1. Almost no real-world "fixed" (internal) use of PCI lanes is going to be 100% efficient in use of available bandwidth; so that argument is somewhat specious.
To a degree, for the problem is that Apple severely limits their product variation, so the customer choice is highly constrained - the result is an "Apple Knows Best" over the Customer himself, which results in non-optimal product for a potentially very wide swath of customers. That's effectively why Apple's "All In" on USB-C has resulted in so much customer angst.
Similarly, consider the design of the "Trash Can" Mac Pro: it was a pretty well purpose built PC .. but effectively for only one extremely narrow niche of 'Pro' users (FCPX) - - everyone else got the shaft.
I've specifically looked at my own use case (YMMV of course) and found that my "Insurance" cost to replace my 'cheesegrater' Mac Pros with a 2013 MP setups was roughly +$2K per seat more expensive: an "Apple Tax"
with no significant improvement in performance solely because of its 'tubular' BS requiring tons of expensive Thunderbolt peripherals to compensate for the lack of cheap-to-fill SATA bays.
2. The idea of carrying a small Dock is that you don't HAVE to carry around multiple adapters (so-called "Dongles").
Sure, but that still depends on the user use case for just which ports they need. To this end, a small dock and a single dongle can net out to be smaller (+cheaper) than a big "kitchen sink" Dock. Just which dock/dongle combination is ultimately a YMMV based on customer use case (see "We got lucky", below).
And if it just ONE thing you are packing, you are FAR less likely to "forget it" than if you have a bunch of separate things to keep track of.
And yet, when the ports are built into the laptop, this risk simplifies down to just the (laptop), which will always be lower risk than of the sum of { (laptop) and (dock) }.
And if you are THAT worried, these Docks are generally not expensive-enough that you can't just LEAVE one in your computer-bag. Problem solved!
Sure, but this wasn't the case when Docks still cost $200 each (again, see "We got lucky", below)
And people who travel with Mac laptops (and many other non-Apple laptops) are already used-to packing an AC adapter and one or more video "breakout" "dongles"
Sure, as well as to pay for packaging to keep it smartly organized to again minimize the 'forgot' risk. For example, an
ThinkTank Powerhouse Air organizer can fit a MBP AC power adaptor
and a couple of dongles
and a complete iPad charger (cord & AC)
and a couple of International AC plug adaptors
and a short 6" AC pigtail (cheap & quite useful to be able to plug in multiple devices to run off of a single International adaptor plug), becoming a "single unit" from a packing logistics standpoint (risk of forgetting, etc). And sure, it could be used to accommodate a small Dock unit instead - - but in counterpoint, at (7.5” W x 3.9” H x 1.8” D) in size, its already beyond being a negligible addition to one's carry bag.
And there has been no gigantic outrage about "leaving THOSE behind"...
Except for the 6.022e+23 posts on MR that have grumbled about lack-of-ports on MB's & MBPs, that is... /S
Speaking of cost, the approx. $50 price would quickly be exceeded if you decided to go the "multiple dongles" route; so again, all of your objections constitute a(nother) specious argument.
Sort of.
First,
we got lucky this time. When Apple went 'all in' on USB-C a few years ago, early adopters got screwed over; its really only been the last ~year that prices have finally become reasonable. The
"yet another expensive proprietary Apple port" has always been a customer risk when dealing with Apple and this price break NEVER happened with Thunderbolt 1 or TB 2. And once again, its more so the Windows PC world we have to thank, not Apple.
Second, even though a small hub of "N" ports will trend to be a smaller price/weight/cube than an equal number of dongles, the problem is that this same engineering packaging paradigm is also true for the laptop + hub. This is the basics on the Engineering science of the packaging outcome of product integration.
