I’m not a fan of Apple’s new design language direction

[spiderman0616]

Well, if not those, then class action lawsuits, YouTube videos and article sites.

If you really like the operating system and tech, then you can overlook a few things that you don't like. I personally love the new stuff.

I think bad PR on YouTube and in the actual workforce had a lot more to do with the new MacBook Pro design than anything else, that's for sure. Apple knows the direction it wants to go with design, and I'm usually fine with those decisions. I think it's indisputable, though, that they lost their way for a few years with hardware quality on the Mac. The butterfly switch keyboards are unpleasant to type on and infuriating when they break. (I now have a broken one and I want to throw it through a window daily.) The Touch Bar is fine, but I rarely even look at it anymore. And I think it's safe to say now that "pros" want more ports and prefer not to use dongles for everything.

The main thing that kept the Pro from being Pro was Intel. Now that Apple has caught them flatfooted and has a TON of runway ahead of them with Apple Silicon, things are going to get really interesting. Designs will come and go, and I can live with them if I have to. Just never use those bad keyboards again, PLEASE.

 

[SpotOnT]

I explained this before. MagSafe replaces a full-function USB-C port. This means that when I plug in my USB-C display (that provides charging, video + wired mouse/keyboard hub), I only have two useable USB ports left. With the previous design is still had three. It is a practical problem for office connectivity.

Another problem is that we are back to a proprietary connector. Right now we have a single cable on my home office desk where we charge all our laptop and the iPads. I haven't even unpacked the Magsafe cable from the original box yet — why would I mess with an additional cable?

As to "prevents accidents trips"... this was maybe useful in the olden days when you barely had 4-5 hours battery and had to keep your laptop plugged in busy meeting rooms or university auditoriums. These laptops have such a good battery life that you can really afford to go the whole day without a charger, only plugging in in the safety of your workspace. Charging habit changes already minimises the risk of tripping over random cables. And frankly, in my experience, USB-C detaches almost as easily as MagSafe (depending on the angle of course).

Of course, Apple did this in the usual Appel way. They played the retro card, pleasing many fans of the "old good Macs", which allowed them to cut down the cost on full thunderbolt and PCI-e wiring on the new machines (three controllers vs four), while introducing a new proprietary cable to sell. For them its great. I don't really see how it is great for the user though, nostalgia aside. You objectively get less functionality for a gimmick feature.

Nope, the old machines had 2 PCI lanes. Two thunderbolt ports per lane. The 2021 MBP have 3 PCI lanes.

This wasn’t about cutting costs, this was about expanding functionality.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

MagSafe replaces a full-function USB-C port. This means that when I plug in my USB-C display (that provides charging, video + wired mouse/keyboard hub), I only have two useable USB ports left. With the previous design is still had three. It is a practical problem for office connectivity.

No, it's (potentially) a practical problem for your office connectivity. You usage doesn't reflect that of the millions of people who are purchasing these products.

Another problem is that we are back to a proprietary connector. Right now we have a single cable on my home office desk where we charge all our laptop and the iPads. I haven't even unpacked the Magsafe cable from the original box yet — why would I mess with an additional cable?

Because your needs are different to other customers.

And frankly, in my experience, USB-C detaches almost as easily as MagSafe (depending on the angle of course).

That is objectively untrue. The MagSafe connection is designed no only to detach easily through vertical force, but to withstand the stress of actually being detached without damage.

To suggest that USB-C has the same effect as these properties is laughable.

Of course, Apple did this in the usual Appel way. They played the retro card, pleasing many fans of the "old good Macs", which allowed them to cut down the cost on full thunderbolt and PCI-e wiring on the new machines (three controllers vs four), while introducing a new proprietary cable to sell. For them its great. I don't really see how it is great for the user though, nostalgia aside. You objectively get less functionality for a gimmick feature.

No, you don't.

4 x USB-C ports require 4 USB-connectors. If you want to interface an SD card, HDMI, USB-A, ethernet or any other I/O, you're still required to own a dongle that features that I/O. If you don't own that particular dongle or don't have access to one, then you have less functionality than if they were built into the device in the first place.

