TB3 port), and it is already daisy-chained to something else.
So if I were to update my portable/spare machine to a 'current' model, yes I'd get a nice CPU/GPU perf boost, and the option for a lot more memory, which is great. But I literally don't have enough ports any more, and suddenly I have two ports that are not usable, for me.
I wouldn't quite call them "non functional" because they do function, I just dont have a use for that function, and because they're single-use ports (and OLD single use ports at that) they're not adaptable to anything I do need to use.
The original M1 Macs (laptops + mini) have 2 Thunderbolt3/USB4 ports.
The M1 iMac also has two Thunderbolt3/USB4 ports, but also some models have an additional two USB3.x USB-C ports.
The M1Pro/Max MBP's just released have three Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports.
I'm not sure if my post is what confused you, but when I said "removed TB port" I was referring to the drop from four TB3 ports for the last five years, to three TB4 ports on the new models.
The extra ports and slots I personally would likely never use (if I were to get the new MBP), but then I rarely if ever used all four USB-C ports either.
Most TB3 monitors, docks, drive bays, eGPUs etc provide power to the laptop. So while some people maybe don't make use of that capability, it's completely inaccurate to say "there's no port loss". I'd wager that those of us using all four ports already are predominantly using all four for data or video in some way, with one also providing power, rather than one dedicated to power and only three for data/video.
I finally gave up and bought a Thunderbolt dock that actually delivers enough power while also providing expanded port capabilities.
I'd say this is the minority, for sure. You seem to think the other way around (everyone using a power delivery dock), but that's fine.
In the 4-5 years I've been using this laptop in many offices I've yet to encounter a single monitor that delivers on this promise and I think the entire team in my company apart from my uses janky USB-C to HDMI dongles. I've used USB-C to display port in the hopes of reducing jankiness.
The USB-C one cable for monitor/power (that works consistently) dream never materialized, let it go Apple has.
I expect to be able to use one cable for display, power and peripherals these days.
What are you talking about "never materialised", or "Apple has let it go"? Apple has been selling a one-cable solution in their own display (XDR) for 2 years, and in third party displays (LG UltraFine) for as long as they've sold computers with Thunderbolt3 ports.
On top of that, there are numerous other brands that make USB-C (either plain USB-C or Thunderbolt) connected displays as well.
Does that mean every display you can possibly buy will have USB-C input, and that it will use USB-PD to charge/run a laptop? No of course not. There will always be less featured items in the market.
But just like the companies still shipping PCs with PS2 ports, or displays with nothing but DSUB VGA ports - a few outliers not including modern ports doesn't mean the industry in general is not moving forwards.
In professional use, however, there are always devices that require ports not provided by the laptop, unless that laptop is heavy and thick as a brick. Thus, unless you enjoy punishing yourself with dongles, you will be using a USB-C TB3/4 dock. And that dock will power your Mac. That’s just how it is.
I agree, I haven't used a SD card in over a decade and my HDMI cable is permanently attached to a dongle I can use on any side of my macbook. I really would love it if they had the ports as optional.
Magsafe was a big deal when I had to use my computer tethered to power all the time. With the m1, it's just not as critical as it was. It's nice, but better would have been to incorporate the latest PD spec for faster charging.
Is the sdcard even 'pro' anymore? Where's cfexpress? Pros already have a bunch of sdcard readers that are likely faster than what's in the machine.
HDMI is probably the most useful here, but are there still places where people present that haven't permanently attached a usbc connector (same places still using dvi hah)? I haven't needed HDMI in years at this point.
Don't get me wrong, ports are fine. But, I'd like them to use the latest versions and not lose one of the tb4 ports.
I generally like Apple products, but this feels like a step back towards limiting 'solutions' when the industry is finally catching up with proprietary 'enhancements'.
USB-C magnetic break-away cables are absolutely a thing that exist. Zero question Apple could have shipped a solution using this, if they wanted.
Fast Charge over USB-PD was probably never going to make it in a 2021 product (PD 3.1 was only 'released' in May or something), but "we just added the most efficient processor in years" seems like a weird time to also say "oh and also you can charge it up real quick".
I am not a photographer, by any means, but my impression is that a lot of weekend-warrior/"prosumer" types use cameras with SD cards still. Whether because the camera only supports SD or because SD is cheaper than the 'high end' cards.. most online discussions I see about this will routinely have people who do claim to be professional photographers, stating that SD cards are generally not used - they're on high end cameras as a backup, and that they just use a fast external card reader anyway.
I can see an argument that HDMI is more convenient if you're going into a meeting room... but in that scenario (a) you're just assuming they have HDMI, and not any of the other various video ports a projector might have, and (b) wouldn't the MacBook Air be a better choice then? I struggle to see the overlap between "Needs the absolute fastest CPU, GPU and most memory" and "needs a laptop ideally suited for meeting rooms".
As for the SD cards, I have mirrorless and dslrs that use sd cards, and don't really care about sd in the machine or not. I think many people who are clamoring for an sdcard want to use it as quasi permanent extra storage. /shrug
So 4 TB4 ports would mean 16 PCIe3 lanes (I can't find if the M1 derivatives are v3 or v4 - if they're v4 I believe they'd require half the lanes per port as the lanes are double the speed), which maybe is more than they wanted to allocate.
The only way I can see this makes sense in anyway, that isn't just "Apple cheaped out on the bandwidth" is that they were caught off guard by Intel's TB4 (which sets the minimum bandwidth requirement) announcement last January, just 6 months before they announced they were transitioning off Intel. They no doubt had the CPU designs at least somewhat done already, so maybe they'd been planning for TB3 ports - but even in that scenario, it's a cop out if their brand spanking new CPU designed in 2021 can't support more external I/O than it's predecessor from half a decade earlier.
I've seen people saying the SD card is "a great option for a storage upgrade".. I guess it's an option but I wouldn't call it great, given the speed difference compared to a modern NVMe (either the built in drive or an external one).
For a full day I'd probably leave it plugged in.
Isn't Apple already into "Consumer Healthcare" with iWatch, ECG and other monitoring stuff built into iPhones (headphone volume, logging mindful minutes, etc.)?
They're slowly building Health and their devices into a very capable yet understated health tracking and improving devices.
One take on that is at https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-health-employees-backl... (possibly paywalled)