5 ms·

If you walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line phone and take them home you’ll quickly realize there is no way to plug

by CPLX 7y ago

If you walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line phone and take them home you’ll quickly realize there is no way to plug them in to each other. That is, in fact, stupid.

felideon 7y ago
Worse yet. Walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line mouse, and take them home -- realize a few days (maybe weeks, to be fair) later that you cannot charge your mouse with your laptop without a dongle.
- ihuman 7y ago
  Or the USB-C Lightning cable
- mrcarruthers 7y ago
  Even worse yet, once you get the dongle you cannot use your mouse while it is charging cause the port is on the bottom.
  - jgust 7y ago
    jUsT bUy A sEcOnD mOuSe!
    - reciprocity 7y ago
      Seriously?
      - raizinho 7y ago
        The way he wrote his comment (inverse capitalization) is an indication of sarcasm (on Reddit).
      - jgust 7y ago
        Just echoing some absurd justifications/arguments for bad design made by diehard Apple fans.
        Dylan16807 7y ago
        Just because you saw a dumb comment once doesn't mean you have to use it as a strawman. It's a negative to the design, but the worst possible case is you go read or watch something where you won't need your mouse for 10 minutes.
        alexkavon 7y ago
        Or just buy a second mouse.
        Corrado 7y ago
        See, you say that, but I've actually had the situation where my network was down and I had to wait 4 minutes before I could get it back up because of the stupid mouse design. My wife works in a small, elementary school and I help with the computers from time to time. One day, their network was misbehaving and I needed to change some settings on their iMac "server". I quickly discovered that the mouse had lost it's charge over the 2 months that they didn't use it and I had to plug it in and wait for it to get a small charge. Well, first I had to find a USB <--> Lightning cable. Anyway, the worst possible case is not that you go read something for a while; sometimes your network is down and you have to wait 10 minutes before you can fix it. Just because some designer thought it would be ugly to put a "tail" on a mouse.
        Dylan16807 7y ago
        If you haven't used a mouse in months you're lucky it's still there. More seriously if it went from misbehaving to calling you in to getting to the computer and adjusting it, it doesn't sound like the four minutes of charge time was anything but negligible. Finding a cable sounds like a bigger issue, and that could happen to any wireless mouse. (and wireless is definitely not a dumb design decision, there are clear usability advantages to wireless mice)
  - ksec 7y ago
    >If you walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line phone and take them home you’ll quickly realize there is no way to plug them in to each other. All these worse case assume you can actually walk into an Apple Store in the first place. They are jam packed and a complete mess. ( I haven't seen the new layout and workflow of Post Angela Ahrendts Apple Store yet, so many be they are better now. )
  - Dylan16807 7y ago
    It's silly but it's hardly worse. Take a four minute break.
  - thstart 7y ago
    And this is specifically designed to not use the mouse when charging to not damage the mouse battery. There is a reason but it needs digging.
  - f137 7y ago
    You're holding it wrong way
  - pacifiedcitizen 7y ago
    I could not believe this when I realized it.
jobu 7y ago
It's ridiculous that iPhone didn't switch to USB-C when they dropped the headphone jack. Apple used to be so good about consistency and compatibility between products.
- buildawesome 7y ago
  If we're talking about consistency, how about the headphone port on the Macbook? You need a dongle to listen to music on your phone, if you want to use the same headphones for your computer.
  - setr 7y ago
    Thats somewhat more forgiveable: the desktop should be a superset of laptop ports, and laptop a superset of phone ports
chipotle_coyote 7y ago
A couple counterarguments: (1) "No way with the cables included in the box" is not the same as "no way." There's a USB-C to Lightning cable in the bag right next to me. That lets me plug a top of the line Apple laptop into a top of the line Apple phone. With no dongle, even. (2) In practice, there are zero times over the last two years that I've had to plug a phone into a laptop. I can't honestly remember why I bought this cable; I think I wanted to see whether USB tethering to the phone was better than using the mobile hotspot feature (spoiler: kind of a wash). I am sure there are people reading this, possibly including you, raising their fists to the sky and screaming BUT IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER, and, sure, okay, I guess. But is it? One can make that argument that Apple should include both cables in the boxes, or a USB-A to USB-C dongle, or something. But in practice, just how many people need the USB-C cable for their phone, even if they have a USB-C laptop? The vast majority of people are probably only using Lightning cables to charge their phone from a charger, in which case it doesn't matter, or to plug into their car, which means they need USB-A anyway. (People may also be using Lightning-to-not-USB dongles, like headphone ports and HDMI output, but that's irrelevant to this.)
- Phlarp 7y ago
  Almost everyone's complaints are resolved by changing lightning ports to USB-C. Obviously it will take time for that change to make it into the next hardware refresh of the mouse/keyboard/trackpad but it should have been on the iPhone two years ago.
- rhacker 7y ago
  The people waving fists aren't doing it for "PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER". They are literally forced to use extra dongles and components for THEIR workflow. Here's my reason: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Headset-H390-Noise-Cancelling/dp/B000UXZQ42/ref=sr_1_4 https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Headset-H390-Noise-Cancellin... I can't find any replacements. Anyone on my team that tries whatever bluetooth whatever, they always sound distant or scratchy just plain lagged. On the other hand they keep asking me to tell them what I use because I always sound crystal clear with no background noise. I send them that link and immediately dismiss it because it's cheap, uses a stupid USB connector and their laptop doesn't support the plug without dongles. (I use a 2014 MBP) Yet they keep complimenting me, like literally every call on how good I sound to them. I don't care if they found a $200 lightning plug version with large ear cups - they don't sound like I do.
chrisseaton 7y ago
> https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MQGJ2ZM/A/usb-c-to-lightning-cable-1-m https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MQGJ2ZM/A/usb-c-to-lig... You don't need a dongle.
- mainlineman 7y ago
  So why isn't this cable included with a new iPhone purchase? Where is the Apple USB-C iPhone or iPad charger?
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    > So why isn't this cable included with a new iPhone purchase? Not everyone has a recent MacBook. Makes sense to stick with USB-A for now, I guess, for maximum compatibility. > Where is the Apple USB-C iPhone or iPad charger? Here https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-c-power-adapter https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-...
thstart 7y ago
Use AirDrop.
Hippocrates 7y ago
Is it? Frankly, “syncing” your phone to a computer isn’t really a thing anymore with the advent of cloud storage and streaming music. USB-A is probably cheaper and more universal as a wall-charging, or car charging standard right now.

