Sold my macbook - adapter reason

[SparkFlash]

I finally couldn't take it anymore and sold my MacBook. I LOVED this laptop. But the adapter being needed for EVERYTHING drove me nuts. External hard drive...random charging of my phone, etc. I just couldn't take anymore searching for the adapter and having the lunky thing hanging off the site.

This laptop was perfect except for this. UGH! Dang you apple for always doing this to us!

 

[keysofanxiety]

You bought the wrong laptop, not really Apple's fault I have to say. It's rarely, if ever, meant to have peripherals plugged in, and it's pretty much designed for ultra-portability only. A Retina MacBook Pro would have been a much better investment.

 

[Jayderek]

UGH! Dang you apple for always doing this to us!

Apple has done NOTHING to you - you purchased the WRONG device for your needs. Pretty simple here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to return my wrench because it turned out not to be a screwdriver. UGH! Dang you Craftsman Tools for always doing this to us!!

 

[SteveJUAE]

I finally couldn't take it anymore and sold my MacBook. I LOVED this laptop. But the adapter being needed for EVERYTHING drove me nuts. External hard drive...random charging of my phone, etc. I just couldn't take anymore searching for the adapter and having the lunky thing hanging off the site.

This laptop was perfect except for this. UGH! Dang you apple for always doing this to us!

Whilst I sympathise I would say a bit extreme to ditch the rMB over this considering it was known beforehand, but each to their own

However I would say it seems a poor design IMO to be a dangly thing when it could of been a nice little strip that part clipped/magnetically attached so could be left on if wished rather than a flattened limp limb in the wrong colour. The $80 would not of seen so bad.

 

[boltjames]

I finally couldn't take it anymore and sold my MacBook. I LOVED this laptop. But the adapter being needed for EVERYTHING drove me nuts. External hard drive...random charging of my phone, etc. I just couldn't take anymore searching for the adapter and having the lunky thing hanging off the site.

This laptop was perfect except for this. UGH! Dang you apple for always doing this to us!

Others have said the obvious (you bought the wrong notebook) but please consider that if you embrace the cordless lifestyle you may find it liberating and exhilarating.

With as much as 512GB of SSD, I can't for the life of me imagine what you need on an external drive. 100,000 songs? 5,000 movies? Cut back on what you're carrying around. I'm sure you don't need it on you 24/7. God made Dropbox specifically to set us free from these things. It's my favorite invention of the last 3 years. Haven't used even a thumb drive since 2011.

Phone charging? The Apple USB cube is tiny, you don't need a notebook for this function.

I have the adapters, but out of 365 days in a year I'd estimate I only need them for HDMI or VGA maybe 20 times. I'm delighted that Apple isn't forcing me to drag around these ancient ports all year long when I only need them for a few days.

Get Dropbox, grab your tiny iPhone charger, ditch the external hard drive, lose the MacBook power brick, leave the adapter at home where it belongs, you'll be a happy camper.

BJ

 

[ucfgrad93]

Apple has done NOTHING to you - you purchased the WRONG device for your needs. Pretty simple here.

Agreed. The OP should have done a little research.

 

[ZipZap]

Apple's dongle strategy sucks for everyone. Messy, Ugly, Expensive, Annoying.
They really did not design this machine for connecting to devices.
That said, it was no secret and discussed here a lot.
This thread seems pointless.

 

[boltjames]

Apple's dongle strategy sucks for everyone. Messy, Ugly, Expensive, Annoying.
They really did not design this machine for connecting to devices.
That said, it was no secret and discussed here a lot.
This thread seems pointless.

I believe Sparky will come to realize that he doesn't need to carry 1.2 billion songs with him and his iPhone cube weighs nothing. He'll eschew the peripheraled world of 2008, embrace the wireless world of 2016, and keep his MacBook because it rocks it in all other ways.