3 x USB-C ports still allow a user to connect to 3 x USB-C devices, which can in many instances also be daisy-chained or connected to a variety of hubs. Also, the new machines have 3 x PCI lanes, whereas the previous design had two. So even with 'just' 3 ports, you're actually getting more bandwidth.

Likewise, if one was charging their MBP through a USB-C port and connective the device to a HDMI monitor, then they would 'only' have 3 x ports leftover anyway!

Apple had a long time to listen to feedback from the previous MBP design - I doubt they would have made these changes if they had any shred of doubt that they would go unused for the majority of the customer base.

 

[Krevnik]

Also, the new machines have 3 x PCI lanes, whereas the previous design had two. So even with 'just' 3 ports, you're actually getting more bandwidth.

I hate to pick this sort of nit, but we should really call these what they are: 3 Thunderbolt buses. Because multiple PCIe lanes are required to feed a single Thunderbolt bus.

That said, bandwidth isn't usually the bottleneck for folks complaining about the lack of ports. It's more the desire to not need a dock to plug everything in. Although for me, I actually prefer a dock at my desk because my bandwidth needs (other than video) are pretty low and can be fed by a single Thunderbolt bus.

4 x USB-C ports require 4 USB-connectors. If you want to interface an SD card, HDMI, USB-A, ethernet or any other I/O, you're still required to own a dongle that features that I/O. If you don't own that particular dongle or don't have access to one, then you have less functionality than if they were built into the device in the first place.

And if you don't use SD cards in your work? Or the office projectors have added USB-C connections to supplement the HDMI connections?

Here's the thing, while I am happy with the port layout on the new MBP (particularly because I still use SD cards a lot and don't mind it's not the absolute latest spec), this gets to be a subjective thing and I don't think you'll ever get consensus here. I will admit that more USB-C ports is more flexible, but at the same time, Apple cut out my need for a dongle except for maybe ethernet in some situations, and a dock at my desk (which I already had).

 

[spiderman0616]

I hate to pick this sort of nit, but we should really call these what they are: 3 Thunderbolt buses. Because multiple PCIe lanes are required to feed a single Thunderbolt bus.

That said, bandwidth isn't usually the bottleneck for folks complaining about the lack of ports. It's more the desire to not need a dock to plug everything in. Although for me, I actually prefer a dock at my desk because my bandwidth needs (other than video) are pretty low and can be fed by a single Thunderbolt bus.



And if you don't use SD cards in your work? Or the office projectors have added USB-C connections to supplement the HDMI connections?

Here's the thing, while I am happy with the port layout on the new MBP (particularly because I still use SD cards a lot and don't mind it's not the absolute latest spec), this gets to be a subjective thing and I don't think you'll ever get consensus here. I will admit that more USB-C ports is more flexible, but at the same time, Apple cut out my need for a dongle except for maybe ethernet in some situations, and a dock at my desk (which I already had).

Kind of funny, right as these new MBPs were coming out, I decided to buy an LG UltraFine monitor and now run absolutely everything through USB-C. No non-USB-C devices allowed on my desk other than my iPhone! It has cut my cable mess by about 2/3 and made it fast and easy to switch different machines in and out.

 

[leman]

Nope, the old machines had 2 PCI lanes. Two thunderbolt ports per lane. The 2021 MBP have 3 PCI lanes.

Sure, the old machines had two TB busses, with two ports per bus. Still, it had four ports. There is no doubt that the individual USB-C ports in the new machines are more capable (well, maybe not for display connectivity), but you still lose a port. I don't really understand how you guys can talk around it.

No, it's (potentially) a practical problem for your office connectivity. You usage doesn't reflect that of the millions of people who are purchasing these products.

I don't disagree. Still, it's one port less you get for practical purposes.

That is objectively untrue. The MagSafe connection is designed no only to detach easily through vertical force, but to withstand the stress of actually being detached without damage.

To suggest that USB-C has the same effect as these properties is laughable.

It doesn't have the same effects. I said it comes close for most practical purposes. Read my post again for more context. Tripping over cables was a much bigger issue a decade ago when battery life non-existence.

