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I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line, and that others don't follow suit. That said, given that they made it a "new" line, I t

I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line, and that others don't follow suit. That said, given that they made it a "new" line, I think it may have a place. e.g. for some moderate to high percentage of people that use a laptop they rarely or never plug anything into it. And those same people are usually the ones on the go a lot, so this might really have a good fit for those people (e.g. weight savings and super thin). For developers it is IMO a horrible fit; however, for traveling sales force it might be a decent fit, especially with so many Projectors being WiFi and more businesses now have Airplay available (this one shocked me but it is nice). I am far from a Apple fan boy, in fact it took me a forever to purchase a Macbook pro, but I will say it has been one of the nicest pieces of hardware I have owned. That said, I also still own and love my Toshiba laptop too as it is a power house and was easy to upgrade and expand.

runjake 12y ago
> I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line This model is a shot across the bow from Apple, but this model also isn't intended for programmers and IT professionals. It's meant for grandparents and a "lay about the house as needed" computer for (currently, rich) people. Apple differentiates things with a Pro line on purpose. The original MacBook Air had a serious lack of ports and that didn't really trend across their line. It did not come with an Ethernet port, which instilled some major, major outrage. But since then, some of those bowshots have gained a foothold in the industry. I have a MacBook Pro, and now it doesn't have a built-in Ethernet jack. But it's not a big deal at this point. Even as a network engineer, I only pull out my TBolt Ethernet adapter a couple times a week. The end effect is that I have less cables to deal with on a daily basis and I'm more mobile. I can plop down anywhere at work, open the laptop, get on wireless, and get chucked onto my special VLAN. This is way better than before.
- davismwfl 12y ago
  Yep, I can see your points. My MacBook Pro is slightly older so I still have a ethernet port, but I can't remember the last time I plugged it in so its basically a waste of space. So it makes sense they are really looking at what's used etc. Where I get nervous is things like USB, if you blow out one port you are ok if you have 2-3, but if you only have 1 its a bad day. Not that this is some regular or common occurrence, and typically I use a hub when connecting custom hardware, but it would suck if something failed and it blew out my only port on a machine. Hence my reason for hoping they keep the Pro series a little more flexible.
huxley 12y ago
I imagine that when monitors with USB-C hubs start being released, the one-port hassles will be reduced --particularly if the hubs include Ethernet ports and device charging-- at least for a significant percentage of developers.
- davismwfl 12y ago
  Agreed, but I personally would still prefer external hub versus one built into a monitor or other piece of hardware. Just because when you do custom hardware work, it is not totally unreasonable that a USB port might get taken out by someone wiring something wrong. Having it be integrated to a $1000 monitor would make me want to hurt someone, having it in a $5-20 hub I wouldn't really care as much. But for the average person not doing that type of work, your right a simple hub in the monitor is an easy and fairly elegant solution. Effectively a docking station would also be a simple solution as likely the extra ports are not needed when on the go most of the time.

runjake 12y ago

> I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line This model is a shot across the bow from Apple, but this model also isn't intended for programmers and IT professionals. It's meant for grandparents and a "lay about the house as needed" computer for (currently, rich) people. Apple differentiates things with a Pro line on purpose. The original MacBook Air had a serious lack of ports and that didn't really trend across their line. It did not come with an Ethernet port, which instilled some major, major outrage. But since then, some of those bowshots have gained a foothold in the industry. I have a MacBook Pro, and now it doesn't have a built-in Ethernet jack. But it's not a big deal at this point. Even as a network engineer, I only pull out my TBolt Ethernet adapter a couple times a week. The end effect is that I have less cables to deal with on a daily basis and I'm more mobile. I can plop down anywhere at work, open the laptop, get on wireless, and get chucked onto my special VLAN. This is way better than before.

davismwfl 12y ago
Yep, I can see your points. My MacBook Pro is slightly older so I still have a ethernet port, but I can't remember the last time I plugged it in so its basically a waste of space. So it makes sense they are really looking at what's used etc. Where I get nervous is things like USB, if you blow out one port you are ok if you have 2-3, but if you only have 1 its a bad day. Not that this is some regular or common occurrence, and typically I use a hub when connecting custom hardware, but it would suck if something failed and it blew out my only port on a machine. Hence my reason for hoping they keep the Pro series a little more flexible.

huxley 12y ago

I imagine that when monitors with USB-C hubs start being released, the one-port hassles will be reduced --particularly if the hubs include Ethernet ports and device charging-- at least for a significant percentage of developers.

davismwfl 12y ago
Agreed, but I personally would still prefer external hub versus one built into a monitor or other piece of hardware. Just because when you do custom hardware work, it is not totally unreasonable that a USB port might get taken out by someone wiring something wrong. Having it be integrated to a $1000 monitor would make me want to hurt someone, having it in a $5-20 hub I wouldn't really care as much. But for the average person not doing that type of work, your right a simple hub in the monitor is an easy and fairly elegant solution. Effectively a docking station would also be a simple solution as likely the extra ports are not needed when on the go most of the time.