BJ

 

[hiddenmarkov]

You bought the wrong laptop, not really Apple's fault I have to say. It's rarely, if ever, meant to have peripherals plugged in, and it's pretty much designed for ultra-portability only. A Retina MacBook Pro would have been a much better investment.

This basically. the 1 port issue was well known. recall some funny youtube videos about it in fact (prerelease even). this should have been seen seeing the device before buying which is usually the preferred method. If not possible, internet research.

Example: My son wants to go into game capture to be a youtuber. I looking for more practice with video editing and a chance to buy more electronic stuff to play with said sure. I need the practice and this would be that not in a vacuum as it were and learning with concrete and real practical application as well.

I didn't have physical access to devices looked at. I have the internet though. Mainly to work out picking up a mic. Know with the one I am buying it lacks a 3.5 jack for mic (most did...so non issue really). Mic signal input has to be done other ways...but this is known ahead of time so all good (even got good guidance for how to do it). See what I get from trusted vendor in the mail next week. It won't be judged harshly for lacking mic input on box as never an offered feature.

Apple for their reasons made this a dividing feature from MBP and non-pro. well what's done is done.

 

[Acronyc]

Others have said the obvious (you bought the wrong notebook) but please consider that if you embrace the cordless lifestyle you may find it liberating and exhilarating.

With as much as 512GB of SSD, I can't for the life of me imagine what you need on an external drive. 100,000 songs? 5,000 movies? Cut back on what you're carrying around. I'm sure you don't need it on you 24/7. God made Dropbox specifically to set us free from these things. It's my favorite invention of the last 3 years. Haven't used even a thumb drive since 2011.

Phone charging? The Apple USB cube is tiny, you don't need a notebook for this function.

I have the adapters, but out of 365 days in a year I'd estimate I only need them for HDMI or VGA maybe 20 times. I'm delighted that Apple isn't forcing me to drag around these ancient ports all year long when I only need them for a few days.

Get Dropbox, grab your tiny iPhone charger, ditch the external hard drive, lose the MacBook power brick, leave the adapter at home where it belongs, you'll be a happy camper.

BJ

I agree for the most part, though as for iPhone charging sometimes you are not near an outlet, need to charge, and the only thing you have is your computer. This happens to me once or twice a year.

I have both the VGA and HDMI adapters because I have to give presentations at many places that use one of the two, but other than that I don't really use the adapters.

When I need a USB flash drive, Sandisk's dual USB has been a big help. No dongle required, and this will only increase as USB C starts to take off.

 

[maflynn]

not really Apple's fault I have to say.

I think it is completely Apple's decision. I'm not saying fault, but obviously they opted to fully embrace USB-C and only a single port is a design decision that has some significant repercussions for the consumer. clearly the OP should have thought through the ramifications of getting a computer using a brand new port that has very few peripherals available and/or the issue of dealing with one port. Some people have no issues with the design, others however do.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I think it is completely Apple's decision. I'm not saying fault, but obviously they opted to fully embrace USB-C and only a single port is a design decision that has some significant repercussions for the consumer. clearly the OP should have thought through the ramifications of getting a computer using a brand new port that has very few peripherals available and/or the issue of dealing with one port. Some people have no issues with the design, others however do.

I personally don't like the rMB so hopefully I didn't come across too Apple apologetic. But based on what the OP was going to use it for, I'm questioning why they bought it over the rMBP or even the MBA.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I get where you're coming from. I personally couldn't handle only having one port and I'm not constantly plugging in external devices to my MBA. I think this would work perfectly for some people. However I'm not quite ready for a Macbook yet. i think I'm 95 % of the way there but it's too under powered and lacks ports for me to consider buying it. Maybe in a few years. The MBA fits my needs well. The MBP is too over powered. At least Apple have a macbook for everyone.

 

[maflynn]

I'm questioning why they bought it over the rMBP or even the MBA.

