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Apple’s new MacBook Pro kills off most of the ports you probably need

98 points by bootload 10y ago

dlevine 10y ago
To be fair, if you need these ports, it is easy to get a hub that provides them: https://www.amazon.com/HyperDrive-Through-Charging-MacBook-Chromebook/dp/B01BUHY5DY https://www.amazon.com/HyperDrive-Through-Charging-MacBook-C... And over the next several years, it is likely that people will switch to USB-C peripherals.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Sorry, I'd rather have this integrated into the 3000$ dollar device. Maybe they can make it 2mm thicker without increasing weight - oh and then also, maybe we get the key travel back.
- BigJono 10y ago
  I'm completely out of the loop here. Why would peripheral makers choose USB-C over USB 3?
  - choudanu4 10y ago
    USB-C and USB-3 aren't mutually exclusive. One describes the shape (Type-A, Type-C) of the connector. The other describes the speeds supported by the port (USB2, USB3, USB3.1).
  - crooked-v 10y ago
    Bidirectional power, reversible cables, ability to add extra modes (eg. Thunderbolt 3) to the same port with USB 3 fallback.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- MereInterest 10y ago
  You mean the same way that everybody switched to DisplayPort and dumped HDMI? Wait, no, that didn't happen. Every mac user needs to carry around another dongle instead to convert.
eibrahim 10y ago
So disappointed. I had my wallet ready to order but this is no different than my current MBP. A half baked touch screen!!! Not worth the $3500 I was going to drop on a new MBP. I can't imagine going back to windows because I enjoy the terminal and vim but seriously considering it specially that now I can run bash on windows
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Ubuntu
- jaxn 10y ago
  And you can run a VM on a Surface Book with as much RAM as the MBP. That is what I am thinking about doing.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- usaphp 10y ago
  Why don't you keep using your current mbp if it has everything you need and runs OS X?
- erwinkle 10y ago
  I have been developing using the bash shell on Windows. It's got a couple quirks (like a couple second startup time on first startup, or docker issues) but it has performed exceptionally otherwise. I've primarily been doing nodejs development and installing random unix packages I need.
  - bane 10y ago
    Out of curiosity have you thought about just running a linux server in a VM and sshing into it from the shell? It seems bizarre I know, but you get a "real" linux then, while still keeping a major OS for software compatibility with user apps.
    - pcwalton 10y ago
noahmbarr 10y ago
For odd some reason, I find myself most annoyed by the headphone situation, aka, lack of Lightning jack. Why not just make the iPhone 7 USB-C instead?
- bluthru 10y ago
  >Why not just make the iPhone 7 USB-C instead? It's too thick going forward. It's already too thick for the Pencil.
  - dingo_bat 10y ago
    It's ridiculous that the stylus needs a port.
    - bluthru 10y ago
      Ok, well USB C is too thick for the AppleTV remote too.
  - rashkov 10y ago
    Sorry could you elaborate? Not understanding what you mean. Very much wondering the answer to this question
    - VelNZ 10y ago
      The USB-C plug is larger than the Lightning plug. Putting a USB-C plug on the Apple Pencil would have made it not as sleek.
- tarikjn 10y ago
  My guess is the next iPhone or the one after that will drop lightning altogether, and just use induction charging, and wireless for all I/O.
atomical 10y ago
I want all my devices to use USB.
unclenoriega 10y ago
MagSafe was one of my favorite things about Apple laptops. I'm sorry to see that go.
- sandipc 10y ago
  Here's an alternative... surprised Apple didn't introduce something similar today https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-power-cable https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-po...
  - huac 10y ago
    Has anybody used these?
  - ethana 10y ago
    It's a solution nobody asked for.
  - unclenoriega 10y ago
    Thanks, that looks nice.
- fishanz 10y ago
  Yeah. This is a MAJOR regression in quality.
  - grzm 10y ago
    What in particular? Reviews on Amazon are mixed. 3.3/5 stars with 88 reviews. Looks like complaints are a mix of: - weak magnets - cosmetic (black, thicker, stiffer cable, bulky connector) Does this square with your experience?
    - fishanz 10y ago
      I was referring to the MagSafe feature being removed. Seems small but it actually prevents accidents. As my colleague said today: "hope apple care includes drops"
diegorbaquero 10y ago
Really disappointed, seems like they are forcing 2020 connectors in 2016
- revelation 10y ago
  USB-C isn't some new fancy connector technology that will fully mature in 2020, it's just USB3 + power + pass-through for a bunch of other connectors. It's not a new connector, it's a connector transformer rather. Only that doesn't actually work in practice, you can't connect four HDMI<->USB-C adapter to the four USB-C ports of the MBP and expect them all to work. Similarly, I can't imagine you can connect four power supplies simultaneously and have it charge through all of them. Add a bunch of other similar non-obvious restrictions.
  - honkhonkpants 10y ago
    Why can't I do that? GPU can't drive five displays?
    - honkhonkpants 10y ago
      Answering my own question: this late-2016 MacBook Pro does support four external monitors using its four USB-C ports.
elchief 10y ago
I'm okay with the ports but 16 GB max RAM is a f-in joke. My mom's computer has 16 GB of RAM
- flukus 10y ago
  What exactly are you and you're mum doing that necessitates more than 16GB?
  - manyxcxi 10y ago
    40 browser tabs, two build daemons (gulp and gradle), three IntelliJ ultimate instances, 2 vagrant VMs, 3 more vagrant VMs I forgot to shut down, Spotify, Tomcat, and an IntelliJ debug Tomcat. And that was just what my mom was running!
    - AvenueIngres 10y ago
      But then where do you store the nuclear waste from the reactor you had to set-up in your backyard to power your macbook?
    - flukus 10y ago
      You could have just said java ;)
  - throw_away_777 10y ago
    Running machine learning on medium sized datasets I often run into memory issues.
  - paulddraper 10y ago
    It's not only the fact that it's 16gb, it's that it's soldered in, so 16gb must last for another five years or however often it is you upgrade. Edit some movies, run some servers, launch Atom, repeatedly read lots of files, do some gaming, and it's nice to have a lot. Or just open a couple Chrome tabs.
    - 10y ago
Yodoshi 10y ago
Even worse is that there is no real option if you're developing for IOS. Imac is a no go due to not wanting desktop and other macbooks don't seem the right type for heavy multitasking, compiling etc. It's MBP or bust.
- usaphp 10y ago
  Can you tell me you usage scenario if you are a developer for iOS, what exactly is prohibiting you from using this new generation of MacBook pros? I have not used my USB or hdmi ports on my 15" retina for years, the only port I am using is the thunderbolt to connect 4K display, but the only time I am using it is when I am at my desk, attaching a dongle to the desk monitor is quite easy and solves the only possibly issue I might have...seems like most people who complain here are just trying to find a reason to complain
