Anyone actually received credit yet? I called on 11/4, and they supposedly processed mine that day. Normally credit card refunds take 3-5 business days. Today Apple said they're taking longer than usual because they're processing "tens of thousands" of refunds. Oh, and apparently it was a "great thing Apple did for its customers," according to the rep. So I'm prostrate as I type this.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Drops Prices on USB-C Adapters
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Making the laptop thinner and lighter is great, but not when it comes at the expense of taking out all the useful ports. That's not portability, that's inconvenience. In fact, the new laptops (also the 12" MB) seem specifically designed without portability in mind, but to be used in conjunction with external break-out hubs having the necessary ports.
I've worked for years in corporate environments where people move their laptops about a lot, in meeting rooms etc. Taking a bag of dongles and adapters with you is just not portable. It's very inconvenient.
And remodelling the work environment to suit the new USB-C-only ports is also expensive and inconvenient, particularly if your company has - as most do - a mix of hardware from different vendors and different years.
There was no need to put 4 USB-C ports, particularly since TB3 daisy-chains. Two was plenty, to connect the external HDD/display directly. Which would have left enough room on one side for USB-A ports, far more useful to virtually everybody than the new ports.
Isn't that the whole point of portability? Take out everything you don't need. If I only need those extra ports when I am at my desk hooked up to monitors and USB hubs, then may as well outsource those hubs to a dock that I leave at my table. If I know I don't need those extra ports when I am working outdoors, why bring them along?
You really just need one - for the projector. Which can easily fit inside your shirt's front pocket. I bring my iPad around and sometimes keep the VGA lightning adaptor in my pocket and I barely feel its presence.
At the end of the day, something's got to give. My school is still using VGA projectors, and nobody complains because our work-issued laptops still have VGA ports. If Apple (or any other PC company) continued designing their laptops with these environments in mind, we would never improve. It wasn't until my school finally upgraded their projectors to newer ones with a HDMI port 2 years back that I could finally install an Apple TV and airplay my iPad / MBA off that (and even this had to be paid out of my own pocket, but boy was it worth every cent).
I recognise and acknowledge that there is a limit to how quickly change can permeate throughout an organisation (I don't expect your boss or your colleagues to share your zeal for promoting the USB-C standard), but that should not be an excuse to resist, much less criticise change. Change always has to start somewhere. Even if the change I brought is largely limited to the 2 classrooms I teach in, it's at least something.
No, of course not. If you have to carry a bag of dongles, it's not that portable by definition. You cannot say a car has a big boot if in fact it has a small boot but hey, you can hook a luggage trailer to it.
The lack of USB-A mostly gimps this machine enormously for a lot of office-type uses. Add to this the stupidity of putting in 4 USB-C ports, which was wholly unnecessary.
There's no intelligent design behind this. Just like there's no intelligent design behind the huge delays in updating the Mac line in general, the downgrading of the Mac Mini from 4 to 2 cores, the abandonment of the Mac Pro after the initial release, the reuse of a tired, old design for the iPhone 7, the removal of the headphone jack, the continuing use of Lightning on the iPhone conflicting with the switch to USB-C on their Macbooks etc.
This is a rudderless company that makes erratic decisions. You don't need to defend them. Bad design speaks for itself.
I can't speak for the rest of the Mac lineup, but I am being serious when I speak of the merits of the design decisions that have gone into the new MacBook Pro.
They are actually pretty similar to the arguments I made in defence of the MacBook when it was first released. As a teacher, I am prepared to accommodate the drawbacks. Use cloud storage and that 3-in-1 display adaptor to get around having only one USB C port. In exchange, I get lighter and more portable computing device.
Heck, I could argue that I am already doing so, as I am increasingly using a 9.7" iPad Pro as my go-to computing device at work. All my files are in Dropbox. I have my own Apple TV in my classroom and a VGA adaptor for when I need to relieve other classes or make presentations.
The MacBook pro is essentially a souped up MacBook (more ram, faster processor) and that's precisely where the allure lies for me. I probably don't qualify as a "pro" in your book, but darn, the 13" MacBook Pro with touchbar looks extremely enticing given my needs. Only thing is that I am increasingly moving towards an iPad-centric workflow, and my next Mac is more likely to be an updated iPad Pro than a MacBook.
