4 ms·
> I'd go further and say that Apple isn't basing their hardware strategy on the needs of any real person. Real person here! I love the USB-C only approach. I l
by Osmium 8y ago
> I'd go further and say that Apple isn't basing their hardware strategy on the needs of any real person.
Real person here! I love the USB-C only approach. I love being able to charge from either side of my laptop, and I love having single cable to plug in at my desk for RAID/monitor/ethernet/charging/etc. I want my laptop minimal; if I want it to do more, I can add more.
- ambulancechaser 8y agoyou're extolling the benefits of USB-C not the lack of USB-A. The presence of a USB-A would not affect your listed benefits in the least.
- godzillabrennus 8y agoIt would increase the thickness of the laptop. Apple is design driven. I also hate the new keyboard but couldn’t care less about using dongles if I get a thinner laptop.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoI don't understand. At this point, what are the benefits of a thinner laptop? Lighter I can understand, but what does a thinner laptop enable you to do?
- twblalock 8y agoIt takes up less space when folded in a bag, in luggage, etc., so it is less of a burden to bring with you when you go somewhere. How would you feel if your laptop suddenly doubled in thickness but didn’t gain any weight? Most people would be unhappy about that.
- dahauns 8y agoAlways with the hyperbole. How would you feel if your laptop suddenly increased 2mm in thickness but didn't gain any weight? Most people wouldn't even notice the difference if you didn't point it out to them.
- freehunter 8y agoI don't have the new body style of Macbook, I have a 2015, but I can tell you that when I switched from a PC laptop to the 2015 Macbook, it was thin enough that I could now travel with my laptop and an iPad in my carry-on. Before I had to make the choice of carrying only my laptop or packing a roll-aboard to be able to fit everything I needed for a work trip. What does a thinner laptop enable you to do? What a question. Might as well ask why compact cars are more popular in the city than pickup trucks.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoI had a similar experience back in 2012 when I bought a 13" MacBook pro after carrying around a PC laptop. But, I wrote "at this point". Does 3mm, at about the same weight, really make much difference? I suppose incremental improvements(?) in "thinness" accumulate, and in 2028 we'll all be complaining that the new MacBook Pro at 2.8mm thick is easily bent and has no ports.
- freehunter 8y ago"At this point" does a marginally faster CPU make a big difference? Not to me, my "workhorse" laptop is a 2013. But if they stuck with a 2013 CPU in a 2018 Macbook, people would go ape shit even though for people like me, the faster processor doesn't change a single thing about how the machine works. Way too often people on here see something and think "that doesn't help my use case, therefore it's a stupid decision" and never stop to think "hey maybe someone has a use case I don't have, and maybe this helps them". To you, 3mm doesn't sound like a lot. To me, a few hundred Mhz or another few GB of RAM doesn't sound like a lot. But you don't see me screaming in the comments thread "how dare Apple put a faster processor in their Macbooks instead of shaving off another few MM of thickness!" because that's just ridiculous. Someone out there is happy that the machine is faster, even if that person isn't me. I have the ability to put myself in someone else's shoes and be happy on their behalf. Some people's laptops sit on a desk all day and that's fine. Mine doesn't, and every MM shaved off is another pair of socks I can pack into my luggage.
- briandear 8y agoTake up less space in your bag.
- 1996 8y agoIt might increase the thickness. It is not a given. I remember about old single slot pcmcia cards which had a push mechanism that would show a RJ-11 so you could connect a modem. Check the "XJACK connector" for pictures. It was technically possible. It still is.
- Fomite 8y agoI remember the number of people who had that snap off.
- lallysingh 8y agoEquivalent to people with dongles that break off?
- 1996 8y agoYou mean it would be more fragile than the keyboard?
- dahauns 8y agoJust take a look at the Lifebook U937/938. Thinner and lighter than the Air, but has 1xUSB-C, 2xUSB-A, SD, HDMI and even RJ45(!). All the while sporting a 15W TDP CPU and slotted RAM. (And yes, battery life is good as well.)
- godzillabrennus 8y agoI had those cards. Horrible to deal with. In college I inherited a Dell Inspiron 1100 from my Dad. Total pile of junk. I upgraded the CPU, Ram, and disk drive. It was still terrible.
- imron 8y agoI on the other hand wouldn't mind if they made the laptop a little bit thicker in exchange for better battery life. When the discrete graphics chip is being used, plus a retina display, and or several dongles plugged in for ethernet, usb-a or whatever, battery life on my 2017 MBP while doing development work is maybe 3-4 hours. It was quite a shock to go to that from the 8-9 hours I used to get from my older MacBook air. Whereas previously I would leave certain apps (notably image editing apps or VMs) open while developing, I now find myself opening them, doing a task and then closing them so as not to activate the discrete graphics chip and drain the battery.
- JohnBooty 8y agoI now find myself opening them, doing a task and then closing them so as not to activate the discrete graphics chip and drain the battery. Sounds like what's really needed here is a way to tell MacOS not to use the discrete graphics chip when on battery power. Is there no way to do that? It's been a while since I used a MBP with discrete graphics. There used to be a menubar app for that, but I always felt it should have been an option baked into MacOS itself.
- cerberusss 8y agoNo. The 15" MBP uses Intel chips without integrated graphics.
- imron 8y ago> Is there no way to do that? There is an app for that (https://gfx.io/ https://gfx.io/), but it doesn't switch automatically when battery is in use so you have to enable it manually (and you have to close any apps that are using the discrete chip first). Mostly though I just use that app to know when the discrete chip is enabled, and then quit whatever program enabled it when I've finished with it.
- NickNameNick 8y agoThey can only make the battery 99WH, and still have it allowed to go on an airplane. The battery is already ~83WH, so sadly, there may not be much to gain there.
- briandear 8y agoDefinitely, they should put a SCSI port on the next version. Weren’t we having this discussion when they dropped the floppy drive? Should they keep USB-A forever? When is it ok that they drop USB-A? The original move to USB-A was met with resistance to people then that were angry that suddenly their ADP or other older devices wouldn’t connect — but then device markers saw the advantages of USB and quickly moved to embrace it. They are starting to see the advantages of Thunderbolt 3 and eventually, USB-A will go the way of the serial port — but not without the requisite hang-wringing and “get off my lawn” first. In 3 years, nothing but dollar-store junk will still use USB-A.
- llampx 8y ago> In 3 years, nothing but dollar-store junk will still use USB-A. Good. Then I'll give up my laptop with USB-A and buy one with USB-C only. In the now, where I live, many things still use USB-A. This is the main reason I didn't even consider a new MacBook Pro for replacing my 2015 one.
- sooheon 8y agoJust like the superfluous presence of HDMI, micro- and mini- and regular SD, CD slots, Ethernet ports won't affect my use of USB-C?