Ethernet

[pandamonia]

Yeah that's probably pretty common. Unfortunately I have to use them all the time because most of my clients don't have open WiFi networks that have access to their infrastructure. Usually anything they have will be a flaky guest network.

But I realize that I'm in the minority. As long as the TB adapter provides stable GigE I'm good.

My car does 155mph but they only let me do 70mph on the road.

It's life. Deal with it

 

[MagicBoy]

70mph is a law. Ethernet is a choice. Big difference.

 

[brentsg]

My car does 155mph but they only let me do 70mph on the road.

It's life. Deal with it

Just when I thought I'd seen the most nonsensical post of the week..

So a customer is paying crazy money for a database upgrade. I'm onsite and have my choice of a guest WiFi network+VPN that will drop me every few minutes, or Gigabit ethernet that puts me right on the proper network with no VPN required.

I need to transfer a ton of huge files, get things working, and finish everything overnight before anyone arrives for work in the AM.

So yes, some people actually NEED wired ethernet and they need it to be fast. It's not optional, nor is it a convenience. Like I said, a TB adapter should be fine. A USB adapter would not suffice.

 

[pandamonia]

Just when I thought I'd seen the most nonsensical post of the week..

So a customer is paying crazy money for a database upgrade. I'm onsite and have my choice of a guest WiFi network+VPN that will drop me every few minutes, or Gigabit ethernet that puts me right on the proper network with no VPN required.

I need to transfer a ton of huge files, get things working, and finish everything overnight before anyone arrives for work in the AM.

So yes, some people actually NEED wired ethernet and they need it to be fast. It's not optional, nor is it a convenience. Like I said, a TB adapter should be fine. A USB adapter would not suffice.

buy the old MBP then. its been updated.

You don't need a retina display in the line of work you appear to have.

I wouldn't think OSX was much use in the enterprise sector either where apple doesn't even have 1% share

 

[henry72]

Now that they've moved from USB to TB for the ethernet adapter I don't care. You're probably going to end up carrying an ethernet cable with you anyways. Just leave the adapter on the end of it.

No sense in the computer being larger and heavier just to accomodate a port that most people won't ever use.

Totally agree! I wish more people can see this
By the way, any news on the FireWire 800 adapter? I might get it if it's cheap like the ethernet adapter.

I didn't know that until I saw the keynotes

 

[MadTester]

An ethernet port wouldn't fit on the side of the MBP, simple as that. Look at the size of your magsafe charger, they had to make that slimmer to get it to fit, and an ethernet cable is significantly chunkier than the magsafe.

The non-retina model has an ethernet port.....

 

[theSeb]

The non-retina model has an ethernet port.....

Yes, but look at it again. It's the thickest part of your MBP. That's why it's gone on the new MBP. It won't fit on it. It's clear that he was talking about the new MBP where he says that the Ethernet does not fit.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The conversation was talking about the comparison between eliminating 56K modems and eliminating ethernet.

Ethernet is TCP/IP, in some cases you would need a modem to convert from one type of transmission to another, other times you can connect directly to the internet through Ethernet (like on a college LAN that has a multi-gbps Ethernet connection to the internet).

You do realize that you can move files over a LAN with Ethernet, right? And you realize that Verizon is pushing 75mbps home internet connections out for a reasonable rate? And that many college LANs can pull nearly 100mbps off of the internet and/or their local LAN?

You missed my point completely then. It's not about the merits of ethernet or modems, or a direct comparison of them, just that those were the two ports dropped in the first MBP and the first RMBP, respectively. It is about Apple hacking off some customers when it deleted the dial-up modem from the first MBP. There were quite a few upset people. Very upset. WiFi hotspots were around in 2006, of course, but they were not nearly as ubiquitous as today. Many road warriors depended on their dial-ups. But years later it is reveled as the right call.

Every time a company drops a key feature it's controversial and riles up a large group of customers. It takes guts. But it's the way tech moves forward. Otherwise we are stuck in a situation where engineers have little wiggle room to evolve to to physical constraints.

If you peel down a few more messages from my original I clarified that I was not saying ethernet is a dead technology. I have no beef against ethernet. I use it in my home. But it's not something the vast majority of laptop users need daily, or ever, so if Apple needed the space for something more useful it was the right call. The functionality is still there, it's just in dongle form, same as FW, and DVI. Clearly based on sales so far it's not much of a sales deterrent.

 

[MadTester]

Yes, but look at it again. It's the thickest part of your MBP. That's why it's gone on the new MBP. It won't fit on it. It's clear that he was talking about the new MBP where he says that the Ethernet does not fit.

