19 ms·

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports,

• riffraff 6y ago
  They could put the magnet as an end of a usb cable. You would still use the same brick, and just plug a different cable if you want to charge a different device. Seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.
  • rozab 6y ago
    That would just defeat the point of having USB-C charging. Only the one proprietary cable would stay in the port.
• Brajeshwar 6y ago
  May I suggest a little different look at the use of SD Card slot on your MacBook (Pro). About 5 years back, I had one of those SD Drive stick-in for MacBook Pro that stays there. There were few (Nifty Drive, MiniDrive, etc). The primary use I see are; 1. Have a clone backup of your primary drive. (Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, Time Machine). 2. Have an extra storage handy for a rather economical price without lugging around an extra drive.
  • crossroadsguy 6y ago
    I am always amazed at how people do not even think of this excellent use-case (let alone use it). This is something I have always loved in laptops and have used. Besides that card is barely even visible unlike a pen drive or a hard disk. It just stays there subtly. I was also planning to have a bootable Linux on one of those, but I never got around to actually doing that. Now that my 2012 MBA's flash storage is dead (and here in India either I can't find replacement, or repair shops are asking for half a kidney) I will see if I can actually use a card instead.
    • violetgarden 6y ago
      Oh good idea! Bootable Linux would be so handy.
    • totalZero 6y ago
      Probably because carrying your backup inside of your device is a horrible way to preserve your media in the event that the device is lost or stolen.
      • Brajeshwar 6y ago
        My suggestion was one of the convenient tips of the proverbial iceberg in the world of backups and redundancies. Today, I'd be astonished if one lost their devices and loses any data along with it. Personally, all my devices are endpoints or tools. For instance, if I lost my phone, it will take me a few hours or a day/two at best to get back to where I was. The same goes for my other devices (desktops, laptops). In the most critical situation, say, I lost my phone while traveling, but lucky my wife's phone is in-tact, I can pick up hers and go through my contacts (we sync our contacts two ways). I can then login to anything anywhere by getting to her Password Manager, which fortunately has a copy of mine. I might need to ask her to authenticate it for me. I strongly feel that one should have a pattern and system of redundancies and be independent of the devices one uses. I'm still discovering and learning a lot; not yet the best, but I'm happy I started quite a while back.
      • crossroadsguy 6y ago
• genuine_smiles 6y ago
  Is any of this controversial?
• manmal 6y ago
  Do you take photos or videos with a camera other than an iDevice? I do, and I have to use a dongle every time to transfer data. Those wifi SD cards are a joke. I agree that they should not remove USB-C charging. People by now have powerbanks, or USB-C ports in their car that would stop working. However, my daily driver still is the 87W charger that came with the MBP, for the simple reason that it’s the fastest option to charge. I‘d be glad if they switched that to MagSafe - just yesterday, one of my kids almost pulled the MBP from a table while I was looking away.
  • tornato7 6y ago
    My camera, like many modern ones, has USB-C and can transfer photos over Wi-Fi, so I find it pretty convenient to connect to a Mac.
    • MrRiddle 6y ago
      Some, but not most. And cameras have a lot longer life than other tech, so my guess would be that 99% of cameras in use don’t have the ability to connect via USB-C.
      • mbirth 6y ago
        Just permanently stick a tiny USB-A to USB-C adapter on the cable and they instantly do have the ability to connect via USB-C. It's that easy!
        • cpcallen 6y ago
          I haven't directly connected my camera to a computer in over a decade. Card comes out of the camera and goes in the SD card slot on the laptop. So much easier and less fiddly.
        • MrRiddle 6y ago
          But why? Why does it make sense to someone to remove SD card slot?
    • 6y ago
• guidedlight 6y ago
  Amazon has a bunch of magnetic USB-C adapters that are designed for MBP’s, that add the MagSafe functionality into existing USB-C ports. I haven’t tried one, but they look like an adequate middle ground.
  • plussed_reader 6y ago
    Unless you have other things routed besides power through the bus.
    • guidedlight 6y ago
      Why wouldn’t it work for data as well?
      • eyelidlessness 6y ago
        Power delivery is amenable to magnetic plugs but they don’t meet the standards for data.
    • theodric 6y ago
      24-pin ones that accommodate even Thunderbolt are available
      • osamagirl69 6y ago
        It is somewhat anecdotal, but I had one of those and it blew out 2 usb-c docks. The first one went kaput about a month after I started using the magnetic adapter and I chocked it up to bad luck. The replacement fried about a week later and I put 2+2 to together and removed the adapter and haven't had any trouble over the last ~1 year. All I can say is that I am glad it was the dock that fried not any of the laptops that use it... That all said, it was pretty glorious when it worked -- a single magnetic cable that did dual 4k monitors, charging, videoconf setup, network, license dongles, etc
        • avianlyric 6y ago
• theodric 6y ago
  My shitty Surface happily charges by its USB-C or proprietary port. It also has a USB-A port, which is mighty handy for plugging in Plantronics dongles. I'll be glad to have the same possibilities on a MacBook.