4 x USB-C ports require 4 USB-connectors. If you want to interface an SD card, HDMI, USB-A, ethernet or any other I/O, you're still required to own a dongle that features that I/O. If you don't own that particular dongle or don't have access to one, then you have less functionality than if they were built into the device in the first place.

Exactly. I could connect four devices on my old machine without any hubs, but I can only connect three on the new one. What is so difficult to understand about it?

Likewise, if one was charging their MBP through a USB-C port and connective the device to a HDMI monitor, then they would 'only' have 3 x ports leftover anyway!

Yes, and with the new machine I have only two ports left. Actually, I have only one port left, since one port is taken by the ethernet connector.

Apple had a long time to listen to feedback from the previous MBP design - I doubt they would have made these changes if they had any shred of doubt that they would go unused for the majority of the customer base.

Of course. Again, we are not disagreeing. I completely agree that the port selection on the new machines probably makes it more useful on average to the user base. I would just prefer to keep my fourth universal port instead of trading it for a low-end builtin hub + a proprietary charging port. My point is that Apple could have offered HDMI + card reader without taking a USB port away. Why did they do it? Because a) they can get away with it and b) it makes the implementation cheaper and simpler for them. I mean, it's fine, it works, users like it. I just don't understand why you folks are so adamant on insisting that three ports are somehow better than four... ?

 

[iPadified]

A Pro machine without a built-in Ethernet port. That is crap. Why should I have a dongle to be plugged in? I bet a ethernet port is more usable for a wide array of professionals than an SD card ever will be.

 

[pshufd]

A Pro machine without a built-in Ethernet port. That is crap. Why should I have a dongle to be plugged in? I bet a ethernet port is more usable for a wide array of professionals than an SD card ever will be.

In reading the MacBook Pro forum for many years, I don't recall a request for a return of an Ethernet port. The Retina series, which seem to be the standard for ports that people wanted, didn't have one. I have USB 3 and Thunderbolt 2 Ethernet dongles in my desk. I did try an Ethernet setup with my MacBook Pro with my USB-C monitor. The monitor has a port hub and I just connected a USB-3 dongle and it was a one cable solution for power, video and USB hub. I do like Ethernet but they-d probably have to do a mini-Ethernet and then everyone would have to go out and get cables or a dongle for Ethernet to mini-Ethernet.

 

[spiderman0616]

In reading the MacBook Pro forum for many years, I don't recall a request for a return of an Ethernet port. The Retina series, which seem to be the standard for ports that people wanted, didn't have one. I have USB 3 and Thunderbolt 2 Ethernet dongles in my desk. I did try an Ethernet setup with my MacBook Pro with my USB-C monitor. The monitor has a port hub and I just connected a USB-3 dongle and it was a one cable solution for power, video and USB hub. I do like Ethernet but they-d probably have to do a mini-Ethernet and then everyone would have to go out and get cables or a dongle for Ethernet to mini-Ethernet.

I have to agree here. I don't see a lot of people clamoring for these anymore. Personally speaking, the only important ethernet ports in my setup are the ones built in to the bottom of my wireless mesh nodes. I can't think of any other devices I use cabled connections for other than my network hardware.

 

[pshufd]

I have to agree here. I don't see a lot of people clamoring for these anymore. Personally speaking, the only important ethernet ports in my setup are the ones built in to the bottom of my wireless mesh nodes. I can't think of any other devices I use cabled connections for other than my network hardware.

I use desktops and use GB Ethernet to connect them to the router. There's an advantage to using wired if there is a lot of other people using WiFi in your neighborhood or apartment building. But on a laptop? I do have two laptops with Ethernet ports. One is a 2007 MacBook Pro 15. The other is a Dell Inspiron 4100. It's 1.4 inches thick. I think that it's easier to just carry a dongle than carry around that device.

 

[Tozovac]

So go buy a MS Surface or Chromebook...not another one of these I'm pissed off at Apple threads.

Yes, anyone who doesn’t like Apple’s design direction should definitely buy a Surface. You’re likely to go running to your MacBook of any generation and hug it. I have a Surface 3 for work and it’s a daily major, major fail.