  - dahdum 10y ago
    For me, 16GB ram and missing ESC key are big limitations. I think a lot of frustration here is if your time is money (aka a professional) and you have a big budget, you are still stuck with general consumer level hardware. There aren't any other options from Apple right now, and likely not for at least another year. I love my Apple watch, iPad, and iPhone...but those are all "best of breed" imho. I was waiting to purchase the Macbook Pro, but it's pretty mediocre by my measure.
  - Yodoshi 10y ago
    It's not that im prohibited from developing, its that the value proposition of a macbook pro is going down and I have no other option other than a macbook pro, all these changes are detrimental to me and I have no alternative. Can't use (now) old magsafe, can't simply connect hdmi to current screen without an adaptor, yubikey will be useless and will need a replacement, adaptor for headphones because I use hd598s and will never use wireless headphones, need to get used to new f keys when using vscode shortcuts when meddling with non ios or react native code. Nothing is a death knell, but feels like they're choosing a death by 1000 paper cuts with these incremental changes. I honestly can't point to a gain except maybe able to click on a emote faster using the magic bar and other odds and sods that a magic bar offers.
smrtinsert 10y ago
Apple, there is no ESC!
- majewsky 10y ago
  Well, there is, but it's not real. :)
mattbroekhuis 10y ago
I was hoping for more RAM capacity. I don't really run into issues but I feel like I've been running 16 for 8 years or something like that.
- toyg 10y ago
  Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. The chipset now accepts up to 64gb, there are plenty of similarly-thin laptops on the market already shipping with 32gb -- there is just no excuse for not having a 32gb option in a flagship model in 2016. It might come with a refresh after Christmas, maybe, but to be honest today I've just lost patience with Apple.
- akhilcacharya 10y ago
  Absolutely absurd. I bought my 2014 rMBP for $1700 with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD - the same setup with the new model is $2K. And if I add 16GB RAM to the base model without the OLED strip, it's still $1700 with only 2 ports!
noahmbarr 10y ago
Next up, $500 external keyboard with Touch Bar?
- snowwrestler 10y ago
  Seems like they'll have to do an external keyboard with a touch strip, so that folks can access the cool UI stuff when they're docked at a big display.
kabdib 10y ago
It's pretty bad. We use YubiKeys a lot, and there are no ports for them. So sad. Also: Magsafe is great (it's saved my bacon a few times). Gone. ESC key, gone. Don't know about the keyboard yet, but everything I've read doesn't point to it being decent. Probably not buying this generation of MacBooks. Might just bite the bullet and finally go to Linux on some decent hardware. So, what's a decent laptop for running Linux? Good keyboard, good trackpad support, good sound . . .
- curioussavage 10y ago
  Dell xps laptops look sweet. That's what I want next.
- anuragsoni 10y ago
  I'll add my reply from another thread(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12807826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12807826): I have been using the Dell Developer Edition (Precision 5510) since April. There were a few hiccups because of some driver issues related to their USB-C dock (Correct me if i'm wrong, but I guess this problem was not limited to just their linux laptop?) Ever since upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 things have been pretty smooth. I believe any distro with a 4.4 series kernel or higher will behave pretty well. Before this I had a Thinkpad T series (The best keyboard experience on a laptop that I have come across), and I never had any problem with running any distribution of Linux. In Summary: I think you cannot go wrong with either a Thinkpad or the Dell Developer edition. They are well made machines with good support for linux.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    Battery life?
    - anuragsoni 10y ago
      I have the 1080p display and with tlp installed I can get somewhere in the range of 7-9 hours.
  - chongli 10y ago
quantumhobbit 10y ago
So who is making good laptops that run Linux well these days?
- gkop 10y ago
  The Lenovo T460s is pretty great all around. I suggest Debian Testing and Gnome 3.
  - AvenueIngres 10y ago
    New Lenovo trackpads are an absolute pain in the ass to use. I rage quit my T440s for this alone because on the long run in starts grinding your gears pretty hard. I am glad you had a good experience with it but I strongly recommend anyone considering it to actually try and experiment with it for a couple hours.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      And I'm in the middle of you two: My t460 is OK. It's not the worst laptop I've had, but it's not even close to the best. Took a little wrangling to get wifi and sound working, but wasn't too bad.
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  Dell. The Dell XPS 13 is the best line of laptops I've owned. They come with Linux preinstalled, and all the drivers that they write to support the hardware are pushed upstream to the kernel, so you can run whatever distro you want.
  - pmyjavec 10y ago
    I've been eyeing one of these off and now they have a higher specification developer edition, I think it's game off. Been wanting to move back to Linux for a while now anyway.
  - ethbro 10y ago
    Seconded. I picked one up off Dell Outlet as a disposable machine, but it ends up going with me more than anything else. Actually having Dell dedicate support resources to Linux makes a huge difference in compatibility too.
ant6n 10y ago
I wish they'd just replaced 2 thunderbolt ports and magsave with 3 usb-c ports (leaving two usb, a hdmi port and sd card reader), made the screen matte, gave me 32gb and a fanless design.
- eridius 10y ago
  Fanless design means performance is seriously crippled. The fact that the fanless MacBook works at all is impressive.
  - ant6n 10y ago
    Well, finally a worthwhile problem for Apple to solve. They're pretty good at solving engineering issues, they've mostly been focussed on making shit thinner though.
    - nickjarboe 10y ago
      I wonder how much thinner helps with heat dissipation?
- akhilcacharya 10y ago
  Agree, save for the matte screen. That plus at least a newer chipset would have been perfect. But nope.
  - ant6n 10y ago
    Well, matte screens should always be optional, people are divided over the issue. For me, right now the screens appear like mirrors, if I have anything behind me besides a wall then I constantly adjust the angle of the laptop to minimize reflections.
ufmace 10y ago
Looks like apple is indeed going all-in on USB-C. What's interesting is: > People won’t even be able to physically connect their iPhones to Apple’s flagship laptops without a $25 new cord. I wonder if this means that Apple's going to switch the iPhone and iPad over to USB-C? It'd be a pain for everybody invested in Lightning ports, but Android phones seem to be slowly converging on it. It'd be pretty cool if USB-C became a real standard port for everything. And they have done it before, when they switched to Lightning in the first place.
