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Apple to Release Thinner MacBook Pro at WWDC

SirHaakon said:
I love how removal of the ethernet port leads people to think it's all a conspiracy to sell more adapters, lol. Are you all that cynical? Sure, it's a nice side-effect for the company, but if you look at the mock ups, it makes oodles of sense. Why limit the form factor of your entire device because a legacy port is getting in the way? Laptops are shrinking every year; people want small and light. Just comparing the Air to the MBP makes the MBP look goliath in size. I'm not saying it isn't another reason for the company to ditch it, but I don't think they approached it from the standpoint of "how can we sell more adapters." They're making hundreds of billions of dollars by selling iPhones to China.
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I hope you realize I was being sarcastic.
 
All the people complaining about missing feature x will buy on the first day anyways. That'll show Apple!:rolleyes:
 
SirHaakon said:
You're telling me you'd rather spend $1,000 on a ATD (and put that on your desk somewhere to rot) than by a $50 dongle because you "don't like dongles?"
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I said little more. And yes, people who wouldn't consider ATD at all as an option suddenly find it a little more interesting option. If I had $ to burn, sure I would buy ATD, especially since there's no other LCD with Thunderbolt.

And the USB/ethernet adapter, will it support gigabit?
 
I hope Apple drops the Thunderbolt plug and goes for USB 3.0 like the rumor. I have an iMac and the Thunderbolt adapter is worthless to me! :mad:
 
blow45 said:
...Wifi isn't even a consideration in pretty much all corporate, university, small business, conference hall etc. etc. networks, as an adjunct maybe, as a way to connect with any guaranteed reliability, security and speed and do real work (as you would with a pro device like a mbp) it's not even close. If you take your mac to work and access a server as almost everyone working in a corporate, uni or small business environment does you will use ethernet, period. You might get away with wifi sometimes, but your standard practice will be to just wire the computer.
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Really? The fact you've been up-voted suggests that you may have a point, but this is not my experience in the UK. Of course there are going to be businesses, or more specifically certain areas/departments of a business who will consider wi-fi security not good enough, but in my experience the average business/educational establishment isn't counted amongst them. And I'm afraid it is the antiquated nature of the connection that is part of the problem. The fact that the ethernet plug and socket are both so delicate means that I believe most businesses that use laptops habitually jumped onto the wireless wagon years ago. And as many others have said, those who need ethernet will no doubt be able to avail themselves of a USB3 adapter.
 
majordude said:
I hope Apple drops the Thunderbolt plug and goes for USB 3.0 like the rumor. I have an iMac and the Thunderbolt adapter is worthless to me! :mad:
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Agreed, I have yet to use my thunderbolt port on my MacBook Pro. Its nice to look at though!
 
Peace said:
I hope you realize I was being sarcastic.
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Yours was one post of many that I chose to quote. So people either think that way or you're just not very creative. :)

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Stetrain said:
Might want to take a look at this page:

http://www.apple.com/displays/

It's only been out since last year.
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Right, but no one would be "forced" to buy that when there's a dongle available. This has already been discussed.
 
majordude said:
I hope Apple drops the Thunderbolt plug and goes for USB 3.0 like the rumor. I have an iMac and the Thunderbolt adapter is worthless to me! :mad:
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Where does it say they will drop Thunderbolt?

The 9to5 Mac info from this morning says that the prototype cases have room for two of them on the right side of the computer (where the superdrive is now).

Here's their mockup:

mpb_bothsides.png
 
hkim1983 said:
A lot of people are saying, "adapter for gigabit ethernet", but they do realize how un-apple like that would be right?
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No, I use a dongle almost everyday when I hook up my Macbook Pro to my TV. It's very Apple-like.
 
Stetrain said:
Where does it say they will drop Thunderbolt?

The 9to5 Mac info from this morning says that the prototype cases have room for two of them on the right side of the computer (where the superdrive is now).

Here's their mockup:

Image
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He said he hopes they drop it.
 
