The Dongle Horrors

[CaptRB]

In a previous thread (Real MacBook Review) I pointed out that much of anti-macbook stuff is from non-owners with no experience with this machine. While a few had valid points, most were pure nonsense and none worse than...

The Dongle Horrors!

I've got FOUR USB-C ports on my Touch Bar MacBook Pro 13". How will I survive??? This is like Dawn of the Dead with no food in the mall! This is like Jaws with no Quint! So let's take this point by point.

1) The USB-C port is a smaller, faster port that can also transmit more power. It allows you to CHARGE the new MacBook Pro from external rechargeable devices as well as the power adapter that came with your MacBook.

2) The USB-C port is backwards compatible. It's EASY to get it to work with virtually anything.

Little dongle is a straight USB adapter. Larger dongle is a sleek USB, Micro USB, SD, Micro SD adapter. Total cost? 30 bucks for both.

3) As with the picture above, you need very little to make this BIG adaptation to the modern world. If you're a pro photographer (like me) with CF cards, you already own a USB card reader with all the formats. You can still use that. For video USB-C is best, so no issue there. For your monitors and printers, you'll just leave the adapter(s) attached to the old cables. The pro won't be using 30hz HDMI in most cases. So what's left? The girl at the bar who gives you her number on a USB stick? You think she'll run off with someone else when you spend an extra 1.4 seconds using the USB adapter?

4) USB-C is amazing. It's fast, offers more charging options and is backwards compatible. All of my old stuff still connects. A few dongles (I always needed some, along with cables) simply don't injure my work-flow in ANY WAY. How could they?

5) As a professional, I need specific types of connectivity. I don't need a hole in my laptop for EVERY type and USB-C lets be use what suits my work.

6) Every change in a system generally produces an outcry. Remember when they cut CD drives?

Summary:
The dongle wars are fake. They don't cause pain, delay or issues. They're not expensive. Most folks already needed a dongle or two (like my CF card reader) as well as cables and such. Though I was initially annoyed by the deletion of standard USB and SD, in PRACTICE it's turned out to be a NON ISSUE.

And that's where I leave this. I own the new MacBook Pro notebooks and the dongle dopiness has proven to be a big fat zero. This continues to be the best notebook I've ever worked on.

Cheers,


R.

 

[redheeler]

My main issues are with Apple being too cheap to include an $8 dongle in the box of an already very expensive Mac, and that carrying around two or three different dongles pretty much negates the reason legacy ports were dropped on a "Pro" Mac - purely for thinness.

But otherwise, I agree USB-C is better than the previous standard.

 

[richpjr]

In a previous thread (Real MacBook Review) I pointed out that much of anti-macbook stuff is from non-owners with no experience with this machine. While a few had valid points, most were pure nonsense and none worse than...

The Dongle Horrors!

I've got FOUR USB-C ports on my Touch Bar MacBook Pro 13". How will I survive??? This is like Dawn of the Dead with no food in the mall! This is like Jaws with no Quint! So let's take this point by point.

1) The USB-C port is a smaller, faster port that can also transmit more power. It allows you to CHARGE the new MacBook Pro from external rechargeable devices as well as the power adapter that came with your MacBook.

2) The USB-C port is backwards compatible. It's EASY to get it to work with virtually anything.

View attachment 676564
Little dongle is a straight USB adapter. Larger dongle is a sleek USB, Micro USB, SD, Micro SD adapter. Total cost? 30 bucks for both.

3) As with the picture above, you need very little to make this BIG adaptation to the modern world. If you're a pro photographer (like me) with CF cards, you already own a USB card reader with all the formats. You can still use that. For video USB-C is best, so no issue there. For your monitors and printers, you'll just leave the adapter(s) attached to the old cables. The pro won't be using 30hz HDMI in most cases. So what's left? The girl at the bar who gives you her number on a USB stick? You think she'll run off with someone else when you spend an extra 1.4 seconds using the USB adapter?

4) USB-C is amazing. It's fast, offers more charging options and is backwards compatible. All of my old stuff still connects. A few dongles (I always needed some, along with cables) simply don't injure my work-flow in ANY WAY. How could they?

5) As a professional, I need specific types of connectivity. I don't need a hole in my laptop for EVERY type and USB-C lets be use what suits my work.

6) Every change in a system generally produces an outcry. Remember when they cut CD drives?

Summary:
The dongle wars are fake. They don't cause pain, delay or issues. They're not expensive. Most folks already needed a dongle or two (like my CF card reader) as well as cables and such. Though I was initially annoyed by the deletion of standard USB and SD, in PRACTICE it's turned out to be a NON ISSUE.

