Another thing to remember in your scenario - that setup on a pre-TB3 MBP would have still required a USB hub anyway: the 15" only ever had 2 USB3 ports.
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I'd like to praise Apple for switching to all USB-C
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Another thing to remember in your scenario - that setup on a pre-TB3 MBP would have still required a USB hub anyway: the 15" only ever had 2 USB3 ports.
That's just it. Keeping all the legacy ports is a compromise in an extremely tightly packed laptop like MBP. Space-wise it would cut into battery most probably and keeping them just to satisfy everyone's usage scenarios (like other manufacturers are doing sometimes) seems as pointless as it was back in 2016. Going all-usb-c means you are left with 4 tiny ports, which (with proper adapters) can satisfy everyone's usage scenarios.
Not to mention the sheer elegance of having two non-proprietary ports on the left and two on the right. Rest in peace Jony.
Personally I am fine with all USB-C/TB3, but that is because I do not mind dongles, not because I am "going all-in into the future". I think traditional USB-A will remain ubiquitous for many years, and any USB-C-only laptop bought today will be severely outdated by the time the USB-C future arrives.
Buying such a laptop today may be a little step towards helping along that future, but I don't think we can expect to be sitting there with that battered old last-decade machine in 2025, among 15th generation CPUs and DDR6 or whatever, smugly proclaiming "ha, told you so!" ;-)
If it has a removable cord (i.e. printers, scanners, most desktop external drives, cameras, etc etc) it can already be "USB-C" with a new cable and nothing else.
The only thing I see as retaining USB-A as "ubiquitous" are things that use USB for charging (I have an LED battery powered floodlight/worklight that charges from USB. Why, is beyond me, but it does.)
I started transition to usb c in 2015 with the macbook 12". I just got the 2019 mbp 13" and so glad that most of my devices are now usb c. just transferred 110 gb in about 6 min to a samsung 860 in slower 3.1 gen 1 enclosure and can't wait to get gen 2 or t3 enclosure. I just upgraded to USB 3.1 Gen 2 Dual-Slot SD card reader that can transfer up to 1.25GB/s from two Sony 300mb/s cards being read simultaneously. loving t3/usb c.
Sorry, but Apple did it wrong.
Other manufacturers blended the new and the old, I have a laptop that has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.1, SD card reader and a HDMI port. This setup allows me to use my devices w/o any sort of dongles. The Mac cannot even use a thumb drive right w/o a dongle. It was a mistake in 2016 and its a hassle in 2019, for many people
Totally agree...
USB-C for power supply is inferior for 2 reasons:
- it does not have magnetic capabiity, which was really convenient,
- it cannot supply more than 100W.
A "Magsafe 3" could potentially allow a MBP with a more powerful GPU, since the i7 and i9 draw a lot more power than the designed 45W....
Keeping USB-C for power supply means that the MBP will never have a non-mediocre GPU....
And yet usb-c allows for eGPU, which gives you best of both worlds.
But then you get laptops, which have:
USB-C (3.1 gen 1 or 2 or maybe 3.2)
USB-A 3.0
USB-A 3.1 gen 1
USB-A 3.1 gen 2
Usually a combination of two or three of the above.
And usually you don't know which port to use. Maybe you mistakenly put your mouse dongle into gen-2 usb-a and now your external SSD is slow...
No confusion with MBP.
My hackintosh has all these different USB-A ports on the back and I have literally never had this problem. If the slowdown that could occur is that critical, you will learn which ports are 3.1 versus 3.0.
They could totally have had 2 USB-C, a magsafe and 1 or 2 USB-A 3.1. I would have considered that laptop. Instead I went with a desktop. I just could not go without magsafe. The crappy keyboard was just the proverbial icing on the cake.
Repeating the same reason using different wording is still only one reason.
And none of those "reasons" prevent a macbook from accidentally being pulled off a desk or table because someone tripped on the power cord... or allow the same ease of connecting.
No it's not....The best of both worlds would be a nVidia GPU (2060/2070) or an AMD equivalent (NAVI) on the go and an eGPU (if needed) at home.
I did not say that they have to remove completely USB-C/TB3. USB-C/TB3 is ok, 3 of them are enough.
Just add back Magsafe (150/200W), SD card reader and HDMI (which will never be replaced by USB-C) and a decent GPU and it would be the perfect laptop...
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That’s the thing you have a finite amount of bandwidth. The more you carve up in fixed ports the more hamstrung you become. They can’t add a USB-A, for instance, without dedicating bandwidth off the CPU via PCI Express lanes to it. Then even if you never use that port you can’t access the bandwidth that has been allocated for it.
This problem doesn’t exist in the MBP.
For some people, access to legacy ports are very important. But that has always been a Windows (PC) quality. A strong focus on legacy workflow support.
H-series Intel Procs have a lot of PCIe 3.0 lanes, 4 of them are allocated to each TB3 port.
You can have 3 of them retain the full bandwith (4 lanes)...enough for external SSDs and/or 4k/5K external monitors...
The 4 PCIe lanes that were used for the 4th TB3 port can be be split between HDMI and SD Card, you can even add an USB-A port witouth affecting the speed of the remaining 3 TB3 ports....
A perfectly reasonable compromise...