• coldtea 6y ago
  >I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. I'm on the same side, though I wouldn't mind one-two USB-A ports added for when I'm on the go in a hurry without a USB-C/A cable. Or the addition of some smart "mag-safe but still usable USB-C port" combo. But given the complaints from the "moar ports" side and the complaints from the "USB-C all the things" side, one thing is clear: There's no pleasing some people, there's doubly so not pleasing all the people, and Apple has to make its choices and be done with it. That said, while I believed in the initial promise of the touchbar (especially for specialty apps like DAWs, NLEs, etc), I welcome its removal now, and I think most do. The one improvement I could see to make it workable would be a full keyboard with separate, tactile keys (the same as we have now) but with changebale legends/colors. That would make learning shortcuts in new apps etc or customizing key behavior very nice. It will also enabled on the fly switch to different keyboard layouts (e.g. from foreign language like AZERTY to Dvorak) complete with key legends.
  • smichel17 6y ago
    > one thing is clear: ... Apple has to make its choices and be done with it. It is not clear to me why Apple cannot sell a small handful of models. Two otherwise identical machines, one all-in on usb-c, the other with a mix of ports.
    • DennisP 6y ago
      Maybe MacBook Pro with all the ports, MacBook without.
    • coldtea 6y ago
      >It is not clear to me why Apple cannot sell a small handful of models. Two otherwise identical machines, one all-in on usb-c, the other with a mix of ports. No technical reason, that's just not how Apple rolls. If they do that, they do it with 2 different models (where the lack/presense of some feature makes sense based on the target market, e.g. college students), not with two otherwise identical models.
• tomjen3 6y ago
  I should point out first that I don't believe these rumors are correct. But I need an SD card reader all the time, my camera and my field recorder both use them and it makes it super simple to transfer data - without having to carry an extra cable. I don't see why a device that claims it is aimed at professionals (especially creative professionals) could justify omitting it. My solution is a dongle, but as you say, then you have to travel with an extra cable.
  • chrisseaton 6y ago
    > But I need an SD card reader all the time Ok, but I never need one for my profession so I don't want the port. Which one of us gets it the way we want it? We both can't have it our way. They went for people who want to use it are the ones to use a dongle, which seems fair to me - the person who wants it pays for it.
    • tomjen3 6y ago
      It is Apple we are talking about, we are already overpaying for stuff, the port is thin enough and will cost epsilon at scale so you lose nothing and may even find it useful in the future.
• johnwalkr 6y ago
  Same here. I like the touch bar but unless they find a way to make it feasible on a Bluetooth magic keyboard, I’d rather have no touch bar for consistency. If they are going to kill it they should have killed it with the first M1 MacBooks. I’m also all in on USB-c (even my shaver uses it for charging) and don’t miss MagSafe at all. Charging from either side is surprisingly handy. One charger for everything is a traveling game changer. $50 worth of charger and dongles has a permanent spot in my luggage. Hopefully MagSafe in this case means wireless iPhone charging. I just don’t need MagSafe power in. I especially don’t need it now that the battery life is so long. I charge at my desk and if I use my MacBook somewhere else I don’t even take a charger with me. That being said I wouldn’t mind one USB-a and one HDMI port. Since the rumour is for a less rounded design I guess the edge thickness may be enough to easily support those.
  • mbirth 6y ago
    If you use an iPad as a sidecar, there's a touchbar there. However, that touchbar only works for apps you've moved onto the sidecar display for some reason.
  • solarkraft 6y ago
    > Hopefully MagSafe in this case means wireless iPhone charging That would require a massive change, since you can't transmit power through metal. I can't really see the top surface being made out of glass, thus the only other place for charging would be the touchpad.
    • varjag 6y ago
      You can transmit power through non-ferrous metals.
      • totalZero 6y ago
        Even a non-ferrous metal can interfere with electromagnetic fields (try dropping a cylindrical neodymium magnet down a copper tube if you don't believe me). There exist some wireless charging methods that aren't affected by metallic enclosures, but that's not true for all wireless charging in general.
• lovelyviking 6y ago
  >However vast majority of the time I use external keyboard+trackpad+monitor ... > one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter How those two work together? Do you take external monitor , trackpad and keyboard with you ? It looks like most of the time you are not using your laptop as a laptop, when you need everything on the go and you wish to be prepared for diff scenarios. Then you wish laptop as much packed as possible and preferably nothing else, so you would avoid caring many dongles with you.
  • KptMarchewa 6y ago
    You can have your stuff in many places, and travel between them. I have monitors and keyboards in my home, my office and my parents home.
    • lovelyviking 6y ago
      Sure, it’s just you do not use ‘laptop abilities’ too much in such scenario compared to fully mobile setup. That’s why you have no need for many mobile requirements that only laptop can deliver.
• BlackVanilla 6y ago
  I love this and have considered doing it myself. However, what worries me is whether using a single power adapter will shorten the life of devices which require different levels of wattage. Sure you can use the same USB-C cable, but the benefit is largely diminished if you have to carry a bunch of different power adapters for each device's unique wattage. Or am I worrying about this unnecessarily?
  • zenexer 6y ago
    Just carry around a first-party Apple charger that matches the highest draw among your devices. Using a higher-rated charger won’t hurt anything.
    • ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
      I used to carry around a 60W adapter, even though I had a device that required an 80W adapter. The reason was airplane seats. They have a breaker that flips at 75W. I wouldn't get fast charging with the 60W adapter, but I wouldn't run out of juice on a 14-hour flight.
