How Apple can keep the Ethernet port and make the MBP thinner

[MovieCutter]

Agreed! Perhaps they might release a new Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter to support gigabit ethernet? Will see

Most people DO NOT need the port, honestly! Therefore, Apple will not keep it. Wireless is the way to go anyway.

True to an extent. I use gigabit ethernet on my MBP every day, but it's connected to a gigabit network so I can transfer GBs of video files between my mobile and desktop editing rigs, as well as my home theater. So I'll buy whatever gigabit adapter they sell, but for me it'll just be a tax write off.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Whats the difference of plug in an adaptor or the old Ethernet wire, they are both wires, it's going to be the same thing

Gigabit ethernet (1000 Mbps) vs USB 2 (480 Mbps)... you tell me, what's the difference? No big deal, right? Now, if the new MBPs have USB 3, then you actually will be able to have gigabit ethernet anyway...

 

[ds.]

Even if Apple does make an adapter that could be a good replacement for a direct Ethernet wire connection it would still be annoying to have to buy an extra adapter for a ~$1300 laptop. If Apple were to include it with the box, at least until wi-fi was a good replacement then I wouldn't mind the adapter.

 

[pragmatous]

You clearly do not work in IT and you are just wrong. I don't know how else to say it.

If you get rid of Ethernet on a mac it becomes clear to the business industry that macs are not capable of being professional working computers. Most businesses have policies against using wifi on a private WAN because it's a security risk. Wifi is typically segmented on a different vlan which is tunneled thru a dedicated DSL line away from the network. The only way to get internet to actually do work (outlook/groupwise, shared files, access to your corporate application system, etc) is via Ethernet. That is a fact.

Also access points have limited bandwidth. Ya your imaginary 600mb/s is fast to YOU but that's all the bandwidth it has. The standard is actually 300mb/s. It's not a lot if you share it across 500 people. Compared to a 48 port cisco gigabit switch that are stackable that has a bandwidth of 96-104Gb/s (depending on how many fiber ports it has) per switch. That makes wifi use in a business impracticable.

Ethernet is not going anywhere. Wifi will never ever overtake the amount of bandwidth (and security) that a cisco switch can provide.

It would be a step backwards to get rid of a standard after just now being accepted in the corporate world. I would imagine that Apple understands that and will not be getting rid of Ethernet on it's professional line of computers.

edit:
Oh and if you actually believe that corporations are going to spend thousands of dollars on stupid adapters that fail after a year of travel you better think again. The amount of labor involved in showing users on how to use it, the fact that they get lost, and the logistics nightmare makes it not worth it in the corporate world.

If they do actually remove it; kudos to Apple for following the logical trend in the industry. No one actually NEEDS a ethernet port, given 802.11n now potentially goes upto 600Mbits/s, and there are much higher speed TB (provided you have a high speed SSD external drive) for higher speeds. The speed advantage of Gbit Ethernet over 802.11n is token, and hardly worth it to actually build into the system; adaptor will work fine for the extreme fringe cases where people who are unable to adapt to change.

 

[ljonesj]

has anyone thought about older buildings were wireless signals don't transmit very well and an Ethernet cable is easier to run and more reliable for businesses and homes its the same with broadband internet not all areas have it and cant get it yet with getting rid of optical drive needing it for movie playback if you use your macbook for movie playback as you only have 56.6 internet called phone line internet and its not dsl

 

[phyrexia]

There is no logical reason why a normal user would ever need ethernet, period.

This is kind of a ridiculous statement. I have been in apartments where Router in Room A was unable to stream 720p video to Computer in Room B over 2.4ghz 802.11N. This type of usage is quickly becoming "normal" and wifi cannot always keep up in all environments.

 

[jcpb]

There is no logical reason why a normal user would ever need ethernet, period.

Network security.

WiFi is very simply no substitute to wired Ethernet, period. In fact, the mere presence of a WiFi network in some places is a million-dollar security breach waiting to happen. Someone wardrives into your wireless network via high-powered WiFi adapters and gains control of your internal network infrastructure = game over.

 

[Exio]

It is clear that Apple is going away from a wired internet connection.
Consider iOS, people use Wi-Fi and 3G/4G, not a wired connection.

Um lol? So does every other data capable cell phone. You think they innovated that?