Then you should realize that your particular use-case is hardly the norm for a professional working mostly with a computer.Only thing is that I am increasingly moving towards an iPad-centric workflow, and my next Mac is more likely to be an updated iPad Pro than a MacBook.
For instance, my workflow is not (and cannot be) in any way, shape or form iPad-centric. I can use the iPad to play Hearthstone, at home. That's about it.
To work, I need a computer that can do lots of stuff. On frequent occasions you may need to plug various things into it, like lab equipment, you might need to keep security tokens permanently plugged into it (and they might not be USB-C), life's much more complicated than 4xUSB-C.
As I explained to you before, all my previous experience in working for many years in corporate environments tell me that the new Macbook Pro line is ill-equipped for this. From the testimonials of people who use laptops for content creation or editing, it seems ill-equipped for that also.
I bought the occasional dongle before, but this is the first computer I ever bought together with a dongle. And I needed a second one (the GbE adapter), but it was listed as being available in 3-4 months. It's a sad state of affairs.
The competition has caught up in the 13" segment. Now I sincerely hope they'll catch on in the 15" segment, so I never have to buy another Apple computer again and be done with this company.
This is where you lost all credibility for me. You've been using Macs and never bought/needed an adapter with one at the time of purchase?
Then you're not really a Mac user. Every time I upgrade my Mac laptop, from the PowerBooks to the MacBooks, I've needed to buy at least one adapter at the same time I bought it.
No, since I mostly needed (and used) the USB-A and SD card slots. Later I bought the Ethernet and HDMI adapters. So no, at the time of purchase, I never got a dongle. Why would that affect my credibility?
I don't think it's a good state of affairs at all to have to buy adapters, at time of purchase. It means the laptop isn't well equipped.
So you're not a long-time Mac user, you've only ever bought one MacBook?
I have had to buy an adapter with every Mac laptop upgrade I've ever had. I never once faulted the Mac, and it always encouraged me to upgrade my peripherals more quickly, and I always benefitted in the end as my Macs were always more flexible and capable for future developments, where friends who bought PCs with the ports they needed, needed up buying adapters at EOL in order to keep up with future tech trends.
There's always a trade-off, either on one end or the other. I chose to bite the bullet and get the pain out of the way up front, like ripping off a bandage rather than peeling it off. Your milage may vary, and for you, there's the 2015 MBP, which only sacrifice is the TouchBar and slight performance. Since you don't use USB-C now, it sounds like you won't mind buying the adapter later when you get around to needing it.
I have a Macbook since 2011. 5 years is not particularly long, but I'm not sure what bearing that has on the subject.
Interestingly enough, I never bought an adapter for any laptop I've ever had, before the Macbook (and I had a few Sony first, then ThinkPads). Even with my existing Macbook, I didn't feel the need to immediately go and buy dongles for it. Since it has USB-A, it covers most day-to-day uses.
I've never had the experience of buying adapters towards the end-of-life of PCs. Can't even think of an example. In fact my last ThinkPad, bought in 2008, had ports that are still perfectly usable today.
I've already ordered the new 15" (I need the fastest one in terms of CPU and SSD), but I'm thinking that in the lifetime of this new machine I'll probably never plug anything natively USB-C into it except perhaps my Android phone.
The reason for this is that USB-C is like 4k BluRay: nice, but completely unnecessary. Unlike the original USB, which solved a real problem and unified many ports into one (serial, parallel, PS/2), USB-C is just an improvement. Most people just don't need 40Gbps TB3 daisy-chain capabilities. They need to plug in their mouse, keyboard and monitor, and perhaps a USB drive, which is probably USB-A, like the rest of their stuff.
And now there are monitors that serve as docks as well. Picture that LG monitor. It has 4 USB ports at the back. So you can connect your keyboard and mouse and a USB drive to the back of the monitor. And you get all that plus charging through a single, reversible cable.
Things honestly don't get any more seamless and unified than that.
But how many will buy it? I for sure won't, since I got a new 5k monitor that's not compatible with DP-over-USB-C.
I think that virtually everybody (99.9%) of the new Macbook Pro buyers will be in dongle hell for the lifetime of this product.