  • davidrm 6y ago
    It’s not a concern, the more powerful the charger, the better. The devices that are being powered are the ones controlling the charging, the charging brick will derate itself if devices demand more than it can handle. It might hurt the brick, it will get hot or perhaps noisy if it’s a cheaper one. It’s like openning every single faucet at your house, as long as the pressure and flow at the source are ok, the faucets will output the same as in any other case, otherwise each faucet will “slow down”.
    • BlackVanilla 6y ago
      Thanks for this. Would that "slowing down" harm the device though? Obviously, I should err on the side of higher wattage, but if the power adapter provides lower wattage than is required, would that harm the device?
• AndriyKunitsyn 6y ago
  What is “unnecessary feature bloat”? Do you think something like “gosh, I _hate_ all these additional ports” about MBP 2015? There’s a reason it is still holds (not much, but) some value on second-hand market.
  • aphextron 6y ago
    > There’s a reason it is still holds (not much, but) some value on second-hand market. Not much? A base model 15" 2015 RMBP is still easily $800+ on eBay. Unheard of for a 6 year old laptop.
    • agumonkey 6y ago
      Yeah that's the price of a mid level 2020 laptop methinks
  • ghaff 6y ago
    They did hit a sweet spot with the MBP 2015. They did have to replace my screen under a special warranty program for manufacturing defects but it's still a perfectly fine laptop I use all the time. It's a bit on the heavier side for travel and I'm sure its battery life is not what it was--and was never super in the first place. I'll almost certainly get an Apple Silicon laptop at some point but I'm not in any rush especially at a time when I'm not traveling.
  • Terretta 6y ago
    I do hate the extra ports when at the beach. It’s easy enough to find usb-c rubber gaskets to keep sea salt air out, but not for arbitrary ports or slots. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BPNBNJ5/ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BPNBNJ5/
    • dunmalg 6y ago
      On the list of most marginally relevant edge cases, I think "beach proof design" ranks pretty high.
• augstein 6y ago
  If you really want or need MagSafe, as I do, you can have it with USB-C only Macs too. There are many magnetic adapters you can buy, the good ones working better than the original MagSafe 2, which easily fell off when using MacBooks on your Lap, due to the connector being T shaped (instead of MagSafe 1 being L shaped, which worked great). I also hope they don‘t bring back SD card readers and big clunky HDMI ports into the MacBook lineup, potentially reducing the amount of USB-C ports and making some models thicker.
  • skohan 6y ago
    I hope they don't bring back USB-A, but the SD card slot and hdmi have been sorely missed. If you do anything with photography, being able to just plug the card directly into your laptop makes a world of difference. Same thing with walking into any meeting and already knowing you'll be able to plug into a projector if needed, without having to run out and grab a dongle.
    • dtech 6y ago
      Others never use SD and have a USB-C to A dongle permanently plugged in (me). The ideal exact connectors probably differ a lot per person, and at least USB-C+Thunderbolt can support everything. HDMI is probably the least controversial, although there will also be people who never connect external displays.
      • codetrotter 6y ago
        > The ideal exact connectors probably differ a lot per person Agreed. All I really need is more USB-C ports. Both my current MacBook Air and my upcoming MacBook Pro have only two USB-C ports and I don’t understand why they didn’t make them with four USB-C ports.
        • justincormack 6y ago
          Its limited by CPU PCI connectors, adding more ports needs a lot more bandwidth, uses more power and needs more pins. The low end models are not expected to have these, but the larger more power hungry ones will.
• pharmakom 6y ago
  If Apple can make a Magsafe cable for USB C that would be the best of both worlds. (I know third parties have made them but Apple would probably do a better implementation) I also can't wait for the removal of the Touchbar. This prevented me from buying previous Macbooks because it was just one compromise too far for such an expensive machine. Is this Apple's "Coke Classic" moment?
  • Symbiote 6y ago
    Doesn't Apple generally make worse cables than the competition? It is very rare for a PC laptop power cable to break. There's a rubber grommet which protects the cable as it enters the plug from extreme and repeated bending. For supposed aesthetics, Apple don't include this, and their cables fray easily. (This is based on my experience managing hardware for a small organization, <50 staff. After about 5 years, Apple laptops come back with damage to the shiny screen from rubbing against the keyboard, and usually a wrecked power supply cable. Sometimes we have to replace the PSU within the 5 years. The rest of the laptop is usually in good condition, i.e. the case, keyboard, ports. Dell/HP/Lenovo/etc business laptops come back with the cables in good condition, the matt screens suffer less even with similar keyboard marks, but the cases usually look a bit scruffy. Depending on usage, we might have replaced the battery after ~3 years, which is either easily done by the user, or takes 5 minutes with a normal screwdriver to remove the back case.)
    • jooize 6y ago
      Apple's cables are bad. Never been a problem for me because I take care of them, but people shouldn't have to be as careful as I am.
    • varjag 6y ago
      Very rare? Come on. I still have that Dell somewhere which had cable frayed right where its stress relief mold ended.
      • dunmalg 6y ago
        "rare" != "unique" I have a stack of old laptops 2 feet high, and my old Dell that frayed at the strain relief is the only one whose cable crapped out.