Third, there's also the paradigm that the user use case doesn't actually need 13 (or however many) ports, so even though the "kitchen sink" hub is more compact than 13 dongles, it isn't smaller than just the 2 dongle he notionally only needs. Granted, there are big/medium/small hubs now available today which mitigate the magnitude of this ... its probably close to the point of being good enough. It similarly can also come down to how the external peripheral is to be physically managed too - - some form factors work better than others (example prior being a snazzy clip-on that as the unintended consequence that the laptop no longer fit in its carry sleeve/bag). The reality is that there will end up being hybrid use cases where the customer determines that a Dongle + Small Dock is a superior solution for them than just a "Kitchen Sink" Dock ... and overall, while the age of USB-C for everything is certainly the future, it still comes back to the question of just how well served were Apple's customers by Apple's decision to slam everyone over in a quite abruptly rude fashion?
3. I haven't been a "Road Warrior" (as in "outside salesperson"), per se; but in my youth, I was a sound man for a traveling rock band travelling across the southeastern US continuously for about 2 years. So, I am well aware how weight and complexity of many relatively lightweight items can quickly "add-up" to a trunk-full of stuff that takes two people to lift!
And that traveling rock band was probably Earthbound in a truck, as opposed to having to deal with commercial flights, particularly with how much of a royal PITA they've become over the last decade. You were probably more concerned about how much you personally wanted to lift/carry than being concerned about $100/bag overage fees on every flight you board, etc. And all of this doubles-down when we also talk about carry-on logistics of the expensive bits that airlines refuse to insure in checked bags, theft, etc.
Oh, and FYI, there's a lot of business travel for reasons other than being a 'salesman'. Case in point,
here's a summary inventory pic of just the ~$2K worth of "miscellaneous" small stuff in organizer bags which was then stuffed in the nooks & crannies of a couple of carry-on bags for a trip from ~18 months ago.
But again, with a "Dock", we really ARE talking about ONE typically 4 ounce device, that really IS smaller than carrying two packs of cigarettes (sorry! I'm a non-smoker; but still couldn't come up with a better comparison).
A spare set of eyeglasses in a hard carry case. But even so, the principle ultimately involves the trade-off decision of having to leave something else behind...and the reason why I happened to have chosen 'eyeglasses' is that for me personally, they're a critical "mission failure" risk that pragmatically requires double- to triple- redundancy.
So, again, with a "Dock", the burden gets LIGHTER, not HEAVIER.
You've half correct. You're correct in that the Engineering science of product packaging through integration invariably means that the sum of N devices (dongles) will be greater than an integrated dock of the same, but you're also incorrect because you didn't take a "System" approach: you don't need the dock without a laptop, so just as N dongles is made smaller through integration into a dock, the system of a Laptop+Dock is made smaller by making it into a single integrated product (e.g., laptop with ports).
4. Well, good thing the 2016/2017 MacBook Pros retained a 3.5mm headphone jack; soyou won't have to depend on BT headphones/earbuds...
Plus (and YMMV but important to me) it also represents fewer batteries to manage. FWIW, it travels in a
ThinkTank Powerhouse Tablet organizer bag, along with another iPad & two iPhone chargers & three cords, plus another 6" AC pigtail, EU adaptor, and a few other tidbits.
5. I'm genuinely sorry; that really wasn't meant as an Ad Hominen attack. I should have phrased that as "If SOMEONE can't carry...", because I really WAS meaning "in general". Sorry for the confusion!
Thanks for that acknowledgment. When I've discussed minimization strategies & issues in the past, I've run into trolls who has used that same sort of "chest beater" statement.
The reality is that it really really sucks to travel at times, and having heavier bags doesn't make it more fun. There's few things more delightful than to be on a Trans-Atlantic overnight flight and trying to settle in for some sleep when one realizes that that sniffle is just the start of a nasty 48 hour bug ... utterly zero sleep on the flight, resulting in a bad case of jet lag on top of the illness ... and its Brussels in February, now barely able to stand even without one's suitcase+laptop bag ... AND THEN we find that the idiot new Agent who booked the trip didn't pick our usual hotel that was an easy 100ft stroll from the metro because they saved $10/night. So now we're schlepping all our stuff several blocks down narrow streets, across cobblestones (wheels hurt more than they help) trying to find the damn place, with pounding sinuses ... and oh yeah, its raining now too...
... and then when slowly & finally getting there at ~10AM, because its not the hotel that we've had a long relationship with, the front desk says that its way too early for check-in and to not come back for check-in until after 3PM.
-hh
