6 ms·

See, I use a retina MBP touchbar and really don't agree. Apple has made some missteps but it's still the best pro laptop for my uses. Over two years with one

See, I use a retina MBP touchbar and really don't agree. Apple has made some missteps but it's still the best pro laptop for my uses. Over two years with one replaced keyboard (because I spilled wine on it!) and no sticking keys. USB-C is awesome. I can reuse all my 3rd party and Apple adapters for my USB-C peripherals, including tablets and the Nintendo Switch. In retrospect, Magsafe wasn't that great (comes off too easily). Moving back to older USB ports really would make no sense. They're obsolete. If you have older peripherals, get the dongles. We've been using dongles since the VGA/DVI days or Serial/USB days, so I really don't get the problem with them. Life moves on. I have a need for HDMI and VGA and Mini DisplayPort and old USB... not to mention lightning. MUCH rather would have a single standard of multi-port w/ dongles than a mess of fixed ports. Also, on what planet did anyone have a Magsafe cord over 2m? It was fixed to the adapter. The 2m usb-c cable is removable, add it with the 1m (edit: 2m!) power cable and it is a further reach than any prior Mac laptop adapter I've had, though I suppose third party ones exist.

dmix 7y ago
You cant keep everyone happy and I personally love having 4 USB-c ports, with any one of them supporting power to the mac adapter (with any 3rd party cable). I have an external UCB-C 1TB M.2 and last night it transferred an entire 50gb directory of movies in <1-2 minutes to my MacBook Pro. Amazon sells USB-A to USB-C converters that’s the size of a tip of an old USB-A and they work great. I have 4 of them and use them less and less as more of my external products are USB-C. The 3rd party parts market always responds in kind, just don't be a first year adopter and you'll be fine. https://www.amazon.com/Syntech-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Compatible-MacBook/dp/B07CVX3516/ https://www.amazon.com/Syntech-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Compatibl...
- kawsper 7y ago
  I have used a converter like the one you are linking to, but they damage easily, instead I recommend one with a bit of wire, like the ones Anker sells: https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-usbc-to-usb-31-adapter/A8165011 https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-usbc-to-usb... (they are also available on Amazon).
lstamour 7y ago
USB-C has lots of advantages, but it took 2-3 dark years before we started seeing commonly available peripherals that take advantage of the built-in protocols such as driver-less USB-C Ethernet adapters. I think USB-C on the iPad Pro and various phones has done more to turn USB-C into a viable standard than putting it on the laptops, since pros would obviously prefer existing and new Thunderbolt devices to USB-C devices. They could have moved iPhone/iPad to USB-C and used the MFI program to encourage USB-C for three years there, while adding USB-C support in a backwards-compatible way to their existing laptops. I would have been happy if they simply left me an HDMI port. As much as I want AirPlay everywhere, it's only in 2019 that we can buy a TV with AirPlay and make truly wireless/dongle-less Mac connections possible, which was the dream with Miracast on Windows/Android and the reality for many years with Chromecast. Also, Magsafe might have come off easily, but every time it did, I went "oh, that is a nice feature!" I never once complained that I couldn't charge my laptop with it, the battery would die before the magsafe adapter would. Plus, why did Apple remove functionality from their power cords, forcing you to buy all the cables for the power cord separately? There were so many downgrades to the MacBook Pro, I wonder why I stuck with it... (Frankly, Windows was just that bad at the time. It's since improved, so maybe that'll light a fire under Apple a bit.)
- parasubvert 7y ago
  I found the Magsafe adapter cords would fray, corrode, and blacken pretty easily, becoming a fire hazard. Every Macbook I owned, I would need at least one replacement over a 3 year period. The amount of time taken to re-plugin it in vs. times it saved my laptop from flying, really it was an overrated feature. USB-C comes out easily enough. Don't get me wrong, I liked Magsafe. But I don't understand the passion for it, it had flaws and was a (nifty) minor feature.
