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How i'd like Kuo's predictions to pan out.
- Thread starter dannys1
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I was just providing examples of how USB-A are still widely available with other devices. Your examples are just random strawman rhetorics.
That sounds expensive to repurchase all USB-X plugs to USB-C and maybe with an adapter. This is not something general audiences would do.
No, I don't hold onto legacy devices and connections. Those devices I provides as examples are not legacy and are modern. I also do have USB-C devices with a myriad of adapters/cables. You asked why am I using USB-A memory sticks, and I answered why. You haven't addressed why USB-A being ubiquitous is irrelevant to your cause though.
The only conclusion to draw from your responses is that you say you want to know why people are not fanatical over USB-C, but you've already made up your mind that you don't care
So you've got a port that can already do it there - and everything else, but because you're lazy you want a HDMI, USB-A, Ethernet. What else shall we add? Thunderbolt 2 in case people have 7 year old legacy devices for that too? How about an e-sata port so professionals can plug in external e-sata drive, we've got a SD card slow for the photographer "professionals now" have we so? CFS slot as well. Let's stick firewire on there too, cos why should you have to carry a stupid adapter or another cable in for that just to plug in and go? An RS232 port for debugging terminals would be good, professionals use them too.
Let's all all these single use ports, all these points of failure, all these ingresses for dirt and dust and these things that'll be totally unused by 90% of users even though you already have 4 ports that can do all of this and more.
Anyway discussion over, i'll bet my right arm USB-A isn't coming back to the MacBook Pro anytime soon, even Tim Cook isn't that stupid.
It cost less than £30 - once it's done, its done - and generally you have better cables than those hideous blue things you get free with Chinese devices.
I'd be happy for this over the touchbar to be honest - especially if then I could have my macros in the F buttons anyway. I'd still miss a slider for volume and brightness though - I wonder if they could incorporate that into the trackpad somehow, just give us a little touch bar somewhere.
I can't see this happening in the next batch of computers though unfortunately - but it would certainly look better than going backwards.
Totally agree - I think the reason we don't see FaceID unfortunately is that the monitor is too slim to put everything in to require it. The module is fairly thick for it, so I don't think it's yet possible.
not to your hand
USB-A is a gorgeous tactile interface
but ok, let's design computers for future Vertual Robot Humons who beam Logi Keyboard Receivers into their HoverChairTops with their Eyeballs
What? You must be trolling. No one in their right mind enjoyed using USB-A. "gorgeous tactile interace" hahaha, get tae f*** 😂😂
Dang. You got me. I hate how I can plug a USB-A male in in the dark, I hate how no manufacturer has ever managed to make a "Device Not Recognized" version of a USB-A male. I hate how USB-A offers so little friction but doesn't fall out during movement. USB-A sucks; I'm the troll and not USB-C stans; and my life is terrible.
You can't plug USB-A in in the dark though, guranteeed to have to turn it around 4 or 5 times before it turns out the original way you were doing it was actually the right way around. I can plug USB-C into music gear in a dark club with one push and satisfying click though. You said "stans" un-ironically though so your entire point is null and void.
The click-through is the problem. Friction. Wear. Micro-ports have excessively precise design tolerances. USB-A is a big stupid unbreakable tank that nonetheless feels butter-smooth to the hand. It's a miraculous median between impossible-without-looking large socket designs (like American 12V AC; no one on Earth has ever plugged a lamp into their wall in the dark) and theoretically perfect micro interfaces that fail after two years of real-life abuse (if you bought from high-margin manufacturer; the majority of manufacturers for micro-devices will never invest in the high-precision machining and QA that the latest moronic "future-proof" micro protocol demands).
Yes USB-A has the orientation tradeoff. Still plugs easily in the dark. One turn, half the time, is the correct math on this one. The one turn, half the time tradeoff buys USB-A endless cheapness, universality and grip without wear. That... sounds like a good tradeoff to me. This isn't hard to figure out if one stops trying to fetishize design theory over reality. The hand knows what it knows.
More robust you say? USB-A is only rated for 1500 insertions, Micro B as featured in the video is rated for 5000, USB-C is rated for 10,000.
I would like that everything works with usb-c, without any dongles or additional cables. But it doesn't. Actually, almost everything comes with usb-a. From mice to keyboards. I would also like that Apple brings back at least one USB-A. But I highly doubt they will do so.
As far as that gimmick called touchbar goes, well, I'm really hoping that Kuo is right.
As far as that gimmick called touchbar goes, well, I'm really hoping that Kuo is right.
HDMI. From my experience in education & business, the lack of an HDMI port is a real challenge. You have no idea. And adapters, while they do work, can be flaky and overall are a nuisance.
Don't use an adapter then use the native USB-C cable. You don't need adapters for any of the mentioned above.
The whole pallet of things there from mice....to keyboards. Which begs the question in 2021 why are you using this wired still? Even gaming mice work better wireless these days. If they come with a cable hard wired in, that's a fail and not purchase on my part these days anyway - every top end keyboard I see comes with a USB-C female port for you to attach your own.