 

[Gata]

You clearly do not work in IT and you are just wrong. I don't know how else to say it.

If you get rid of Ethernet on a mac it becomes clear to the business industry that macs are not capable of being professional working computers. Most businesses have policies against using wifi on a private WAN because it's a security risk. Wifi is typically segmented on a different vlan which is tunneled thru a dedicated DSL line away from the network. The only way to get internet to actually do work (outlook/groupwise, shared files, access to your corporate application system, etc) is via Ethernet. That is a fact.

Also access points have limited bandwidth. Ya your imaginary 600mb/s is fast to YOU but that's all the bandwidth it has. The standard is actually 300mb/s. It's not a lot if you share it across 500 people. Compared to a 48 port cisco gigabit switch that are stackable that has a bandwidth of 96-104Gb/s (depending on how many fiber ports it has) per switch. That makes wifi use in a business impracticable.

Ethernet is not going anywhere. Wifi will never ever overtake the amount of bandwidth (and security) that a cisco switch can provide.

It would be a step backwards to get rid of a standard after just now being accepted in the corporate world. I would imagine that Apple understands that and will not be getting rid of Ethernet on it's professional line of computers.

edit:
Oh and if you actually believe that corporations are going to spend thousands of dollars on stupid adapters that fail after a year of travel you better think again. The amount of labor involved in showing users on how to use it, the fact that they get lost, and the logistics nightmare makes it not worth it in the corporate world.

The corporate world is really slow if Ethernet's "just been adopted."

has anyone thought about older buildings were wireless signals don't transmit very well and an Ethernet cable is easier to run and more reliable for businesses and homes its the same with broadband internet not all areas have it and cant get it yet with getting rid of optical drive needing it for movie playback if you use your macbook for movie playback as you only have 56.6 internet called phone line internet and its not dsl

Macbook Pro's not appealing to people who are so technologically limited that they don't have broadband or wifi. The price point and the usage of "Pro" in the name should tell you as much.

This is kind of a ridiculous statement. I have been in apartments where Router in Room A was unable to stream 720p video to Computer in Room B over 2.4ghz 802.11N. This type of usage is quickly becoming "normal" and wifi cannot always keep up in all environments.

Internet being slow much (not the router, mind you, but the actual data coming through).

Network security.

WiFi is very simply no substitute to wired Ethernet, period. In fact, the mere presence of a WiFi network in some places is a million-dollar security breach waiting to happen. Someone wardrives into your wireless network via high-powered WiFi adapters and gains control of your internal network infrastructure = game over.

@ all 4 posts:
Ethernet adapters or standard Unibody Macbook Pro.

Business environments are one of the few instances in which an Ethernet port would be desirable, and even then that could easily be resolved by doing things like not broadcasting the SSID or using a relatively secure password on WPA-2 PSK.

Um lol? So does every other data capable cell phone. You think they innovated that?

Point is that Apple's been moving away from wired technologies for a long time now, and it will discard them where it can.

 

[Diversion]

I think it's cool I can plug in a ethernet cable into my thunderbolt Cinema display and when connected to my MBP, I have a 1gig-e connection to my network at the house.

Of course, it's one way you're getting ethernet to the MBP even if you don't have ethernet on the RBP. Aside from that, im afraid you're stuck with adapters if you need to connect to your work's ethernet-only environment.

 

[phyrexia]

Internet being slow much (not the router, mind you, but the actual data coming through).

I don't know exactly what you're trying to say. You didn't write a complete sentence.

However, the example I presented didn't take internet bandwidth into account, since the file transfer occurred between two local machines, networked together with 2.4GHz 802.11N. The 40Mb/s internet connection at that location (which is more than capable of streaming 1080P, much less 720P) was not a variable in my experiment.

 

[Suno]

If they really remove the optical drive, you'll still be able to buy the current generation shortly after the announcement at a discounted price.

Has there been rumors of this happening? I may opt to wait if that's actually the case.

 

[Erurainon]

Having read a lot of debate on here regarding the loss of Ethernet port I am still surprised at the emotion it is causing.