  - EGreg 7y ago
    Apple is known for touting things that it ships like they’re the next sliced bread, and then promptly forgetting them or even saying the opposite: MagSafe: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2WknqkDzLTQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2WknqkDzLTQ Phones for single hand operation: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O99m7lebirE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O99m7lebirE Mac App Store: https://www.macworld.com/article/1160331/WWDC_mac_app_store.html https://www.macworld.com/article/1160331/WWDC_mac_app_store.... Steve Jobs used to constantly claim that Mac’s RISC processors were much faster than Intel, until the day Mac adopted Intel, then without blinking he said they are now much faster and never looked back. That is salesmanship on a large scale. I thought Steve Jobs was the king of spin (ie convincing people of bullshit) until I saw Donald Trump run for President, and realized that you unlock a whole other level when you do this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_oxZqD6wQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_oxZqD6wQ
hoorayimhelping 7y ago
I get the warm and fuzzy feeling USB-C gives nerds, cause of the open standard and interoperability, and cause it only takes one attempt to actually plug it in; but I just cannot fathom how Apple replaced Magsafe with USB-C. Magsafe was one of those magical Apple features from the mid 2000s that just delight and work incredibly well and almost seem like science fiction. It's not like they had shitty power adapters and USB-C was an upgrade. It was the Hofmeister Kink of Apple computers, and they got rid of it. I just do not understand at all.
- parasubvert 7y ago
  Magsafe adapters had quality issues. My company is all-Mac (3000 employees now), and you'd not believe the turnover of Magsafe power adapters frayed, blackened, corroding.
  - fleetingmoments 7y ago
    Exactly. USB C is so much better. Charging on either side and only replacing the cable and not the whole adapter if there is a connection issue.
    - fastball 7y ago
      You can have a MagSafe low voltage cable that is also removable from the adapter.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- ramphastidae 7y ago
  You don't understand because you haven't shifted your mindset about Apple correctly. As a former Apple fan I was the same way. Apple under Tim Cook is motivated by shareholder value, not usability or design leadership, as they were under Steve Jobs. They got rid of Magsafe and the rest of the useful ports and added USB-C not because of the warm and fuzzy feeling it gives nerds, but because it streamlines factory production and makes the laptop thinner. At some point Cook decided to shift their decision making from being driven by the power user's needs to being driven by the shareholder and average consumer (which is motivated more by marketing flourishes like thinner laptops and the Touch Bar than usability). Shareholders would likely applaud that. The point is that Apple is more Microsoft than Apple these days and we should shift our expectations as such.
pier25 7y ago
> They're obsolete. That is simply false. The biggest mice and keyboard manufacturers still ship with USB-A cables. Even Apple itself ships its mice and keyboards with USB-A cables.
- mdemare 7y ago
  Apple doesn’t sell any wired mice or keyboards AFAICT.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    The wireless keyboards and touchpads have a Lightning-to-USB-A cord, which can be plugged into the computer directly. Primarily for charging, but if you charge off the computer it'll use the wire instead of Bluetooth for typing.
    - Theodores 7y ago
      Do you know of any PC keyboards/mice that do this? I want to be able to do things in the BIOS so having a Bluetooth keyboard that charges and is functional over a mini USB adaptor would be really useful. Same with a mouse, Bluetooth is not always great but a mouse that did both wired and wireless would be neat. Even if this is only used once every six months when something goes wrong it would be nice to have. I prefer to use the same keyboard/mouse combo for all machines. Just having that full flexibility helps.