by CPLX 7y ago

felideon 7y ago

Worse yet. Walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line mouse, and take them home -- realize a few days (maybe weeks, to be fair) later that you cannot charge your mouse with your laptop without a dongle.

ihuman 7y ago
Or the USB-C Lightning cable
mrcarruthers 7y ago
Even worse yet, once you get the dongle you cannot use your mouse while it is charging cause the port is on the bottom.
- jgust 7y ago
  jUsT bUy A sEcOnD mOuSe!
  - reciprocity 7y ago
    Seriously?
    - raizinho 7y ago
      The way he wrote his comment (inverse capitalization) is an indication of sarcasm (on Reddit).
    - jgust 7y ago
      Just echoing some absurd justifications/arguments for bad design made by diehard Apple fans.
      - Dylan16807 7y ago
        Just because you saw a dumb comment once doesn't mean you have to use it as a strawman. It's a negative to the design, but the worst possible case is you go read or watch something where you won't need your mouse for 10 minutes.
        alexkavon 7y ago
        Or just buy a second mouse.
        Corrado 7y ago
        See, you say that, but I've actually had the situation where my network was down and I had to wait 4 minutes before I could get it back up because of the stupid mouse design. My wife works in a small, elementary school and I help with the computers from time to time. One day, their network was misbehaving and I needed to change some settings on their iMac "server". I quickly discovered that the mouse had lost it's charge over the 2 months that they didn't use it and I had to plug it in and wait for it to get a small charge. Well, first I had to find a USB <--> Lightning cable. Anyway, the worst possible case is not that you go read something for a while; sometimes your network is down and you have to wait 10 minutes before you can fix it. Just because some designer thought it would be ugly to put a "tail" on a mouse.
        Dylan16807 7y ago
        If you haven't used a mouse in months you're lucky it's still there. More seriously if it went from misbehaving to calling you in to getting to the computer and adjusting it, it doesn't sound like the four minutes of charge time was anything but negligible. Finding a cable sounds like a bigger issue, and that could happen to any wireless mouse. (and wireless is definitely not a dumb design decision, there are clear usability advantages to wireless mice)
- ksec 7y ago
  >If you walk into an Apple store and buy their top of the line laptop and top of the line phone and take them home you’ll quickly realize there is no way to plug them in to each other. All these worse case assume you can actually walk into an Apple Store in the first place. They are jam packed and a complete mess. ( I haven't seen the new layout and workflow of Post Angela Ahrendts Apple Store yet, so many be they are better now. )
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  It's silly but it's hardly worse. Take a four minute break.
- thstart 7y ago
  And this is specifically designed to not use the mouse when charging to not damage the mouse battery. There is a reason but it needs digging.
- f137 7y ago
  You're holding it wrong way
- pacifiedcitizen 7y ago
  I could not believe this when I realized it.