I can fully understand the advantages of Ethernet, but it is not like they have taken it away. Yes you have to use an adapter that costs roughly 1% of the cost of the machine and needs to be plugged in every time you use it is the same way as the Ethernet cable gets plugged in, again to me this is no big deal. I now have the adapter that will either live on the end of the network cable or my laptop bag.

 

[leenak]

Has there been rumors of this happening? I may opt to wait if that's actually the case.

They always do this but I don't see it on their site yet. They usually deplete inventory quite a bit prior to a new release and then sell off the other at a discount.

I think it'd be here:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/clearance

but there is nothing there. You might even try calling the sales support number and asking.

 

[Tech198]

Eliminate the adapter

Looks like Apple could do this.. but i'm not worried about 0.68 of the Air or 0.71 inches on the new Retina, but ya, the use of an adapter is a pain.

I been trying find 360 degree views of the Samsung one to find out where its located. Its under the hinge right ?

 

[JasonR]

I don't see the issue...there's a thunderbolt adapter for it and the machine has two thunderbolt ports.

 

[ebolamonkey3]

HP and Samsung both have laptops in which they use a hinged Ethernet port so they can keep the port and have a thinner machine. This may be one way for Apple to make the next generation if MBPs thinner without removing the Ethernet port.

I really think it's less about the thickness and more about Apple trying to push Thunderbolt.

 

[pragmatous]

Not sure where I said it's just been adopted. It's used everywhere and it will never ever ever go away ever.

The corporate world is really slow if Ethernet's "just been adopted."

 

[brand]

Business environments are one of the few instances in which an Ethernet port would be desirable, and even then that could easily be resolved by doing things like not broadcasting the SSID or using a relatively secure password on WPA-2 PSK.

You clearly dont know much about network security.

 

[Gata]

Not sure where I said it's just been adopted. It's used everywhere and it will never ever ever go away ever.

Misread your post- at first it sounded like you were writing that Ethernet had just been adopted.

You clearly dont know much about network security.

Care to provide a little more detail?

Also, I still don't know why people are getting so irate at the loss of ethernet when there's an adapter available for an extraordinarily modest price with respect to the machine you're getting.

 

[Gata]

I don't know exactly what you're trying to say. You didn't write a complete sentence.

However, the example I presented didn't take internet bandwidth into account, since the file transfer occurred between two local machines, networked together with 2.4GHz 802.11N. The 40Mb/s internet connection at that location (which is more than capable of streaming 1080P, much less 720P) was not a variable in my experiment.

Oh.

In that case your point is valid.

Sorry 'bout that.

 

[amaterasu]

Care to provide a little more detail?

If you cloak the SSID in the access point it only effects the beacon frames or advertisements that say "here I am and this is my network". The access point still has to include the SSID in the wireless frames sent back and forth by the client and access point. As long as there is someone using the wireless network it is possible to run a sniffer that can decode 802.11 frames pull out the SSID being used. There is no way around this, its how wireless works.

Furthermore actually hiding the SSID can be security risk in itself. The problem is how Windows treats the wireless PNL (preferred network list). Windows will not send its own probes if it sees beacon frames with a SSID and will only respond to beacons if it sees a SSID on its PNL. However if it sees beacon frames without a SSID windows will then send probes with SSIDs on the users PNL. If an attacker is sniffing those probes he can find networks that the users computer "trusts" and spoof a trusted SSID to fool the computer into connecting to it instead of a legitimate access point. Essentially a man in the middle attack.

 

[Gata]

If you cloak the SSID in the access point it only effects the beacon frames or advertisements that say "here I am and this is my network". The access point still has to include the SSID in the wireless frames sent back and forth by the client and access point. As long as there is someone using the wireless network it is possible to run a sniffer that can decode 802.11 frames pull out the SSID being used. There is no way around this, its how wireless works.

Furthermore actually hiding the SSID can be security risk in itself. The problem is how Windows treats the wireless PNL (preferred network list). Windows will not send its own probes if it sees beacon frames with a SSID and will only respond to beacons if it sees a SSID on its PNL. However if it sees beacon frames without a SSID windows will then send probes with SSIDs on the users PNL. If an attacker is sniffing those probes he can find networks that the users computer "trusts" and spoof a trusted SSID to fool the computer into connecting to it instead of a legitimate access point. Essentially a man in the middle attack.

Ah. Gotcha.

Thanks for the informative post.