Some "pro" users just want a plethora of TB3/USB4/TB4 ports.
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Kuo: New MacBook Pro Models With HDMI Port and SD Card Reader to Launch Later This Year
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Big facts. Ive was NOT the brilliant designer Apple Fanatics ascribe to him. His hubris, ego & Tim Cook's lack of ability to reign him in caused Apple's Mac line (desktops and laptops) to go from industry best-in-class to worst-in-class, to say nothing about his complete ineptitude when it came to MacOS X & iOS.
Some common sense at last.
The MacBook Pro is a premium priced computer for enthusiasts and pros who use it daily and often carry it around. I love a sleek looking design but what is the point of shaving a couple of grams of the weight if it will remove functionality throughout its life?
Also, I see some people complaining that SDs aren’t use by real ‘Pros’ which I’m not. But SD cards are the cheapest most portable physical media used in multiple tech devices and make it so easy to transfer files especially as sometimes you have to use ’foreign’ systems like an office PC, and without a dongle having to email files between computers that are next to each other! I think Apple will be surprised with the ferocity of sales for this new MacBook!
The MacBook Pro is a premium priced computer for enthusiasts and pros who use it daily and often carry it around. I love a sleek looking design but what is the point of shaving a couple of grams of the weight if it will remove functionality throughout its life?
Also, I see some people complaining that SDs aren’t use by real ‘Pros’ which I’m not. But SD cards are the cheapest most portable physical media used in multiple tech devices and make it so easy to transfer files especially as sometimes you have to use ’foreign’ systems like an office PC, and without a dongle having to email files between computers that are next to each other! I think Apple will be surprised with the ferocity of sales for this new MacBook!
The problem I see is where to put the SD slot. The pic seems great, but how will the speakers output audio??
In front? There's the battery and touchpad.
I'm not seeing anyway how they will add more ports without thickening the laptop.
In front? There's the battery and touchpad.
I'm not seeing anyway how they will add more ports without thickening the laptop.
OMG. Yes, there are cheap HDMI -> USB C / DP port adapters, and cheap USB C /DP -> HDMI. I bought a couple, for my Mac mini , PC ( hooked up to two monitors, DP -> HDMI, HDMI -> DP - Nvidia based GPU ) and work laptop to connect from Display Port connection monitor back to HDMI port, for around CA$20 each. Very inexpensive. These weren't the cheapest either! You can find them on Amazon too.
I'm not missing the point at all.
Since vast majority of monitors support HDMI, and the Mac mini M1 machines are low end machines:
No One Cares!!
* apart from yourself, and a handful of people who have bought HDMI-less monitors, and your premise there are no cheap adapters, patently false.Apple included the HDMI connection for the target market. So when people received their Mac Mini's they could start using them instantly without having to buy yet another dongle!!
The current M1 machines obviously aren't the machines for you. Wait until the next generation Mac mini are released.
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Yes. I'm betting that removing all the ports was a Jony Ive idea. Now that he's gone, Apple can finally make a good laptop again.
Removing all the ports in 2016 was 10 years too early. We've got a solid 5-6 more years of HDMI/USB-A/SD Card. It's the right call to bring back ports.
The Canon 1Dxiii uses CF Express. The Nikon D6 use CF Express. The Sony A1 use CF Express(Type A instead of Type B because Sony). Even the consumer models below them like the Canon R5 and Nikon Z7ii use CFExpress. Anything below these probably have WiFi transfer or a USB-C that is more than sufficient for that level of user.
HDMI is logical to return. USB-A is arguable, would rather another 2-4 TB3/4 ports as I have way more TB3 devices than legacy. SD slot could be returned to the MBA for consumers, a type A/B/both CFExpress would better fit the pro line giving you flush and fast expansion and aligning with pro photography equipment that is quickly filtering down to cheaper devices.
Perhaps he meant cameras in use today that are still using SD cards?
Not everyone has brand new cameras like the Sony A1 or relatively new Canon R5
There are still a lot of people still using Sony A7III, EOS R and many other cameras with SD cards... including most DSLRs.
But you're right... many new higher-end cameras have switched to CFexpress. And fun fact... there will never be a CFexpress slot in any laptop. So they'll be using card readers anyway.
If Apple puts an SD card slot in the next Macbook... it will please those who use SD cards. But not anyone else.
It's the exact same placement of SD slot and speakers as in the pre-2016 MBPs. I can't image Apple forgot how to solve this.
Perhaps he meant cameras in use today that are still using SD cards?
Not everyone has brand new cameras like the Sony A1 or relatively new Canon R5
There are still a lot of people still using Sony A7III, EOS R and many other cameras with SD cards... including most DSLRs.
But you're right... many new higher-end cameras have switched to CFexpress. And fun fact... there will never be a CFexpress slot in any laptop. So they'll be using card readers anyway.
If Apple puts an SD card slot in the next Macbook... it will please those who use SD cards. But not anyone else.