The power button is in the upper right corner, one in from delete, and like has been reported online many times, it’s way too easy to accidentally press and unintentionally start the shutdown process, closing some items you’re working on and requiring work to regain back to where you were.

It’s impossible to easily insert a USB-C or -A cable into the 2 ports on the left side. The entire case is black, hiding the ports from plain view, so I have to lift the laptop 9 times out of 10 to plug anything in.

It’s impossible to easily connect the MagSafe-like power connection on the right side 9 times out 10, and like the USB ports, I have to lift the laptop to connect it. For me, the ease of connecting an Apple MagSafe cable has often felt more valuable than it’s anti-trip disaster-prevent easy-pull away feature, because I find myself connecting/disconnecting it way more often than I ever accidentally yank the cord off.

Their implementation of multi-desktop “Task View” is so very much more clunky and inefficient compared to Apple’s multi-desktop Mission Control. First, when working with multiple monitors, it forces you to have equally as many open windows at each monitor (can’t have x-number of desktops for your laptop y-number for your 2nd monitor). And, when viewing all desktops in “Task View” mode, you can’t swap a window from the bottom to corresponding top desktop. You can only move side to side (move a window from 2nd bottom desktop to any other window but the top 2nd desktop). Finally, you can’t shift desktops side to side (can’t move 3rd desktop to the 1st position, etc).

Finally, the touchscreen is useless to me. I never use that feature. I’m convinced I don’t need touchscreen capability on my MBA. The only way I’d like touch screen is if you could buy a dual-boot iPad Pro 12.9 type of device that when booting to OSX mode, the screen then becomes non-touch. When using a mouse & keyboard with the Surface 3, having touch ability is kind of like giving up toilet paper and just buying paper towels, or playing basketball with a soccer ball. Some things just work differently better. Even outside of using the devices for their intended purpose, each device lends itself to “maintenance” perfectly…an iPad screen gets dirty/smudged often and is super easy to clean because of its ergonomics (no hard-attached keyboard). It’s awfully clunky to clean a hard-attached laptop screen. I’d just as soon ensure not touching it and minimizing ever having go clean it. Adding touch capability to a laptop is more about Engineering/Marketing wanting something new than consumers wanting it. iPad=better for taking in content. laptop=better for creating that content.

Although not Surface-specific, don’t even get me started on Backstage…

I love my 2020 MBA, even with only two USB-C ports. Love love love. Hate my Surface Pro 3. Hate hate hate.

Edit:
And this thing has major thermal issues. I often have to put the Surface on a gel ice pack.

I’ll take a pink MacBook with stiletto heels instead of raised feet that costs me $2000 with an embossed image underneath of Jony Ive saying “Less is More!” over a free Surface any day of the week.

 

[pshufd]

Yes, anyone who doesn’t like Apple’s design direction should definitely buy a Surface. You’re likely to go running to your MacBook of any generation and hug it. I have a Surface 3 for work and it’s a daily major, major fail.

The power button is in the upper right corner, one in from delete, and like has been reported online many times, it’s way too easy to accidentally press and unintentionally start the shutdown process, closing some items you’re working on and requiring work to regain back to where you were.

It’s impossible to easily insert a USB-C or -A cable into the 2 ports on the left side. The entire case is black, hiding the ports from plain view, so I have to lift the laptop 9 times out of 10 to plug anything in.

It’s impossible to easily connect the MagSafe-like power connection on the right side 9 times out 10, and like the USB ports, I have to lift the laptop to connect it. For me, the ease of connecting an Apple MagSafe cable has often felt more valuable than it’s anti-trip disaster-prevent easy-pull away feature, because I find myself connecting/disconnecting it way more often than I ever accidentally yank the cord off.

Their implementation of multi-desktop “Task View” is so very much more clunky and inefficient compared to Apple’s multi-desktop Mission Control. First, when working with multiple monitors, it forces you to have equally as many open windows at each monitor (can’t have x-number of desktops for your laptop y-number for your 2nd monitor). And, when viewing all desktops in “Task View” mode, you can’t swap a window from the bottom to corresponding top desktop. You can only move side to side (move a window from 2nd bottom desktop to any other window but the top 2nd desktop). Finally, you can’t shift desktops side to side (can’t move 3rd desktop to the 1st position, etc).