Just last week, I met up with my insurance agent and she had this PDF file generated from a website on her iPad and she wanted to email it to me. I ended up giving her a crash course on how airdrop worked (since I was using an iPhone).
Like I said - the onus is on the user to be the change that they want to see. You buy into the new MacBook Pro knowing its limitations and what you are getting yourself into. Either you stay in your self-imposed dongle hell, or break out by investing in USB C accessories and and using wireless solutions where possible, or don't get the MacBook Pro in the first place.
Most people, myself included, have a variety of existing devices. A lot of people, myself included, have other, non-Macbook computers.
The new Macbook is simply not port-compatible with most of the devices we already have, most of the ones we're going to buy, and the ports on the other computers we already have or are going to buy. The reason for this is that USB-C is a niche port at the moment. Most hardware is not made for it.
Let's be clear that virtually nobody, myself included, is going to throw away all the other stuff and either only make do with the new Macbook Pro, or buy exclusively new hardware that's specifically designed for USB-C compatibility, price and capability be damned.
It's not "self-imposed dongle hell" except to the extent that we have to accept this inconvenience and limitation when buying the new Macbook Pro.
And I do. That's why I ordered one. I'm not happy about it, and I hope this will be the last time I purchase something from Apple, but for the time being I have to make do with it. It's my first 3k+ purchase, ever, that I'm not excited or happy about.
You on the other hand seem to be arguing that there's no limitation and inconvenience whatsoever, and that the shiny USB-C future is here, and we're too stupid or blind to embrace it.
Every new piece of tech always starts out as something niche. The first MacBook Air. The absence of flash on ios.
You are not going to have all the PC manufacturers coordinate their efforts to bring USB C to the market simultaneously, so someone is going to have to take the first step somewhere, and help spur the adaption of USB C, and spur demand (and consequently, sales) for the related peripherals as a result.
Maybe not right away, but eventually you will. And those USB C ports on your MacBook will be right there, waiting for you as always, when you do.
The dongles are like a bandaid. You decide when the best time to rip it off is.
Why exactly are you buying a MacBook Pro again if you are clearly so disgruntled about getting one?
I am not saying that there won't be any limitation or inconvenience whatsoever. I am simply saying that it will all be worth it in the end.
Mostly, but you're missing the point. It's not about starting, it's about widespread adoption. Apple started FireWire and the Thunderbolt ports, and both died an ignoble death.
I never said that USB-C isn't good. It's just that it's not good enough for fast adoption. Where USB-A solved a real problem, USB-C doesn't. You won't see the majority of peripherals in two years being USB-C. They'll still be USB-A.
A couple of days ago I was looking for a new HD, good quality webcam. I was unable to find any USB-C webcam. This is just an example.
Sure. There was no reason for them not to put in 2xUSB-C and 2xUSB-A. Convenience and future-proofing, if the future will deliver USB-C as intended.
I think that if and when I will, this Macbook will be obsolete.
In an ideal world where we can all change everything on a whim. In the real world it's not feasible. When buying a new peripheral, assuming a USB-C exists (plenty don't), I have to decide if it should be compatible with my PC, or compatible with my Macbook. So either way, cable/dongle hell.
Told you before. CPU/SSD speed. I compile on it and that's the only thing I expect it to be good at. Otherwise, this machine will be less useful than my 5-year old Air.
No, it won't.
You know the worst part about dongles? They're expensive or suck, sometimes both. I read so many posts written by people who bought cables and dongles that didn't work as advertised (particularly with high-DPI displays), fried their hardware (a USB-C speciality), that I don't think anyone is looking forward to this dongle future pushed by Apple. Except for you and a handful of other true believers.
Cross posting:
While it is still in campaign mode, this looks promising. All the ports I need, plus a 1.5x battery.
https://igg.me/at/line-dock-usb-c-laptop-docking-station/x/2978829/14477922
While it is still in campaign mode, this looks promising. All the ports I need, plus a 1.5x battery.
https://igg.me/at/line-dock-usb-c-laptop-docking-station/x/2978829/14477922
Last edited:
Thank you, that made my day. Carrying a laptop-sized thing together with your laptop, that's an idea!