Boy, that's a totally helpful response.
Okay, here's the thing. I like OS X. Most of my work is done on OS X. I use OS X for my finances, my programming, all that stuff. I would like to continue doing so. I would like to have powerful machines on which to do so.
But I can't, because Apple refuses to sell them or let someone else sell them.
So here's the thing. One of the purposes of a discussion forum is for people to talk about things, and how those things affect them. This can be a pretty cool experience, but it's frustrating on Apple forums, because a bunch of the people have nothing better to do with their time than be smug, insulting, and derisive about how stupid it is for anyone to want Apple to make the best hardware they can, instead of cutting corners and abandoning users who have been relying on them.
If you aren't one of the "pro" users the MBP line used to be targeted at, that's fine; you don't have to want these features to be a good person. But it would sure be cool if you would refrain from insulting and deriding people for wanting Apple to continue making excellent high-end hardware with all the cool functionality that they could put in a machine if it were designed in terms of what it could do, not how thin it would be.
The MBP forum is, I think, for users of MacBook Pros, and people who would like to use them in the future, to talk about what they want. Reacting with blatant hostility and derision whenever someone wants something you don't personally need is not improving the quality of these forums. Come on, you can do better.
The idea that someone's needs from a computer are only relevant if they are being forced to buy at gunpoint is stupid. Yes, I know it's a rhetorical device, but it's a stupid one, because obviously the question is not "forced to buy" but "would very much like to buy". I make a fair bit of money doing things using Apple's products. I would like to spend that money on more Apple products, but for me to do this, they have to start making some products that are designed for the historical market of the "MacBook Pro" line -- people who might want a couple of extra ports. People who might be willing to put up with a laptop that's an eigth of an inch thicker in order to get a machine that's faster, or more powerful. People who keep laptops long enough that the ability to upgrade drives and memory is genuinely important to them. You know. "Pro" users.
Heck, I could probably make do (which is a phrase that has been coming up more and more often in my Apple experience over the last few years) if they just had Retina MBPs and Thunderbolt displays which weren't glossy.