- valine 10y ago
  I was really hoping the iPhone 7 would ship with usb-c. But after watching Apple promote their lighting headphones I can't really see them switching to USB-c in the foreseeable future.
- __david__ 10y ago
  > People won’t even be able to physically connect their iPhones to Apple’s flagship laptops without a $25 new cord. Amazon and Monoprice have USB-A to C dongles for about $8. They're nice and small, too.
- 4ad 10y ago
  The USB-C connector is significantly larger than the Lightning connector.
kobayashi 10y ago
Throughly enjoyed the Apple ecosystem for the past 13 years. Multiple AirPorts, Watch, iPhones, iPads, Macs. Never have I ever been so extremely disappointed with Apple. Actually, I'm not sure that I've ever before been rather disappointed Apple. I wasn't a fan of the Sierra release because I don't like using Siri but ultimately it didn't ruin then OS, it was just a new feature that I wouldn't use. But now? The pricing is insane. The max at 16GB of RAM is a joke. I was looking to buy a MacBook to last me years of heavy power-use. Has Apple forgotten about me?
- minikites 10y ago
  When the Mac is less than 10% of their revenue, why should they bother to care? They can coast on their reputation and they have a captive audience of iOS developers who will buy any Mac because they have to.
  - kobayashi 10y ago
    This was a company that said they cared. That made products which were far and away better than the competitors. I paid the Apple Tax, but it was worth it because I didn't have Windows headaches and because I had a better quality system that was truly optimized for both easy use and for power users. It was great. I actually feel crushed by this news. I valued the trust I had in Apple. And I don't say all of this lightly. I've read the threads the occur after every major Apple release. They're always replete with naysayers. I've never been one of those people. This seems different.
    - minikites 10y ago
      I come from a similar background but I started to feel this way a bit sooner, near the beginning of this year, when I realized that almost all of Apple's computers were 2-3 years out of date. The Mac Pro hasn't been updated in any way since 2013. The Mac Mini is almost as old. They used to do "silent speed bumps" all the time to keep up with technology advances without the needless expense and effort to redesign everything every 8-12 months. So if they can't even put in the minimal effort to ship a newer processor, why should we expect actual greatness at this point?
AvenueIngres 10y ago
Recently bought a Macbook Pro Retina (3 months ago), the charging cable is already dying and the ethernet - usb adapter they provide is utter crap. Each of those cost an arm and honestly, maintenance costs isn't something I factored in when I bought this 1800$ laptop. All around, the laptop is OK but not great. That experience really contrasts the very positive one I had five years ago. What went wrong? How can basic manufacturing quality tank this hard in such a small timeframe? Did they fire the wrong guy?
- toyg 10y ago
  > Did they fire the wrong guy? No, the wrong guy died.
- ploxiln 10y ago
  I've used a few usb ethernet adapters over the years, and the most reliable and performant one in my experience is the StarTech USB31000S which is based on the ASIX AX88179. It's been around for a few years so the driver for it is included in all recent linux distros, and you can download surprisingly up-to-date and maintained drivers for OS X and windows from the chip manufacturer's website: http://www.asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=131;71;112&PLine=71 http://www.asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=1... I use it mostly with OS X. I've actually bought about 5 of them, because some coworkers had problems that turned out to be caused by flaky usb ethernet adapters, and it was well worth my debugging time to get them better (but still cheap!) hardware.
- charlesism 10y ago
  > charging cable is already dying ... How can basic manufacturing quality tank this hard in such a small timeframe? You just lucked out with the original adapter. The cables are delicate now, but the original version was actually worse. Since so many customers broke them, Apple revised the design with a slightly longer piece of rubber shielding.
rayiner 10y ago
I'm okay with the port situation--there is an elegance to the 4 completely symmetrical USB-C ports. Also super excited to ditch Magsafe. It'll be awesome to be able to just replace a USB-C charger cable instead of the whole brick when it inevitably frays. I'm bummed out about the huge reduction in battery capacity. The 13" model loses 1/3, and the 15" loses 1/4. With the addition of the touch bar, this will probably be the first MBP to see a battery life regression.
- Inconel 10y ago
  Good point on not needing to replace the entire power brick but couldn't this have been solved by keeping the MagSafe port and releasing a cable with the MagSafe connector on one end and USB-C on the other?
- rashkov 10y ago
  wouldn't you still need a brick at the other end of that usb-c cable? Very surprised to hear of the battery capacity reduction. Is that confirmed? I haven't looked at the numbers. Anyway, I always felt like that is a red line that Apple would not cross.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    The USB-C charger is like the iPad charger--the USB-C cable detaches. The battery capacity is under "tech specs." Up to 10 hours wireless web Up to 10 hours iTunes movie playback Up to 30 days standby time Built-in 76.0-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 87W USB-C Power Adapter Up to 10 hours wireless web Up to 10 hours iTunes movie playback Up to 30 days of standby time Built-in 49.2-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 61W USB-C Power Adapter
    - rashkov 10y ago
      Thanks very much. I was on a phone so I couldn't look this up as much as I liked. Much appreciated
- ethbro 10y ago
  > there is an elegance to the 4 completely symmetrical USB-C ports shudders You might not be the target demographic if your brain has trouble parsing this sentence.
franciscop 10y ago
It's funny how Americans (USA) use the freedom as in this situation "they are necessary connections that offer you freedom" but don't even realize that's the same "freedom" they are stuck in the Imperial system; lack of standardization. I for once welcome these changes; if companies were not brave enough to let go of old ports to standarize the USB we'd be stuck in the old days with dozens of dongles. At the speed of USB-C adoption, in ~5 years I hope it's the most used port and in ~10-15 I hope not to need any other port for any peripheral. I wrote a small article about USB-C adoption: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/apples-new-macbook-pro-just-killed-off-most-of-the-ports-you-probably-need/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/apples-new-macbook-pro-jus...
- dsr_ 10y ago