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I'm with you. I started to make the switch in 2016 and I now have usb-c cables or accessories for pretty much everything. When I travel its great having a single (MBP) charger which can charge Macbook, iPad, Apple Watch and iPhone. I've still got a single usb-c to usb-a adaptor cable, but find myself needing to use it less and less.
Exactly USB C only remains to be more a liability as it forces you to be overly reliant on dongles. Being a major reason why many switched away from the Mac as they need to interact with other hardware and don't want to deal with a sea of dongles.
Q-6
The problem with dongles is that they are easy to loose. If you travel frequently that adds additional item that you have to make sure is inside the bag. I’m at the airport and I just bought another lightning->audio jack adapter. I think I have about 10 of them right now, somewhere in the house.
I had 4 USB-C to USB-A adapters, I’m down to one, I actually prefer the ones with flexible short cable, because the single piece ones are acting like a lever on a port once you attach something. Oh, and they disappear very easy. I took X1C with me on this trip as my ‘dongle’.
I had 4 USB-C to USB-A adapters, I’m down to one, I actually prefer the ones with flexible short cable, because the single piece ones are acting like a lever on a port once you attach something. Oh, and they disappear very easy. I took X1C with me on this trip as my ‘dongle’.
This. USB-C is just far more versatile and yea, I have to carry two dongles with me but I'm ok with that, Apple switching to USB-C will help push manufacturers into making USB-C products. USB-C versions of the stuff I use adapters for started popping up and I'll be making the switch soon enough.
As someone else mentioned in this thread, I made the transition gradually, beginning with the purchase of a 12" MacBook in 2016; over time I accumulated cables which would work with my various external drives and although I do have some small adapters that I keep in my travel kit, I rarely have needed them. By the time I bought my 15" 2018 MBP with its four USB-C ports I already had pretty much all the cables I needed, which made life a lot easier. Bought a USB-C SD card reader and a Thunderbolt 3 cable and I was set with pretty much all I need. My printer is wireless, and my external keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 are also wireless (BT), so no need to worry about plugging them into anything. Most of the time all I have plugged into this machine is external drives, and that is only when I am actually using them to transfer or backup data.
I like the flexibility of being able to plug in any device in any of the four ports, and it is convenient to be able to plug the charging cable into any of them as well. I still have my older MBP with its "legacy" USB-A ports and it's simply a matter of swapping cables when I use one of my external SSDs to transfer data from one machine to the other. Seriously not a big deal!
I like the flexibility of being able to plug in any device in any of the four ports, and it is convenient to be able to plug the charging cable into any of them as well. I still have my older MBP with its "legacy" USB-A ports and it's simply a matter of swapping cables when I use one of my external SSDs to transfer data from one machine to the other. Seriously not a big deal!
That's the thing... Dongles are optional... People pick them as they tend to be a convenient option for many. But you can easily buy cables and be in the exact same situation you were in prior to USB-C port changes.
You could get away with a USB-C to Micro USB cable to cover all modern USB mobile accessories. You can throw in a USB-C to Lightening cable for iPhone. If you find you use HDMI a lot you can also get a USB-C to HDMI cable. You can do the same for USB B, DisplayPort, etc.
The only real "annoyance" is needing to buy something new. Be it a new USB cable when your old one is still functional or a dongle if you want to go that route. But the net result is a gain overall.
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No question, and no argument.
I don't have carry anything, and its one less thing I have to worry about when I travel. If you're ok with it, then that's fine.
I think as other makers add USB-C, this will be more of a motivation then one company with a tiny marketshare percentage.
I still haven’t seen any compelling cases laying out why Apple “had to go all USB-C” in 2016 for MBP’s.
I don’t think any of us are against USB-C. We were simply against them going all in on it so long ago and so early at the expense of every other very versatile and useful port at the time.
A variety of PC laptops have shown us the better way here. Add a couple USB-C alongside other very useful day-to-day legacy ports and the transition is wonderful for everybody. Those PC laptops are every bit as attractive light and thin as MacBooks also. (With better more reliable keyboards to boot)
I don’t think any of us are against USB-C. We were simply against them going all in on it so long ago and so early at the expense of every other very versatile and useful port at the time.
A variety of PC laptops have shown us the better way here. Add a couple USB-C alongside other very useful day-to-day legacy ports and the transition is wonderful for everybody. Those PC laptops are every bit as attractive light and thin as MacBooks also. (With better more reliable keyboards to boot)
I don't think there is or was a compelling case. I think they decided to do it for a variety of reasons that made sense to them. They've long held the mentality that they know better then consumers. Sometimes that's worked out, other times it hasn't.
Again, many would disagree. You thinking it is a better way, means it is a better way for you. Do not generalise your own preferences.
Others have also argumented why only-usb-c setup is better for them.
Except, you only get two ports on the model I’m interested in. Artificial limitation. Exactly my beef.
Exactly! Apple could have kept at least one USB-A port if they really wanted to. I'm guessing Apple just wanted to make a computer that was as thin as possible, and all USB-C allowed them to do that.
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How is USB-C only "better?" If Apple had included a USB-A with the USB-C ports, how would it have hurt functionality? If you didn't want to use the included USB-A, just ignore it.