• ofou 6y ago
  The problem with the TouchBar is that it disrupt the flow of attention towards the keys. The cool thing about having just ONE screen is that you can forget about looking your fingers because the content is fixed (not dynamic) and therefore can be internalized. The TB doesn't solve any problem, and by the way, it created a UX's hiccup because: Attention is limited. Focus is limited. Flow is limited. Don't break that Apple.
  • mojuba 6y ago
    Agreed but let's also give credit to Apple for trying to innovate. The TouchBar wasn't a bad idea just that it probably wasn't tested thoroughly with all types of users. It more seems like a "I think everyone's going to love it" kind of a designer's idea. Anyway, would happily buy a model without it.
    • freedomben 6y ago
      Lenovo did the same thing years before apple with the X1 carbon gen II. It was a disaster and got removed from later models (thank God).
    • ofou 6y ago
      Yup, they tried. It's not something to blame them for but I don't think it was a good idea to have a dynamic touch screen at your fingers when you're supposed to be watching your screen to interface. The TouchBar breaks everything about Typing that has existed for decades now.
• jcelerier 6y ago
  > so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. you mean one-cable-plus-12-50€-adapters right ? ffs most projectors are still VGA
• sradman 6y ago
  > There are a few things about the TouchBar I do like -- eg, having a custom one-touch screen lock button that's always present. The trackpad preferences allows one or more corners to be assigned to locking the screen. One swipe away works well.
• matwood 6y ago
  I agree and also don't see a need to go back. As what always happens with these rumors, people filter it through the lens they want. Already mentioned elsewhere, MagSafe could just mean there will be a charger for the iPhone in handset portion of the new MBP. Ports can also mean a lot of things, even releasing an Apple branded dock of some sort. Imagine a branded dock that you just set the MBP on and it charges and has a bunch of ports that can be used? That is much more Applely than adding usb-a back. The Touch Bar has been on life support for awhile. When Apple never released a version for the desktop, they relegated it to a niche feature regardless of how useful it could have been.
• sneak 6y ago
  Anyone who shoots photos or videos on a real camera uses SD cards near-constantly. It wouldn't affect your not using the port for them to include it. Adding magsafe doesn't mean not supporting usb-c charging, or removing any usb-c ports. Your take obviously isn't that controversial: the maker of the best laptops in the world agrees with you, or at least they did at one time.
  • dividedbyzero 6y ago
    It's really annoying though that I still have to stick SD cards into readers; my Fuji X-T4 doesn't support acting as a proper SD card reader and CaptureOne 20 can't fetch images off camera devices ... meanwhile the camera is plugged in for USB-C charging anyway...
    • novok 6y ago
      It sucks that camera manufacturers don't do basic shit half the time like act like an SD card reader when plugged in, or use USB 3 speeds vs save $3 by making their interface USB 2 speed vs USB 3.
  • vinay427 6y ago
    > the maker of the best laptops in the world agrees with you Who exactly would that be in your opinion?
  • muro 6y ago
    I wish. Nikon uses XQD
• m463 6y ago
  An extra port is not inconvenient - you just won't use it. A missing port is SUPER inconvenient. Can't tell you how annoying it is to require a USB-A dongle or adapter, same with HDMI.
  • rbanffy 6y ago
    The extra port competes with USB-C. If Apple wants to make USB-C more valuable to users, they must ensure companies make more products for it and, therefore, remove such redundant ports. I have an HDMI monitor connected to my MacBook via a USB-C to HDMI/USB dongle, which also charges the computer, keyboard and trackpad, and another another via a UDB-C to DisplayPort cable. I've been using my SDcard based camera less and less, both because my phones got much better and because they are much smaller. With an iPhone, which is a pretty decent camera, everything happens transparently and all my photos are automagically imported. A reasonable docking station/port extender is small and has all those ports. I keep one in my backpack (even though I used it like once while traveling). I really prefer it this way. I'd also love if Apple went back into making monitors that could charge my Mac and offer plenty of rarely used ports on its back.
    • heelix 6y ago
      There just are not enough ports on the pro laptops. 3 usable USB-c (monitor, monitor, keyboard/mouse/sdcard/network/legacy dock) and power. Docking stations only go so far as high resolution monitor/power passthrough and for those of use who end up using those features daily, our machines look like they were blessed by the flying spaghettis monster. 2-3 more USB-c ports would be a boon. Even freeing up one extra with a maglock power connector would be lovely. I catch my Bride doing her photography workflow on her old, replaced macbook because it has the sdcard handy, she won't mess with the rat's nest in her office, and lord knows where the half a dozen dongles went.
    • minikites 6y ago
      >The extra port competes with USB-C. If Apple wants to make USB-C more valuable to users, they must ensure companies make more products for it and, therefore, remove such redundant ports. The userbase of all tech products is too big for this to be reasonable now. This attitude was only successful during a time when fewer people overall each owned fewer devices individually. USB-A won and it will be around forever. HDMI won and it will be around forever.
• gsich 6y ago
  Why not both. Allow Magsafe charging and USB-C, have USB-A ports/HDMI as well as USB-C. There is no space constraint on the devices. Most of the edge is unpopulated.
• anthonyaykut 6y ago
  I’m in the market for a reliable single 2xUSB-C power brick — could I ask which one you’re using?
