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In Apple's defence, there's always a balance. You can't just give people what they want... Often people don't know what they REALLY want. You have to give them what they NEED.
 
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In Apple's defence, there's always a balance. You can't just give people what they want... Often people don't know what they REALLY want. You have to give them what they NEED.

I'd like to keep my current USB-A devices and use them without adapters. Two USB-A would be great. One USB-A would be passable.

The Mac Mini M1 still has two USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, right? Maybe they could add SD slot to the Mini too.
 
They realized the butterfly keyboard was **** and went back so I don't see why they won't return to features that people love and want. This can only be a good thing. M1 plus sd card reader and maybe some other surprise returns, I'm down for it.
 
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I'm looking forward to 2.5 GB Ethernet in Apple products in upcoming years. Comcast is renting modems with 2.5 GB Ethernet for home use and it would be nice for screen-sharing at home.
 
Amazon sells a flush SD card using that really small form-factor. That would be a cool option for cheap, archival storage that you can carry around with you.

At that point, I'd rather carry a cable that can also be used for other devices. I've lost 'small form-factor' dongles traveling before. Just me talking. I did get an SD card adapter for my iPod, and did travel a few times with that dongle, my iPod, and my SD card camera. I was surprised that it actually worked pretty well. I've been in the business so long that I'm still amazed when tech actually works.😆😆😆😆
 
They realized the butterfly keyboard was ****

Yeah... it only took them 3 or 4 revisions to finally give up on it! :p

We always heard how bad they were from regular people on the forums.

But I often wonder what happened when the butterfly keyboard broke for an Apple employee?

Did they walk down the hall and shout "Hey Joe... WTF is with this keyboard?!?!?"
 
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I'm looking forward to 2.5 GB Ethernet in Apple products in upcoming years. Comcast is renting modems with 2.5 GB Ethernet for home use and it would be nice for screen-sharing at home.

Are they still going to cap usage? What's the point of having a huge pipe if the valve can be closed at any point?
 
what? but if you look at posts (your link) from over 2 years ago ... do some real research ...
I did. It's still a problem. These one-to-many USB-C hubs do exist, but they're exceedingly rare. To give you an idea:
Even the expensive high-end CalDigit USB-C hub my employer just bought for my work computer has only one USB-C port on it. And I did research before spending their money on it, cause I wanted the right one. I don't need USB-C ports, though. They're only useful for converting to other ports.
 
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At that point, I'd rather carry a cable that can also be used for other devices. I've lost 'small form-factor' dongles traveling before. Just me talking. I did get an SD card adapter for my iPod, and did travel a few times with that dongle, my iPod, and my SD card camera. I was surprised that it actually worked pretty well. I've been in the business so long that I'm still amazed when tech actually works.😆😆😆😆

It's not a dongle. It's a very small sleeve which you put the XD card in and then slide it in the SD slot and it fits flush with the outside of the laptop. To get it out, you push it in and it pops out. Kind of like how SIM cards fit into iPhones in the old days.
 
Are they still going to cap usage? What's the point of having a huge pipe if the valve can be closed at any point?

The 2.5 GB Ethernet is useful for the LAN. I find that Screen-Sharing over GB Ethernet to be a sub-par experience. It's usable but not great. I think that 2.5 GB Ethernet on your home LAN would be considerably better. 10 GB Ethernet would, of course, be even better but I don't think that home modems are there yet in a widespread way.
 
...and if you move away from iPhone-land, a number of current mobile phones take MicroSD.
I already posted a list of other consumer electronics that commonly uses SD cards - dashcams, Go Pro-type cameras, Drones, GPS, TV Set Top Boxes. Niches, but lots of them. Or just use the slot to add 256GB of extra storage for non-speed-critical files like media libraries.

I wouldn't say SD is a must have, but its a nice-to-have if it can be provided without sacrifice.

...and there's no reason for SD vs. HDMI to be a dichotomy - apart from space (of which there is plenty in a 14" or 16" MBP with simpler logic boards and smaller coolers) they don't compete for I/O resources. Unlike a TB/USB-C port, which competes for resources with everything.

I wouldn't bet the farm on these rumours being true - and this entire debate is about 4 years late - but I don't get why some people are so upset for the idea that a future MBP might include an extra port or slot that they don't personally use. Thunderbolt/USB-C isn't going away, folks.

Note to self: start kickstarter for a set of space grey/silver/gold/whatever stickers to hide these unwanted ports from those who are offended by the sight of USB-A. Only $99.99 a set.
All those consumer electronics also have USB cables I can plug in. I have lots things that use SD cards but have never needed the SD card slot on my MBP. I do use it, but not for its intended purpose. It has a microSD card inserted into it at all times as extra Mac storage, using an adapter that sits flush to the laptop.

Also, anyone who needs it can get an adaptor. They're cheap and can be upgraded as the standard improves. I get the convenience of frequently used ports like HDMI and USB-A, but SD, no.
 
Port haters, much like legacy ports, will be here to stay, whether haters like or not.

When I see a venerable fire control panel still using RS232 I know apple’s portless illusion won’t break anytime soon, while simultaneously inherit all drawbacks of wireless connection without marketing those drawbacks.
 
Funny thing with new Macbooks is that great majority finds out they are missing ports when they go somewhere and they need to plug in hdmi cable or use someone else thumbdrive which is of course Type A. I've seen many presentations being delayed cause they didn't know they couldn't hook up to projector cause there is no port. That's real world, it's funny to us computer techies but not to them when they need to copy some important data off PC person that only uses Type A thumbdrives. Of course.
Yes. USB-A is probably less common on the go, but HDMI, all the time. And people don't carry around dongles. And those who do shouldn't have to. Forget any laptop that doesn't have an HDMI port. I don't consider myself a techie and never will, even though I write software all day every day. I just want my laptop to do its job.
 
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An easy way to get an extra 512 GB of storage. Transfer speeds aren't great but you don't always need fast storage.

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Amazon sells a flush SD card using that really small form-factor. That would be a cool option for cheap, archival storage that you can carry around with you.
I have that BaseQi adaptor, and it's nice, but I still admit it's kinda jank and for niche users. Would not mind the SD card slot disappearing, given how big it is.

And if you do get one, be warned that the random write speeds are abysmal. Only use it for reads or sequential writes. I copied Xcode and Android Studio's huge deps onto it at some point, took forever, and now I mostly just put movies onto it.
 
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I have that BaseQi adaptor, and it's nice, but I still admit it's kinda jank and for niche users. Would not mind the SD card slot disappearing, given how big it is.

And if you do get one, be warned that the random write speeds are abysmal. Only use it for reads or sequential writes. I copied Xcode and Android Studio's huge deps onto it at some point, took forever, and now I mostly just put movies onto it.

My 512 GB SD card has a bunch of movies on it. Nice when you're taking a trip.
 
SD card reader is a HUGE thing for me, it's the #1 reason I ignored the 2016/2017 Macbook Pros. I do not want a ridiculous and easily lot dongle for something I use so frequently.
 
I know there's a history to MacBooks. However, why a 13" and later a 14"? Am I missing something?
 
Not gonna happen! Apple is not the kind to put old technology in their computers. I'd say USB-A is a pipe dream too for the same reason, and size ... not gonna happen either.
Now the main drawback of all these Macs are the lack of internal expandability, so anything they can do to have a slot for additional RAM and/or SSD storage would be most welcome... It's feasible with a Thunderbolt-3 internal interface to some kind of proprietary connector and slot.
 
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