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Apple Extends Discounts on USB-C Adapters and Accessories Until March 31

OldSchoolMacGuy said:
It's very nice of them. No one (not Microsoft, not Dell, not HP, not Compaq) offered adaptors or cables at any type of discount when USB first rolled out in the late '90s.
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H2SO4 said:
Did those manufacturers make devices with only ONE kind of connector?
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Well debunked. Of course they didn't (and if they did, you'd go a competitor for your Windows-compatible PC). If anything, they went to the opposite extreme and were too conservative about dropping legacy connections.

Even the thinnest and lightest laptops of the day came with more than just USB in the box: I (mistakenly) bought a Sony Vaio PCG505 circa 1998 - a tiny laptop (the 11" MacBook of its day). USB, Firewire, IRDA and PCMCIA on the main machine and (cover your ears Tim & Jony) it included a port replicator with VGA, PS/2 mouse & keyboard, parallel and (I think) RS232 (people used modems in those days). Gave up on it because by the time you had packed the port replicator (included), the external CD drive (included) and the external floppy drive (included... someone get Mr Cook a glass of water, please) you might as well have packed a bigger laptop...


If you include desktops and small-form-factors (like Mini-ITX) VGA and PS/2 mouse/keyboard sockets are barely gone today (and you might even find a parallel or RS232 header on the motherboard). Back in the late 90s, PCs had been sporting unused USB ports (poor/nonexistent drivers in Windows 95) alongside everything else for a while before Apple got things rolling with the original iMac. Even the famously USB-only iMac included Firewire and Ethernet.

Oh, and it was a major step forward to have those thin, light USB cables with their tiny connectors after the bulky parallel and serial cables (seriously, RS232 needed about 5 wires but usually had a huge 25 pin D-connector on the modem end, full of pins that used to do things on a teletype - and don't even get started on how bulky SCSI cables were).

There's never been a connector that aimed to do everything quite like USB-C, so there's never been the opportunity to do something quite as silly as dropping all other standard connectors (including charge and external display) and replace then with a new connector that still needed dongles or replacement cables for the vast majority of peripherals still being sold.
 
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Parasprite said:
Apple (2007):

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Apple (2017): "Think Dongles"
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Apple 2018: Thinner and three fewer wires than 2007. "Think Wireless." Or when you do need wires, they'll all be the same kind (USB-C).
 
theluggage said:
Well debunked. Of course they didn't (and if they did, you'd go a competitor for your Windows-compatible PC). If anything, they went to the opposite extreme and were too conservative about dropping legacy connections.

Even the thinnest and lightest laptops of the day came with more than just USB in the box: I (mistakenly) bought a Sony Vaio PCG505 circa 1998 - a tiny laptop (the 11" MacBook of its day). USB, Firewire, IRDA and PCMCIA on the main machine and (cover your ears Tim & Jony) it included a port replicator with VGA, PS/2 mouse & keyboard, parallel and (I think) RS232 (people used modems in those days). Gave up on it because by the time you had packed the port replicator (included), the external CD drive (included) and the external floppy drive (included... someone get Mr Cook a glass of water, please) you might as well have packed a bigger laptop...


If you include desktops and small-form-factors (like Mini-ITX) VGA and PS/2 mouse/keyboard sockets are barely gone today (and you might even find a parallel or RS232 header on the motherboard). Back in the late 90s, PCs had been sporting unused USB ports (poor/nonexistent drivers in Windows 95) alongside everything else for a while before Apple got things rolling with the original iMac. Even the famously USB-only iMac included Firewire and Ethernet.

Oh, and it was a major step forward to have those thin, light USB cables with their tiny connectors after the bulky parallel and serial cables (seriously, RS232 needed about 5 wires but usually had a huge 25 pin D-connector on the modem end, full of pins that used to do things on a teletype - and don't even get started on how bulky SCSI cables were).

There's never been a connector that aimed to do everything quite like USB-C, so there's never been the opportunity to do something quite as silly as dropping all other standard connectors (including charge and external display) and replace then with a new connector that still needed dongles or replacement cables for the vast majority of peripherals still being sold.
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Yes.

I find it disingenuous when people say it's common sense the iPhone wouldn't ship with a lightning to USB-c adapter since the majority of users don't have USB-c devices...meanwhile, I'd hazard to guess the majority of MBP users (or potential users have more USB a things plugged into dongles than straight up USB-c peripherals. Let me be clear, I want USB-c on my next computer...but not only USB-c. Maybe only USB-c in 5 yrs. however, if Apple is really gonna rip the bandaid off, then do it. Across product lines. Or be candid about your choices for diverging (I.e. We went with USB-c only in the new mbp to make it thinner...which is likely the truth).
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
It's very nice of them. No one (not Microsoft, not Dell, not HP, not Compaq) offered adaptors or cables at any type of discount when USB first rolled out in the late '90s. We all had to buy $40-60 adaptors to make printers, CD burners, and other peripheral work with our new machines.
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Stop lying. You didn't. I was heavily into the PC scene in the late 90s when USB came out. Your shiny new USB equipped PC came with USB, Parallel, and Serial ports for those peripherals. So you could use the old stuff and the new stuff.
 
