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2010 Macbook Pros, what to add, what to remove?

Bosman

Bosman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 19, 2008
81
0
Do we really need Ethernet ports anymore? That space could be used for better things couldn't it? If so what do you people out there want in place of it? I mean the Airport extremes free things up so much and the speed of wireless is sick. Couldn't we do something like a dongle that the air uses for those who really want that port? I mean how many Macbook Pro owners actually want to tether their machine to an Ethernet line anyway?
Some say get rid of the superdrive too, swap it for a killer vid card and or more battery. Maybe use the extra space for keeping things cooler thus using less power and extending battery life.
Are the mac airs really so diff than the pros, i mean to keep things cool and running properly is the CPU the wild card that allows the air to be so much thinner? Are there better technologies that allow the air to be much thinner than the macbook pros?
I wonder if it is possible for people to stick to the subject...there are many good ideas out there but seriously reading posts of people being accused of being fan boys or talking about totally unrelated topics in various threads frustrates me a bit but lets condense the really good ideas about adding or removing things and why to this thread and see what happens.;)
 
I agree with you, I see no use in ethernet anymore. Personally because I am planning to buy a 13" when they update I want seperate audio in and audio out ports instead of one optical output. It is inconvient and will force me to buy a iMic or something else similiar. As for other stuff a BluRay would be nice but I know that wont happen, anything new would be nice but I don't think they"ll add anything we can't live without even though thats what they want us to think :)
 
I disagree about the Ethernet port. Right now it gives you 40-50MB/s in transfer speed. Wireless does not come close to that. Not everyone surfs with their notebooks, they also use it to work, which sometimes means moving large files through the intranet of a workplace.

10GB of data in 256s or in 1706s? What do you prefer?

Plus not everyone has a wireless access point at hand all the time (where network access is granted in one way or another).

I agree about the Superdrive though, I haven't used in months, and I have three of them.

My 2 pennies to a dying horse.
 
I doubt they will get rid of the ethernet or optical drive on the "Pro" line. There are many professional users who need both of those on a daily basis. As physical media becomes more obsolete, we will see these features removed, but not on this revision.

The MacBook Air is not similar in performance to the MBP... there are a lot of drawbacks, including the battery life, CPU power, and 2gb ram limitation (not upgradeable at all!). I don't use my superdrive that often, but when I do need it I'm sure glad I have it.

With flash memory production becoming cheaper, look for traditional media to be included on a flash drive. This will only happen if that is the cheapest storage media per byte... which it currently is not.
 
removing the Ethernet port would be the fastest way for Apple to lose my business. Until they offer a faster, more reliable solution for me while I'm at home working...no thanks. I like being able to bring my laptop downstairs on the couch and surf the web on the couch...but my laptop is for work first, on my desk, hooked up to a secure and fast connection. Applaud the OP for trying to think outside the box...but this will not happen anytime in the near future.
 
I'm using the ethernet dongle on my Air right now at work as I type this.

Why?

Because at this work place, and most/many others, wireless isn't even available.

Drop ethernet? Keep dreaming.
 
enberg said:
I guess you never move large amounts of data then.
Click to expand...

hahahaha! I shoot sports and weddings and upload thousands upon thousands of images in a months time and the airport extream works very well.

ExpressCard/34 slot that would be my choice if space is the issue for not having it on a 13 or a 15 MBP then i vote for having that in its place, there is so much more flexibility and options to use it for than having a port I'll never use. As i said the air has a dongle and express card could have an Ethernet port no prob.
 
I wouldn't mind if they removed the CD drive, or made it optional (some models with it, some without)

I wouldn't buy one if it had no ethernet. Less high speed connectivity is exactly the opposite of what we need from a "pro" machine. They already took the expresscard slot and one of the firewires.

An eSATA port would be great. USB3, Lightpeak, or Firewire3200 ports would be good substitutes for eSATA. FW800 and USB are not-- they are much too slow.
 
Removing Ethernet port will be a stupid mistake. I do traveling a lot and many hotels I've been to has no wireless internet available.
 
puma1552 said:
I'm using the ethernet dongle on my Air right now at work as I type this.

Why?

Because at this work place, and most/many others, wireless isn't even available.

Drop ethernet? Keep dreaming.
Click to expand...

Huh, you still have it. Who said anything about dropping it? Obviously you don't need a separate port for it now do you?
 
I'm at university, and we have an ethernet connection to access the internet. Without it, I would be unable to go online, which would mean that it would be absolutely pointless for me to buy the mac. So, in essence, the ethernet stays! Also, there are lots of people who use macs on networks, so the ethernet is vital.

