It may be open, which is a good thing, but being very new, means that you are limited at getting USB accessories. Right now, Apple AFAIK, is the only one who has a dongle and that's is priced at an absurd pricing gouging level.
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12-Inch Retina MacBook Receives Mixed Reviews From Early Adopters
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Exactly!
When I get a new laptop there is basically no setup involved. Apple ID, and mostly all is set up from there.
Add Dropbox, a Twitter Client, and a few other bits of Software and its done.
That's essentially the point! If my laptop, iPad, iPhone die there is no angst!
(So much better than using migration assistant). Keeps me from needing big hard drives/flash memory. Time Machine also is much less crucial for many.
That's just silly. If that was the case, they would use a proprietary connector like Lightning. They've already been undercut on the price USB-A adapters, and there will soon be a ton of power-providing hubs and the like at lower prices than the video/USB adapters Apple offers.
$100 more than a similarly equipped Macbook Air? Highway robbery!
Some cables shipping some coming soon from at least all of these.
Belkin
Monoprice
Google Store
Kanex
I got a USB cable from Google that came in two days.
True, and as the days turn to weeks, and months, we'll be seeing more and more. Unlike Thunderbolt, this is an industry wide standard that other computer makers will embrace. TB may be produced by Intel but its still viewed as Apple only and there seems to be resistance in accepting it.
I imagine the next rev of MBPs will have a USB-C port added to the mix of ports. I'm not sure if they'd remove one of the USB-A or Thunderbolt ports it has multiples of, ditch the SD card, or just find room to squeeze it in.
Once USB-C is present on most of their devices, they might change the cable in the box to USB-C--Lightning.
As far as ditching Lightning in favor of USB-C? That's a tough one. USB-C probably owes some of its existence to Lightning, but is aimed to be far more ubiquitous. So they have to choose between unifying on a single standard versus not having to weather another iPhone cable change PR snafu.
I'd like to see them go all in on USB-C, personally.
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Not my side of the network, so I can't comment in detail. It's used to power our Avaya VoIP phones, and works seamlessly. They're not very high-draw devices, though.
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What you're describing is clearly a use case for the Pro.
Weird. I guess your real world is diametrically opposed to mine.
I'm using my MacBook in the real world right now on a business trip to Asia and I absolutely love it. Here's why.
The machine is thinner and lighter. I can single bag carry for two weeks.
The keyboard is awesome and I can bang out code and emails every bit as fast as I can on the Air. Faster.
The power brick is smaller and lighter and takes up less space. The USB-C cable is smaller and lighter and detachable from the brick.
The display is just plain stunning.
Yes, if you are the type of person that needs to plug in Syquest drives and scanners and all that other crap, this is not the machine for you. Duh.
If you sit slouched on your couch or in your hotel bed tapping away, the lightness of this laptop may be a hindrance. I work at a desk for better ergonomics.
And then when I want to plug in a phone for charging, I do so using the phone wall wart, not plugged into the laptop.
Clearly the rMB is not meant for that type of usage. With the Core M processor, meager iGPU and the single port, this would be a poor choice. I'm not sure why anyone would even consider the MacBook for this type of need.
I think that Gen 2 needs Skylake to support it in the Core M series.
There's a strong argument to be made that the new Macbook will really hit its full potential with Skylake. I considered waiting, but there's no guarantee that Skylake will even be available this year, the way things are going with it.
If Skylake jumps the performance by a huge amount, I might eBay my MB and replace it. For now, this thing is a great replacement for my 2009 13" MBP.
I haven't been able to click and hold an icon to drag it while force click is on. You haven't experienced that?
It's expensive, yes, but it's not like it's just a passive adapter. There's active circuitry involved in converting to the HDMI signal. It's basically a highly specialized computer -- if you attach the AV dongle without power attached, it will drain the Macbook's battery.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple drop the price $10 or so once more competition exists.