Agreed, which is why I mentioned that he should have thought through the ramifications. While on one hand, I applaud apple for embracing the new standard, they've not done something this radical in quite a while. I'm thinking the bondi blue iMac when they dropped ADB and went with USB (and of course dropping the floppy disk as well)

I personally would have preferred seeing two ports, one for power and the other for data or one USB-C and one legacy USB port

 

[Shanghaichica]

Apple's dongle strategy sucks for everyone. Messy, Ugly, Expensive, Annoying.
They really did not design this machine for connecting to devices.
That said, it was no secret and discussed here a lot.
This thread seems pointless.

Well I think it's just a bot ahead of it's time but will still be useable for most people. Look at when apple removed the CD drive from their macs. People were up in arms about it but now most mac users probably don't care. My last windows laptop had a disc drive and when I bought it I couldn't have imagined not having one. My MBA doesn't have one. Admittedly I do have the super drive but I can count on less than one hand the number of times that I've used it. I think we will feel the same about ports in the future too.

 

[maflynn]

People were up in arms about it but now most mac users probably don't care.

Agreed, but I think the issue is timing. The writing was on the wall for the optical drive. Apple definitely jumped the gun with USB-C, as there was absolutely no usb-c devices, cables or adapters - other then their obscenely priced dongle.

 

[boltjames]

Agreed, which is why I mentioned that he should have thought through the ramifications. While on one hand, I applaud apple for embracing the new standard, they've not done something this radical in quite a while. I'm thinking the bondi blue iMac when they dropped ADB and went with USB (and of course dropping the floppy disk as well)

I personally would have preferred seeing two ports, one for power and the other for data or one USB-C and one legacy USB port

A big part of the magic of the RMB's value proposition is how it reflects the iOS lifestyle moreso than the traditional notebook lifestyle.

Those of us who use iPad's for, say, 80% of what is needed for work (note taking, spreadsheets, emails, viewing PDF's, etc.) and were merely lacking a mouse and multi-window multitasking to make it truly useful (create Powerpoints, edit images, build large spreadsheets) were doing just fine without peripherals in our lives. iPad has no USB port, SD card slot, no need for external drives, no need for monitors, etc. So if you start with an iPad and add to it the few things it lacked, you wind up with a RMB and it's just brilliant.

Too many look at the RMB and see what's missing; those who own them have broken through and view them more like iPad's with extras- like traditional full-sized keyboards and a port that allows for connectivity to all the legacies if/when needed and that's simply not that often. People praise the Microsoft products for the flexibility, not what's missing. I wish the same would be granted to the RMB. It's a very misunderstood device. And it's probably the best piece of hardware Apple has ever created.

BJ

 

[Shanghaichica]

A big part of the magic of the RMB's value proposition is how it reflects the iOS lifestyle moreso than the traditional notebook lifestyle.

Those of us who use iPad's for, say, 80% of what is needed for work (note taking, spreadsheets, emails, viewing PDF's, etc.) and were merely lacking a mouse and multi-window multitasking to make it truly useful (create Powerpoints, edit images, build large spreadsheets) were doing just fine without peripherals in our lives. iPad has no USB port, SD card slot, no need for external drives, no need for monitors, etc. So if you start with an iPad and add to it the few things it lacked, you wind up with a RMB and it's just brilliant.

Too many look at the RMB and see what's missing; those who own them have broken through and view them more like iPad's with extras- like traditional full-sized keyboards and a port that allows for connectivity to all the legacies if/when needed and that's simply not that often. People praise the Microsoft products for the flexibility, not what's missing. I wish the same would be granted to the RMB. It's a very misunderstood device. And it's probably the best piece of hardware Apple has ever created.

BJ

I agree. I think there are a lot of people out there that can even use the iPad as their primary/only computing device. Unless you are into video editing, graphic design or require the use of specific software, most people use their computers to browse the web, do some shopping, watch videos, check social media etc. All of this can be done on an iPad with ease. I think the Macbook is perfect for people that do all the above but might need to type word documents or make presentations. I think this is the future of computing.

