These things fail, and sometimes right out of the box. ITs where I work have plenty of stories. Reviews about dongles and hubs are scary to read. So you had one adapter die on you; I hope it wasn't during a presentation.
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The macbook "PRO" should have more ports
- Thread starter JamesRide
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These things fail, and sometimes right out of the box. ITs where I work have plenty of stories. Reviews about dongles and hubs are scary to read. So you had one adapter die on you; I hope it wasn't during a presentation.
How does this make the MBP not a pro machine?
I may have missed some other posts, or comments, but you started the thread by complaining the convention center failed to provide you with what you needed, how does that translate into a MBP not being a professional laptop? Would having more ports solved your problem that you delineated in your OP?
The title is about the MBP not having enough ports. What happened to me is secondary. And yes, a MD/TB2 port would have saved the day.
It's just ten times easier for something to go wrong, when a machine only has one port and you have to rely on a plethora of adaptors/hubs that could break/fail, get forgoten or just not work properly. It just makes sence.
Anyway, bringing your own projector isn't even always an option. And honestly, I don't know anyone that does this for a seminar room already equiped with a projector that has to be hanging from the ceiling. I had a hard enough time carrying my props, dongles, MBP, papers etc, for a few blocs. Did I mention someone else on my side was in charge of making sure everything was ready for me do this? Even so, I sent not one, but two emails and even made a follow up phone call to make sure everything was ok. And every time the answer was positive: "Yes there is going to be an HDMI cable/machine, don't worry about anything". I'm not bringing my own projector to that, even if I had one and could install it in there.
And this is everyone’s point you say it yourself the computer is fine it can connect to anything given the right cables. You were promised a cable it wasn’t there. This in no way makes the computer bad or not “pro” whatever that means. It means you were in a crap situation where what you were promised was not there. It could have been anything that was promised and wasn’t there and you would have been in trouble.
You started a thread about one subject but then wanted to discuss another
I'll not disagree that more ports would be a plus, but given the flexibility of USB-C, you have access to a multitude of solutions and options.
So if you had dongle that would have saved the day, so again as other stated if you brought your own cables you would have not had the issues you incurred. I understand the frustration, but blaming apple, saying the lack of ports was the cause of your issues is misplaced imo
You started a thread about one subject but then wanted to discuss another
I'll not disagree that more ports would be a plus, but given the flexibility of USB-C, you have access to a multitude of solutions and options.
So if you had dongle that would have saved the day, so again as other stated if you brought your own cables you would have not had the issues you incurred. I understand the frustration, but blaming apple, saying the lack of ports was the cause of your issues is misplaced imo
What happened to me was just the instigator and a fine case study. I managed to present my material, but I've seen and heard of worse scenarios.
They didn't even have an hdmi compatible projector (!). They had a vga/md dongle. That also makes sence since that's the dongle they've needed for the past ~10years for mac users.
Again, a dongle is one more thing that can go wrong in many ways. We can agree to disagree. But I'm willing to bet 8 out of 10 similar situations have a apple laptop involved. If that is the result of apples decisions, then the tech needs to adapt to the people and reality a bit more. It looks good in theory but...
So one extra port... for the grand total of two (!) ports that will save the day 9 out of 10 times. Not too much to ask for.
I was extremely hesitant to buy the new model for these exact reasons. I guess we all just want to believe.
See, I agree that the MBP should have at least one USB-A port, and should have retained the SD reader.
That said, there's very little difference to me between carrying a TB3 to DP/DVI/HDMI/VGA set of dongles and carrying the same MDP to X set of dongles, but at least keeping a TB2/mDP-compatible connector would have made the transition more palatable.
Though, mDP is reasonably widely deployed outside the Apple world, unlike Thunderbolt. As for USB type C, it's a complete mess of a standard. The recent issues with DisplayLink and High Sierra showed that up nicely.
