New MBPs/USB-C and schools- solutions?

[Agent-J]

Hello all,
I do some academic tech work at the school where I teach (we're 1-1 MacBook), and we've already started seeing the very negative effects of the lack of old-style Thunderbolt and USB-A type ports on Macs. A teacher with one of the new 12" MacBooks went through 3, I believe, Apple-brand USB-C to VGA converters without finding one that worked reliably. An employee at the Apple Store, where she purchased the adapters, finally said, "Yeah, they don't work really well." While honest, that was not a terribly useful statement. We ended up putting a MacMini in her classroom and are having her use AirServer, then running the video from the Mini to her projector. Obviously, we can't afford to do this in many classrooms.

Now we hear that existing Thunderbolt-3 peripherals (does this mean USB-C docking stations too???) may not work with the new MacBook Pros.

For schools with legacy equipment that requires VGA (or HDMI) and USB-A ports, these new MacBook Pros are an expensive mess about to happen. Perhaps Apple didn't realize that education, a core market for them, isn't filled with schools able to replace all their legacy equipment on a whim, and aren't even able to afford $200-$300 docks (are there any available that actually work with the new machines?) for each computer. Apple has really put schools in a bad spot.

Are there other Mac education people out there who've had experience grappling with this particular problem?

Many thanks.

 

[T5BRICK]

Are there other Mac education people out there who've had experience grappling with this particular problem?

While I'm not directly involved with the IT departments of my local schools, I have several family members who WORK at the schools.

Anyway, from what I understand, they're just going to keep buying MacBook Airs.

 

[CpGER]

Not only schools but also the enterprise market has a problem.
I work for a big corporation and I can really not see upgrade them hundreds of meeting rooms with dongles or give any employee who wants a new macbook a bag with dongles to the laptop.

So far the new macbooks are not purchasable in our store and I wonder if that will ever happen.

 

[yillbs]

i own a small / medium company, we have about 22 employees. I think a lot of what you guys are saying are just dramatic understanding of what the apple media is reporting. A USB C dongle to HDMI costs 9 bucks off Amazon. If you're a school, buying that many macbooks, then buy the donggle needed. You don't need much more than that, if they are truely for educational reasons, then it's a small price to pay. Otherwise, get a compute rthat supports what you need, not one you want to support what you need. that makes no sense.

 

[aristobrat]

Not only schools but also the enterprise market has a problem.
I work for a big corporation and I can really not see upgrade them hundreds of meeting rooms with dongles or give any employee who wants a new macbook a bag with dongles to the laptop.

So far the new macbooks are not purchasable in our store and I wonder if that will ever happen.

Huh, weird, I work for an enterprise business too, and we've already placed orders for the new MacBook Pros.

We've been deploying the 15" rMBP since it came out in 2012. We give the employee an Ethernet adapter and a VGA adapter with it.

 

[zhenya]

First, let's separate the two issues. VGA compatibility is fundamentally different than USB-A compatibility. You are going to have VGA connection issues with any new computer you buy, PC or laptop - unless you are willing to be limited in choice to the few remaining devices that have VGA built in. VGA converters are not perfect with PC's either. You are going to need to deal with that issue one way or another. Wouldn't it have been more cost-effective and reliable to replace the projector with something with HDMI than setting up a Mac Mini just for this purpose?

As for usb-a - with the exception of thumbdrives, keyboards and mice, there are very few things people connect to computers these days that have usb-a hardwired in. For the vast majority of peripherals all you need to do is replace the cable with one with a usb-c connection on the end.

 

[yillbs]

Huh, weird, I work for an enterprise business too, and we've already placed orders for the new MacBook Pros.

We've been deploying the 15" rMBP since it came out in 2012. We give the employee an Ethernet adapter and a VGA adapter with it.

That's what I do for my employee's, I can't imagine why anyone ( school ) included would buy something and not have the budget to support it lol.

 

[zhenya]

Not only schools but also the enterprise market has a problem.
I work for a big corporation and I can really not see upgrade them hundreds of meeting rooms with dongles or give any employee who wants a new macbook a bag with dongles to the laptop.

So far the new macbooks are not purchasable in our store and I wonder if that will ever happen.

Those meeting rooms all have projectors now that use either vga or hdmi - neither of which is any guarantee on any laptop made in the past 5 years. Anyone who wants to be able to connect to a projector needs to prepare themselves in advance. This is nothing new.

 

[jerryk]

VGA is pretty dead now. I doubt you can get a replacement unit that has that connector. Pain in the butt to interface with any of the new laptops, regardless of manufacturer. If you really need on, the Belkin unit seems to work well.

HDMI (720/1080) should work fine.