      - pier25 7y ago
        I don't know about keyboards, but my wireless Logitech mice that charge over USB can be used plugged while charging.
      - rrrazdan 7y ago
        All of them? At least every BT keyboard/mouse that I have used does this.
  - pier25 7y ago
ubermonkey 7y ago
I mostly agree -- I finally ordered a new rMBP last week -- but the most damning loss on the new laptops is the SD slot. I'll miss that A LOT.
- _asummers 7y ago
  Not saying it wasn't useful for you, but I've literally never once used my SD Card reader. Having the option for putting it in would be nice for customers like you, but I'm happy it's not there for my laptop.
  - bmurphy1976 7y ago
    Yeah it totally depends on your workflow. If you do a lot of photography (I do Drone photography) you need an SD-Card reader to get the raw images off of your drone. I have a dongle so it's no big deal, but I would love to have a micro-sd card slot in my MBP. It's the only dongle I use regularly.
  - ubermonkey 7y ago
    I get how you could not see it as useful, but I'm baffled by going all the way to being literally HAPPY it's not there. If it's there, and you don't use it, it doesn't cost you anything.
BurningFrog 7y ago
> Magsafe wasn't that great (comes off too easily) THAT IS THE ENTIRE GENIUS POINT!
- TomVDB 7y ago
  No, it's not. The first incarnation of the MagSafe connector was a bit harder to pull off and just right.
labcomputer 7y ago
> Also, on what planet did anyone have a Magsafe cord over 2m? It was fixed to the adapter. The 2m usb-c cable is removable, add it with the 1m power cable and it is a further reach than any prior Mac laptop adapter I've had, though I suppose third party ones exist. The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. I'm also confused why you seem to think that Apple couldn't engineer a low voltage cable with connectors at both ends. Wouldn't that solve the cable fraying issue mentioned in your other post? I see many people making the same argument as you: that USB-C is better because the cable is detachable from the power brick. Can you help me understand why you believe that Apple needed to move to USB-C to on the computer end in order to make a cable removable at the power supply end? Apple could have easily had the best of both worlds: Put a USB-C plug on the cable and USB-C receptacle on the power brick. Then put both USB-C and magsafe receptacles on the computer. The USB-C -> magsafe cable could either be included with the computer or sold as an optional extra.
- pcr910303 7y ago
  > The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. You can use the very detachable line-voltage cable on your Apple's 60W (or was it 80?) USB-C charger too. The cable is removable at the power supply end.
- Dunedan 7y ago
  > The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. Still the same with the USB-C power adapters, except that the detachable extension cord isn't included with new devices anymore. You can either use one from an old Mac, buy one from Apple (with the usual Apple-tax (https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK122LL/A/power-adapter-extension-cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK122LL/A/power-adapter-e...), or get a cheap third-party one (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=apple+power+adapter+extension+cable https://www.amazon.com/s?k=apple+power+adapter+extension+cab...).
starsinspace 7y ago
> Moving back to older USB ports really would make no sense. They're obsolete. I sure wish I could join you in the year 2030 where USB-C is everywhere, but unfortunately I’m stuck here in 2019 and USB-A is still the de-facto standard on just about everything. It’s nice to design a product to be forward-looking and adopting standards early when it’s foreseeable that they will soon become big. Like the Mac mini 2018, with its 4x USB-C and 2x USB-A. Got the future ports, but also the still-current ports. Awesome! But designing a product with USB-C only, for a future that is many years away, is pretty stupid, it just makes the product inferior and inconvenient in the here-and-now.