Finally, the touchscreen is useless to me. I never use that feature. I’m convinced I don’t need touchscreen capability on my MBA. The only way I’d like touch screen is if you could buy a dual-boot iPad Pro 12.9 type of device that when booting to OSX mode, the screen then becomes non-touch. When using a mouse & keyboard with the Surface 3, having touch ability is kind of like giving up toilet paper and just buying paper towels, or playing basketball with a soccer ball. Some things just work differently better. Adding touch capability to a laptop is more about Engineering/Marketing wanting something new than consumers wanting it.

Although not Surface-specific, don’t even get me started on Backstage…

I love my 2020 MBA, even with only two USB-C ports. Love love love. Hate my Surface Pro 3. Hate hate hate.

One thing that I love about MagSafe is that I can connect it without looking at it. I often connect it in the dark and it's nice to just do it by feel.

 

[Tozovac]

One thing that I love about MagSafe is that I can connect it without looking at it. I often connect it in the dark and it's nice to just do it by feel.

EXACTLY. 9 times out of 10 it’s clunky to connect Microsoft’s version of MagSafe in daylight and with eyes-on the port.

And to make matters worse, if you slide their connector along the side of the Surface, the magnet can feel like it “takes” but with the connector not even connected into the port. Fail fail fail!

This is what happens when you try to copy the leader but have to make it juuuuust a little different. Android…. Windows phone… Most any non-Apple laptop..

Even worse is when the leader (Apple) feels the need to follow the wannabe’s….iOS7 borrowing from Android and Windows Phone…. But that’s another story.

 

[CarbonCycles]

Yes, anyone who doesn’t like Apple’s design direction should definitely buy a Surface. You’re likely to go running to your MacBook of any generation and hug it. I have a Surface 3 for work and it’s a daily major, major fail.

The power button is in the upper right corner, one in from delete, and like has been reported online many times, it’s way too easy to accidentally press and unintentionally start the shutdown process, closing some items you’re working on and requiring work to regain back to where you were.

It’s impossible to easily insert a USB-C or -A cable into the 2 ports on the left side. The entire case is black, hiding the ports from plain view, so I have to lift the laptop 9 times out of 10 to plug anything in.

It’s impossible to easily connect the MagSafe-like power connection on the right side 9 times out 10, and like the USB ports, I have to lift the laptop to connect it. For me, the ease of connecting an Apple MagSafe cable has often felt more valuable than it’s anti-trip disaster-prevent easy-pull away feature, because I find myself connecting/disconnecting it way more often than I ever accidentally yank the cord off.

Their implementation of multi-desktop “Task View” is so very much more clunky and inefficient compared to Apple’s multi-desktop Mission Control. First, when working with multiple monitors, it forces you to have equally as many open windows at each monitor (can’t have x-number of desktops for your laptop y-number for your 2nd monitor). And, when viewing all desktops in “Task View” mode, you can’t swap a window from the bottom to corresponding top desktop. You can only move side to side (move a window from 2nd bottom desktop to any other window but the top 2nd desktop). Finally, you can’t shift desktops side to side (can’t move 3rd desktop to the 1st position, etc).

Finally, the touchscreen is useless to me. I never use that feature. I’m convinced I don’t need touchscreen capability on my MBA. The only way I’d like touch screen is if you could buy a dual-boot iPad Pro 12.9 type of device that when booting to OSX mode, the screen then becomes non-touch. When using a mouse & keyboard with the Surface 3, having touch ability is kind of like giving up toilet paper and just buying paper towels, or playing basketball with a soccer ball. Some things just work differently better. Even outside of using the devices for their intended purpose, each device lends itself to “maintenance” perfectly…an iPad screen gets dirty/smudged often and is super easy to clean because of its ergonomics (no hard-attached keyboard). It’s awfully clunky to clean a hard-attached laptop screen. I’d just as soon ensure not touching it and minimizing ever having go clean it. Adding touch capability to a laptop is more about Engineering/Marketing wanting something new than consumers wanting it. iPad=better for taking in content. laptop=better for creating that content.