Wait, you mean we can't use our laptops professionally without Ethernet ? Someone should have told me this back in October 2010, I've been using this MBA professionally all this time without knowing this! :mad:

Seriously, now I'll have to give back my salary to my boss and ask him to give me back all those hours spent working on the Ethernet network at work from my lowly MacBook Air that's not a professional computer. :(
 
spyd4r said:
no ethernet in a pro level laptop? WTF Apple.

edit: as soon as I hit send, i figured it out.. it's to upsell you to a Apple Thunderbolt Display...
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Nah. People mostly use tethered enet at their home base (home, office, etc.) not on the road. So a USB-3 hub and a dongle are just fine. That hub will also attach the DVD reader/burner as necessary so the S-drive won't be missed.

I'd miss the sdrive and ethernet connections more in a new iMac that isn't portable, and one of whose main attractions is elimination of desk clutter. If I get an iMac, and still have to have wires running to my faster hardwire ethernet dongle, another wire to my DVD drive, etc., it gets to be a pain in the neck, and starts to remove some of its benefits ... not all, mind you, but some of them.
 
KnightWRX said:
Wait, you mean we can't use our laptops professionally without Ethernet ? Someone should have told me this back in October 2010, I've been using this MBA professionally all this time without knowing this! :mad:

Seriously, now I'll have to give back my salary to my boss and ask him to give me back all those hours spent working on the Ethernet network at work from my lowly MacBook Air that's not a professional computer. :(
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lol. It's odd but no matter how much you press this point to people, it never seems to go through. People seem to have an incredibly idiosyncratic notion of professional and "pro" computer, yet use it in such sweeping generality whenever they need to press a point.
 
Seriously, how many different ethernet cables do you guys use? Just buy a USB dongle for every one of them and let them clipped at the end of every cable so that you just have to plug the USB in your Mac everytime. Why in hell would you sacrifice mobility of a mobile computer for the sake of a port meant to be used inside?

If you're going to complain about the price, guess what. Neither ethernet nor USB are Apple's proprietary technology. Any brand will do, it doesn't need to be Apple. Here's one from Monoprice for 6.64$. If you need gigabit speeds, just buy a USB3/Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter, or whatever Apple releases to shut the complainers up.

If you're going to drop 2k on a laptop, what's the big deal about buying one (or a couple of) 6$ dongles. It's not like people use 50 different ethernet cables.

61503.jpg
 
JohnDoe98 said:
lol. It's odd but no matter how much you press this point to people, it never seems to go through. People seem to have an incredibly idiosyncratic notion of professional and "pro" computer, yet use it in such sweeping generality whenever they need to press a point.
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Yep, it's always a bit of a No True Scottsman argument.

"You may get along just fine without X but a REAL pro..."
 
hkim1983 said:
A lot of people are saying, "adapter for gigabit ethernet", but they do realize how un-apple like that would be right? Not to mention the additional premium you have to pay for what these people consider basic functionality (well, ok, that is very apple-ish).

I don't see why they would have to remove the ethernet port from the 15". If you're buying a 15", there's a very good likelihood that you're buying it for work reasons (unless you're one of "those" guys that likes to pay a premium for a mac gaming machine...). The slight reduction in weight/thickness does not offset the removal of ethernet in this instance. In the case of the 13", I think the argument is better for the removal of ethernet, but the 15"?

I think it's ok to minimize and remove unnecessary components, even if techies disagree with it, when your machine isn't being targeted towards professional users. When your primary audience are professional users however, it really should be functionality first...yes, even at the cost of some design/marketing nonsense.

If you're a consumer (or "prosumer", whatever that means) and you're happy with your apple products, that's fine, no one is faulting you for that. You have to look at it from the other side of the fence though, and this includes the people who do in fact use their machines primarily for work, but aren't affected by this. This isn't like the ODD issue, where trends are obviously pointing towards their "extinction", this is something that legitimately affects anyone who works on a private network at work where security and/or performance has any kind of relevance.

EDIT: Btw, the removal of ethernet doesn't affect me at all, so I'm not saying this out of some self-centered whining. I do however, know a lot of professionals who would be negatively affected by this.
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Firstly, "un-apple like"... What's this then: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC704ZM/A

Secondly, Macbook Pros aren't actually aimed at professionals - it's just a premium name to make it sound special to students and rich home users. No pro worth their salt would do any major work on one.
 
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