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Nope, just tried a few different click and drag operations and it worked every time. I did notice that if press more firmly, I start to see the icon expand into the force touch quick look feature. When click and drag fails for you, do you see the icon start to expand instead? If so, you may need to decrease your pressure (which might be annoying to relearn with years of muscle memory).
You're showing your age, Riverfreak.
Since no one in the "real world" uses Syquest drives any longer, or plugs a scanner into a laptop, your examples are wasted. But, in the "real world", people with laptops aren't all travelers, don't all work on jets, and don't code. But we do want to plug in flash drives to quickly move data, an external USB drive now and then, plug into an ethernet network, use a wired/wireless mouse and keyboard when working at a desk, or one of any number of adapters for serial connections to manage network equipment, usb cables to charge any number of devices (like my magnetic usb charger for a Plantronics BT headset), connect to an external monitor or audio system, etc. The list goes on. One port? No thank you.
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The only spec that keeps the rMB from being considered by a "digital artist" is the single port. Drawing is not CPU or GPU intensive at all. Samsung tablets, for example, are frequently used as drawing devices by artists and are pathetically underpowered in comparison to the rMB.
There's no argument to be made; its just not going to happen. Skylake won't be able to run fanless and can't be incorporated into the rMB. You'll be waiting for Cannonlake in 2017 at the earliest, so you should be fine for 2 years.
However, Skylake should (hopefully) make its way to the MBA.
Ok, I see your point, though I do think running apps like Photoshop on a MB may not provide the best user experience.
Whilst I have a certain sympathy for your situation, it doesn't really move the world forward by hanging on to antiquated interfaces such as VGA. Most projectors in my building are HDMI which is very convenient for rMBPs, requiring no adaptor. Often, it is the less prepared Dell / Lenovo users who have forgotten their HDMI adaptor!
The USB-C situation will almost certainly improve, and I don't see it being like Firewire & Thunderbolt.
Technological improvement generally involves replacing older technologies with newer, superior ones. At some point, you just have to stop supporting the older ones, and Apple is a proponent of this strategy. They removed 3.5" floppy drives, CD-ROM drives and wired Ethernet before anyone else, and large numbers of people claimed the sky was falling at the time. Nowadays, nearly all ultrabooks lack these devices. I will admit I do miss wired Ethernet and consider it still a mainstream technology for desktop computers (including office-bound laptops).
If we didn't simply cull the older tech, it would create a stagnation in device vendors, who would never innovate.
Maybe with the rMB, Apple is simply showing us a taste of the "wireless future" - not quite reality yet, but it may be in the next few years.
Thanks for mentioning - now Apple will increase the price on the Macbook Pro to justify Macbook pricing ...
I think the rMB is really not designed to be a machine people connect peripherals to, whilst sitting on a desk. It's more a Mac OS X version of a larger iPad - charge it at night and use it on the go during the day. It makes no apologies for being this; Apple still makes other computers more suited to the usage you describe.
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Curious as to why? Is it because you see it as a hallmark of the Apple brand, or because you want others to know that you own and use a Mac? Not a trolling question, honest!
It bothers me as well, but I'll be honest with you - it didn't factor into my buying decision. Other factors such as price, performance etc were what convinced me to avoid this model.
The sense of entitlement that every single product must be designed for your needs is simply mindblowing.
I need more than one port and a Mag-Safe plug so I will choose a different MacBook, but I'm not going to bitch that the rMB doesn't meet my needs.
Sorry, but Skylake-Y (the successor to Broadwell-Y, aka Core-M) runs at 4W TDP - even less than the current Broadwell chip.
Skylake will *definitely* be incorporated in a future rMB, probably in early 2016.
My crystal ball doesn't work for this particular task, but you could well be right - but the 2008 MBA was introduced at the breathtaking MSRP of $1800 with (IIRC) an 80gb HDD from the iPod and 2gb RAM. Compared to that, the rMB looks like a great deal.
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But it's not similarly equipped - the MBA has a display panel that was already old tech in 2008...