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New MacBook Pro Models Lack Optical Audio Out via Headphone Jack
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Perhaps some professionals also use wifi and pay large sums for accessories like this:
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/...nd-adapters/wireless-file-transmitter-wft-e8a
Wireless camera tethering imports the photos in real time for preview, and editing. The SD cards merely become backups at that point. No need for a card slot built into the Mac.
Very confused! This literally goes in direct opposition to his reply
That's a rather arrogant thing to say. I know a number of people who use it. They are film producers for example. I even used it for a short while when I used to connect up my MacBook to my TV and my amp before I bought an ATV.
Point is, people like musicians, film producers, and even an average Joe like me uses these features and they're useful to have.
The fact that Apple have already reduced prices, shows they are getting nervous. I for one will consider a Surface in a couple of years time. For now however, my late 2013, MBP works just fine and I have no intention of changing it.
This really doesn't surprise me since the removed optical from the current appleTV, a device that has a high chance of the optical being used.
Possibly, but I still see the same problem: transfer speeds and time wasted sending gigantic files via wifi, just to clear off space on the camera's card, vs just pulling the card out, putting in a new one, and having your assistant dump the card to a computer while you're still shooting (or you doing it yourself when you're no longer on location doing your shooting, and can sit down at a computer to go through all the shots you took). Plus, mounting it with the hotshoe connector seems odd; often that is in use for triggering studio lights, remote control devices, or other things. I'm not quite sure what the use case is for this $600 accessory.
You are missing the point -- the photos are being sent simultaneously as they are taken -- it's called wireless tethering and pro photographers are increasingly moving to it to free them from having to drag around a wire. Tethering is pro photography 101, as is live view. I take it you aren't a pro photographer, and if you are you don't service clients during shoots, are you would be familiar with all of this. Either way, it's not about dumping anything anymore. The camera can be set up on a tri-pod and solo photographer by himself can take photos remotely from the MacBook, and simultaneously download the photos into the Mac as he takes them. That's pro photography, not worry about dumping anything out of the camera, during the shoot or later at the studio.
This I do miss. I actually had to keep my old Apple TV because of that. Sometimes I like to listen to music and watch something else, the fiber optic made that possible.
Oh, I totally agree on both points even a Mini HDMI would be thin enough for the lads. I was just adding on because there are so many people integrating their Macs with (or as) the realm of home theater. I try to find ways to re-purpose machines for different tasks. I'm all about maximizing utility and removing the optical-out via the headphone jack was just lazy design.
The elimination of one of the most useful, inexpensive ports ever to grace a computer -ethernet- is an even bigger disgrace because of its ability to carry many channels of 24/192 audio. People should know about this tech and what's out there beyond Beats, etc.
https://www.audinate.com/ https://www.audinate.com/solutions/dante-overview
Every serious player in pro audio is all over this proven tech -which relies on ethernet.
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HFS! You just saved me a trip to the Apple store.
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I wonder how big those RAW files are out of the Hasselblads or Phase One systems. I can't even look anymore. I got the 5D Mk II and said done. Total gear porn.
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Wasn't/weren't what?
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That's what I'm doing. Windows can be a PIA, but I'm not handing over anymore of my money to the clowns that are running Apple.
It's called AVB (Audio Video Bridging). It's an amazing technology for audio pros, and another reason that needing an adapter or dock for Ethernet is absurd.
I'm sure some people in this thread will dismiss AVB users as too small a percentage of the customer base to merit attention; apparently Apple has already done that. But I also see that reasoning applied to photo/video pros who want the SD card slot, and audio industry pros like Eric Persing and his company (see earlier in this thread) who use the digital out on the headphone jack. I would think that these all add up to a significant number of customers worldwide, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, compared to, say, iOS app developers, our numbers are trivial.
To put it another way, I always thought "Pro" included audio, video, and photography pros, but maybe I was mistaken, or maybe Apple has decided they don't need or want those customers. Maybe for them the word "Pro" has evolved to simply mean someone who needs a more powerful computer for web development, number crunching, or PowerPoint presentations, and no longer includes performing musicians, composers/songwriters, recording engineers, photographers, videographers, video editors, etc.
I'm sure some audio/music/video/photo pros will...uh...adapt to these changes, both literally and metaphorically; but some, like me, will be seriously considering Windows machines for their next computer purchases. All my most-used pro audio apps are cross-platform.
So true. Apple used to have it right: A thin, relatively powerful computer line with a limited number of ports (macbook airs) for consumers for whom that was all they needed.
Then a pro line, which was thicker, had more ports, power and expanability.
Now they apparently are going to make every notebook super light and thin at the expense of everything else - and to hell with anyone who would rather have somthing a little thicker and and heavier but a true powerhouse.
The thin and light fetish that they have is actually in vain. They took out all the ports and it's still heavier and lighter than the windows competition. If you're going to thin and light this thing, then be the #1 clearly thinnest and lightest notebook around. Apple tends to overthink things. They could have literally put in the latest processors and usb c. That's it. And said when intel gets their act together we'll offer 32gb of ram. Done.