As for Apple's dongles - they are poorly designed with inadequate strain relief, like almost all Apple's cables. I've been using them since 2003 on a PBG4, and I've had quite a few die on me with random issues despite treating them extremely delicately.
That said, there's very little difference to me between carrying a TB3 to DP/DVI/HDMI/VGA set of dongles and carrying the same MDP to X set of dongles, but at least keeping a TB2/mDP-compatible connector would have made the transition more palatable.
Though, mDP is reasonably widely deployed outside the Apple world, unlike Thunderbolt. As for USB type C, it's a complete mess of a standard. The recent issues with DisplayLink and High Sierra showed that up nicely.
As for Apple's dongles - they are poorly designed with inadequate strain relief, like almost all Apple's cables. I've been using them since 2003 on a PBG4, and I've had quite a few die on me with random issues despite treating them extremely delicately.
And a lot of people share your gripe that some extra ports would really be nice, but just about everyone agrees on one thing: That you can't blame someone else for your own lack of preparation. Jeez fella, the VGA port is one of the most common ports around!
I hope you learned from this and immediately went and bought yourself a few multi-adapters to cover just about any scenario you can think of possibly coming up. You did do that didn't you?
Something similar happened to me several years ago with my port generous MBP 2012. I couldn't connect to a client's projector on a Friday. By the end of the next day, I had a dongle that would connect to almost anything. It never happened again.
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I'd be happy with just the SD reader though a single USB-A would be a nice luxury if there were no tradeoffs. It's just way too easy to have a ready supply of USB-C to USB-A adapters. They're so cheap, I leave one in my car and other places just in case.
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I'm going to avoid further argument with a more productive post.
As the owner of a MacBook with only one USB-C (non-TB3) port, here's a post from someone (@boltjames) who probably travels more than both of us, on his travel kit:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...rite-accessories.1969009/page-2#post-22855986
You could probably get a more up-to-date micro-router, and I'd add (and have) an Apple VGA adapter and SD-card reader, but you'll be good to go with this setup 99% of the time, whether traveling for business or pleasure.
Funny thing is, I had a VGA/mdp dongle for 9+years and never used it. Not even once. I don't really present that often. Had they kept an md compatible port, the transition would have been like butter. Amongst other things, we'd get to use all our older adaptors and that is a big deal.
The one time I get promised both orally and in writing that there would be an HDMI compatible projector, it happened. Once is too many and a lot of people seem to have those.
Again, I'm willing to bet a disproportionate amount of these occurrences are apple related. Technology has to adapt to people as much as the other way around. Less important, but people laugh when I take a dongle out to read a usb stick.
MBP has gone from pro to prosumer just because of that, if you ask me.
The one time I get promised both orally and in writing that there would be an HDMI compatible projector, it happened. Once is too many and a lot of people seem to have those.
Again, I'm willing to bet a disproportionate amount of these occurrences are apple related. Technology has to adapt to people as much as the other way around. Less important, but people laugh when I take a dongle out to read a usb stick.
MBP has gone from pro to prosumer just because of that, if you ask me.
I have Windows and Mac laptops. None have had a VGA port in a decade. But. I still keep a VGA adapter in my presentation kit.
1. I don't know if you've noticed, It has 4 great ports.
2. "Pro" is just a marketing term, has nothing to do with type of ports. You can be unhappy with the design, but don't make assumptions what makes something "Pro"....
3. ....but, if you really want to go that way, MBP is one of the few laptops on the market that can run 4 displays, 4 Thunderbolt 3 devices, 4 USB-C devices, etc. For example, a friend got a Wacom Cintiq recently (it doesn't get much more "Pro" than that) and had a lot of issues with their dongle for older ports, while one simple cable connected it to my MBP.... That's very much "Pro" in my book.
4. Get new cables or carry a dongle or two. Of all the first world problems, this one is quite benign.
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You work in IT and could foresee that the place you were presenting might be still using VGA? Seriously?