jobu 7y ago

It's ridiculous that iPhone didn't switch to USB-C when they dropped the headphone jack. Apple used to be so good about consistency and compatibility between products.

buildawesome 7y ago
If we're talking about consistency, how about the headphone port on the Macbook? You need a dongle to listen to music on your phone, if you want to use the same headphones for your computer.
- setr 7y ago
  Thats somewhat more forgiveable: the desktop should be a superset of laptop ports, and laptop a superset of phone ports

chipotle_coyote 7y ago

A couple counterarguments: (1) "No way with the cables included in the box" is not the same as "no way." There's a USB-C to Lightning cable in the bag right next to me. That lets me plug a top of the line Apple laptop into a top of the line Apple phone. With no dongle, even. (2) In practice, there are zero times over the last two years that I've had to plug a phone into a laptop. I can't honestly remember why I bought this cable; I think I wanted to see whether USB tethering to the phone was better than using the mobile hotspot feature (spoiler: kind of a wash). I am sure there are people reading this, possibly including you, raising their fists to the sky and screaming BUT IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER, and, sure, okay, I guess. But is it? One can make that argument that Apple should include both cables in the boxes, or a USB-A to USB-C dongle, or something. But in practice, just how many people need the USB-C cable for their phone, even if they have a USB-C laptop? The vast majority of people are probably only using Lightning cables to charge their phone from a charger, in which case it doesn't matter, or to plug into their car, which means they need USB-A anyway. (People may also be using Lightning-to-not-USB dongles, like headphone ports and HDMI output, but that's irrelevant to this.)

Phlarp 7y ago
Almost everyone's complaints are resolved by changing lightning ports to USB-C. Obviously it will take time for that change to make it into the next hardware refresh of the mouse/keyboard/trackpad but it should have been on the iPhone two years ago.
rhacker 7y ago
The people waving fists aren't doing it for "PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER". They are literally forced to use extra dongles and components for THEIR workflow. Here's my reason: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Headset-H390-Noise-Cancelling/dp/B000UXZQ42/ref=sr_1_4 https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Headset-H390-Noise-Cancellin... I can't find any replacements. Anyone on my team that tries whatever bluetooth whatever, they always sound distant or scratchy just plain lagged. On the other hand they keep asking me to tell them what I use because I always sound crystal clear with no background noise. I send them that link and immediately dismiss it because it's cheap, uses a stupid USB connector and their laptop doesn't support the plug without dongles. (I use a 2014 MBP) Yet they keep complimenting me, like literally every call on how good I sound to them. I don't care if they found a $200 lightning plug version with large ear cups - they don't sound like I do.

chrisseaton 7y ago

> https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MQGJ2ZM/A/usb-c-to-lightning-cable-1-m https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MQGJ2ZM/A/usb-c-to-lig... You don't need a dongle.

mainlineman 7y ago
So why isn't this cable included with a new iPhone purchase? Where is the Apple USB-C iPhone or iPad charger?
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  > So why isn't this cable included with a new iPhone purchase? Not everyone has a recent MacBook. Makes sense to stick with USB-A for now, I guess, for maximum compatibility. > Where is the Apple USB-C iPhone or iPad charger? Here https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-c-power-adapter https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-...

thstart 7y ago

Use AirDrop.

Hippocrates 7y ago

Is it? Frankly, “syncing” your phone to a computer isn’t really a thing anymore with the advent of cloud storage and streaming music. USB-A is probably cheaper and more universal as a wall-charging, or car charging standard right now.