The only things I have with USB-A on now are piracy protection keys, which always sucked anyway but what can you do (well easily put a tiny adapter on the end of them for now until they make the whole thing smaller, most people actually always put them on a wired dongles anyway so there's less chance of banging against it and breaking it)
The sensors on my oculus rift are USB-A but you wouldn't be using that with a laptop and this point if you need 2 ports just for sensors you're damn well using a hub anyway so you're not getting away from adapters hubs and dongles no matter what the keyboard type.
Honestly in 5 years i've had zero problems using USB-C I really don't understand why a tech based audience is still whining about it rather than embracing all the benefits this long later.
That's easier said than done my friend. Oftentimes the HDMI cable has already been routed through cabinets, tables, podiums.
In that case I genuinely feel your pain. Still I think i'd genuinely opt for a USB-C to HDMI adapter over the HDMI port just to give a bit of space between the connector and my laptop, those HDMI connectors are fierce and unwavering.
What's frustrating about the adapters is they're not always uniformly good quality. We've tried many different brands. The issue with the adapter sometimes is the HDMI handshake between the computer & the projector/TV. With an HDMI port on the 2012-2015 MacBook Pro there was NEVER an issue.
I agree, for pre-wired cables it can be a problem. You have presented the only rational argument for why usb-c to hdmi does not work for all. Thanks. I suspect Apple plays to the numbers that are not pre-wired.
You don't get out much, do you?
I have to work for a living. And I do so as a developer. In ALL places I visit, HDMI and USB-A is a must.
Now, I can live without HDMI. I can't live without USB-A.
And yes, I have embraced TB3 completely. I own eGPU, 2x thunderbolt3 docks, multiple adaptors, usb-c cables (to almost everything). Occasionally I will forget to bring one of those with me. And when that happens, I'm left with a port that is good only for charging my device.
You're really vocal about usb-c. It's great that usb-c only works for you. But it doesn't for the most of us. And it's not like apple will remove usb-c. They won't. You still get to use it.
As far as touch bar goes, I will repeat that I'm really glad that they will finally remove that shinny gimmick.
Why legacy ports? Because not all of us control every aspect of our work environment. I work in universities. IT decides which projectors to buy, which monitors we get, which connectors to put in the classroom podiums. IT doesn’t have an unlimited budget, and they resent supporting macs in the first place, imagine their frustration when they finally installed mini-DisplayPort connectors on the new classrooms, and now all the macs went to TB3/USBC.
They’re not going to spend the time and the person-hours to revamp hundreds of classrooms to the latest connectors just because Apple decided to shift over. A dell from 2021 can connect without dongles, why can’t the macs? There’s also troubleshooting concerns, and in-house cabling. I also have USB-A keyboards, control devices, and even thumb drives. And believe it or not, sometimes when you’re doing archival research, you need to access DVDs. There are plenty of films that are useful in education contexts that remain DVD-only because of copyright concerns.
Technology doesn’t just become completely useless and obsolete because one tech company decided it was cheaper in the long run to eliminate ports, and the decisions that apple makes regarding thin-ness of computers is often counter-productive.
As for ethernet, yeah, I know it’s not coming back to portables, but I wish it was. Every time you add a dongle or an adaptor, you add a point of failure. Why is the computer only connecting at 100Mbps? Is it the cable? The dongle? The router? The USB port? If you have an ethernet connector built in, you eliminate 2 possible vectors of failure.
They’re not going to spend the time and the person-hours to revamp hundreds of classrooms to the latest connectors just because Apple decided to shift over. A dell from 2021 can connect without dongles, why can’t the macs? There’s also troubleshooting concerns, and in-house cabling. I also have USB-A keyboards, control devices, and even thumb drives. And believe it or not, sometimes when you’re doing archival research, you need to access DVDs. There are plenty of films that are useful in education contexts that remain DVD-only because of copyright concerns.
Technology doesn’t just become completely useless and obsolete because one tech company decided it was cheaper in the long run to eliminate ports, and the decisions that apple makes regarding thin-ness of computers is often counter-productive.
As for ethernet, yeah, I know it’s not coming back to portables, but I wish it was. Every time you add a dongle or an adaptor, you add a point of failure. Why is the computer only connecting at 100Mbps? Is it the cable? The dongle? The router? The USB port? If you have an ethernet connector built in, you eliminate 2 possible vectors of failure.
I like the fact you're able to talk on half of "most of us".
Yes there's some fannies in the forum, but judging by the sales i've been making of USB-C on MacBook's for the last 5 years, the average user doesn't care about USB-A.
I'll leave this thread now, only to return to smile when it thankfully doesn't reappear on a MacBook
No you don't - the Ethernet port could be faulty just like the adapter could be. If by chance one of your FOUR USB-C ports has gone faulty you've got 3 more to try, if your built ethernet port has gone faulty, you're stuck completely.
For the record i've had neither an ethernet adapter nor a built in ethernet port go faulty so either way I think you and many people in this thread are making outlandish hypothetical situations that in reality they have and never will face.