  • gorbypark 6y ago
    I have a 65W Baseus 2x USB-C with 1x USB3 port charger that's pretty good. The only problem with it is that when a device is plugged in and it "splits" the wattage between the ports, it temporarily cuts off the power (I'm talking like 100-200ms or so) to the devices. I had some issues trying to power a Thunderbolt 3 dock with it. Anything with a battery is no issue, though (phone, laptop, etc). I also assume any multi port charger is going to have similar issues, all the ones I've seen do the "wattage splitting" thing when there's more than one device plugged in.
• retromario 6y ago
  > eg, having a custom one-touch screen lock button that's always present Do you know that clicking the TouchID button will lock your screen?
  • cassianoleal 6y ago
    Indeed. So does ⌘⌃q (Command+Control+q).
• 67868018 6y ago
  If they remove USB-C charging they won't be compliant with the spec anymore which means they can't use the USB logo in their marketing materials
  • paulcole 6y ago
    I hate to break it to you but Apple’s marketing materials don’t rely on the USB logo to do a lot of heavy lifting.
• yourapostasy 6y ago
  Not a fan of Apple's USB-C port implementation. Loosened ports that no longer "click" when a cable is plugged in is a common problem [1], and plagued my MacBook Pro straight out of the box. Even after getting it fixed under AppleCare, planting the laptop on a cradle at my standing desk, then leaving it there for months with no activity due to WFH for the pandemic, a dozen cable insertions of a USB-C drive last week and it started on one of the ports again. If Louis Rossman had a more permanent fix with a third-party compatible port part that is far more durable, I'd send my now-un-AppleCare'd laptop to him in a heartbeat. [1] https://appletoolbox.com/are-your-macbook-usb-c-ports-loose/ https://appletoolbox.com/are-your-macbook-usb-c-ports-loose/
  • willyt 6y ago
    I love the idea of standard ports everywhere, I just wish it was apple or some other good multidisciplinary design team that had designed the standard. Lightning and MagSafe are the best out there. They feel satisfying to use; the lightning click is the phone equivalent of the German car door clunk, likewise with MagSafe, I also like that the connector tells me if its charging or not with the green/orange light on the connector. They are resistant to dust and electrically reliable. They fail safe; The lightning connector in the cable breaks, unlike mini/micro USB which knackers the port in your device if you bend it by accident. If you trip over the MagSafe cable it just pops off. The standardised ports seem to have mechanical and experiential design as an afterthought. In terms of the physical connector (not the capabilities of the port), USB-C feels like a step backwards from lightning.
• mstade 6y ago
  I’m with you, for all the listed reasons. Travel is so much easier now that I’ve usb-c-ified all the things. The only thing I wasn’t able to find a usb-c option for (back in the dizzy) was a 4g modem, but that’s ok I just stopped using it altogether and started tethering my phone or iPad instead. I often use my iPad Pro as a second screen, so usb-c there also. I do carry a small dongle that I got just in case, but I think I’ve used it maybe five times in the past two years. I really don’t miss MagSafe, and I find the MagSafe usb-c adaptor solutions one can easily get these days to be quite a good compromise for those that truly want it. The only thing bothering me is that lightning connectors are still a thing on iPhones. The second they release a usb-c phone I’m getting it. Usb-c all the things! Oh almost forgot, hard pass on replacing the Touch Bar though. I know people hate it, but for me it’s much more useful than Fn-keys. I don’t miss them, and once the Touch Bar with a physical escape key showed up that was it – perfection. I hope they keep Touch Bar as an option at least, brilliant piece of design in my opinion. As always, mileage varies etc.
• memetherapy 6y ago
  A "halo" market segment for mac books is video and photography professionals who make extremely heavy use of SD cards. Appealing to this group (who are also willing to pay a premium) has always been a feature of macs. Devs, not so much.
• fluffything 6y ago
  I have a MacBook Air 2012 with an SD card reader. It has a 256GB SSD drive, and a 1 TB SD Card inside that I use for storing photos, video, music, etc. essentially everything that does not need fast storage. This laptop was only meant to be a 1 year temporary solution, so I’ve been waiting 9 years to upgrade. I’ve yet to find a new reasonably priced MacBook with 1,256Gb of built in storage. Carrying an external drive sucks. Unless Apple makes 1-2 Tb SSDs lower in price to the 100$ mark, the lack of an SD card is a killer for me. Paying 500$ for an extra 256GB SSD when I can get 1 Tb SD card for 100$ is just ridiculous.
  • texasbigdata 6y ago
    This is sort of unreasonable too hot too cold type thinking. If you need a certain price point for a certain feature, why not expand to not limiting your search to only one manufacturer, which seems to be your binding constraint here since you’ve delayed updating 7 years, instead of expecting a manufacturer that has less than 10% of the total market share of an industry to meet you needs?
    • dunmalg 6y ago
      >why not expand to not limiting your search to only one manufacturer Software. People become accustomed to the closed ecosystem of OSX, which you can't duplicate on others' hardware. This is a key facet of Apple's business model and as GP poster illustrates, it works. Apple can screw up the hardware for 7 years, and GP poster will simply wait for them to come back to doing it right.