Although not Surface-specific, don’t even get me started on Backstage…

I love my 2020 MBA, even with only two USB-C ports. Love love love. Hate my Surface Pro 3. Hate hate hate.

Edit:
And this thing has major thermal issues. I often have to put the Surface on a gel ice pack.

I’ll take a pink MacBook with stiletto heels instead of raised feet that costs me $2000 with an embossed image underneath of Jony Ive saying “Less is More!” over a free Surface any day of the week.

So...tell me how you really feel without telling me how you really feel LOL.

Now that was an epic rant

 

[Tozovac]

So...tell me how you really feel without telling me how you really feel LOL.

Now that was an epic rant

That was nothing, that was just a few sentences of truth.

My thread on the awful aspects of flat design and Apple’s OS and iOS interfaces starting with Yosemite and iOS7 and their deleterious downstream effects on website design, app interface design, and even hard goods by various lemming designers worldwide who follow Apple even if off a cliff is a much more epic rant.

 

[SpotOnT]

Sure, the old machines had two TB busses, with two ports per bus. Still, it had four ports. There is no doubt that the individual USB-C ports in the new machines are more capable (well, maybe not for display connectivity), but you still lose a port. I don't really understand how you guys can talk around it.

This is where I am coming from. In the days of Thunderbolt only MBP, all the supporters argued that all you need is a dongle. The port number and type does not matter, cause everyone has a dongle/dock. Dongles are easy to use and have on hand and the only thing that matters is your actual bandwidth. You can’t please everyone with every kind of port, so just focus on bandwidth and expect to use hubs/dock/dongles for your specific needs.


Now these same supporters of yesterday are crying about the loss of a Thunderbolt port….well if you want more usb-c connections, just get a dongle/dock! Your bandwidth has gone up! Can’t please everyone, if your specific use case needs 4 simultaneous Thunderbolt connections, just get a dock. They are easy to use, everyone has one.


It just seems hypocritical to me.


Anyway, from a practical perspective, the only people negatively impacted by this change are people who need 4 simultaneous Thunderbolt ports while using their MBP on battery power.

If you are using your computer while plugged in, MagSafe replaces one of the Thunderbolt ports, so you have the same number of usable connections as before. (But wait someone says, I used to use one of the 4 Thunderbolt ports for power and data, so I am negatively impacted. Well in that case you are connected to a dock or a monitor or some other device that you can surely daisy chain additional connections to get the same result).

Personally I would rather have more port options for use under battery power and when traveling. When I am at my desk, well I have a dock and a MBP with more bandwidth than before. You know, since everyone already got a dock to live with the Thunderbolt only MBPs anyway.

 

[Hunter5117]

Kind of funny, right as these new MBPs were coming out, I decided to buy an LG UltraFine monitor and now run absolutely everything through USB-C. No non-USB-C devices allowed on my desk other than my iPhone! It has cut my cable mess by about 2/3 and made it fast and easy to switch different machines in and out.

Same, I decided it was time to update my external devices to USB-C as well. Keeping up with technology can be a cleansing event.

 

[pshufd]

Same, I decided it was time to update my external devices to USB-C as well. Keeping up with technology can be a cleansing event.

I removed even more cables by going with an iMac.

 

[JouniS]

Kind of funny, right as these new MBPs were coming out, I decided to buy an LG UltraFine monitor and now run absolutely everything through USB-C. No non-USB-C devices allowed on my desk other than my iPhone! It has cut my cable mess by about 2/3 and made it fast and easy to switch different machines in and out.

It looks like USB-C finally became popular in 2021. When I bought small random peripherals in 2020, some of them only included a USB-A cable. The ones I bought in 2021 all consistently supported both USB-A and USB-C.

Except in monitors, where USB-C is still a special feature. Even the monitors that support it usually have only one USB-C input, while the other inputs are HDMI and/or DisplayPort. And if they have USB ports for connecting peripherals, those are typically USB-A. I don't know if there are any technical difficulties in supporting multiple USB-C inputs or if there is just too little demand for it, but it's certainly annoying. I would like to use the same monitor sometimes as a secondary display for my iMac and sometimes with my MBA, but it's not very convenient with current hardware.