- welly 7y ago
  You can get USB-C monitors, external hard drives, most modern phones connect via USB-C. What else do you need? Bluetooth fills in the gaps for things like external keyboards and mice and most modern printers can be connected to via wifi. I appreciate my needs/requirements are not everyones but USB-C isn't exactly elusive these days.
  - starsinspace 7y ago
    Sure, if I throw away all the USB-A things I have and start over now... but that would be quite a waste. Also, try to find a true USB-C hub. With that I mean a box with one upstream USB-C input and several (>= 3) USB-C downstream ports. As far as I can tell, such products still do not exist. There are many USB-C-docks with USB-C input, various other downstream ports, and sometimes an additional USB-C port which is power-delivery-only, with no data connection. I have only found one such product at all, but it fits the description just barely: Belkin has a USB-C-hub, but with only 2 USB-C downstream ports, and only supporting 5Gbps and no Alt-DP-Mode on any of the ports.
    - welly 7y ago
      Do you still hang onto that old VCR because DVD players won't play your tapes and it'd be a waste to throw that VCR away? At some point we have to upgrade if we want to stay current. This is the same with any technology, not just USB-C.
inlined 7y ago
Honestly I think the touchbar is for Apple’s original constituents: creatives. I don’t use it when doing software development, but it’s amazing when I’m going through scuba movies. I can scrub through videos to get the perfect frame for my subject, which is especially nice since I have one of a creature none of my friends can identify. Only through scrubbing did I catch that two frames revealed a distinctive blue sheen on part of its black bands under a dive light.
bmurphy1976 7y ago
I agree that the laptop is great. Personally I love the USB-C ports and don't miss the magsafe. I bought plenty of cables for all my devices (i.e. usb-c to micro usb) so I'm not caught in dongle hell. The only reason I miss the USB-A port is I can't find a wireless mouse with a low-profile USB-C wifi adapter. Bluetooth mice kinda suck and the ones that do exist have annoyingly large adapters right now. That keyboard though, nearly ruins everything, I can't stand it. This is both the absolute best and absolute worst laptop I've ever owned.
- loxs 7y ago
  I have a Logitech MX Master 2S and it's actually gorgeous over Bluetooth. At least for work, haven't tried gaming.
  - bmurphy1976 7y ago
    I do have a bluetooth mouse although it's not a Logitech. It works ok. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody but it gets the job done. Maybe I should give a Logitech BT mouse a try. I've been holding out waiting for Logitech to release a mouse with a USB-C adapter but they don't seem to want my money.
gxx 7y ago
For years I've been buying "Snuglets" and using them on my magsafe connectors to make them more secure. http://www.snuglet.com/ http://www.snuglet.com/ They are a cool little product making the cable less easy to pull out but still able to come out if pulled a bit harder. On probably a total of eight or more Macbooks over the years I've never had the cable pull the jack too hard or have the cable break. Highly recommended...
YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
true fanboi right here. i admire the passion tho
screye 7y ago
Apart from the OS, hardware wise there are quite a few laptops that are better pound-for-pound. The XPS and Huawei MatebookX pro seem to be better in every way, with the polish that is expected of Apple products. Think pads cater to a different market, but have all the same bells and whistles too. The XPS and Thinkpads have great linux support, so it helps bridge the OS downsides to a certain extent.
- gurkendoktor 7y ago
  The XPS 15 looks fantastic in theory. Great ports, high resolution, Linux support, there's even an Intel-only Precision model so I wouldn't have to deal with Nvidia drivers. But every time the XPS line is refreshed, people confirm that there are still issues with coil whine. It baffles me that this issue hasn't been fixed in all these years.