  You mean instead of the new days with dozens of dongles? Gigabit ethernet. Video converters for each external monitor type, plus for the projector that you only use twice a year. The external mouse that you really like. The phone. The 2TB USB3 hard disk that you already have. The external DAC and pre-amp that turned your Mac into a high-quality 4 channel recorder. The non-bluetooth wireless mouse that you like so much better than Apple's. The SD card for the video camera that your kids use.
  - minikites 10y ago
    Exactly, I don't understand how "thin laptop" is an admirable goal when you have to carry around 1-3 dongles to get anything done. The regular Macbook with only one port is a fine machine for most people but these are billed as professional tools.
    - WalterSear 10y ago
      The goal is to fit in people's idealized, aspirational lives, because you can charge a higher premium for that over practical stuff.
  - franciscop 10y ago
    Now you have to carry dozens of dongles, but the objective is long-term. I almost never need VGA/DisplayPort/etc for instance because it was standardized to HDMI (and now to USB-C). What port does that non-bluetooth mouse use? USB, right? Well before you'd have to check, because it could be using a PS2 as the keyboard. But now you know for sure they use USB if they use any port, which is a good thing. I remember my older cousin complaining about me having a USB mouse when I should have a PS/2 back in the day. Forgot your phone/laptop charger? You can borrow mine as it will be the same USB-C. Yes, now it's painful, but in ~10 years it will be glorious. However, the problems of the switch are happening now while the benefits will come unannounced, which is a pity.
israrkhan 10y ago
No Magsafe? it was one of the coolest feature on macbooks. No HDMI? No USB ports? No SD card? No Escape key.. negatively impact vi/vim experience. Basically they want you to buy adapters for everything (maybe next version will also drop the audio jack). and they call it a step forward? Surface book looks a lot better to me despite lacking in graphics specs.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  I think surface book graphics are better but I'm not sure.
manyxcxi 10y ago
I've got a Cinema Display, though it's been relegated to my second monitor it is pretty nice to have all my cables routed cleanly to that and just plug in the MagSafe/T2 connection and my MiniDP connection from my big monitor every morning and just be done with it. Some cursory searches suggest I'll be anywhere from $80-150 in getting a Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter. This, just to get back to even after an upgrade. I love my MBP, I've gotten one every other year since 2008, except for that time I lost my laptop bag off the motorcycle on the freeway. It's the best blend (for me) of *nix and 'Just Works'. I can't even fathom going back to Windows, but I might go see what Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora desktops look like these days, and I hear Dell has some decent upper end hardware again...
- __david__ 10y ago
  > Some cursory searches suggest I'll be anywhere from $80-150 in getting a Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter. It's $49 on Apple's store: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter?fnode=85 http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-us...
  - manyxcxi 10y ago
    Well I guess I should've looked straight at the source first!
Inconel 10y ago
I wish they would have kept MagSafe in addition to adding charging via USB-C. I doubt MagSafe adds much cost to the BOM or that it would have presented much of an engineering challenge to keep both. It seems like that solution would have pleased most people while also keeping a unique selling point for MacBooks.
del82 10y ago
I genuinely don't understand the drive to make all these sacrifices just to make the computer a couple millimeters thinner. Are there people who look at the previous generation of MBP and said "that's too thick"? If so, why?
- minikites 10y ago
  I forget who said this, but "Apple used to make good products that were mostly thin and now they make thin products that are mostly good."
- knodi 10y ago
  I do, after using macbook air.
milesf 10y ago
Third-party cables, docks, and maybe even specialty slim side dongles will fill the gap quite nicely. I'll still wait for the second iteration of this lot simply because I've been bit too many times in the past by first-gen Apple products. I'm going to let time decide for me if this is a good decision or not. For decades I have grumped about the death of so many things, that in the end they didn't really matter.
Matachines 10y ago
Heh, my "upgrade" planned for this year is going to be a maxed out 2015 Macbook. Hope it lasts forever.
toyg 10y ago
I could have got over the ports loss -- or even turned it into a net positive by finally buying a dock (I literally use all ports on my 2012 mbpr). ... but I'm not going through the pain just to "enjoy" a machine that is only marginally faster than what I already have (which still works perfectly fine), with a paltry 16gb of ram and a crappy gpu, and spending almost twice what direct competitors would charge for better hardware without the ports hassle. Who enjoys getting mugged?
yladiz 10y ago
One thing I find annoying is in a lot of their promo images and images I've seen from various first looks, the escape key isn't at the very edge of the touch pad. Why couldn't they have just made a flush key on the left like they did with the TouchID sensor on the right? Now you have to hope that clicking the escape key without looking works, unless there's ways around it. Thankfully I don't have any plans or any need to upgrade my laptop anytime soon, but I will miss the SD card slot and the HDMI output slot if I end up upgrading to a new MacBook Pro in the future. Was it really that much space to keep the SD card? It's thinner than the headphone jack and the headphone jack is still there. I'll also be a little curious how the teardown looks. The MacBook uses up barely any space inside of the chassis for motherboard (barely larger than a phone motherboard), and I'm curious how much space the MacBook Pro uses...
d3ckard 10y ago
Honestly, ports is one thing in new MacBooks I do not understand why everyone seems to nag about. Right, you will likely need some accessories for now. But in two years, when basically everything will work on USB-C and your computer will be in half of reasonable lifetime, it will be a bliss. I hate port multiplication and I'm happy Apple is in the front of moving to one standard. On the other hand, I cannot seem to understand decision behind MagSafe, card reader and keyboard. Why? Everybody with a MacBook has a story about MagSafe saving his laptop from a fall. Cards are important for many people and they are not likely to go away. Esc is important and it could be incorporated in the new design - if they wanted to get rid of function keys, they could go all-in and just change the whole freaking design. Also, I do not get their priorities. They made thing thinner, but I would much more appreciate if they made it smaller (smaller as bezel-free display like Dell did). I would gladly accept a bit thicker MacBook, if they put better battery in it and even better fans, so it stays cool.

