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It's not a flaw. It's a philosophy and design choice. If you need ports, this isn't the right computer for you. There are others.

Correction. I need ports, and this is the right computer for me.

With it's three-port HDMI adapter, the Retina has all the connectivity it needs. Apple just gives its owners the option of leaving the ports in the office when not needed. On the road, no one needs monitors, keyboards, external drives, thumb drives, wired mice, or any other peripheral. Better to take the ports off and have the world's thinnest notebook rather than leave them on and create something more pedestrian.

When I take a two-day business trip, I don't need the port adapter at all. And frankly, with the tremendous battery life I've even been known to leave the power brick at home too.

BJ
 
They added a port to the MBA.

Really don't think they will. The MBA example is easy to bring up as a knee-jerk but the situations could not be more different. On the old MBA, one port of only USB 2.0 (!) which already then was slow and not dependable for certain things was already a standard getting long in the tooth. So it doesn't take a genius to see that only one of these ports was going to be a pretty nasty bottleneck for users, even using the best hubs they could find.
USB C is a totally, totally different game. Brand spanking new, very fast, extremely flexible, allows for channels of very significant electrical power for devices, _and_ it's only just at the very beginning of its development cycle. It has way more promise than a backward-thinking single USB 2.0 port ever had, so it's far less likely that there's a serious error to correct here. It will all depend on how well people take to it, how quickly the market brings products to it, and how much the hub market takes off.
 
Really don't think they will. The MBA example is easy to bring up as a knee-jerk but the situations could not be more different. On the old MBA, one port of only USB 2.0 (!) which already then was slow and not dependable for certain things was already a standard getting long in the tooth. So it doesn't take a genius to see that only one of these ports was going to be a pretty nasty bottleneck for users, even using the best hubs they could find.
USB C is a totally, totally different game. Brand spanking new, very fast, extremely flexible, allows for channels of very significant electrical power for devices, _and_ it's only just at the very beginning of its development cycle. It has way more promise than a backward-thinking single USB 2.0 port ever had, so it's far less likely that there's a serious error to correct here. It will all depend on how well people take to it, how quickly the market brings products to it, and how much the hub market takes off.

The "knee-jerk" reaction was only stated as fact- they did add the port, and I do suspect they will do same on next revision of this machine. Not everyone likes spaghetti while working with it.
 
Correction. I need ports, and this is the right computer for me.

With it's three-port HDMI adapter, the Retina has all the connectivity it needs. Apple just gives its owners the option of leaving the ports in the office when not needed. On the road, no one needs monitors, keyboards, external drives, thumb drives, wired mice, or any other peripheral. Better to take the ports off and have the world's thinnest notebook rather than leave them on and create something more pedestrian.

When I take a two-day business trip, I don't need the port adapter at all. And frankly, with the tremendous battery life I've even been known to leave the power brick at home too.

BJ

I should have written more comprehensively, but the crowd I'm referring to would be the nay-sayers with having only one port because they want to plug many different things into their laptop. The Macbook seems fine for your purposes, and I feel like you're agreeing with me anyway.
 
Yeah they have for sure. But not in this case. At least in my opinion. Wires are ugly and annoying. Wireless is the way to go.

Wireless is the future, but simple act of not being able to charge and plug in another item (like a camera) isn't the way to go

If it had two USB-C ports, was 14", 16GB RAM, more power under the hood, it would be the perfect laptop
 
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Wireless is the future, but simple act of not being able to charge and plug in another item (like a camera) isn't the way to go

If it had two USB-C ports, was 14", 16GB RAM, more power under the hood, it would be the perfect laptop

Get a Macbook Pro then? Kinda seems like that's what you're looking for. I don't think the Macbook was made for a user like you in mind.

And just plug your other item into the wall outlet. I don't see what the problem is. Once you start plugging and charging devices from your laptop, it defeats the purpose of having a thin and light computer. You're just cluttering it up!
 
The "knee-jerk" reaction was only stated as fact- they did add the port, and I do suspect they will do same on next revision of this machine. Not everyone likes spaghetti while working with it.

Yeah but I think you have to look at why they did something, not just the fact that they did something. They've already made a big song and dance about heading towards a wireless world with the rMB, and USB C is nowhere near as limiting as being stuck with one USB 2.0 port. There just seems to be so much less pressure on needing to add a second one than there would have been on the old Air, so I'd be surprised if they do it. The Pro will be a different story though.

-edit-

Also, how does adding ports make for any less spaghetti? When I used to use my 17" MBP for proper work, with an external monitor, an audio interface, a USB extended keyboard, external drives and a DSP card on the PCexpress port (remember those?) all connected up, it looked downright like a Frankenstein's monster version of a laptop. Thinking back, I actually would have _way_ preferred it to have one sleek little cable running out of it to some unseen hub from which all the devices would be hooked up, rather than different kinds of cables poking out of it from all sides. Also at the end of the day's work, it was so messy to disconnect everything separately so as to be able to go home with the laptop that I would often end up not bothering at all and just took my iPad instead... Now with both USB C and thunderbolt for that matter, this is over. At the studio we have Belkin thunderbolt hubs to which you just plug in whatever machine you're planning to work with and bingo, every single drive, monitor, audio interface and whatever else is connected and ready to use.
 
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Wireless is the future, but simple act of not being able to charge and plug in another item (like a camera) isn't the way to go

If it had two USB-C ports, was 14", 16GB RAM, more power under the hood, it would be the perfect laptop

But you can charge and plug in anther device with the multi port adapter.
 
Lots of good points from many perspectives. As is often the case, in either criticizing or defending, it's easy to lose the thread.