dmix 7y ago

You cant keep everyone happy and I personally love having 4 USB-c ports, with any one of them supporting power to the mac adapter (with any 3rd party cable). I have an external UCB-C 1TB M.2 and last night it transferred an entire 50gb directory of movies in <1-2 minutes to my MacBook Pro. Amazon sells USB-A to USB-C converters that’s the size of a tip of an old USB-A and they work great. I have 4 of them and use them less and less as more of my external products are USB-C. The 3rd party parts market always responds in kind, just don't be a first year adopter and you'll be fine. https://www.amazon.com/Syntech-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Compatible-MacBook/dp/B07CVX3516/ https://www.amazon.com/Syntech-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Compatibl...

kawsper 7y ago
I have used a converter like the one you are linking to, but they damage easily, instead I recommend one with a bit of wire, like the ones Anker sells: https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-usbc-to-usb-31-adapter/A8165011 https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerline-usbc-to-usb... (they are also available on Amazon).

lstamour 7y ago

USB-C has lots of advantages, but it took 2-3 dark years before we started seeing commonly available peripherals that take advantage of the built-in protocols such as driver-less USB-C Ethernet adapters. I think USB-C on the iPad Pro and various phones has done more to turn USB-C into a viable standard than putting it on the laptops, since pros would obviously prefer existing and new Thunderbolt devices to USB-C devices. They could have moved iPhone/iPad to USB-C and used the MFI program to encourage USB-C for three years there, while adding USB-C support in a backwards-compatible way to their existing laptops. I would have been happy if they simply left me an HDMI port. As much as I want AirPlay everywhere, it's only in 2019 that we can buy a TV with AirPlay and make truly wireless/dongle-less Mac connections possible, which was the dream with Miracast on Windows/Android and the reality for many years with Chromecast. Also, Magsafe might have come off easily, but every time it did, I went "oh, that is a nice feature!" I never once complained that I couldn't charge my laptop with it, the battery would die before the magsafe adapter would. Plus, why did Apple remove functionality from their power cords, forcing you to buy all the cables for the power cord separately? There were so many downgrades to the MacBook Pro, I wonder why I stuck with it... (Frankly, Windows was just that bad at the time. It's since improved, so maybe that'll light a fire under Apple a bit.)

parasubvert 7y ago
I found the Magsafe adapter cords would fray, corrode, and blacken pretty easily, becoming a fire hazard. Every Macbook I owned, I would need at least one replacement over a 3 year period. The amount of time taken to re-plugin it in vs. times it saved my laptop from flying, really it was an overrated feature. USB-C comes out easily enough. Don't get me wrong, I liked Magsafe. But I don't understand the passion for it, it had flaws and was a (nifty) minor feature.
- EGreg 7y ago
  Apple is known for touting things that it ships like they’re the next sliced bread, and then promptly forgetting them or even saying the opposite: MagSafe: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2WknqkDzLTQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2WknqkDzLTQ Phones for single hand operation: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O99m7lebirE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O99m7lebirE Mac App Store: https://www.macworld.com/article/1160331/WWDC_mac_app_store.html https://www.macworld.com/article/1160331/WWDC_mac_app_store.... Steve Jobs used to constantly claim that Mac’s RISC processors were much faster than Intel, until the day Mac adopted Intel, then without blinking he said they are now much faster and never looked back. That is salesmanship on a large scale. I thought Steve Jobs was the king of spin (ie convincing people of bullshit) until I saw Donald Trump run for President, and realized that you unlock a whole other level when you do this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_oxZqD6wQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_oxZqD6wQ

hoorayimhelping 7y ago

I get the warm and fuzzy feeling USB-C gives nerds, cause of the open standard and interoperability, and cause it only takes one attempt to actually plug it in; but I just cannot fathom how Apple replaced Magsafe with USB-C. Magsafe was one of those magical Apple features from the mid 2000s that just delight and work incredibly well and almost seem like science fiction. It's not like they had shitty power adapters and USB-C was an upgrade. It was the Hofmeister Kink of Apple computers, and they got rid of it. I just do not understand at all.

parasubvert 7y ago
Magsafe adapters had quality issues. My company is all-Mac (3000 employees now), and you'd not believe the turnover of Magsafe power adapters frayed, blackened, corroding.
- fleetingmoments 7y ago
  Exactly. USB C is so much better. Charging on either side and only replacing the cable and not the whole adapter if there is a connection issue.
  - fastball 7y ago
    You can have a MagSafe low voltage cable that is also removable from the adapter.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
ramphastidae 7y ago
You don't understand because you haven't shifted your mindset about Apple correctly. As a former Apple fan I was the same way. Apple under Tim Cook is motivated by shareholder value, not usability or design leadership, as they were under Steve Jobs. They got rid of Magsafe and the rest of the useful ports and added USB-C not because of the warm and fuzzy feeling it gives nerds, but because it streamlines factory production and makes the laptop thinner. At some point Cook decided to shift their decision making from being driven by the power user's needs to being driven by the shareholder and average consumer (which is motivated more by marketing flourishes like thinner laptops and the Touch Bar than usability). Shareholders would likely applaud that. The point is that Apple is more Microsoft than Apple these days and we should shift our expectations as such.

pier25 7y ago

> They're obsolete. That is simply false. The biggest mice and keyboard manufacturers still ship with USB-A cables. Even Apple itself ships its mice and keyboards with USB-A cables.