 

[tmoerel]

Personally I would rather have more port options for use under battery power and when traveling. When I am at my desk, well I have a dock and a MBP with more bandwidth than before. You know, since everyone already got a dock to live with the Thunderbolt only MBPs anyway.

I totally agree with you. And if one dock is not enough then you get two. That is what I am using and it works perfectly. Two external monitors connected via TB, USB based tools for video editing, SSDs and harddisks, two ethernet adapters, card readers, etc.
All connected to a OWC TB4 hub as well as an OWC TB4 dock. And on top the dock powers the mac with its 96W power delivery. Bliss!

 

[leman]

Anyway, from a practical perspective, the only people negatively impacted by this change are people who need 4 simultaneous Thunderbolt ports while using their MBP on battery power.

Not really. For mobile use, the integrated HDMI/cardreader dock is great, as you have fewer travel adapters to think about and probably don't need to connect too many things anyway. People negatively impacted are those who use more elaborate desktop setups, as HDMI/cardreader is only of limited use there and you have fewer ports to work with.

If you are using your computer while plugged in, MagSafe replaces one of the Thunderbolt ports, so you have the same number of usable connections as before. (But wait someone says, I used to use one of the 4 Thunderbolt ports for power and data, so I am negatively impacted. Well in that case you are connected to a dock or a monitor or some other device that you can surely daisy chain additional connections to get the same result).

I already have a monitor/dock that takes care of some of the wired connectivity. That's not the problem. What you are basically saying is that I have to get another dock if I want versatile high-speed connectivity. I mean, fair enough, and it does work, but how is that "better"?

And regarding magsafe... I think it makes sense to look forwards rather than backwards. USB-C displays with power delivery are now ubiquitous. This means that if you are working on the desk and have a reasonably modern setup, Magsafe is pretty much useless to you. Long battery life of these new laptops means that you don't need to charge at every opportunity, so there is less chance of people stumbling over your cable. The unmatched power efficiency of the M1 also means that you don't need that many watts to power your laptop either. And finally... we are just getting to a point where universal charging becomes a common thing. When I am on the road, I need only a single charger for my MBP, my iPad and my Switch (it's only the iPhone and the Watch that spoil the picture). Where does it leave MagSafe? As a nostalgia-driven situational port, moistly useful to folks who don't have additional devices or modern USB-C based setups.

This is where I am coming from. In the days of Thunderbolt only MBP, all the supporters argued that all you need is a dongle. The port number and type does not matter, cause everyone has a dongle/dock. Dongles are easy to use and have on hand and the only thing that matters is your actual bandwidth. You can’t please everyone with every kind of port, so just focus on bandwidth and expect to use hubs/dock/dongles for your specific needs.

Now these same supporters of yesterday are crying about the loss of a Thunderbolt port….well if you want more usb-c connections, just get a dongle/dock! Your bandwidth has gone up! Can’t please everyone, if your specific use case needs 4 simultaneous Thunderbolt connections, just get a dock. They are easy to use, everyone has one.

That's one way to look at it. Personally, I find it more surprising, puzzling even, that folks complaining about lack of connectivity now seem to rejoice that now they three ports instead of four. Can't wrap my head around it, really. If you dislike dongles, why would you be happy that someone else now needs more dongles? How is that logical?

Besides, why do we immediately have to take anything we even slightly disagree with in pikes? What reason did I give you to accuse me of hypocrisy or justify this kind of aggressive rhetorics? I actually happen to be a big fan of the new MBPs and I don't mind the addition of the integrated multiport adapter — even if it is personally not that useful to me. I am merely pointing out that the laptop would have been objectively better it if retained four USB ports in addition to the HDMI and the card reader. That's it. Why is that so controversial?

P.S. A side note — you keep mentioning Thunderbolt. I am not sure how many people actually are about Thunderbolt per se (but of course I applaud Apple for making it standard across the board, that is the high quality minimalist design we expect from them). Personally, I do not own a single Thunderbolt device. All my equipment (peripherals, chargers, hard drives, flash drives, display, ethernet etc.) relies on USB.