98 points by bootload 10y ago

To be fair, if you need these ports, it is easy to get a hub that provides them: https://www.amazon.com/HyperDrive-Through-Charging-MacBook-Chromebook/dp/B01BUHY5DY https://www.amazon.com/HyperDrive-Through-Charging-MacBook-C... And over the next several years, it is likely that people will switch to USB-C peripherals.

ant6n 10y ago
Sorry, I'd rather have this integrated into the 3000$ dollar device. Maybe they can make it 2mm thicker without increasing weight - oh and then also, maybe we get the key travel back.
BigJono 10y ago
I'm completely out of the loop here. Why would peripheral makers choose USB-C over USB 3?
- choudanu4 10y ago
  USB-C and USB-3 aren't mutually exclusive. One describes the shape (Type-A, Type-C) of the connector. The other describes the speeds supported by the port (USB2, USB3, USB3.1).
- crooked-v 10y ago
  Bidirectional power, reversible cables, ability to add extra modes (eg. Thunderbolt 3) to the same port with USB 3 fallback.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
MereInterest 10y ago
You mean the same way that everybody switched to DisplayPort and dumped HDMI? Wait, no, that didn't happen. Every mac user needs to carry around another dongle instead to convert.

eibrahim 10y ago

So disappointed. I had my wallet ready to order but this is no different than my current MBP. A half baked touch screen!!! Not worth the $3500 I was going to drop on a new MBP. I can't imagine going back to windows because I enjoy the terminal and vim but seriously considering it specially that now I can run bash on windows

brianwawok 10y ago
Ubuntu
jaxn 10y ago
And you can run a VM on a Surface Book with as much RAM as the MBP. That is what I am thinking about doing.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
usaphp 10y ago
Why don't you keep using your current mbp if it has everything you need and runs OS X?
erwinkle 10y ago
I have been developing using the bash shell on Windows. It's got a couple quirks (like a couple second startup time on first startup, or docker issues) but it has performed exceptionally otherwise. I've primarily been doing nodejs development and installing random unix packages I need.
- bane 10y ago
  Out of curiosity have you thought about just running a linux server in a VM and sshing into it from the shell? It seems bizarre I know, but you get a "real" linux then, while still keeping a major OS for software compatibility with user apps.
  - pcwalton 10y ago

noahmbarr 10y ago

For odd some reason, I find myself most annoyed by the headphone situation, aka, lack of Lightning jack. Why not just make the iPhone 7 USB-C instead?

bluthru 10y ago
>Why not just make the iPhone 7 USB-C instead? It's too thick going forward. It's already too thick for the Pencil.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  It's ridiculous that the stylus needs a port.
  - bluthru 10y ago
    Ok, well USB C is too thick for the AppleTV remote too.
- rashkov 10y ago
  Sorry could you elaborate? Not understanding what you mean. Very much wondering the answer to this question
  - VelNZ 10y ago
    The USB-C plug is larger than the Lightning plug. Putting a USB-C plug on the Apple Pencil would have made it not as sleek.
tarikjn 10y ago
My guess is the next iPhone or the one after that will drop lightning altogether, and just use induction charging, and wireless for all I/O.

atomical 10y ago

I want all my devices to use USB.

unclenoriega 10y ago

MagSafe was one of my favorite things about Apple laptops. I'm sorry to see that go.

sandipc 10y ago
Here's an alternative... surprised Apple didn't introduce something similar today https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-power-cable https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-po...
- huac 10y ago
  Has anybody used these?
- ethana 10y ago
  It's a solution nobody asked for.
- unclenoriega 10y ago
  Thanks, that looks nice.
fishanz 10y ago
Yeah. This is a MAJOR regression in quality.
- grzm 10y ago
  What in particular? Reviews on Amazon are mixed. 3.3/5 stars with 88 reviews. Looks like complaints are a mix of: - weak magnets - cosmetic (black, thicker, stiffer cable, bulky connector) Does this square with your experience?
  - fishanz 10y ago
    I was referring to the MagSafe feature being removed. Seems small but it actually prevents accidents. As my colleague said today: "hope apple care includes drops"

diegorbaquero 10y ago

Really disappointed, seems like they are forcing 2020 connectors in 2016

revelation 10y ago
USB-C isn't some new fancy connector technology that will fully mature in 2020, it's just USB3 + power + pass-through for a bunch of other connectors. It's not a new connector, it's a connector transformer rather. Only that doesn't actually work in practice, you can't connect four HDMI<->USB-C adapter to the four USB-C ports of the MBP and expect them all to work. Similarly, I can't imagine you can connect four power supplies simultaneously and have it charge through all of them. Add a bunch of other similar non-obvious restrictions.
- honkhonkpants 10y ago
  Why can't I do that? GPU can't drive five displays?
  - honkhonkpants 10y ago
    Answering my own question: this late-2016 MacBook Pro does support four external monitors using its four USB-C ports.

elchief 10y ago

I'm okay with the ports but 16 GB max RAM is a f-in joke. My mom's computer has 16 GB of RAM

flukus 10y ago
What exactly are you and you're mum doing that necessitates more than 16GB?
- manyxcxi 10y ago
  40 browser tabs, two build daemons (gulp and gradle), three IntelliJ ultimate instances, 2 vagrant VMs, 3 more vagrant VMs I forgot to shut down, Spotify, Tomcat, and an IntelliJ debug Tomcat. And that was just what my mom was running!
  - AvenueIngres 10y ago
    But then where do you store the nuclear waste from the reactor you had to set-up in your backyard to power your macbook?
  - flukus 10y ago
    You could have just said java ;)
- throw_away_777 10y ago
  Running machine learning on medium sized datasets I often run into memory issues.
- paulddraper 10y ago
  It's not only the fact that it's 16gb, it's that it's soldered in, so 16gb must last for another five years or however often it is you upgrade. Edit some movies, run some servers, launch Atom, repeatedly read lots of files, do some gaming, and it's nice to have a lot. Or just open a couple Chrome tabs.
  - 10y ago