      • fluffything 6y ago
        More like a computer is a combination of hardware and software. A different vendor product with cheaper storage can still be a much worse value proposition than my 2012 MacBook Air. The problem here is that the Parent you are replying to assumes “storage” is the only issue why I haven’t upgraded. That’s an incorrect assumption. I haven’t upgraded because paying >1000$ should add value over my MacBook Air 2012, yet for me all laptops in the market do not add enough value to justify the cost. A new MacBook with 1 TB SSD storage sets you over 2000$, but the value just isn’t there. Everybody’s mom is recommending an M1 these days, yet crappy webcam, support for 1 monitor only, expensive storage, low ram, being 1st gen of apples arm lineage with 1st gen flaws, no MagSafe, ... make it a bad value proposition right now for me compared with my 2012 air which doesn’t have most of these flaws.. sure it is better in many aspects, but it is also much worse in others (eg 1 external monitor support is a deal breaker for me)
• api 6y ago
  I agree all the way up to the 16” pro. When you hit that form factor it now has plenty of room for more ports and I find them useful.
• pokot0 6y ago
  Apple is pretty smart when adding features most of the time. Maybe they just add strips of magnets to a usb-c so you can still use the port with a normal usb-c cable and still benefit of magsafe with the proprietary adapter. Anyway, I did enjoy MagSafe when it was there but I don't think Apple will go back. They'd rather focus on making sure you only have to charge your laptop at night.
• varispeed 6y ago
  I use SD cards daily to transfer data from cameras or different devices for further processing. It is handy to be able to just slide it in. I also have a dongle in an other laptop which works fine, but you need to be careful with these - I bought one cheaper dongle and it totally destroyed my SD card upon inserting. Unfortunately there was no backup as there was original material on it. So now I first do backup on a trusted SD card reader and then use it anywhere else.
  • exhilaration 6y ago
    The dramatic decline in camera sales has been discussed a few times on HN, here's a random google result: https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/dont-look-at-this-graph-showing-the-may-camera-sales-dont-look-at-it-dont-look-at-it/ https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/dont-look-at-this-graph-sho... Cameras are rapidly turning into a niche product, it makes no sense for any laptop manufacturer to include an SD card reader at this point.
    • varispeed 6y ago
      That's interesting. I also use SD cards to transfer data from my phone (I make tons of photos). I used to do it by connecting via USB cable, but after a couple of months the USB-C port worn out and no longer works, so for me the only reasonable way to get the data out is through an SD card. I tried things like setting up network server and sending files wirelessly but that was flaky.
      • oblio 6y ago
        You're an outlier. Most people don't take and process as many photos as you, and if they do, the processing is Instagram filters :-) Also the need to transfer photos around has decreased drastically with social media sharing and cloud storage. You'll see in the next few years that smartphones, tablets, laptops will cater less and less to your needs. Sad... But probably inevitable.
        • varispeed 6y ago
• jmcnulty 6y ago
  Ditto on the request to retain USB-C charging. The ability to charge phones + Chromebooks + a MacBook in my house with interchangeable power blocks and cables is a huge benefit. MagSafe just isn't worth it.
• alsetmusic 6y ago
  Agreed on MagSafe + USB-C. What I find interesting is the interpretation of this bit: - There will be additional I/O ports I’m pretty sure that simply more USB-C ports also fits that description. I don’t know why someone would assume that means SD card slots are coming back. I don’t see a future where Apple has SD slots on notebooks.
• blhack 6y ago
  Then get a MacBook Air? The whole point of the MacBook Pro was that it was feature rich. The amount of dongles and crap I have to carry around with me to make effective use of a “pro” laptop is ridiculous. Good on Apple for fixing it.
• nwotnagrom 6y ago
  Agreed. I do hope they keep USB-C. The one cable that works for all was actually a convenience for me as I could charge a macbook, ipad, and even a samsung galaxy phone all with the same single cable.
• dillondoyle 6y ago
  FYI if you didn't know - even if it is widely known I have not known about super basic features hidden behind UI - you can use hot corners to lock screen very quickly. I use bottom right corner.
• ak217 6y ago
  "Keeping it simple" is how we got here. People are unhappy because ports were removed. I want my microSD port back, and I don't think it will hurt you if you don't use it. Even if you pour coffee in it, it will just fuse itself off as long as there's a properly engineered rubber gasket in it. You do bring good points about usb-c/magsafe. I hope they can make magsafe work with the usb-c port.
  • ashtonkem 6y ago
    People were unhappy about the loss of the physical headphone port too .... for a short while. Then most of us went over to Bluetooth and stopped complaining. Sometimes removing ports is dumb, sometimes it’s a smart reflection of what trends are clearly already happening.
    • MAGZine 6y ago
      Some of us in androidland continue to buy phones specifically because the headphone jack offers a quality of life improvement more than whatever other features are offered in place of the jack.
      • ashtonkem 6y ago
        Some of you, yes. But most people just bought (or already had) bluetooth headphones and moved on.
        • MAGZine 6y ago
          I also have bluetooth headphones, but I prefer not having to worry about battery, prefer the sound quality, love the simplicity (pairing doesn't exist), and enjoy the utility (can plug into anything with an aux cord). I can justify any inconvenience. I can justify additional expense. But in this case, I choose not to. If you choose to justify the inconvenience, that's on you—but acknowledge that it exists.