I know that... my point being there are two 'new' MBPs non-retina (late 2011 uMBP upgraded with USB3 ports) and obviously retina... difference being an 'ethernet port'... why there are so many posts on this forum about the 'lack of ethernet' with the retina... it's beyond me(maybe i just see things in 2 planes 0 or 1)... personal choice (obviously) but for the love of marmite... it is what it is...

 

[Justin941]

The Ethernet port wouldn't fit on the new design, it's too thin

 

[theSeb]

The Ethernet port wouldn't fit on the new design, it's too thin

Thank you for this interesting new fact.

 

[brentsg]

buy the old MBP then. its been updated.

You don't need a retina display in the line of work you appear to have.

I wouldn't think OSX was much use in the enterprise sector either where apple doesn't even have 1% share

I don't understand your posts. Like I said, the TB adapter is fine. I wouldn't be ok with WiFi or USB hindered ethernet.. but that is no longer an issue.

I view the retina display as something that's eventually going to be good for anyone. Few "need" retina, but anyone will benefit from the advantages of a crisp high resolution IPS panel. In my case it will be spectacular if the scaling is properly handled. The more easily legible text on screen the better. Debugging and troubleshooting with each line in a log file wrapped around the screen 2-3 times absolutely sucks, especially when you're dealing with thousands of lines to begin with.

 

[BiggAW]

...The more easily legible text on screen the better. ...

The screen will have the same amount of screen real estate as a 1440x900 panel, but I guess you could zoom out more in programs that can do that.

 

[Stetrain]

The screen will have the same amount of screen real estate as a 1440x900 panel, but I guess you could zoom out more in programs that can do that.

The 'real estate' is adjustable in preferences. You can go from the equivalent real estate of a 1024x640 display to that of a 1920x1200 display using software scaling.

 

[BiggAW]

The 'real estate' is adjustable in preferences. You can go from the equivalent real estate of a 1024x640 display to that of a 1920x1200 display using software scaling.

Really? That's a big piece of info that's slipped by.

 

[Stetrain]

Really? That's a big piece of info that's slipped by.

Yep:

Even at the non-integer scaled 1680 x 1050 setting, the Retina Display looks a lot better than last year's high-res panel.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5998/macbook-pro-retina-display-analysis

 

[bungiefan89]

No sense in the computer being larger and heavier just to accomodate a port that most people won't ever use.

Oh, how oppressively heavy those big, heavy ethernet ports have been over the years. Why, if my 27" iMac didn't have one, I could probably lift it with one finger.

 

[brentsg]

Oh, how oppressively heavy those big, heavy ethernet ports have been over the years. Why, if my 27" iMac didn't have one, I could probably lift it with one finger.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the weight of a single port. It has to do with making a notebook physically smaller (or larger) based on the physical dimensions of a port.

The cumulative effect of omitting ports, optical drives, and physically shrinking the retina MBP has made this 15" computer lighter than the 13" I carry now. When you travel with a backpack full of gear, plus whatever associated luggage, etc.. every pound counts.

 

[bungiefan89]

It has absolutely nothing to do with the weight of a single port. It has to do with making a notebook physically smaller (or larger) based on the physical dimensions of a port.

The cumulative effect of omitting ports, optical drives, and physically shrinking the retina MBP has made this 15" computer lighter than the 13" I carry now. When you travel with a backpack full of gear, plus whatever associated luggage, etc.. every pound counts.

But the computer still weighs 4.5 pounds! It's a mere 20% reduction in weight when compared to the "vanilla" MBP. In contrast, You see more than twice as much weight shaved off when you compare the MBP to the Air... which also is much thinner over all given the wedged shape.

I'm happy to see computers get lighter and smaller, but in this case, I think Apple compromised too many features (for God's sake, they even made the magnetic charging port smaller!) for to little gain. It's not a lot lighter, it's not a lot shorter, but it is a lot more expensive.

I dunno. I just think they should have given the typical Macbook Pros an additional Retina display option instead of forcing people to buy this particular variation.

 

[allanchou]

Just when I thought I'd seen the most nonsensical post of the week..

So a customer is paying crazy money for a database upgrade. I'm onsite and have my choice of a guest WiFi network+VPN that will drop me every few minutes, or Gigabit ethernet that puts me right on the proper network with no VPN required.

I need to transfer a ton of huge files, get things working, and finish everything overnight before anyone arrives for work in the AM.

So yes, some people actually NEED wired ethernet and they need it to be fast. It's not optional, nor is it a convenience. Like I said, a TB adapter should be fine. A USB adapter would not suffice.

Actually, there is an available ASIX's AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit solution, you can consider using on MBA now. You can search and purchase the AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet dongles from Internet and get the Mac OSX driver from ASIX web site (http://www.asix.com.tw/download.php?sub=driverdetail&PItemID=131). FYI.