And that's where I leave this. I own the new MacBook Pro notebooks and the dongle dopiness has proven to be a big fat zero. This continues to be the best notebook I've ever worked on.

Cheers,


R.

Just remember, what works well for you doesn't necessarily work well for everyone else.

 

[CaptRB]

Just remember, what works well for you doesn't necessarily work well for everyone else.

Did this come from a fortune cookie?

Defend your statement by explaining how carrying a dongle or two has an impact on your work.


R.
[doublepost=1481042995][/doublepost]And again...you still have 100% access to devices that use "legacy ports."

Everything still works perfectly and I can do more and connect more. Please explain coherently how this impacts workflow or your life....?

R.

 

[redheeler]

Did this come from a fortune cookie?

Defend your statement by explaining how carrying a dongle or two has an impact on your work.


R.

When someone's workflow involves multiple USB-A ports, Thunderbolt 2/Mini DisplayPort, SD card reader, etc. it becomes more than a couple dongles.

 

[CaptRB]

When someone's workflow involves multiple USB-A ports, Thunderbolt 2/Mini DisplayPort, SD card reader, etc. it becomes more than a couple dongles.

I work in pro photography and my friend runs a PP studio that is using 4 of the new 15" models. I'm using 2 of the 13" with Touchbar.

I'm connected to two monitors, printer, etc. No issues. My friend has far more complex requirements. No issues. Out on a shoot I always needed by reader, so no change there. On meetings I might need the adapter to read an old-style thumb drive, but that will become increasingly rare.

Again, show me a real world example from EXPERIENCE where your workflow is impacted. I'm not saying it can't happen. But I certainly AM saying that MOST of the complaints are from users who have nothing at all to be concerned with.

In other words, aside from the odd-ball user, I'm calling most of the complainers FRAUDS. They just want to complain and troll about a computer (which they probably want in some cases) they don't have. This psychology is fairly common.


R.

 

[chabig]

When someone's workflow involves multiple USB-A ports, Thunderbolt 2/Mini DisplayPort, SD card reader, etc. it becomes more than a couple dongles.

Come on. You're making that up. Show me your setup with all those ports in use.

 

[CaptRB]

Come on. You're making that up. Show me your setup with all those ports in use.

LOL...I'll give him the benefit of the doubt!

But C'mon....how many people can say the same about their work? Loss of the legacy ports is just not a big deal for 99% of the people out there and this thing is smaller than my MacBook Air, does everything better and is sleek as a snail's butt.

The dongle panic is just pure goofy wrapped in absurd and served with a side of fried idiotic.



R.

 

[chabig]

LOL...I'll give him the benefit of the doubt!

But C'mon....how many people can say the same about their work? Loss of the legacy ports is just not a big deal for 99% of the people out there and this thing is smaller than my MacBook Air, does everything better and is sleek as a snail's butt.

The dongle panic is just pure goofy wrapped in absurd and served with a side of fried idiotic.

R.

OK. I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Still, all of those devices can be connected to the MacBook with a single USB cable. You're last sentence is exactly right!

 

[redheeler]

Come on. You're making that up. Show me your setup with all those ports in use.

I wasn't exactly referring to my workflow, because I also have a desktop iMac with plenty of ports. But if I were using my MacBook Pro as a main Mac, I would need Thunderbolt 1, USB-A, SD card slot ports; and I know, without a doubt, there are other users with similar port requirements.

 

[Pootmatoot]

2) The USB-C port is backwards compatible. It's EASY to get it to work with virtually anything.

Having used USB-C for over a year... this is the opposite of the truth. It's chaos and random, not only backwards, but with today's tech.

 

[chabig]

I wasn't exactly referring to my workflow, because I also have a desktop iMac with plenty of ports. But if I were using my MacBook Pro as a main Mac, I would need Thunderbolt 1, USB-A, SD card slot ports; and I know, without a doubt, there are other users with similar port requirements.

And all of those could be connected with a single cable.

 

[redheeler]

And all of those could be connected with a single cable.

Please provide a link to the device you're referring to, and keep in mind it must have a Thunderbolt 1 port!

 

[xraydoc]

The dongle panic is just pure goofy wrapped in absurd and served with a side of fried idiotic.

I pretty much agree with you. Even many of the PC users here at work are carrying DisplayPort to VGA adapters with them (the HP laptops that I see a lot of here have standard sized DisplayPort ports on them as the only video-out.