    • llampx 6y ago
      I still buy Android phones with headphone jacks, and am happy to have them. From what I've seen there is no advantage size, weight or waterproofing-wise for foregoing it. The side effect is that I can't buy the flagship models anymore since they usually don't have headphone jacks. Oh well. Also, yes I have bluetooth headphones. One of which also supports 3.5mm input. I use both. With my phone I primarily use the bluetooth, with my laptop and tablet I use the 3.5mm jack and if I am in a car without bluetooth or a friend's house, I can hook up the 3.5mm cable to my phone.
• the_mitsuhiko 6y ago
  I drank the USB-C kool-aid that Apple proposed but it just completely failed in practice. I now carry multiple different (and incompatible) USB-C cables which is in no way better than the magsafe + usb charger I had before. Three years ago I had one USB-C charging brick with a lightning and USB-A cable and my macbook magsafe brick. Now I carry a USB-C charging brick with a lightning cable for ipad and iphone, my USB-C charging brick for my macbook pro with a USB-C PD? cable, a USB-C -> USB-C cable for my external SSD (which I cannot use to charge my macbook and the charging cable of my macbook does not work with it). Additionally I have a USB-C to USB-A adapter with a USB mini cable for my headphones and mifi dongle and a separate adapter for HDMI and SD. I ended up with more cables and I would be in that situation for at least two years more until the last mini USB devices are discarded. But even in that case I end up with multiple USB-C cables just because they are incompatible to each other.
  • john_alan 6y ago
    You’re doing it wrong. You don’t need all of those cables. Get one that works with all of them. You also only need one high watt brick not lots of different rated ones.
• mcot2 6y ago
  I agree with MagSafe basically being in the cord after the USB-C connector. That way we can use existing power cords or the new one with MagSafe if we want to.
• throwaway2048 6y ago
  Don't worry, once they do it, you will think how brilliant it is.
• strogonoff 6y ago
  I have a dock that has all the connectivity options I need (an entirety of which can’t possibly fit in a portable device) while stationary, and it also charges my laptop. While on the go, I can pick dongles for what I need at the time. Most of the time it’s either nothing or a memory card reader. The need for memory card reader becomes increasingly rare, as devices have AirDrop, cameras have Wi-Fi, and for larger files like CinemaDNG footage I’d have to use a portable SSD anyway which connects over USB-C. Besides, memory card dongle dies and I buy a replacement for $20; built-in card reader dies and part of my laptop is dead weight until I send the whole thing in for service. I can’t come up with anything I can imagine being useful as far as extra I/O is concerned, considering how blazing fast TB 2 and USB 4 already are; perhaps there are some novel connectivity options though.
  • mc10 6y ago
    > built-in card reader dies and part of my laptop is dead weight until I send the whole thing in for service. Is this a frequent occurrence for you? I have a 6 year old MBP and all of the ports still work great. I would naively guess that P(port breaking) << P(dongle breaking).
    • strogonoff 6y ago
      Card reader in my old MBP died from what I presume is small debris stuck inside, and can’t be resurrected by manual cleaning anymore. For a time it was possible to use by inserting an SD card in a particular way, but that did not work reliably. Ironically, that reader didn’t support microSD cards used by my audio recorder (Tascam DR-05), so once I lost the microSD to SD size adapter (which happened very quickly) I had to use a universal memory card reader dongle anyway. I never sent it for repair: this was my daily driver so I had to have a backup machine in meantime, but when I got another laptop I simply switched to it. My latest USB-C SD/microSD reader dongle feels surprisingly sturdy, though admittedly it is liable to getting lost (it’s been a year and it did not happen yet, but I’m sure it will at some point). I’d say definitely P(port breaking) < P(dongle breaking or getting lost), but on the other hand port breaking has higher cost.
