It's worse than a fail. It's the end of the Mac if they keep this crap up. Apple can't seem to make up its mind if it wants to do USB-C or just plain Thunderbolt DESPITE the fact Thunderbolt 3 makes the move to USB-C permanently (somehow I suspect Apple will be the only manufacturer on Earth that will keep the Mini-Display Port connection just to tick off every Mac user out there (save the fanboys; nothing Apple does EVER ticks them off; they jump for joy at every misstep!)
The Lightning connection makes no sense what-so-ever unless they are planning on unleashing mice and external trackpads for the iPad (yeah that would make wacko sense). The REAL reason is that they don't want to admit that the Lightning connector was STUPID to make in the first place. It's only USB2 speeds and USB-C makes it 100% OBSOLETE in every respect. So why aren't they designign for USB-C when it's the future of both desktops and mobile platforms everywhere on the Earth??? Why did they bother to put USB-C on a Macbook only to not use it anywhere else when we KNOW that the whole world will soon be using USB-C ports for everything (including Thunderbolt 3).
Why does Apple make 4K and 5K type machines and then not give them enough GPU power to do anything but drive the GUI? (and even THAT was choppy as hell on many machines until El Capitan and Metal came out!!!)
Apple seems obsessed about getting their high-end models down in price at the cost of functionality (3rd rate GPUs; old hard drives, AMD
anything....) and yet they've got a Mac Pro that once again just sits there becoming completely out of date, overpriced to hell and not upgradeable even for the video card because they insisted on using custom connectors instead of an industry standard internal slot (guaranteeing you can't make one into the ultimate gaming Mac unlike Mac Pros of years past that were at least up-to-date for the year they came out and could be made into an actual useful desktop for non-pros even if it meant over-spending). Now there is no "high-end" Mac. They're all two-bit compromises for markets that didn't ask for them or want them. It's really unreal how stupid their design decisions are. Maybe number Johnny Five should have spent more time in engineering and less time making flat ugly graphical changes to OS X!
How HARD is it to simply make a machine that has an up-to-date i7, 16GB of ram standard, a REAL GPU (like a NVidia Maxwell capable of actually driving a 4k/5k display at usable frame rates) and standard SSD drives of 512GB or greater internal? Is that really such a hard thing to make? Or would their massive profit margin simply price the machine out of the stratosphere? Given we KNOW Thunderbolt III is just around the corner with all kinds of new goodies, I can't see why anyone would want to buy a new Mac right now that didn't have to, let alone one with a Broadwell chipset in it when it's already obsolete.
What I
really want to see is a Macbook Pro 15" model with Thunderbolt III using USB-C ports (plus a couple of USB3 ports included on-board for usability without a hub) and the capability of using an external high-end graphics card for gaming and the like (whether or not it's running OS X or Windows through Boot Camp). In that case, the included GPU wouldn't be as important since it would likely be docked for gaming and finally having a way to upgrade the GPU for such uses would mean the computer isn't obsolete in two years (since CPU upgrades are typically slow and not needed whereas GPU improvements make life or death for frame rates in a short period of time).
In other words, I want ONE Computer To Rule Them All. That means no more desktops but a notebook that can plug into a hub and become a real desktop with one USB-C plug and Thunderbolt III bandwidth. The iMac is not needed with such a computer becoming available nor any desktops except for specific power uses (leave that to a properly made Mac Pro). But Apple seems unaware of such possibilities just like they are blind to offering touchscreens for those that might need/want them even if it's just in Windows mode (so they buy a Mac instead of a PC and thus generate Apple profit instead of losing a sale).
Ah, but Apple makes money (even if it's mostly from phones and the like), screams the fanatics! Therefore they are 100% right at all times! LOL.