I have exactly one dongle as well that I keep with me - an Apple USB-C to VGA/USB multiport adapter. Covers 99.9% of what I'd need (VGA & USB-A) on a regular basis. And even then, the USB-A port will probably see only occasional use.

I have a little USB-A to SD card reader as well. Found it sitting in a drawer at home. Weighs like 1/2 gram or something - practically nothing. Feels mostly hollow. Tossed it in my bag on the off chance someone hands me an SD card. I'm not going to bother to invest in a USB-C SD card reader as I'm not a photographer and don't really need it in my workflow.

If anything, the only legacy port Apple probably should have stuffed in to the new 15" MBP (since there's likely room to be found somewhere) is an SD card reader for the pro photographers out there.

 

[thesaint024]

I wasn't exactly referring to my workflow, because I also have a desktop iMac with plenty of ports. But if I were using my MacBook Pro as a main Mac, I would need Thunderbolt 1, USB-A, SD card slot ports; and I know, without a doubt, there are other users with similar port requirements.

In theory this sounds like a PIA like it did to me way back when. But how often are people doing these things on the go? Besides usb-a, I've only read about one photographer who had bad luck with SD card reader dongles and a lot of people who carry video dongles for presentations. These guys ALWAYS carry dongles regardless because of the various standards out there, including 30+ year old vga that keeps surviving.

Having used USB-C for over a year... this is the opposite of the truth. It's chaos and random, not only backwards, but with today's tech.

I've gone through my trials of searching for cables and compatibility. However, most of this has to do with video. Once that is set, with so much help on threads on the forum, there is no issue. Again, usb-a will continue to pop up for awhile, but that is the easiest fix with the $4 adapters. Again, in theory it could be bad, in practice it rarely is. My set up is CLEAN and what I envision the way I/O should be.

 

[Pootmatoot]

I've gone through my trials of searching for cables and compatibility. However, most of this has to do with video. Once that is set, with so much help on threads on the forum, there is no issue. Again, usb-a will continue to pop up for awhile, but that is the easiest fix with the $4 adapters. Again, in theory it could be bad, in practice it rarely is. My set up is CLEAN and what I envision the way I/O should be.

It's not so much about my personal set up, but I have a small truckload of different brands to ensure I can work when going into other people's environments.

USB-C is a great idea, but years away from being market ready.

 

[CaptRB]

Having used USB-C for over a year... this is the opposite of the truth. It's chaos and random, not only backwards, but with today's tech.

Saying something means nothing if you don't support it.

As I pointed out, I use pro DSLRs. I also have twin 4K monitors, large format Epson printer, standard Brother laser. There's no chaos, nor is there any at my friends studio where he uses RED system and modded GoPro among others.

So backup what you say with some facts.


R.
[doublepost=1481047439][/doublepost]

It's not so much about my personal set up, but I have a small truckload of different brands to ensure I can work when going into other people's environments.

USB-C is a great idea, but years away from being market ready.

This is a great example of an uninformed statement.

Virtually every pro shooter I know is running out to buy the new machines because we always want better screens, even on this small side. Issues with cards and readers can happen, but rarely. And pro DSLRs use CF cards with SD for backup. Micro SD is used a lot for drones and you'll need a reader on ANY Mac for that as well.

I can safely say that I require more connectivity than most folks here and USB-C is a NON ISSUE.

Here's another take: SD card readers FAIL on built-in units too. They're far more fragile than a USB-C port. So a card reader or two is MUCH safer than the built in reader for the working professional.

No market ready? The USB-C is already the new standard and will overtake every device coming out by spring. Apple adoption of it at this stage does not effect anything but the forum noise.


Robert

 

[Pootmatoot]

Saying something means nothing if you don't support it.

As I pointed out, I use pro DSLRs. I also have twin 4K monitors, large format Epson printer, standard Brother laser. There's no chaos, nor is there any at my friends studio where he uses RED system and modded GoPro among others.

So backup what you say with some facts.


R.

What I'm saying isn't controversial: it's understood by anyone who's used USB-C for a while, especially in multiple environments.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/5/13523372/usb-c-macbook-adapter-donglelife-problems-thunderbolt

Can I ask how long you've used USB-C?

 

[skids929]

Just remember, what works well for you doesn't necessarily work well for everyone else.

Care to share some examples? Making a statement like this then running isn't exactly helpful to anyone or creating a helpful debate with different viewpoints. I also don't think the original poster said this would work for everyone, which makes your point moot and obvious.

