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Anyone else annoyed by the fact that you only have USB-C on the new MBP?

J

jas5279

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2016
67
9
Hey guys,

You guys probably would've discussed this a long time ago. I'm planning on getting myself the new MBP pretty soon (never owned a MB before). But I am seriously annoyed by the fact that after spending a fortune on the MBP itself, I then have to BUY separate dongles to make normal flash drives work on the computer. Using flash drives and HDMI is something I've been doing for years. And now I'll have to first buy equipment to make them work plus will have to carry it around which seems like a headache to me. Is there some hidden advantage of not having these USB ports that I don't know about?

Thanks!
 
Not really. I love the fact that I can plug in at my desk with one cable and connect to both of my monitors, keyboard, mouse, ethernet, hard drives and charge my laptop.
 
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Hmmmm...I just purchased a new MBP 15" from the Apple store (last week) and it has USB 3.0 ports and a magnetic power plug. No USB-C anywhere to be found.
 
The USBc technology is terrific. So far, I've noticed it's way faster and more convenient. I've already spent way too much for a laptop. I could have purchased a perfectly capable Win10 laptop for less; So, a few more dollars for some dongles won't break me.

If dongles are a deal breaker, take a look at the SurfaceBook Pro. I was very close to buying it. It's a nice laptop - in some ways nicer than the MacBook Pro. And,it has all the legacy ports you could ask for.
 
TB3/USB-Type C is awesome. I'm glad Apple is phasing out the old USB ports as quickly as practical, and that they didn't compromise their new laptops with legacy ports just because a very small percentage of users literally cannot handle the notion of buying a few new cables and/or adapters (and yes, in rare cases there's gear that just won't be compatible anymore... it happens all the time with both hardware and OS updates - it's a drag, but same story since 1984). They even sell flash drives with both the old and new USB connectors.

It's just astonishing how much people around here want Apple to be something it's not and never has been.
 
TB3/USB-C is awesome. Can’t wait til my dock gets here next week so I can plug everything into one port and never have to worry about it again. Tech changes, that’s the nature of the beast. Keep up or quit bitching.
 
baypharm said:
God bless Apple!! Gotta love'em!
Click to expand...
sometimes the tradeoffs are worth it. legacy ports, cheaper price.

apple sometimes keeps an older model alive and kicking to appease a known market.

eg, I once had a Powermac g4 that was introduced alongside the powermac g5 (which I suppose I should have bought instead). It ran OS9, and in fact only had a firewire 400 port because it was specifically designed to run OS9 if the owner had the need. Still ran circles around the imac model.

skylake has a better gpu, and can decode h.265 in hardware. But if legacy ports are important, well...
 
I’m actually more frustrated by the amount of ports. 4 isn’t enough. If Apple had added a dedicated MagSafe port *and* four ports, that would have been much more welcome. In any case, 6 tb3 ports on the next gen machine would be the way to go. In practice I don’t actually mind the dongle life, it’s not much different from previous gen workflows with TB to HDMI adapters and Ethernet adapters and so forth. And for the most part you can just buy new cables. But there are caveats, and ymmv on what works and what doesn’t with your preexisting gear.

In my case, I already had a usb hub, so that takes care of a lot of things, but it’s not powered at the moment, so I cant plug external drives into it or anything.

As it stands my ports are maxed with my current setup, which works totally fine. But an extra port or two would give the flexibility to just chuck in a thumb drive or plug in whatever it might be, rather than having to hot swap whatever I’ve already got plugged in (which could be something as important as a video output or audio interface - something *you don’t want to* unplug)
 
To those who say they love it because of being able to plug everything in at once - what dock/hub are you using? There seems to be a lot of not well reviewed products on Amazon, and I'm just nervous it will end up being another situation like USB 3.0 enclosures (ones that constantly disconnect and have various issues due to chipset compatibility with Mac systems)
 
OP:

If you don't want USB-c (I didn't want it, either), you still have options:
1. Buy an Apple-refurbished 2015 MacBook Pro (13" or 15"). They have a full complement of legacy ports and a better keyboard.
2. If you want a 15", Apple still offers (as new product) the 2015 design in the 15" size.

If the above aren't acceptable to you, then it's "dongle city", next stop... :)
 
I just recently purchased a 13" MBP and although I think the whole dongle thing is somewhat overblown, I'm still surprised at how few peripherals take usb-c. I have a Samsung external ssd and after purchasing the correct cable I'm able to connect it directly usb-c to usb-c. Everything else I have or use (SD cards, thumb drives, printers) requires an adapter. Like most PC manufacturers, I think Apple should have included a usb-c as one of several port options.
 
mcpix said:
I just recently purchased a 13" MBP and although I think the whole dongle thing is somewhat overblown, I'm still surprised at how few peripherals take usb-c. I have a Samsung external ssd and after purchasing the correct cable I'm able to connect it directly usb-c to usb-c. Everything else I have or use (SD cards, thumb drives, printers) requires an adapter. Like most PC manufacturers, I think Apple should have included a usb-c as one of several port options.
Click to expand...

Yeah but the thing is, go on MonoPrice and get some very cheap $5 X to USB-C cables. I got two DVI to USB-C cables for only $11 to connect some old monitors. I also got USB-B to USB-C for around $3. Also, pick up a Sabrent USB-C hub for $15. It does not require AC power, and is VERY small. It can easily fit in your laptop bag. It will give you 4 USB-A 3.1 ports.

You do not need to buy Apple's dongles or cables.

The older MacBook Pros were not immune to dongles, I have no idea why people treat this as something new. I also have a 2013 rMBP. How am I supposed to connect to an old projector that only has VGA? How am I supposed to connect to Ethernet? How am I supposed to have a keyboard, mouse and a few external hard drives connected?

I take it as quality vs quantity. 4 TB3/USB-C ports are much more powerful than 6 USB-A, 1 charging port, 1 HDMI, and more.
 
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I was anti-USB-c only when it was first announced just like I was with the no headphone jack.
Now I can’t imagine an annoying cord tethering me to my phone.
USB-c?
I can’t wait to buy a new MBP and a couple of hubs. The only thing I miss is the sad slot
 
It caused me so much distress that I stopped using computers entirely.
 
nothing annoyed at all. usb-c (TB3) is future proof. you can have adapters to convert from TB3 to any other legacy ports, but you cannot do it opposite way.
 
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