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apple ditched the floppy drive with the release of their g3 hardware, the ethernet port with the macbook air (and built in cd/dvd drive), before that they ditch

apple ditched the floppy drive with the release of their g3 hardware, the ethernet port with the macbook air (and built in cd/dvd drive), before that they ditched the serial & parallel port, etc. any of us still missing those? needless to say that it kinda sucks when a new device forces you to buy new adapters / peripherals, but in the long run, is this really an issue?

whiddershins 8y ago
As I mentioned in another comment, those were computer standards. 3.5mm is an audio standard. It's an important difference.
- tuananh 8y ago
  standard comes and go. ethernet is not a standard anymore these days. heck even if my laptop comes with a ethernet port, i still couldn't use it at my workplace.
PretzelFisch 8y ago
I miss my ethernet port.
lmm 8y ago
I still miss the ethernet port whenever I'm staying in a hotel with dodgy wifi (many of which have ethernet). I still miss having a dvd drive every couple of weeks, when I want to watch a video that isn't on a streaming service. I still miss the serial port when I'm fiddling with bits of hardware (and my old graphing calculator). Parallel port we're well shot of though.
craftyguy 8y ago
I would miss a built in ethernet port. (My Thinkpad X230 FTW) Anyways, your examples are not exactly the same as this situation. In the cases of removing the floppy drive and CD/DVD drives, it was upgrading one technology for another which was able to hold more data, was a more stable medium than the predecessor, and was generally more reliable. The 3.5mm->bluetooth was not an upgrade in stability or reliability, and the ethernet->wifi change was not an upgrade in anything except 'mobility' (but systems with ethernet jacks at that time typically had wifi too, so, again, it was a general downgrade in functionality).
angry_octet 8y ago
Loss of the ethernet port is a real pain. The cat5 dimensions are awkward for a thin laptop so you can accept it for a machine that does basically nothing locally. But as soon as you have a hundred GB of stuff on your laptop you need to transfer you wish you still had wired ethernet. In fact, 10G. And then you buy a Thunderbolt to 10G dongle. It is brilliant that the new Mac Mini has 10G on-board. Back in the day serial and parallel were very useful for interfacing to real world machines. Now everyone uses a simple linux board like an rpi, but in the interim it was seriously inconvenient to interface. USB1 is absolute rubbish, USB2 not much better.
asdff 8y ago
The blutooth headphone is a different device than a regular headphone. They have worse sound quality, which might not be so noticable, but they also have to pair and the wireless connection isn't reliable. The headphones are also another device that needs to be charged and has a battery, and in the case of the AirPods, the battery is in bad shape after a year and the device must be replaced. In the case of the ports you've mentioned, there were other improved connections to move towards. The blutooth headphone is not improved over the 3.5mm cable unless you are so vehemently opposed to the idea of a cable that you would live with its shortcomings. Market leaders like Apple and Samsung have made investments into this market (beats, for example), and to try and dominate market share are extorting their users into buying extraneous, disposable accessories that aren't an objective improvement of existing standards, all while parading the recycled content of their latest 128gb dual core laptops.
- jackjeff 8y ago
  I use my AirPods a lot (like 1h to 2h daily for commuting and chores) and after one and a half year, I have no battery issues. I don’t recall depleting the battery ever.

whiddershins 8y ago

As I mentioned in another comment, those were computer standards. 3.5mm is an audio standard. It's an important difference.

tuananh 8y ago
standard comes and go. ethernet is not a standard anymore these days. heck even if my laptop comes with a ethernet port, i still couldn't use it at my workplace.

PretzelFisch 8y ago

I miss my ethernet port.

lmm 8y ago

I still miss the ethernet port whenever I'm staying in a hotel with dodgy wifi (many of which have ethernet). I still miss having a dvd drive every couple of weeks, when I want to watch a video that isn't on a streaming service. I still miss the serial port when I'm fiddling with bits of hardware (and my old graphing calculator). Parallel port we're well shot of though.

craftyguy 8y ago

I would miss a built in ethernet port. (My Thinkpad X230 FTW) Anyways, your examples are not exactly the same as this situation. In the cases of removing the floppy drive and CD/DVD drives, it was upgrading one technology for another which was able to hold more data, was a more stable medium than the predecessor, and was generally more reliable. The 3.5mm->bluetooth was not an upgrade in stability or reliability, and the ethernet->wifi change was not an upgrade in anything except 'mobility' (but systems with ethernet jacks at that time typically had wifi too, so, again, it was a general downgrade in functionality).

angry_octet 8y ago

Loss of the ethernet port is a real pain. The cat5 dimensions are awkward for a thin laptop so you can accept it for a machine that does basically nothing locally. But as soon as you have a hundred GB of stuff on your laptop you need to transfer you wish you still had wired ethernet. In fact, 10G. And then you buy a Thunderbolt to 10G dongle. It is brilliant that the new Mac Mini has 10G on-board. Back in the day serial and parallel were very useful for interfacing to real world machines. Now everyone uses a simple linux board like an rpi, but in the interim it was seriously inconvenient to interface. USB1 is absolute rubbish, USB2 not much better.

asdff 8y ago

The blutooth headphone is a different device than a regular headphone. They have worse sound quality, which might not be so noticable, but they also have to pair and the wireless connection isn't reliable. The headphones are also another device that needs to be charged and has a battery, and in the case of the AirPods, the battery is in bad shape after a year and the device must be replaced. In the case of the ports you've mentioned, there were other improved connections to move towards. The blutooth headphone is not improved over the 3.5mm cable unless you are so vehemently opposed to the idea of a cable that you would live with its shortcomings. Market leaders like Apple and Samsung have made investments into this market (beats, for example), and to try and dominate market share are extorting their users into buying extraneous, disposable accessories that aren't an objective improvement of existing standards, all while parading the recycled content of their latest 128gb dual core laptops.

jackjeff 8y ago
I use my AirPods a lot (like 1h to 2h daily for commuting and chores) and after one and a half year, I have no battery issues. I don’t recall depleting the battery ever.