People would be screaming mad because of the lack of a new design. But right now people are upset because they got a newish design that has less features for more money, and less speed and less usability. Really befuddling.
The first half or so of this video could be condensed down to a minute or two, but overall it's an entertaining critique of the new MBP. Paraphrasing:
“You [Apple] think you’re being pioneers…but you’re neutering your machines, making them less usable, and pissing off users...It’s a fancy white elephant, extortionately overpriced, under-powered and inconvenient. It’s a fashion accessory, what I’d expect Louis Vuitton’s interpretation of a laptop to be: style over substance, form over function, and price over practicality."
“You [Apple] think you’re being pioneers…but you’re neutering your machines, making them less usable, and pissing off users...It’s a fancy white elephant, extortionately overpriced, under-powered and inconvenient. It’s a fashion accessory, what I’d expect Louis Vuitton’s interpretation of a laptop to be: style over substance, form over function, and price over practicality."
I don't know what the percentage of people who use it is, but I'd guess the real reason Apple got rid of it was because solutions like the Nifty Minidrive circumvented their ability to charge premiums based on storage size. Although I never use SD, I've used my SD slot in my rMBP for over 2 years constantly in order to augment the SSD with extra storage space. I'm surprised you didn't think of this, but, then again, so many seem to miss it.
I find the SD slot to be too slow and too limited for my needs. I'd much rather plug in an external portable SSD into a TB2 port now, than deal with expensive and slow SD cards. TB3 is only going to make that far preferred over any other kind of external storage. And price per GB isn't even debatable.
I've found SD only practical for smaller transfers under 64GB, and USB thumb drives are generally more commonly available, more widely compatible, and not to mention cheaper.
I did. It provided the best sound quality compaired with the alternatives. I was looking at the current generation of AV receivers recently and they all still have optical in.
Apple needs to catch up to the SD world: http://www.lexar.com/products/memor...al-2933x-XQD-2-card.html#SKU=LXQD128CRBNA2933
Like many mentioned the majority of thumb drives most people currently have (I have like 15) will require a dongle now (I'm not sure about the "compatibility" argument there...if I do get a USB c thumb drive for the MBP, it won't work with any other computer I'm likely to have access to at the university, so in either case I'd need a dongle.). I use external HDs too. I'll need a new cable to hook them up to the MBP. The SD cards weren't all that expensive and offered another form of convienent redundant backup for files. On an SD card behind the Nifty plug it was a pretty safe method for backing stuff up. Not the only method (see external HD and thumb drives) but a quick and easy one. They were self-contained once installed and didn't require carrying or forgetting a drive, cable, thumb drive, or dongle. Everything has its trade offs. I'm not trying to convince you to use that method...just taking issue with your abandon with telling everyone else they don't use what you don't. Of course I'll be fine without SD...but I did use it, every day. The part that sucks is only USB c. I've already got 3 dongles for mini display port...now I'll need three new ones.
People freaking out about a connection they didn't even know existed!
No one uses these digital outs anymore. Why support it? It's just one more thing that can go wrong.
The name of the game is to only support needed features because every feature or port has a support tax associated with it. The less things you support the more you can guarantee things will work. That's how you build reliable products. That's the same for software, hardware, machinery or anything else.
If you don't have that approach you end up supporting legacy things like flash or scsi or some other crap that starts breaking the new things that you want to progress with. You have to have a cut off point and for Apple it's always been a brutal and clean cut.
Microsoft take the other approach and ends up not being able to move fast. Depends who you want to be in bed with. A company that has the ability to move quickly with new stuff or a company that can't.
No one uses these digital outs anymore. Why support it? It's just one more thing that can go wrong.
The name of the game is to only support needed features because every feature or port has a support tax associated with it. The less things you support the more you can guarantee things will work. That's how you build reliable products. That's the same for software, hardware, machinery or anything else.
If you don't have that approach you end up supporting legacy things like flash or scsi or some other crap that starts breaking the new things that you want to progress with. You have to have a cut off point and for Apple it's always been a brutal and clean cut.
Microsoft take the other approach and ends up not being able to move fast. Depends who you want to be in bed with. A company that has the ability to move quickly with new stuff or a company that can't.
Very presumptuous.
Apple already produces a product line with minimal ports that "just works" for people who want that, I think it's called the iPad or something. Surely the "Pro" range is designed to give professional users a bit more choice. A laptop is just another component in your workflow. Are you going to replace all your technology because one component has decided to be "brutal" and it no longer fits? Dream on.
P.S. SCSI is far from legacy. SAS, FCP, iSCSI...
What will people do when they take your advice and Apple stop making computers because nobody was using MacBooks anymore, perhaps a case of be careful what you wish for.
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If you only had six speakers they wouldn't need more.
And they had the gall to call this a PRO machine. Just bordering on misleading advertising. Apple are not earning my trust lately.
Article Link: New MacBook Pro Models Lack Optical Audio Out via Headphone Jack