• studius 6y ago
  > I have never needed an SD card I need to use SD cards for my camera and RPis. That's a significant amount of users that would buy Macs, even if you don't use them. > and have gone all-in on USB-C The move to Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C seemed to be hinged on the assumption that all new products would be USB-C. The prior removal of the headphone jack[1] and replacement of the lightning-adapter airbuds included with new iPhones set precedent to allow them to continue to simplify. But there's a big difference between (a) providing a replacement that effectively works the same way and (b) having a market based on being best and svelte, but expecting that the average customer can and will buy replacement lanky adapters and big ugly hubs that get in the way (especially when the cheaper ones can cause more interference[2]). Apple once had a "Think Different" campaign, and perhaps that transmogrified to "Be the Change" in the 2010s. "Think Different" was about producing the best product, with a quality product that worked better, not about forcing customers to take on the burden of a mess, making their lives more difficult and looking out-of-control. "Be the Change" is activism which often causes problems for some, with a goal of things becoming better. "Think Different" works better in product design and development. "Be the Change" is for Human Resources and Marketing. > Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those that love MagSafe: makes traveling a huge hassle, forcing me to carry a special charge brick that only works for ONE device. In 2021 going forward, I will flat refuse to spend money on anything that doesn't use USB-C or Qi charging It's expected to have Thunderbolt 3 (in form of USB-C) on it. I'd assume that they will allow charging the computer from it, as that's part of the spec of Thunderbolt 3; I'm not 100% on that, but as keeping that capability would be part of the Thunderbolt 3 spec which includes Thunderbolt, USB, DisplayPort, and 100W power input[3]. It just wouldn't charge as quickly. This MagSafe will probably be the Qi-supporting MagSafe[3][4] which can be 15W for faster charging or 7.5W for Qi and will probably support the ring chargers, probably under the touchpad, given design choices from existing charging stands[5]. > I can now travel with a single 2xUSB-C power brick And you would probably be able to do that, but it will charge faster with MagSafe. > I am all for removing the TouchBar Yep. I couldn't easily change brightness or volume when in context specific mode with the settings I had by default, and it was distracting. It can be emulated[6]. [1]- 1/8" headphone that in some Macs had optical out: https://support.apple.com/en-za/guide/mac-help/cpmh0052/11.0/mac/11.0 https://support.apple.com/en-za/guide/mac-help/cpmh0052/11.0... [2]- https://www.zdnet.com/article/usb-3-and-usb-c-devices-can-cause-problems-with-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-connections-but-theres-a-solution/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/usb-3-and-usb-c-devices-can-ca... [3]- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 [4]- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe [5]- https://amazon.com/Kensington-SmartFit-Ergonomic-15-6-Inch-Wireless/dp/B01IVHCVUU https://amazon.com/Kensington-SmartFit-Ergonomic-15-6-Inch-W... [6]- https://github.com/sindresorhus/touch-bar-simulator https://github.com/sindresorhus/touch-bar-simulator
• stirner 6y ago
  I’m with you. Maybe it’s something specific to being a techie and having a ton of peripherals, but being able to connect power, display, keyboard, mouse, webcam, backup drive, Ethernet, etc. with a single cable when I sit down at my desk was absolutely worth the somewhat pricey TB3 dock, especially when switching between work and personal devices. I’m fine with them adding ports back as long as they still let you do PD into the TB3 ports. It’s still not super easy to determine exactly what features are supported by different devices/adapters/cables, especially when dealing with USB-C. However, it seems like a bit of a backslide on a bold move to push the state of the art forward that I believe was the right move. Re: MagSafe, I honestly think they would be better off making a MagSafe adapter—a pair of small terminals which connect to the end of the power cable and the port that connect to each other magnetically. I imagine they could make this pretty low-profile and clean. But then it wouldn’t be exclusive to Apple’s own hardware, so I doubt they would ever go this route. A quick search turned up an existing adapter [1] that supports 100W PD and 40 GBPs data transfer so it’s definitely doable. [1] https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/03/30/magrig-magnetic-usb-c-adapter-review/ https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/03/30/magrig-magnetic-usb-c...
  • thefunnyman 6y ago
    My biggest wish would be for them to embrace standard display adapter technology and stick with usb c. I have a lot of thunderbolt docks that only work on Windows because of Apple’s outright refusal to support MST [1]. I recently switched to a Mac for work and this has been a major pain for my docking setup. Funny enough, it all works fine if you bootcamp your Mac since Windows supports MST. [1] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251444928 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251444928
  • llampx 6y ago
    Plenty of Windows laptops support TB3 docks, it is not something unique to Apple and definitely does not preclude having other ports on the machine for when you don't carry your TB3 dock.
• aeturnum 6y ago
  Apple's approach to ports is bad design. I think they were envisioning a USB-C revolution that hasn't come yet. You can buy new devices or buy adapters, but either way the computer is asking the user to adapt to it. I have a Razer laptop for playing games and they have some USB-C ports and some USB-A. One of the USB-C ports connects to the thunderbolt bus. On paper, the Razer has less connectivity bandwidth, but it's my macbook that I always fuss over. I see the attraction in making all your ports USB-C, but that's just not where the computing world is yet. Give us 3 USB-C and 2 USB-A. Give us 2 of each and a specialized charging cable. P.s. I would be more into the USB-C charger if I believed it was 100% safe to charge other devices with it, but I'm not sure that's true (even though I trust Apple - I'm not sure about the other devices)[1]. [1] https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-c-870996/ https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-c-870996/
• agumonkey 6y ago
  But MagSafe solves a clear problem IMO, DC connectors are fragile and tripping on the cable will either harm the solder joints or make the whole machine fall. Maybe a magsafe like adapter for usb-c then ?
  • alistairSH 6y ago
    Maybe a magsafe like adapter for usb-c then That would be my preferred solution. USB-C port on the laptop, small MagSafe adapter, and then the charge cord with the other half of the MagSafe.
• astrostl 6y ago
  The value of a given port corresponds to the ubiquity and lifespan of the things that plug into it. HDMI is not going anywhere in the corporate world for the forseeable future. As for MagSafe, as long as they keep some USB-C ports you will presumably be able to charge that way too.
• behnamoh 6y ago
  Yeah, people can be selfish when it comes to ports... I bet during their market research, Apple had people like you in their focus groups.
• nrvn 6y ago
  This. Fully agree on usb-c (usb4). Magsafe in some shape or form and just MOAR usb4 ports would suffice. I am all in with usb-c connector. Industry is moving forward. Don’t rewind. P.S. The article behind the link is based on rumors spread by “trusted” Apple “analyst”. Treat those accordingly.