4 ms·

No, that's literally 100% Apple. They could've very easily shipped the higher specced cables for what amounts to a rounding error in the total overall cost. T

by tw04 10y ago

No, that's literally 100% Apple. They could've very easily shipped the higher specced cables for what amounts to a rounding error in the total overall cost. They just chose not to in order to sell more cables. They can now tell people that a cable is "only compatible with model X" - when in reality the 15" pro cable is compatible with all 3.

ChuckMcM 10y ago
Exactly this. There is absolutely no technical reason that Apple could not ship one cable that works on all adapters, it would be overkill for some and just right for the high end one and the difference in money would be trivial compared to the support calls from people who can't get the cable to work or it fails while they are using it.
- saurik 10y ago
  I don't think they sell the 12" MacBook cables stand-alone; I went to the store to get a new one, and they just sell the beefier ones. I personally think the problem is that the 12" MacBook was a test run of USB-C, and the cables they shipped for that ended up not being good enough to handle the needs of the new laptop they didn't ship until a year and a half later.
  - abritinthebay 10y ago
    That's too sensible for an Apple hate thread, sorry. The inane uninformed rant is more what this comment thread is about.
- brudgers 10y ago
  I suspect that the root is different purchasing agents writing different contracts based on different specs with different manufacturers. Each of which is optimizing locally and perhaps with an eye on their performance review and bonus. Just because nobody calls Apple 'enterprise' doesn't mean it ain't.
  - PakG1 10y ago
    IF that's the case, Apple used to have a handle on all that. So IF that's the case, what happened?
    - brudgers 10y ago
      I think the fixed point of Apple's design philosophy has become the Apple Store and everything is designed backward from its retail display. The engineering consists of stuffing stuff inside a predetermined case, not designing a case to house a set of components that perform at a predetermined level. That's how the more power hungry model winds up with a smaller battery. The different SKU's for similar cables is hardly the most illustrative example of Apple's current design process. The MacPro has left and right hand versions of the GPU board in order to provide a dual GPU configuration for the cylinder. Modularity is not a design goal. The "SSD" on the new Macbooks is some chips soldered to the motherboard. Not upgradable, potentially with a limited life. Honestly, the further Apple goes in this direction the better it segments the market and filters out the less lucrative ones. The most valuable customers are people who will pay more for the touchbar because it's in the Apple store. They'll buy the smaller battery that comes with it for the same reason.
tedunangst 10y ago
> They can now tell people that a cable is "only compatible with model X" - when in reality the 15" pro cable is compatible with all 3. Did you read the linked page? That's what it does say. Not the part you "quoted".

by tw04 10y ago

ChuckMcM 10y ago

Exactly this. There is absolutely no technical reason that Apple could not ship one cable that works on all adapters, it would be overkill for some and just right for the high end one and the difference in money would be trivial compared to the support calls from people who can't get the cable to work or it fails while they are using it.

saurik 10y ago
I don't think they sell the 12" MacBook cables stand-alone; I went to the store to get a new one, and they just sell the beefier ones. I personally think the problem is that the 12" MacBook was a test run of USB-C, and the cables they shipped for that ended up not being good enough to handle the needs of the new laptop they didn't ship until a year and a half later.
- abritinthebay 10y ago
  That's too sensible for an Apple hate thread, sorry. The inane uninformed rant is more what this comment thread is about.
brudgers 10y ago
I suspect that the root is different purchasing agents writing different contracts based on different specs with different manufacturers. Each of which is optimizing locally and perhaps with an eye on their performance review and bonus. Just because nobody calls Apple 'enterprise' doesn't mean it ain't.
- PakG1 10y ago
  IF that's the case, Apple used to have a handle on all that. So IF that's the case, what happened?
  - brudgers 10y ago
    I think the fixed point of Apple's design philosophy has become the Apple Store and everything is designed backward from its retail display. The engineering consists of stuffing stuff inside a predetermined case, not designing a case to house a set of components that perform at a predetermined level. That's how the more power hungry model winds up with a smaller battery. The different SKU's for similar cables is hardly the most illustrative example of Apple's current design process. The MacPro has left and right hand versions of the GPU board in order to provide a dual GPU configuration for the cylinder. Modularity is not a design goal. The "SSD" on the new Macbooks is some chips soldered to the motherboard. Not upgradable, potentially with a limited life. Honestly, the further Apple goes in this direction the better it segments the market and filters out the less lucrative ones. The most valuable customers are people who will pay more for the touchbar because it's in the Apple store. They'll buy the smaller battery that comes with it for the same reason.

tedunangst 10y ago

> They can now tell people that a cable is "only compatible with model X" - when in reality the 15" pro cable is compatible with all 3. Did you read the linked page? That's what it does say. Not the part you "quoted".