mdemare 7y ago
Apple doesn’t sell any wired mice or keyboards AFAICT.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  The wireless keyboards and touchpads have a Lightning-to-USB-A cord, which can be plugged into the computer directly. Primarily for charging, but if you charge off the computer it'll use the wire instead of Bluetooth for typing.
  - Theodores 7y ago
    Do you know of any PC keyboards/mice that do this? I want to be able to do things in the BIOS so having a Bluetooth keyboard that charges and is functional over a mini USB adaptor would be really useful. Same with a mouse, Bluetooth is not always great but a mouse that did both wired and wireless would be neat. Even if this is only used once every six months when something goes wrong it would be nice to have. I prefer to use the same keyboard/mouse combo for all machines. Just having that full flexibility helps.
    - pier25 7y ago
      I don't know about keyboards, but my wireless Logitech mice that charge over USB can be used plugged while charging.
    - rrrazdan 7y ago
      All of them? At least every BT keyboard/mouse that I have used does this.
- pier25 7y ago

ubermonkey 7y ago

I mostly agree -- I finally ordered a new rMBP last week -- but the most damning loss on the new laptops is the SD slot. I'll miss that A LOT.

_asummers 7y ago
Not saying it wasn't useful for you, but I've literally never once used my SD Card reader. Having the option for putting it in would be nice for customers like you, but I'm happy it's not there for my laptop.
- bmurphy1976 7y ago
  Yeah it totally depends on your workflow. If you do a lot of photography (I do Drone photography) you need an SD-Card reader to get the raw images off of your drone. I have a dongle so it's no big deal, but I would love to have a micro-sd card slot in my MBP. It's the only dongle I use regularly.
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  I get how you could not see it as useful, but I'm baffled by going all the way to being literally HAPPY it's not there. If it's there, and you don't use it, it doesn't cost you anything.

BurningFrog 7y ago

> Magsafe wasn't that great (comes off too easily) THAT IS THE ENTIRE GENIUS POINT!

TomVDB 7y ago
No, it's not. The first incarnation of the MagSafe connector was a bit harder to pull off and just right.

labcomputer 7y ago

> Also, on what planet did anyone have a Magsafe cord over 2m? It was fixed to the adapter. The 2m usb-c cable is removable, add it with the 1m power cable and it is a further reach than any prior Mac laptop adapter I've had, though I suppose third party ones exist. The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. I'm also confused why you seem to think that Apple couldn't engineer a low voltage cable with connectors at both ends. Wouldn't that solve the cable fraying issue mentioned in your other post? I see many people making the same argument as you: that USB-C is better because the cable is detachable from the power brick. Can you help me understand why you believe that Apple needed to move to USB-C to on the computer end in order to make a cable removable at the power supply end? Apple could have easily had the best of both worlds: Put a USB-C plug on the cable and USB-C receptacle on the power brick. Then put both USB-C and magsafe receptacles on the computer. The USB-C -> magsafe cable could either be included with the computer or sold as an optional extra.

pcr910303 7y ago
> The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. You can use the very detachable line-voltage cable on your Apple's 60W (or was it 80?) USB-C charger too. The cable is removable at the power supply end.
Dunedan 7y ago
> The power brick had a 2m detachable line-voltage cable, and fixed 2m low voltage cable. 2 + 2 = 4. I can sit 4m from the wall and charge using only the power adapter that came with the computer. Still the same with the USB-C power adapters, except that the detachable extension cord isn't included with new devices anymore. You can either use one from an old Mac, buy one from Apple (with the usual Apple-tax (https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK122LL/A/power-adapter-extension-cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK122LL/A/power-adapter-e...), or get a cheap third-party one (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=apple+power+adapter+extension+cable https://www.amazon.com/s?k=apple+power+adapter+extension+cab...).