As for the rest, the superdrive should go and be replaced by a bluperdrive :) Don't really care about the rest.
 
gfiz said:
removing the Ethernet port would be the fastest way for Apple to lose my business. Until they offer a faster, more reliable solution for me while I'm at home working...no thanks. I like being able to bring my laptop downstairs on the couch and surf the web on the couch...but my laptop is for work first, on my desk, hooked up to a secure and fast connection. Applaud the OP for trying to think outside the box...but this will not happen anytime in the near future.
Click to expand...

seriously... there are also plenty of work environments where wireless is just not an option. Now killing the port on the white macbook I could see, it's target being what it is, but to drop it on the pro machine ... why that's like dropping the firewire or expresscard slot... ;)
 
Ethernet is here to stay for a while. I always plug in when I am at my desk and when I need to download/upload large files.
 
Bosman said:
hahahaha! I shoot sports and weddings and upload thousands upon thousands of images in a months time and the airport extream works very well.

ExpressCard/34 slot that would be my choice if space is the issue for not having it on a 13 or a 15 MBP then i vote for having that in its place, there is so much more flexibility and options to use it for than having a port I'll never use. As i said the air has a dongle and express card could have an Ethernet port no prob.
Click to expand...

Upload to the internet? No doubt your connection is slower than the Airport, unless you are on an extremely fast network somewhere.

Try transfering gigabytes of data at a time to network storage. Even 100 megabit ethernet is too slow. Newer disks are fast enough that even gigabit ethernet cannot saturate them.

A USB dongle is not fast enough for gigabit ethernet.
 
I can imagine Apple removing the EC/34 slot on the 17" sometime soon.

I'm hoping, but don't count on it, on a pretty much this-for-that upgrade:
USB2 -> USB3
FW800 -> FW3200
Superdrive - Hyperdrive? (Blu-ray)
10/100/1000BT Ethernet -> 10Gigibit Ethernet
SDHC reader -> SDXC reader
better CPU
better GPU
more RAM
bigger HDD
higher screen res: 1680x1050 on the 15", 1440x900 on the 13"
etc.
 
Bosman said:
Do we really need Ethernet ports anymore? That space could be used for better things couldn't it? If so what do you people out there want in place of it? I mean the Airport extremes free things up so much and the speed of wireless is sick. Couldn't we do something like a dongle that the air uses for those who really want that port? I mean how many Macbook Pro owners actually want to tether their machine to an Ethernet line anyway?
Some say get rid of the superdrive too, swap it for a killer vid card and or more battery. Maybe use the extra space for keeping things cooler thus using less power and extending battery life.
Are the mac airs really so diff than the pros, i mean to keep things cool and running properly is the CPU the wild card that allows the air to be so much thinner? Are there better technologies that allow the air to be much thinner than the macbook pros?
I wonder if it is possible for people to stick to the subject...there are many good ideas out there but seriously reading posts of people being accused of being fan boys or talking about totally unrelated topics in various threads frustrates me a bit but lets condense the really good ideas about adding or removing things and why to this thread and see what happens.;)
Click to expand...

Bosman,

The ethernet is essential. Not everyone has a wireless network; what are you supposed to do when a wifi is unavailable?

Habitus :apple:
 
They should remove the keyboard and replace it with a touch-sensitive wheel. I've been saying this for ages now.
 
Lose the ExpressCard, give me 2 more USB ports, or a USB port and a firewire port.

Also, now that we're on sealed internal batteries, there's no battery door, and no need for the battery to be an aestetically pleasing shape. This means that it can take up a weird shaped section of the middle of the machine, leaving more of the sides open for ports.
 
add in ATI 5800 series GPU, i5/i7, remove optical drive if it means GPU/CPU upgrades, 3/4 USB 3.0 ports, no firewire, SD card reader, leave ethernet port, vents.
 
Habitus said:
Bosman,

The ethernet is essential. Not everyone has a wireless network; what are you supposed to do when a wifi is unavailable?

Habitus :apple:
Click to expand...

my answer

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=277569

or use it for
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=278303
or
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=278321
or
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=405356
and for usb3
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/09/buffalo-outs-usb-3-0-expresscard-adapter-we-see-a-trend-coming/

How can having an ethernet port over an express card ever balence out? The cards available for alternate media is vast. In my opinion there is way more value to an express card. If the express port were set up for the future it may even be possible for lightpeak but i make no claims on that statement because it no doubt is a diff animal but it would kinda future proof things at least for usb3 like most would like to see.
 
Apple removing the disc drive...how in the world did apple even cross that bridge to remove a drive? How many people thought that was insane at first? It is all about having a paradigm shift in thinking about how to access data and load it. What other paradigm shifts are possible if we try imagining life without a physical port for the sake of multiple kinds of inter-connectivity? I am sure i am 5 yrs behind apple on that one. No doubt most are unless people start saying, "what if"?

So what if...
 
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