Really? Every laptop has a port and there's tons of peripherals for it. For those that aren'T there are adapters
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.
Bit disappointed with new MBP!
- Thread starter cheddar-caveman
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Really? Every laptop has a port and there's tons of peripherals for it. For those that aren'T there are adapters
It's part of the price certainly, but were they necessary to remove? I see the OP's point -- knowing about the missing features at the time of purchase doesn't preclude you from missing them more as time goes on, and then ruminate about how little effort and space they would have taken to retain. We're NOT talking about floppy drives, DVD drives or even parallel ports here, but a tiny USB-A port or SD slot, which remain in widespread use and would give the option of traveling as simple and light as possible with this supposedly "mobile" device. And removing the charge indicator is just a cheap and selfish move.
SD card is only really used by photographers. Not really widespread among other MBP users.
Used by videographers & photographers. Users in the creative field that loved the macbook for this reason.
We can of course buy dongles. But do remember that macs appealed to creative users primarily. Hence the sd card slot was a great feature.
'
Yes, but as I stated, most people don't find the extra cost worth it. When we went from USB2 to USB3, people were willing to jump on it because the speed difference was worth it. But the current issues with, and the confusion surrounding USB C are not worth it to most people, particularly given the higher cost. In real life I haven't heard anyone saying, "I'm dying for USB C, but I heard a lot of people complain about having to use dongles and adapters.
I think an even bigger reason was that you could use the same devices to connect to a USB3 port. I bet most people didn't even notice the transition. If you have USBC and you want to plug in a mouse, oh gotta buy a dongle. Wanna plug in a USB stick? Oh gotta buy a dongle. Wanna hook your laptop to the TV? Oh gotta buy a dongle.
You don't hook your laptop to a TV with a USB port.
Having used the unibody generation I'm used to much less widely available and much more annoying MDP dongles.
HDMI port on 2012-2015 was nice, true, but I'll survive without it.
Yeah I also complain about dongles. (well not really since they're widely available and you can buy one if you need it literally everywhere). But you get 4x super fast ports.
It's supposed to be a Pro machine, why is it a problem when apple suddenly pulls a move that can be considered Pro? It has 4 most professional peripherals ports you can get right now, and people are pissed about it.
+ it's finally happening like it was supposed to be happening with thunderbolt since it came out... This is what i was hoping for when i bought the 2012 rMBP with 2 tb1 ports.
[doublepost=1547981369][/doublepost]
There's also music/audio creatives that had practically no use for the SD slot and would have preferred let's say, a firewire port, or optical out, that's useless to video/photography demographic
Cheeeees! I have nowhere said I didn't want it or don't like it, I simply said I was a bit disappointed to find I had to buy extra bits to be able to meet my needs.
]I don't think I'll bother posting on here any more if this is the sort of response a simple comment gets!
Bring back the old MacForum please, much nicer place!
Get e thicker skin. Your post created a good discussion. Nice is overrated. 
The problem is that while Steve Jobs had almost supernatural insight into whom Apple’s customers were and could be, and what they wanted even before they knew what wanted, Tim Cook has zero insight into either.
The problem is that while Steve Jobs had almost supernatural insight into whom Apple’s customers were and could be, and what they wanted even before they knew what wanted, Tim Cook has zero insight into either.
I love my new MBP! Spilled a beer over it yesterday and it still works!
[doublepost=1547988390][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1547988390][/doublepost]
Quit agree, two's plenty. Add an old USB and an HDMI and card slot and you've got the perfect combination - for me any way.
What Apple has done here by going all USB-C in its MacBook “Pros” is trying to shove a design philosophy down customers throats at their expense and inconvenience. Omitting the headphone jack on the iPhone was similar, but at least in that case there were benefits to the device such as thinness and water resistance. The only benefits afforded by omitting the card slot and USB-A ports on the MBP go to Apple’s wallet.
You’re right, you do that via HDMI, which you need a dongle for. I still don’t really understand why people are parroting Apple’s marketing. I’m a software developer, so a “pro” as you might say, and I wouldve had much more use out of normal USB3 and HDMI. It’s incredibly annoying going to a customer to present something and you forgot to take your dongle.
I can understand why some people need super fast I/O at the inconvience of this situation, but how large is that group of people really? I’m not just talking about the MBP, but also at devices more targeted towards regular consumers, like the MBA.
Why wouldn’t Apple leave at least 1 USB or HDMI port on there? Easy answer: to sell more dongles.
Well for one, it doesn't fit on the current design.
[doublepost=1547990597][/doublepost]
Thinness is also the case here tho. For better or worse, mostly worse.
The same sort of arguments were occurring when Apple introduced the Bondi Blue iMac, and Apple eschewed their older ports for a new fangled port called USB. I get teh HDMI/SD card reader port arguments, but I don't think they'd remove a port simply to sell a 20 dollar dongle, I'm not entirely sure why they removed it though
Exactly.
Every little detail about this laptop is public and free.
It's like buying fish to cook and when you taste it you say "Eww, that tastes like fish".
it would be a reaaaalllly tight fit if they kept it. Wouldn't do wonders for structural integrity of these already flimsy machines either.
Attachments
Fair, I’ll give you that. Let’s just say its the most plausible scenario. Something a bit unrelated but shows their greed is the removal of the headphone jack adapter in the iPhone X / 8 boxes while they included them before. It’s one of the reasons that my thoughts immediately go to such reasonings.
[doublepost=1547991902][/doublepost]
Yep, I completely agree. But I’d assume the design is made after the ports are known so they can adjust the enclosure accordingly.
Oh, I'm not saying Apple isn't petty and looked to take advantage of the situation, but I don't think they removed the ports to sell dongles
Even in the 2012 model, it looked more like the ports were fitted after the design of the machine not vice-versa, considering they dropped LAN.
Too me it looks more like "here's the chassis, lets cram what we can in it".
Certainly looks like that in the half-assed implementation of USB3.0 in the Mac Mini.
Most professional and serious amateur photographers that I know prefer to use a separate memory card reader rather than the SD slot in a computer or -printer.
At one time some people used the SD card slot in the MBP as a way of providing extra storage memory, serving as an extra drive, so to speak.
Maybe that is one reason Apple removed it from their machines.....
I think they have also kind of become the new thumb drive, maybe because so many PC laptops and desktops (including the iMac) do have the SD card slots these days.
I get them handed to me a lot by various folks which is why I purchased a nice little reader from Vanja. It is a little bigger than a thumb drive, but has slots for SD and MicroSD on the sides and one end has a USB-A that can flip down to convert to micro-USB and a USB-C on the other. A little bit of a “Swiss army knife” solution, but it works for me.
Actually, I have a Delkin USB-A memory card reader which is similar to what you post above, but what I'm talking about was actually a special SD card made by Transcend and a couple of other companies which actually slid into the SD card slot on the older MBPs and which served as an extra drive. One extracted it either with a special tool or a fingernail and it stuck out of the slot a little bit. A friend had one in his 2013 13" MBP to supplement the smallish internal storage available; I think he used the extra one for his iTunes library or something. I've always used external drives (first HDD and now SSD) to supplement my storage if needed, as well as for the usual backups. I needed this with my 512 GB 15" MBP more than I do now with my new MBP that has 1 TB of storage.
That Vanja looks like a very handy device to have, especially for travel! I'll have to look into that.....
That Vanja looks like a very handy device to have, especially for travel! I'll have to look into that.....