 

[CaptRB]

What I'm saying isn't controversial: it's understood by anyone who's used USB-C for a while, especially in multiple environments.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/5/13523372/usb-c-macbook-adapter-donglelife-problems-thunderbolt

Can I ask how long you've used USB-C?

Naturally you ignored my response, equipment and pro applications with USB-C. And then you link to an article that points out how great it is.

I've been using USB-C for about 6 months. My friends studio has used it for longer.

You've failed to prove anything or provide a work-flow scenario where the USB-C port is a hinderance



R.

 

[thesaint024]

It's not so much about my personal set up, but I have a small truckload of different brands to ensure I can work when going into other people's environments.

USB-C is a great idea, but years away from being market ready.

I would say months away. It may not be months away for everyone and all the legacy devices out there, but defintitely months away from significantly impacting people's workflow. I'm defining this as having an adapter, cable, hub, device that will work on your MBP. I'm there already as are others. I've heard this concern a lot, but the 3rd party market is moving fast to accommodate. Their priority will be compatibility with Apple since it's the largest, consistent block of computers to build for. I actually don't need any more than what is available now. This is part of the strategy, force usb-c and all the accessory makers will follow, and it works. Time will tell. People have been buying MB's for a couple years with even less support. It just doesn't impact their workflow. MBP's will get much more support than the niche MB's.

 

[Queen6]

USB C is nowhere outside of tech forums currently. I own and use a Retina MacBook in a professional environment; in over a year and a half I have yet to come across a single peripheral that can connect natively to it`s USB C port, this statement encompasses multiple countries and multiple facilities...

I have no doubt of the importance and versatility of USB C, equally in the wider world of industry there is little to no incentive to move to this progressive standard. Personally I don't see any serious adoption for the next 3-4 years. Net result is that a USB C only device is more of an inconvenience than a benefit. If everyone was brutally honest they don't want to deal with dongles & adaptors, as they only serve to add another level of complexity/uncertainty to the equation simple as that.

IMHO Apple should have opted for 2xUSB A & 2xUSB C for 2016, Apple is simply not relevant enough to effect such a significant change. 100% USB C in 2020 would be far more fitting.

Q-6

 

[Pootmatoot]

Naturally you ignored my response, equipment and pro applications with USB-C. And then you link to an article that points out how great it is.

I've been using USB-C for about 6 months. My friends studio has used it for longer.

You've failed to prove anything or provide a work-flow scenario where the USB-C port is a hinderance



R.

The concept is great. The execution isn't. Given all it would take for you to see this is reading the front page of this forum, which is flooded with compatibility problems, I doubt I'll be able to persuade you.

We have an identical port and cable that has about two dozen possible protocol combinations hiding inside, without any sort of identifying features. They only way to know for a naked cable is to test it... and as shown with Google's experiments, the worst case scenario is it bursts into flames.

I would consider "a genuine fire risk by using a cable in someone else's office to connect" something of a "hinderance".

 

[chabig]

Please provide a link to the device you're referring to, and keep in mind it must have a Thunderbolt 1 port!

Here is what I have connected.

http://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-2-dock-TS2/

 

[Altis]

6) Every change in a system generally produces an outcry. Remember when they cut CD drives?

The CD drive, Ethernet port, floppy disc, etc... were all well past being used when they were replaced. They didn't cut the Ethernet port when nobody had wifi anywhere, for example.

This is a case of getting rid of the ports for devices that are still currently the latest being sold. There are entire categories of peripherals that aren't available in USB-C.

Summary:
The dongle wars are fake. They don't cause pain, delay or issues. They're not expensive. Most folks already needed a dongle or two (like my CF card reader) as well as cables and such. Though I was initially annoyed by the deletion of standard USB and SD, in PRACTICE it's turned out to be a NON ISSUE.

My question to you is this: What would have been the drawback to keep a USB-A 3.1 port or 2?

It's not like the device is so thin that it couldn't have had them. You can still have and use USB-C/TB3 all you like with the 2-3 that it would have.

I'm glad it hasn't been a problem for you, but it can be tedious or halt a workflow. If you forget to bring them with you (which is very easy if you take them out of your bag all the time), then you're stuck if you need them. All for what?

We used to have a laugh when people needed all these extra pieces to make their computer just work as a normal machine and get things done. Now, for no reason whatsoever, you need these dongles to use almost anything that connects to a computer at this time.

I like USB-C and look forward to its implementation. But right now, nothing I have is USB-C or even available in USB-C if I wanted to replace it.