Yodoshi 10y ago

Even worse is that there is no real option if you're developing for IOS. Imac is a no go due to not wanting desktop and other macbooks don't seem the right type for heavy multitasking, compiling etc. It's MBP or bust.

usaphp 10y ago
Can you tell me you usage scenario if you are a developer for iOS, what exactly is prohibiting you from using this new generation of MacBook pros? I have not used my USB or hdmi ports on my 15" retina for years, the only port I am using is the thunderbolt to connect 4K display, but the only time I am using it is when I am at my desk, attaching a dongle to the desk monitor is quite easy and solves the only possibly issue I might have...seems like most people who complain here are just trying to find a reason to complain
- dahdum 10y ago
  For me, 16GB ram and missing ESC key are big limitations. I think a lot of frustration here is if your time is money (aka a professional) and you have a big budget, you are still stuck with general consumer level hardware. There aren't any other options from Apple right now, and likely not for at least another year. I love my Apple watch, iPad, and iPhone...but those are all "best of breed" imho. I was waiting to purchase the Macbook Pro, but it's pretty mediocre by my measure.
- Yodoshi 10y ago
  It's not that im prohibited from developing, its that the value proposition of a macbook pro is going down and I have no other option other than a macbook pro, all these changes are detrimental to me and I have no alternative. Can't use (now) old magsafe, can't simply connect hdmi to current screen without an adaptor, yubikey will be useless and will need a replacement, adaptor for headphones because I use hd598s and will never use wireless headphones, need to get used to new f keys when using vscode shortcuts when meddling with non ios or react native code. Nothing is a death knell, but feels like they're choosing a death by 1000 paper cuts with these incremental changes. I honestly can't point to a gain except maybe able to click on a emote faster using the magic bar and other odds and sods that a magic bar offers.

smrtinsert 10y ago

Apple, there is no ESC!

majewsky 10y ago
Well, there is, but it's not real. :)

mattbroekhuis 10y ago

I was hoping for more RAM capacity. I don't really run into issues but I feel like I've been running 16 for 8 years or something like that.

toyg 10y ago
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. The chipset now accepts up to 64gb, there are plenty of similarly-thin laptops on the market already shipping with 32gb -- there is just no excuse for not having a 32gb option in a flagship model in 2016. It might come with a refresh after Christmas, maybe, but to be honest today I've just lost patience with Apple.
akhilcacharya 10y ago
Absolutely absurd. I bought my 2014 rMBP for $1700 with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD - the same setup with the new model is $2K. And if I add 16GB RAM to the base model without the OLED strip, it's still $1700 with only 2 ports!

noahmbarr 10y ago

Next up, $500 external keyboard with Touch Bar?

snowwrestler 10y ago
Seems like they'll have to do an external keyboard with a touch strip, so that folks can access the cool UI stuff when they're docked at a big display.

kabdib 10y ago

It's pretty bad. We use YubiKeys a lot, and there are no ports for them. So sad. Also: Magsafe is great (it's saved my bacon a few times). Gone. ESC key, gone. Don't know about the keyboard yet, but everything I've read doesn't point to it being decent. Probably not buying this generation of MacBooks. Might just bite the bullet and finally go to Linux on some decent hardware. So, what's a decent laptop for running Linux? Good keyboard, good trackpad support, good sound . . .

curioussavage 10y ago
Dell xps laptops look sweet. That's what I want next.
anuragsoni 10y ago
I'll add my reply from another thread(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12807826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12807826): I have been using the Dell Developer Edition (Precision 5510) since April. There were a few hiccups because of some driver issues related to their USB-C dock (Correct me if i'm wrong, but I guess this problem was not limited to just their linux laptop?) Ever since upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 things have been pretty smooth. I believe any distro with a 4.4 series kernel or higher will behave pretty well. Before this I had a Thinkpad T series (The best keyboard experience on a laptop that I have come across), and I never had any problem with running any distribution of Linux. In Summary: I think you cannot go wrong with either a Thinkpad or the Dell Developer edition. They are well made machines with good support for linux.
- rayiner 10y ago
  Battery life?
  - anuragsoni 10y ago
    I have the 1080p display and with tlp installed I can get somewhere in the range of 7-9 hours.
- chongli 10y ago

quantumhobbit 10y ago

So who is making good laptops that run Linux well these days?

gkop 10y ago
The Lenovo T460s is pretty great all around. I suggest Debian Testing and Gnome 3.
- AvenueIngres 10y ago
  New Lenovo trackpads are an absolute pain in the ass to use. I rage quit my T440s for this alone because on the long run in starts grinding your gears pretty hard. I am glad you had a good experience with it but I strongly recommend anyone considering it to actually try and experiment with it for a couple hours.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    And I'm in the middle of you two: My t460 is OK. It's not the worst laptop I've had, but it's not even close to the best. Took a little wrangling to get wifi and sound working, but wasn't too bad.
chimeracoder 10y ago
Dell. The Dell XPS 13 is the best line of laptops I've owned. They come with Linux preinstalled, and all the drivers that they write to support the hardware are pushed upstream to the kernel, so you can run whatever distro you want.
- pmyjavec 10y ago
  I've been eyeing one of these off and now they have a higher specification developer edition, I think it's game off. Been wanting to move back to Linux for a while now anyway.
- ethbro 10y ago
  Seconded. I picked one up off Dell Outlet as a disposable machine, but it ends up going with me more than anything else. Actually having Dell dedicate support resources to Linux makes a huge difference in compatibility too.

ant6n 10y ago

I wish they'd just replaced 2 thunderbolt ports and magsave with 3 usb-c ports (leaving two usb, a hdmi port and sd card reader), made the screen matte, gave me 32gb and a fanless design.

eridius 10y ago
Fanless design means performance is seriously crippled. The fact that the fanless MacBook works at all is impressive.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Well, finally a worthwhile problem for Apple to solve. They're pretty good at solving engineering issues, they've mostly been focussed on making shit thinner though.
  - nickjarboe 10y ago
    I wonder how much thinner helps with heat dissipation?
akhilcacharya 10y ago
Agree, save for the matte screen. That plus at least a newer chipset would have been perfect. But nope.
- ant6n 10y ago
  Well, matte screens should always be optional, people are divided over the issue. For me, right now the screens appear like mirrors, if I have anything behind me besides a wall then I constantly adjust the angle of the laptop to minimize reflections.