starsinspace 7y ago

> Moving back to older USB ports really would make no sense. They're obsolete. I sure wish I could join you in the year 2030 where USB-C is everywhere, but unfortunately I’m stuck here in 2019 and USB-A is still the de-facto standard on just about everything. It’s nice to design a product to be forward-looking and adopting standards early when it’s foreseeable that they will soon become big. Like the Mac mini 2018, with its 4x USB-C and 2x USB-A. Got the future ports, but also the still-current ports. Awesome! But designing a product with USB-C only, for a future that is many years away, is pretty stupid, it just makes the product inferior and inconvenient in the here-and-now.

welly 7y ago
You can get USB-C monitors, external hard drives, most modern phones connect via USB-C. What else do you need? Bluetooth fills in the gaps for things like external keyboards and mice and most modern printers can be connected to via wifi. I appreciate my needs/requirements are not everyones but USB-C isn't exactly elusive these days.
- starsinspace 7y ago
  Sure, if I throw away all the USB-A things I have and start over now... but that would be quite a waste. Also, try to find a true USB-C hub. With that I mean a box with one upstream USB-C input and several (>= 3) USB-C downstream ports. As far as I can tell, such products still do not exist. There are many USB-C-docks with USB-C input, various other downstream ports, and sometimes an additional USB-C port which is power-delivery-only, with no data connection. I have only found one such product at all, but it fits the description just barely: Belkin has a USB-C-hub, but with only 2 USB-C downstream ports, and only supporting 5Gbps and no Alt-DP-Mode on any of the ports.
  - welly 7y ago
    Do you still hang onto that old VCR because DVD players won't play your tapes and it'd be a waste to throw that VCR away? At some point we have to upgrade if we want to stay current. This is the same with any technology, not just USB-C.

inlined 7y ago

Honestly I think the touchbar is for Apple’s original constituents: creatives. I don’t use it when doing software development, but it’s amazing when I’m going through scuba movies. I can scrub through videos to get the perfect frame for my subject, which is especially nice since I have one of a creature none of my friends can identify. Only through scrubbing did I catch that two frames revealed a distinctive blue sheen on part of its black bands under a dive light.

bmurphy1976 7y ago

I agree that the laptop is great. Personally I love the USB-C ports and don't miss the magsafe. I bought plenty of cables for all my devices (i.e. usb-c to micro usb) so I'm not caught in dongle hell. The only reason I miss the USB-A port is I can't find a wireless mouse with a low-profile USB-C wifi adapter. Bluetooth mice kinda suck and the ones that do exist have annoyingly large adapters right now. That keyboard though, nearly ruins everything, I can't stand it. This is both the absolute best and absolute worst laptop I've ever owned.

loxs 7y ago
I have a Logitech MX Master 2S and it's actually gorgeous over Bluetooth. At least for work, haven't tried gaming.
- bmurphy1976 7y ago
  I do have a bluetooth mouse although it's not a Logitech. It works ok. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody but it gets the job done. Maybe I should give a Logitech BT mouse a try. I've been holding out waiting for Logitech to release a mouse with a USB-C adapter but they don't seem to want my money.

gxx 7y ago

For years I've been buying "Snuglets" and using them on my magsafe connectors to make them more secure. http://www.snuglet.com/ http://www.snuglet.com/ They are a cool little product making the cable less easy to pull out but still able to come out if pulled a bit harder. On probably a total of eight or more Macbooks over the years I've never had the cable pull the jack too hard or have the cable break. Highly recommended...

YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago

true fanboi right here. i admire the passion tho

screye 7y ago

Apart from the OS, hardware wise there are quite a few laptops that are better pound-for-pound. The XPS and Huawei MatebookX pro seem to be better in every way, with the polish that is expected of Apple products. Think pads cater to a different market, but have all the same bells and whistles too. The XPS and Thinkpads have great linux support, so it helps bridge the OS downsides to a certain extent.

gurkendoktor 7y ago
The XPS 15 looks fantastic in theory. Great ports, high resolution, Linux support, there's even an Intel-only Precision model so I wouldn't have to deal with Nvidia drivers. But every time the XPS line is refreshed, people confirm that there are still issues with coil whine. It baffles me that this issue hasn't been fixed in all these years.