 

[boltjames]

I agree. I think there are a lot of people out there that can even use the iPad as their primary/only computing device. Unless you are into video editing, graphic design or require the use of specific software, most people use their computers to browse the web, do some shopping, watch videos, check social media etc. All of this can be done on an iPad with ease. I think the Macbook is perfect for people that do all the above but might need to type word documents or make presentations. I think this is the future of computing.

Exactly right.

Steve Jobs pitched the iPad as a device that fit between a MacBook and an iPhone. Said it had to be really superior at a handful of very useful things. We loved our iPad's, Apple sold a bazillion of them. We love their light weight, their retina displays, their fast wake-up time, the fantastic battery life, we didn't ever cry about zero connectivity to legacy devices and a lack of legacy ports, we made the device function even in the executive workplace for things like email, PDF viewing, Skype, browsing, texts, phone calls. We learned to live off the Cloud and an iTunes sync.

But just like Steve Jobs imagined back in 2010, today in 2015 there is room for another device, one that fits between a MacBook and an iPad. Something that does everything we love about our iPad's yet has the ability to do real business work, has a mouse, has real multi-window multitasking, can even run Office. And that new device, unfortunately, wasn't called the iKeypad or the iOSMac or something catchy. It was called the "MacBook" and thus was immediately miscast and misunderstood as a crippled notebook instead of the world's best portable computing device for students and business professionals. And that's a shame.

BJ

 

[greenlemons]

most people use their computers to browse the web, do some shopping, watch videos, check social media etc.

windows users have been saying apple computers are made for kids and old people for how many years now?

 

[dogslobber]

I finally couldn't take it anymore and sold my MacBook. I LOVED this laptop. But the adapter being needed for EVERYTHING drove me nuts. External hard drive...random charging of my phone, etc. I just couldn't take anymore searching for the adapter and having the lunky thing hanging off the site.

This laptop was perfect except for this. UGH! Dang you apple for always doing this to us!

Apple plans to fix the lack of ports in the mid-2016 update. The reaction people have had to this single port nonsense should be the final nail in the coffin for any future Apple laptop trying to be so silly.
[doublepost=1453946574][/doublepost]

Apple's dongle strategy sucks for everyone. Messy, Ugly, Expensive, Annoying.
They really did not design this machine for connecting to devices.
That said, it was no secret and discussed here a lot.
This thread seems pointless.

We've discussed on here previously about an executive forgetting their USB dongle and going to make that presentation but can't hook up to the overhead projector. Moving common ports to a dongle like this forsaking the commonality of said ports is just the wrong strategy for a laptop.

 

[Jayderek]

Apple plans to fix the lack of ports in the mid-2016 update.

oh really? source?

 

[lo100469]

The rmb has one port, that is a fact. All other comments about that fact being an issue, a mistake, a timing problem, ... are just opinions. If this laptop does not work for you, just buy another one, there is plenty of choice.

 

[dogslobber]

The rmb has one port, that is a fact. All other comments about that fact being an issue, a mistake, a timing problem, ... are just opinions. If this laptop does not work for you, just buy another one, there is plenty of choice.

If the rMB is the successor to the MBA, a rMBA if you will, then it needs those multiple ports. If the handful of one-porters only want that then they should stick with the gen one rMB.

 

[Queen6]

The rmb has one port, that is a fact. All other comments about that fact being an issue, a mistake, a timing problem, ... are just opinions. If this laptop does not work for you, just buy another one, there is plenty of choice.

Exactly: Apple will likely catch up with the rMBP this year for those wanting the rMB`s design & style. All the "bleating" is simply laughable. It `s very simple if the rMB does not meet your needs, then there is a myriad of other options. If you want an rMB with more performance, more ports, it`s coming soon in the guise of the 2016 rMBP.

rMBP is what it is, an Ultraportable at the "bleeding edge" this is Apple`s vision, had they wanted to add more ports, they would have, if they want to produce a more powerful notebook, they would have. Apple chose not too, as both a design & statement of functionality.

Q-6