ufmace 10y ago

Looks like apple is indeed going all-in on USB-C. What's interesting is: > People won’t even be able to physically connect their iPhones to Apple’s flagship laptops without a $25 new cord. I wonder if this means that Apple's going to switch the iPhone and iPad over to USB-C? It'd be a pain for everybody invested in Lightning ports, but Android phones seem to be slowly converging on it. It'd be pretty cool if USB-C became a real standard port for everything. And they have done it before, when they switched to Lightning in the first place.

valine 10y ago
I was really hoping the iPhone 7 would ship with usb-c. But after watching Apple promote their lighting headphones I can't really see them switching to USB-c in the foreseeable future.
__david__ 10y ago
> People won’t even be able to physically connect their iPhones to Apple’s flagship laptops without a $25 new cord. Amazon and Monoprice have USB-A to C dongles for about $8. They're nice and small, too.
4ad 10y ago
The USB-C connector is significantly larger than the Lightning connector.

kobayashi 10y ago

Throughly enjoyed the Apple ecosystem for the past 13 years. Multiple AirPorts, Watch, iPhones, iPads, Macs. Never have I ever been so extremely disappointed with Apple. Actually, I'm not sure that I've ever before been rather disappointed Apple. I wasn't a fan of the Sierra release because I don't like using Siri but ultimately it didn't ruin then OS, it was just a new feature that I wouldn't use. But now? The pricing is insane. The max at 16GB of RAM is a joke. I was looking to buy a MacBook to last me years of heavy power-use. Has Apple forgotten about me?

minikites 10y ago
When the Mac is less than 10% of their revenue, why should they bother to care? They can coast on their reputation and they have a captive audience of iOS developers who will buy any Mac because they have to.
- kobayashi 10y ago
  This was a company that said they cared. That made products which were far and away better than the competitors. I paid the Apple Tax, but it was worth it because I didn't have Windows headaches and because I had a better quality system that was truly optimized for both easy use and for power users. It was great. I actually feel crushed by this news. I valued the trust I had in Apple. And I don't say all of this lightly. I've read the threads the occur after every major Apple release. They're always replete with naysayers. I've never been one of those people. This seems different.
  - minikites 10y ago
    I come from a similar background but I started to feel this way a bit sooner, near the beginning of this year, when I realized that almost all of Apple's computers were 2-3 years out of date. The Mac Pro hasn't been updated in any way since 2013. The Mac Mini is almost as old. They used to do "silent speed bumps" all the time to keep up with technology advances without the needless expense and effort to redesign everything every 8-12 months. So if they can't even put in the minimal effort to ship a newer processor, why should we expect actual greatness at this point?

AvenueIngres 10y ago

Recently bought a Macbook Pro Retina (3 months ago), the charging cable is already dying and the ethernet - usb adapter they provide is utter crap. Each of those cost an arm and honestly, maintenance costs isn't something I factored in when I bought this 1800$ laptop. All around, the laptop is OK but not great. That experience really contrasts the very positive one I had five years ago. What went wrong? How can basic manufacturing quality tank this hard in such a small timeframe? Did they fire the wrong guy?

toyg 10y ago
> Did they fire the wrong guy? No, the wrong guy died.
ploxiln 10y ago
I've used a few usb ethernet adapters over the years, and the most reliable and performant one in my experience is the StarTech USB31000S which is based on the ASIX AX88179. It's been around for a few years so the driver for it is included in all recent linux distros, and you can download surprisingly up-to-date and maintained drivers for OS X and windows from the chip manufacturer's website: http://www.asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=131;71;112&PLine=71 http://www.asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=1... I use it mostly with OS X. I've actually bought about 5 of them, because some coworkers had problems that turned out to be caused by flaky usb ethernet adapters, and it was well worth my debugging time to get them better (but still cheap!) hardware.
charlesism 10y ago
> charging cable is already dying ... How can basic manufacturing quality tank this hard in such a small timeframe? You just lucked out with the original adapter. The cables are delicate now, but the original version was actually worse. Since so many customers broke them, Apple revised the design with a slightly longer piece of rubber shielding.

rayiner 10y ago

I'm okay with the port situation--there is an elegance to the 4 completely symmetrical USB-C ports. Also super excited to ditch Magsafe. It'll be awesome to be able to just replace a USB-C charger cable instead of the whole brick when it inevitably frays. I'm bummed out about the huge reduction in battery capacity. The 13" model loses 1/3, and the 15" loses 1/4. With the addition of the touch bar, this will probably be the first MBP to see a battery life regression.

Inconel 10y ago
Good point on not needing to replace the entire power brick but couldn't this have been solved by keeping the MagSafe port and releasing a cable with the MagSafe connector on one end and USB-C on the other?
rashkov 10y ago
wouldn't you still need a brick at the other end of that usb-c cable? Very surprised to hear of the battery capacity reduction. Is that confirmed? I haven't looked at the numbers. Anyway, I always felt like that is a red line that Apple would not cross.
- rayiner 10y ago
  The USB-C charger is like the iPad charger--the USB-C cable detaches. The battery capacity is under "tech specs." Up to 10 hours wireless web Up to 10 hours iTunes movie playback Up to 30 days standby time Built-in 76.0-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 87W USB-C Power Adapter Up to 10 hours wireless web Up to 10 hours iTunes movie playback Up to 30 days of standby time Built-in 49.2-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 61W USB-C Power Adapter
  - rashkov 10y ago
    Thanks very much. I was on a phone so I couldn't look this up as much as I liked. Much appreciated
ethbro 10y ago
> there is an elegance to the 4 completely symmetrical USB-C ports shudders You might not be the target demographic if your brain has trouble parsing this sentence.

franciscop 10y ago

It's funny how Americans (USA) use the freedom as in this situation "they are necessary connections that offer you freedom" but don't even realize that's the same "freedom" they are stuck in the Imperial system; lack of standardization. I for once welcome these changes; if companies were not brave enough to let go of old ports to standarize the USB we'd be stuck in the old days with dozens of dongles. At the speed of USB-C adoption, in ~5 years I hope it's the most used port and in ~10-15 I hope not to need any other port for any peripheral. I wrote a small article about USB-C adoption: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/apples-new-macbook-pro-just-killed-off-most-of-the-ports-you-probably-need/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/27/apples-new-macbook-pro-jus...

