no Ethernet in 2012 MBP? bad move

[m85476585]

$29 isn't bad. It's more than just wires (unlike display adapters) since it runs off the Thunderbolt bus. A HDMI ethernet adapter could be just wires, but that would require an ethernet controller in the computer, and being limited to 100mbps would not be ideal.

The fact that it's on the Thunderbolt bus doesn't make it faster than built-in ethernet. The ethernet standard is still the limitation, and built-in ethernet runs on the PCI Express bus, which is basically the same as Thunderbolt without the extra expense and marketing hype.

My internet connection is faster than 100mbps, and I've seen speeds in the hundreds of megabits at off peak times. Wifi is a nice idea, but the spectrum is polluted by too much traffic in the building I'm in. 5GHz used to be quiet, but now they are putting 5GHz into the building, so that will get polluted too (and it won't fix all the problems; the routers only have a gigabit connection which is shared by all the users on the router). It's also nice to have fast network transfers, and I've done full backups between my PC and MBP over gigabit.

 

[Spacecowboy1]

So we pay nearly 2 Grand for a beautiful "New Macbook Pro" and we have to stick an ugly a@*e adapter in to it for ethernet

 

[HighFlyers]

I'm not too familiar with what they do (aside from the obvious implication of their titles). So you're saying their files are all stored remotely or something? I was under the impression it was all done on a computer, no internet connection really required?

It's probably intranet that most use an ethernet cable for now and not internet.

 

[Jaro65]

It's not really a pro but a hybrid Air/Pro apparently.

I think the price is still very much "Pro".

 

[therealseebs]

Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?

What's this got to do with businesses/companies? I'm a home user. Let's do a quick benchmark, shall we? I'll just grab the largest file that's sitting in my home directory on my server machine. Try #1: MacBook Air, with nice high-speed wireless, only about 40 feet from the router.

psql.tgz 25% 70MB 1.4MB/s 02:21 ETA

Hmm. Okay, I'll have to get back to this. Okay, a bit later:
psql.tgz 100% 274MB 1.5MB/s 03:08

Let's try that on a two-year older machine:
psql.tgz 100% 274MB 11.4MB/s 00:24

You might complain that obviously I'm not getting a full 54Mbps from the first copy. True; it should have been five times faster in perfect circumstances. If I were closer to the router, had an unobstructed line of sight, and so on, it would have been 5x faster. But then. If I were using gigabit ethernet instead of 100baseTX, that copy would have been 10x faster. So instead of 3 minutes vs. less than half a minute, it would have been about 40 seconds vs. about 3 seconds.

Sure, my "slow" external Internet isn't faster than wifi, but that doesn't mean much if there's any internal traffic going on. Streaming movies from iTunes? Whoops, that's a big chunk of the available bandwidth. Any kind of file copy, etc.?

Gigabit ethernet is still 20x faster than 54Mbps. Yes, in theory 802.11n should be 600Mbps, but that's a purely theoretical number; in the real world, you don't see anything like that, least of all when you have multiple devices with wireless in the same building.

In short, what I'd be doing is basically ANYTHING which involved a reasonable number of files. To put it in perspective, copying over gigabit ethernet is generally faster (in practice) than copying to external media and back. Copying over wireless is much, much, slower.

 

[Xiroteus]

People saying buy the updated Macbook Pro is not what they are likely going for, someone likely wants that amazing screen along with such a port. This time around I will say the adapter is okay, it is so small and a lot of people are not likely to need it often.

So we pay nearly 2 Grand for a beautiful "New Macbook Pro" and we have to stick an ugly a@*e adapter in to it for ethernet

A little annoying, at least it is small.

I wonder if someone will do a joke about how much they have to plug in to get it to do everything they want, external drive, adapters etc...

 

[therealseebs]

People saying buy the updated Macbook Pro is not what they are likely going for, someone likely wants that amazing screen along with such a port. This time around I will say the adapter is okay, it is so small and a lot of people are not likely to need it often.

When I spend $2,800 on a computer, the first thing I think is that core networking functionality should be a $30 optional extra that requires me to keep another object with my computer all the time. Yup.

 

[dukebound85]

When I spend $2,800 on a computer, the first thing I think is that core networking functionality should be a $30 optional extra that requires me to keep another object with my computer all the time. Yup.

No one is forcing you to buy that model. If you want a dedicated port, get the 15in mbp. Not hard

 

[Xiroteus]

When I spend $2,800 on a computer, the first thing I think is that core networking functionality should be a $30 optional extra that requires me to keep another object with my computer all the time. Yup.

I am not thrilled with the idea, personally if I was to spend $2800 on a laptop that thing better have every port I want, optical drive with blu-ray and maybe even a wacom pressure based touch screen with high res.

Yep, I would like a lot for my money.

No one is forcing you to buy that model. If you want a dedicated port, get the 15in mbp. Not hard

So many keep saying things like this, I am guessing is they want the high res screen and a dedicated port, that is why people are having issues, we want to like something yet Apple is not making things in a way that would allow us to spend our money on it.

 

[blueroom]

That $29 is Gigabit and looks easy enough to port around.

 

[tuna]

$29. You just spent two or three thousand on a new laptop that's thinner than would be possible if it had an ethernet port. It doesn't seem so ridiculous.

 

[pragmatous]

It has nothing to do with speed.

You cannot access the corporate application system via WiFI. If you have no idea what corporate application systems are than you don't need to worry about it. But rest assured there is a reason for Ethernet and it has nothing to do with speed.

But as users have already stated Apple released a TB->ethernet adapter. Apple realizes the need from corporate.

Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?

 

[Xiroteus]

Image

$29. You just spent two or three thousand on a new laptop that's thinner than would be possible if it had an ethernet port. It doesn't seem so ridiculous.

Normally I would pay five dollars for such adapters if not less, seems small if spending almost three grand.

 

[therealseebs]

Image

$29. You just spent two or three thousand on a new laptop that's thinner than would be possible if it had an ethernet port. It doesn't seem so ridiculous.

Seems pretty ridiculous to me.

I don't need "even thinner" in a laptop. This isn't a knife. I don't actually need it to have a cutting edge. I need it to fit in my bag (which the thicker ones did just fine) and I need it to be something I can carry (and I can carry a machine that ways lots more than the MBP, even the older 17" ones). I do need functionality.

Little cables get lost. Things that cost extra remind me that the core product is lacking functionality I'd tend to regard as pretty basic in a "pro" machine.

Look, if it were sold under the name "MacBook Toy" or "MacBook Lite", I would totally see the benefits to it being thin and friendly and lacking functionality. But a "Pro" ought to, you know. Have stuff that pro users tend to need, rather than making it an extra-cost addon.

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No one is forcing you to buy that model. If you want a dedicated port, get the 15in mbp. Not hard

See.

This is what people mean when they say it's a "bad move". If someone comes along and would be willing to pay $2,800 for your top of the line machine, and then their fans are telling you "don't buy that top of the line machine, it won't do what you want, get the cheaper one".

That's a "bad move". It's Apple producing an expensive product which makes people want a cheaper product instead.

 

[Xiroteus]

Seems pretty ridiculous to me.

I don't need "even thinner" in a laptop. This isn't a knife. I don't actually need it to have a cutting edge. I need it to fit in my bag (which the thicker ones did just fine) and I need it to be something I can carry (and I can carry a machine that ways lots more than the MBP, even the older 17" ones). I do need functionality.

Reminds me of how a seven pound laptop used to be so light and now people would go on about it being like a bag of rocks, personally I have a 17" HP and I do not find it to be an issue, not everything is going to be paper thin and weight two pounds. I understand people out there like it, I like it as long as it has functionality. (which it is missing a bit of)

Even though it is thirty dollars I feel the issue is that you would have JUST spend almost three grad, having to buy even MORE after that is not appealing.

Little cables get lost. Things that cost extra remind me that the core product is lacking functionality I'd tend to regard as pretty basic in a "pro" machine.

The concept of lost is lost on me.

Look, if it were sold under the name "MacBook Toy" or "MacBook Lite", I would totally see the benefits to it being thin and friendly and lacking functionality. But a "Pro" ought to, you know. Have stuff that pro users tend to need, rather than making it an extra-cost add-on.

They should have at least one major Macbook Pro 17" with a few extras.

 

[dukebound85]

See.

This is what people mean when they say it's a "bad move". If someone comes along and would be willing to pay $2,800 for your top of the line machine, and then their fans are telling you "don't buy that top of the line machine, it won't do what you want, get the cheaper one".

That's a "bad move". It's Apple producing an expensive product which makes people want a cheaper product instead.

Usually I don't like car analogies but here is one. Imagine Apple is Dodge. You don't see Viper owners getting all upset about the inability to tow a boat that the cheaper ram can accomplish

In essence, the products are aimed at various segments. It's not apple's fault that you lust for a new screen lol

 

[Xiroteus]

Usually I don't like car analogies but here is one. Imagine Apple is Dodge. You don't see Viper owners getting all upset about the inability to tow a boat that the cheaper ram can accomplish

In essence, the products are aimed at various segments. It's not apple's fault that you lust for a new screen lol

Making their system a bit more function would not take that much work and would allow for a few more sales.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

I still feel it's a bit tight of Apple to not throw in the adapter. $2500 laptop, throw in the $10 magsafe converter and $30 Ethernet adapter, eh? They threw in the latter with the last gen MacBook Air, why not here?

Will be sticking with my non-gigabit USB ethernet adapter. It's white and looks identical to the Apple one, but requires drivers to work on OS X. Still, for $5 shipped I can't complain.

 

[rudyrudell]

Practically ALL US government buildings require you to use the hardline ethernet as wifi can be a security risk... but regardless just get the damn thunderbolt-ethernet dongle, this is entirely the reason they made sure to put 2 thunerbolt ports on the thing im sure.

 

[stubeeef]

any word on 802.11AC?

 

[theSeb]

The dongle will be faster than an actual port because it's going thru a 10gb bus.

That's not how it works. It will be just as fast as a normal gigabit Ethernet port.

 

[cubbie5150]

Dang, I wish we could buy these TB ethernet dongles under bulk pricing or something. My gf has already lost 2 ethernet dongles for her Air in the past 8 months. Figure I'd find a way to do the same!

 

[DblHelix]

Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?

You serious? I deal with datasets sometime that are 100s of millions of rows. The difference is in the magnitude of hours versus days. However, if I had a new MBP I would be using the 27" thunderbolt display which would add an ethernet port.

 

[theSeb]

There is a gigabit ethernet adaptor. You have not lost anything. These rants are borderline delusional and I don't get them.

 

[blueroom]

I don't get it either, you're spending $2200+ and humming and hawing over a $29 adapter that most folks would never need. I suspect more folks would be upset if they included it as bundled accessories are never truly "free".

I would buy one for work and one for home if I needed to.

Added bonus is they don't use a USB port.

The local taxes on the purchase here in Toronto would cover almost a dozen $29 adapters.