I agree with everything you said after your first paragraph (and I find most of your posts both helpful and spot-on).
However, this idea that only owners are qualified to be critical, and actual owners are highly satisfied is circular logic. You do not know how many people did not purchase a MB because it only has one port. You do not know how many people bought a MB and are highly satisfied with their purchase, but still would like to have a 2nd port.
I'm very satisfied with my rMB, but all things else being equal, I would have liked a 2nd port.
Meanwhile, you might find ZipZap annoying with the constant comments about the lack of ports, but I find BJ way more annoying with his arrogant tone-deaf not-stop hot air about how the only relevant usage is his usage and everyone who doesn't agree with him is an idiot.
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ZipZap's contention that Apple sells dongles as a "revenue stream" is pretty far out there when you consider only 4% of their profits came from accessories last year, and I'm willing to bet that 90% of that 4% is iPhone/iPad/AirPort related accessories (and I would assume that also includes 3rd party accessories they sell in their stores/website)... I'll guarantee to any conspiracy theorist that Apple would have rather not had to sell one themselves in the first place... the only reason they even bother is to provide a genuine 1st-party source to satisfy the market until the typical 3rd-party vendors bring them to market themselves (as well as Apple purists and newbies who just want everything to be Apple and/or offer Apple product support).
Good post - just want to add my two cents in that
@boltjames point is that commentary about the ports are coming almost exclusively from people who don't own the machine and are criticising it based on their own use case. The fact that it is perfect for his (and my own) use case illustrates that the criticisms are not valid as flaws in the design of the machine, only an expression of frustration that the machine does not fit the use case of the person criticising it, because they covet it. His use of weekend roadsters versus grocery getters is apt. This is not a jack of all trades machine and was intentionally designed to not be one. The jack of all trades machine is the 13" rMBP (the MBA's now sit in no man's land). People covet the weekend roadster/sports/track car, but have to live with a practical family car because they can't afford both, or can't justify owning both (which really is the same thing). So people tend to find something to complain about. You know, the Lamborghini Aventador doesn't have a tow hitch, what were they thinking!?!?
To stay with BJ's analogies,
@ZipZap is talking about criticising a 1 series for not being a 3 series, which is ludicrous. Just switch in rMB and rMBP for and 1 and 3 series.
Yes, BJ likes to go on about luxury brands and the stuff he owns, etc, but he has a very valid point here. A common argument is that the form factor allows for a second USB-C port, but Apple chose not to put one in, and wants to fleece its customer base instead. Well, how presumptuous is that? It may very well be that the limitations of the core M chipset don't allow for two fully functional, full bandwidth 3.1 ports, or that another controller for a second port may not have allowed for having such a tiny logic board, which in turn may have created thermal issues or compromised battery life targets by not allowing for a large enough battery, etc. It seems everyone gets to be a back seat hardware design engineer when it comes to these things. Pretty much exactly what
@zhenya says in his post above.
The rMB only has one port by design, because most people on the go don't need more than that, and because the flexibility and form factor of USB-C made it possible to provide a design that actually allows you to not have to carry around the burden of all the different ports that you never use 99.9% of the time, and to acquire that connectivity on an as needed basis as optional accessories. Like a roof box for your car.
The assertion that a non-owner isn't really in a valid position to provide criticism is a sound one. Exactly like an owner who purchased the rMB to do video compiling, host multiple simultaneous remote VM's, and play the latest and greatest FPS game in online tournaments for money and comes online to tell the world what a crap machine it is would be laughed off the forum and ridiculed to no end similarly to a Lotus Exige owner who purchased the car intending to use it to go grocery shopping with his 4 year old daughter and transport his 10 year old son to Hockey practice in the middle of winter and then complained about what a crap vehicle it was, would be laughed off the Lotus forums.
Valid discussions of the rMB's pros and cons should be made within the design context, with competing machines in its own class. Period.