dsr_ 10y ago
You mean instead of the new days with dozens of dongles? Gigabit ethernet. Video converters for each external monitor type, plus for the projector that you only use twice a year. The external mouse that you really like. The phone. The 2TB USB3 hard disk that you already have. The external DAC and pre-amp that turned your Mac into a high-quality 4 channel recorder. The non-bluetooth wireless mouse that you like so much better than Apple's. The SD card for the video camera that your kids use.
- minikites 10y ago
  Exactly, I don't understand how "thin laptop" is an admirable goal when you have to carry around 1-3 dongles to get anything done. The regular Macbook with only one port is a fine machine for most people but these are billed as professional tools.
  - WalterSear 10y ago
    The goal is to fit in people's idealized, aspirational lives, because you can charge a higher premium for that over practical stuff.
- franciscop 10y ago
  Now you have to carry dozens of dongles, but the objective is long-term. I almost never need VGA/DisplayPort/etc for instance because it was standardized to HDMI (and now to USB-C). What port does that non-bluetooth mouse use? USB, right? Well before you'd have to check, because it could be using a PS2 as the keyboard. But now you know for sure they use USB if they use any port, which is a good thing. I remember my older cousin complaining about me having a USB mouse when I should have a PS/2 back in the day. Forgot your phone/laptop charger? You can borrow mine as it will be the same USB-C. Yes, now it's painful, but in ~10 years it will be glorious. However, the problems of the switch are happening now while the benefits will come unannounced, which is a pity.

israrkhan 10y ago

No Magsafe? it was one of the coolest feature on macbooks. No HDMI? No USB ports? No SD card? No Escape key.. negatively impact vi/vim experience. Basically they want you to buy adapters for everything (maybe next version will also drop the audio jack). and they call it a step forward? Surface book looks a lot better to me despite lacking in graphics specs.

dingo_bat 10y ago
I think surface book graphics are better but I'm not sure.

manyxcxi 10y ago

I've got a Cinema Display, though it's been relegated to my second monitor it is pretty nice to have all my cables routed cleanly to that and just plug in the MagSafe/T2 connection and my MiniDP connection from my big monitor every morning and just be done with it. Some cursory searches suggest I'll be anywhere from $80-150 in getting a Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter. This, just to get back to even after an upgrade. I love my MBP, I've gotten one every other year since 2008, except for that time I lost my laptop bag off the motorcycle on the freeway. It's the best blend (for me) of *nix and 'Just Works'. I can't even fathom going back to Windows, but I might go see what Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora desktops look like these days, and I hear Dell has some decent upper end hardware again...

__david__ 10y ago
> Some cursory searches suggest I'll be anywhere from $80-150 in getting a Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 adapter. It's $49 on Apple's store: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter?fnode=85 http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-us...
- manyxcxi 10y ago
  Well I guess I should've looked straight at the source first!

Inconel 10y ago

I wish they would have kept MagSafe in addition to adding charging via USB-C. I doubt MagSafe adds much cost to the BOM or that it would have presented much of an engineering challenge to keep both. It seems like that solution would have pleased most people while also keeping a unique selling point for MacBooks.

del82 10y ago

I genuinely don't understand the drive to make all these sacrifices just to make the computer a couple millimeters thinner. Are there people who look at the previous generation of MBP and said "that's too thick"? If so, why?

minikites 10y ago
I forget who said this, but "Apple used to make good products that were mostly thin and now they make thin products that are mostly good."
knodi 10y ago
I do, after using macbook air.

milesf 10y ago

Third-party cables, docks, and maybe even specialty slim side dongles will fill the gap quite nicely. I'll still wait for the second iteration of this lot simply because I've been bit too many times in the past by first-gen Apple products. I'm going to let time decide for me if this is a good decision or not. For decades I have grumped about the death of so many things, that in the end they didn't really matter.

Matachines 10y ago

Heh, my "upgrade" planned for this year is going to be a maxed out 2015 Macbook. Hope it lasts forever.

toyg 10y ago

I could have got over the ports loss -- or even turned it into a net positive by finally buying a dock (I literally use all ports on my 2012 mbpr). ... but I'm not going through the pain just to "enjoy" a machine that is only marginally faster than what I already have (which still works perfectly fine), with a paltry 16gb of ram and a crappy gpu, and spending almost twice what direct competitors would charge for better hardware without the ports hassle. Who enjoys getting mugged?

yladiz 10y ago

One thing I find annoying is in a lot of their promo images and images I've seen from various first looks, the escape key isn't at the very edge of the touch pad. Why couldn't they have just made a flush key on the left like they did with the TouchID sensor on the right? Now you have to hope that clicking the escape key without looking works, unless there's ways around it. Thankfully I don't have any plans or any need to upgrade my laptop anytime soon, but I will miss the SD card slot and the HDMI output slot if I end up upgrading to a new MacBook Pro in the future. Was it really that much space to keep the SD card? It's thinner than the headphone jack and the headphone jack is still there. I'll also be a little curious how the teardown looks. The MacBook uses up barely any space inside of the chassis for motherboard (barely larger than a phone motherboard), and I'm curious how much space the MacBook Pro uses...

d3ckard 10y ago

Honestly, ports is one thing in new MacBooks I do not understand why everyone seems to nag about. Right, you will likely need some accessories for now. But in two years, when basically everything will work on USB-C and your computer will be in half of reasonable lifetime, it will be a bliss. I hate port multiplication and I'm happy Apple is in the front of moving to one standard. On the other hand, I cannot seem to understand decision behind MagSafe, card reader and keyboard. Why? Everybody with a MacBook has a story about MagSafe saving his laptop from a fall. Cards are important for many people and they are not likely to go away. Esc is important and it could be incorporated in the new design - if they wanted to get rid of function keys, they could go all-in and just change the whole freaking design. Also, I do not get their priorities. They made thing thinner, but I would much more appreciate if they made it smaller (smaller as bezel-free display like Dell did). I would gladly accept a bit thicker MacBook, if they put better battery in it and even better fans, so it stays cool.