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iMi said:
Apple's philosophy.

We created a very expensive computer that can't really connect to anything. It's the "future," you know. Don't worry! We will sell you these outrageously priced dongles. What? Not happy? Ok, look... we will sell them to you at discounted but still ridiculously high prices for a limited time. We'll return to gauge you with outrageously priced dongles by March when you are too tiered to be angry at us. You're welcome! :D
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Well, if there is one thing ridiculously overpriced is the MacBook Pro itself. All 3 models. Now if you have paid that much for the MacBook Pro itself (which I am sorry to doubt it) and you are whining about $10 or so adapter and even calling that ridiculously overpriced, then what can I say!! But I have the feeling you have neither the MacBook Pro, nor the adopter, but simply doing what MacRumor community is knowing to best do... relentlessly whine. Which I personally find it quite funny :D
 
ocnitsa said:
I find it disingenuous when people say it's common sense the iPhone wouldn't ship with a lightning to USB-c adapter since the majority of users don't have USB-c devices...
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Exactly... especially since the MacBook with USB-C had been on sale for a year or so when the iPhone 7 came out (and, presumably, Apple knew that new Macs were going to have USB-C).

For some time after they switched to USB, Microsoft's mice (& we're not talking big-ticket products here) came with a little green USB-C to PS/2 dongle. I've bought HP monitors that came with VGA, DisplayPort and DVI cables. I've bought external drives that included a collection of USB & Firewire cables and dongles and PC motherboards that came with half-a-dozen SATA cables. I've even got DVI-to-VGA dongles that Apple included free with my Powerbook, PPC Mac Mini and Mac Pro 1.1. The 30 pin Apple iPod/iPhone dock I bought some years ago included a charger and charge cable...

It's entirely within Apple's remit to stick a couple of adapters or alternative cables in the box with a big-ticket product like the iPhone or MBP. Obviously they can't include every cable that somebody might need but the vast majority of users would find a use for a USB-C-to-A dongle or two.

(To be fair: people are also disingenuous when they say that the iPhone 'can't connect' to the MBP)
 
69Mustang said:
I honestly think they will. The "sale prices" just creates a sense of urgency to get people to buy them before the prices goes up again. They won't go up. They could, but it would shock the hell out of me.
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Agree they won't go up if there is any market sense left at Apple but not sure the current "sale" strategy creates a sense of urgency to buy. They are still too expensive. I bought 3rd party versions for 1/2 the "sale" price. I think the "sale" price is just a way for Apple to save face with all the criticism the new MBP has garnered about out of the box utility. Truth is the AV adapter should have been a pack-in given the MBP price. "Sale" price is a poor substitute.
 
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I keep hearing fanboys claim there's huge demand for macbook pro. At the same time I see near instant delivery times and first discounts, then those discounts extended by several months. And I've yet to see a single macbook pro outside a store. Then again, I only have less than 60 client sites I visit each month so what would I know. They probably hide those and pull out the older machines every time I walk in.
 
iMi said:
Apple's philosophy.

We created a very expensive computer that can't really connect to anything. It's the "future," you know. Don't worry! We will sell you these outrageously priced dongles. What? Not happy? Ok, look... we will sell them to you at discounted but still ridiculously high prices for a limited time. We'll return to gauge you with outrageously priced dongles by March when you are too tiered to be angry at us. You're welcome! :D
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Correct for users who fall into the Pro category. Everyone else, the need for connected devices becomes less each year. The Cloud, Wireless Disks, Data Sharing, Mirroring, Wifi speeds, and more, changing how we use computers. I am finding my need to physically connect my MacBook to an external device, happens very infrequently. Apple needed to make a real Pro Mac.
 
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itguy06 said:
Stop lying. You didn't. I was heavily into the PC scene in the late 90s when USB came out. Your shiny new USB equipped PC came with USB, Parallel, and Serial ports for those peripherals. So you could use the old stuff and the new stuff.
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No one is lying. Settle down little guy.

Today even PC users don't generally use parallel or serial ports so at some point they would have had to switch to USB cables. That's a horrid horrid thing to make people do in your eyes.

The entire point is that we as computer users have made the transition to USB from previous connections. Now moving to USB-C will mean not only will we be able to use even more devices with a single cable, but it's a connection that has been built to be future-proof. Previous USB and other cable designs weren't built in this way but USB-C will be able to be upgraded over time. This will mean speeds can continue to increase and we'll have to use only a single type of cable for all devices.

Are you honestly saying that you prefer to use one cable for your phone, a different one for your printer, another for your network, another for your monitor, a different one for your keyboard, yet another one for your RAID, etc etc etc.... Rather than using just one for everything you use every day?
 
cerberusss said:
But now I have about 5 MagSafe chargers, collected over the years, which I'll need to sell somehow.
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How much you want for 'em? lol.

But really though, I'm keeping my mid-2015 15" MBP for a good 5-6 years until we get wireless charging, screw this transition. So if your price is right.......... :)
 
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