It would be great if the MB had more ports as long as it doesn't compromise the size/weight/battery. There's no doubt having a second USB-C port would be convenient for a lot of users. If you're arguing against that, you're just being silly.

But as has been pointed out multiple times, if using a small dongle to add a couple of ports is a deal-breaker, then it's not the laptop for you (and I would suggest it's not really close to being the laptop for you if it's that big of a deal). Hopefully one comes along soon that is - my guess on that front is that as the MBA eventually gets phased out, they'll add a 14"/15" model.
 


I need to choose between the rMB and the 15" rMBP i just bought for my business. I am such a funk I don't know what to do lol. Quickbooks, Shopify, Pages, Word, Excel, 20-25 tabs on safari, mail, reminders, notes, iTunes, Calendar, Sometime iPhoto. Pretty much at the same time.

Just learned some Xcode stuff as well. But very very very light use. I don't know what to do. This is tough lol
 
Get a Macbook Pro then? Kinda seems like that's what you're looking for. I don't think the Macbook was made for a user like you in mind.

And just plug your other item into the wall outlet. I don't see what the problem is. Once you start plugging and charging devices from your laptop, it defeats the purpose of having a thin and light computer. You're just cluttering it up!

I will be getting a MacBook Pro in the next few days, either a 13" or 15"

I'm just pointing out what I feel are glaring flaws in the MacBook, in a few years it will be the de facto laptop
 
It doesn't matter what I think. What matters is that I am not the one making up statistics and trying to pass them off as fact.

Apple obviously has more knowledge then you and I on laptop usage, hence the release of the MacBook


But go ahead and tell me how you know more
 
Apple obviously has more knowledge then you and I on laptop usage, hence the release of the MacBook


But go ahead and tell me how you know more

What in the world are you talking about. I asked for a source to your claim and you have yet to provide it. You are trying to twist this into something more to try and save face.
 
I will be getting a MacBook Pro in the next few days, either a 13" or 15"

I'm just pointing out what I feel are glaring flaws in the MacBook, in a few years it will be the de facto laptop

Just get both :) Bit of a difference in speed. 2015 15" 16/512 v 12" 1.2/512.
 

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It is a typical Apple flaw. Releasing hardware tech way before its time followed by minimal acceptance of the tech industry wide. You might argue that Apple is blazing the way, but I say they are more blazing a trail of your dollars into their pockets. Dongles are a selling philosophy, and not a technical innovation.

When has Apple found industry acceptance doing this? Was Firewire accepted...no, was thunderbolt accepted...no, perhaps USB-c will be accepted but not in its present incarnation. By acceptance, I mean as prevalent as say USB 2.x or USB 3.x.

I get Macs and PCs are different, but ports are meant to be universal and not proprietary.

In terms of the rMB, I agree with most here that more ports are not needed however a second USB-C port would not have compromised the design nor cost much of anything for Apple to do. This I consider a design flaw. You'll see it next year on the new rMB.

I doubt you will see the rMB design be much different with respect to ports. Perhaps it will simply be merged into the AIR line where a slightly thicker body design is available.
Well, the industry may not have followed them in terms of their chosen ports, but they certainly followed Apple in several different ways:

- paying more attention to the design and finish of the laptop
- for better or worse, getting rid of things like the Ethernet port and Optical Drive, paving the way for the ultrabook
- pushing the industry forward with things like flash storage in the iPod and having SSDs standard in all their computers

With the possible exception of the last one, these all hold true. Laptops used to be huge, ugly machines that focused only on performance and nothing else; function over form in a sense. Some might argue that Apple is prioritizing form over function now, at least it has led others to the point where the industry in now closer to parity in form and function rather than before.

I'm not sure I totally agree with the idea that a second USB-C port wouldn't have compromised the design... well, I take that back. I don't think it would compromise the design, but I also don't think it would've matched Apple's ideal the same way, which is why they made the decision to go with only one. Eventually, yes, they probably will go with 2 USB-C ports, but even the MBA didn't go to 2 ports with gen 2.

Wireless is the future, but simple act of not being able to charge and plug in another item (like a camera) isn't the way to go

If it had two USB-C ports, was 14", 16GB RAM, more power under the hood, it would be the perfect laptop
Perfect for you maybe. For many of us who do own the rMB now, 16GB is completely unnecessary. Furthermore, the highest end rMBP is only 16GB and even the MBA, which has more power under the hood, maxes out with 8GB. Unless they decide to start releasing the rMBP with 32GB RAM options, I doubt we'll see anything more than 8GB in the rMB. My personal opinion and for those that want 16GB, I'd be quite happy if I was wrong.
 
Wireless is the future, but simple act of not being able to charge and plug in another item (like a camera) isn't the way to go

Every Retina owner has purchased the $75 HDMI/USB/USB-C adapter which has all the ports one would need. Apple didn't make a notebook with one port; they merely moved them to a convenient one-connection hub so that owners needn't drag them around all the time when they're not needed. On the road we don't have monitors or keyboards, mice are Bluetooth, external drives are Clouded, what are we really talking about here? A camera? That's what we're down to now? Enough.

Also, how does adding ports make for any less spaghetti? Thinking back, I actually would have _way_ preferred it to have one sleek little cable running out of it to some unseen hub from which all the devices would be hooked up, rather than different kinds of cables poking out of it from all sides. Also at the end of the day's work, it was so messy to disconnect everything separately so as to be able to go home with the laptop

Exactly. The new Macbook way is the better solution. The HDMI/USB/USB-C adapter is like a mini docking station. And like a 'real' docking station, you leave it and its spaghetti and its weight back at the office when you take the machine on the road. And if you need it? Throw it in your overnight bag. If you don't? Leave it home.

The ports exist on the new Macbook. They are just conveniently detachable.

BJ
 
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