Again, those are not professional cameras and the MBA can have a SD slot for those users. Prior to the Canon 1DxIII and Nikon D6 we have the 1Dx, 1DxII, D4, and D5, these used CF, CF+CF, XQD+XQD, CFast 2.0 +CF, or CF+CF. And the models below them where the Canon 5D IV and Nikon D850 which have CF and XQD main cards.
Most likely, even when they had a SD reader it was faster transferring files over USB 2.0 direct from the camera. My CFExpress reader is about 1/8th the volume of a Mac mini with 1 slot and it gets hot.
Perhaps you'd care to link to these? Literally the only adapter I've ever seen to convert a HDMI source into a DisplayPort signal requires external power, because it's an active box. Not just an active cable an actual box, that sits on a desk.
The Intel Minis aren't marketed as "low end" machines, and they have the same limitation, with one display output hardwired to HDMI. The entire topic here is about a 16" MacBook Pro having HDMI when it transitions to Arm. Will you then be arguing that it doesn't matter if it can't drive DisplayPort displays, because it too is a low end machine?
... you really don't understand the ****ing issue do you?
The HDMI hardwiring is not new or specific to M1 mini's.
At this point I see no reason to assume any Mac with a built-in GPU and HDMI, won't have the HDMI port hardwired to one of the display outputs, because according to you, Apple is catering to whiners rather than to <checks notes> the people who buy Apple's own/recommended displays.
I also see no reason to keep trying to explain the issue to you. At least you're not shy about admitting you value your own minor convenience over someone else being able to use it at all.
I think what the previous poster meant was there are a lot of people using cameras today that still use SD cards. So if Apple was to choose a card slot... SD would be a safe choice.
But you're right... there have been tons of different cards and Apple can't possibly have a slot for every different card.
There's never been a CF-anything card slot on any Mac. Or XQD, or RED-Mag, etc. So those "professional" users have always been out of luck.
The lucky folks who use SD cards are the only ones who ever got a card slot built into a computer. And, I think, there are plenty of those people still using SD cards today.
The last MBP's to have a SD slot (and I'd imagine the iMacs too) had it connected internally via a USB2 bus, so that's hardly surprising.
It's almost as if, the smart thing to do would be to provide ports that provide a lot of flexible high speed raw I/O, and let people plug in devices or card readers that they specifically use....
Bingo!
And that port can also connect to any type of monitor or TV... or external audio device... or storage device... or whatever.
One port that does it all...
It'd be like a... universal port! Genius!
Apple tried that... but then people kept complaining about dongles. What to do...
People complained about no ADB ports on the first iMac too.
People complained about no optical drive when they were dropped.
People complained about no ethernet when it was dropped.
People complained about no Firewire when it was dropped.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
It's not so much for on the go, but I always leave a USB-A flush flash drive plugged in for backups. It doesn't snag on anything—barely sticks out at all. I have put it in my backpack with no concerns about it snagging, but even just at home it's nice to just leave it in and not worry about it catching on things or falling out as you move the computer around. That's the one thing I have not seen be able to be accomplished with USB-C.
I don't think Apple is fundamentally against USB-A. Every single desktop they make has it. I think they probably just think that ports in general are ugly and USB-A in particular is ugly, and they're more apparent on laptops. On all three of their desktops, the ports are on the back, with the exception of the Mac Pro which has two USB-C on the top, as well. I really think it's aesthetic to them. The first iMac had a door hiding the ports. The Cube had the ports underneath. And I think if it were up to them they'd get rid of anything that looks like it has to be there for the sake of function.
USB-C is great, but the problem is there just isn't enough momentum to make the shift like we did to USB-A in the late 90s. At that time, personal computers were the the entirety of the market. So if Apple forced a change, everyone had to follow along. But now computers play a side role next to phones and tablets, and it's much harder to force that shift. I remember after my first iMac things shifted to USB-A very quickly. There wasn't a really extended transition period. This time it just hasn't happened. It's definitely still in limbo with two standards. So I say include them both. (Plus I want my flush flash drive.
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Hey man... you're preachin' to the choir.
I'm just saying what people are saying.
And just to clear things up... I like having one port that can do anything. I'm on your side.
Well that’s the biggest load of rubbish I have heard in a long time. The Millions of people that love the products of the past 20 years say different.
And back when Mac's had a SD slot it didn't make sense on the pro machines as pro's never used SD cards. The card of that era was CF. SD cards where always at best a backup, but a bad backup at that as ideally you want your backup to be reliable.
If you spent as much effort into bellyaching about your HDMI problem that no ones really cares about, as figuring out how to search in Amazon, then you'd easily find these cheap HDMI -> DP / USBC adapters, on Amazon.com
Now, you've never said why you need a powered hub based adapter, but these HDMI to Display Port / USBC work just fine for the majority of people. I suspect you have some edge case that makes these adapters not suitable for your needs, however, for the majority, they work well. Have you ever considered that a Mac mini isn't really suitable for your needs, and trying to shoe horn a solution may not be the best way forward?
Mac Mini's have always been on the lower end side, the Intel models always had very weak iGPUs. Sure you could upgrade the Intel CPUs but that doesn't compensate for the weak GPUs. The M1 laptops supporting only one external monitor could only be described as 'low end'.
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