Thunderbolt 3 Ports on Right Side of 13-Inch MacBook Pro Have Reduced PCI Express Bandwidth

[nagromme]

I agree fully on the subject of overall IO. The overall IO Capability exceeds the outgoing model by far.

The only thing I don't like is the "need" for even more adapters now. I could handle buying stuff for TB2 as I still had regular USB and could chain more USB ports of the TB2 ports. Now they have went for absurdly thin, removing standard USB / TB2, requiring that I juggle more dongles to achieve the same connectivity my 2015 model does.

As others have asked of Apple in the other thread, would it have hurt for them to make it slightly thicker, given us some legacy ports, more battery, and perhaps offer a BTO version with 32GB or more RAM?

I don't think death to Apple at this point, but, this update has a few items that have put the brakes on my ordering a new laptop.

Very reasonable! Different wants/needs for different people. I would VERY much not want it to be thicker, and I don't want legacy ports. Port transitions always hurt. They have to happen. I'd suggest looking for a single mini-dock with multiple ports: expect the available selection to balloon in the months ahead!

I for one rarely hang anything off the side of my laptop. I'm OK with a dongle when the need arises. I'm more than OK with a step toward an all-TB-3/USB-C future. But I do know others desire's are different.

(And remember: you won't be achieving merely the same connectivity as last year, you'll be achieving better: you'll have gained USB-C and Thunderbolt 3. That may well matter during the life of the system.)

 

[avanpelt]

How many more gotchas are the people who buy these new machines going to have to face?

I'm just going to go ahead and say it -- Apple had two years to make choices about these products and so far, every single decision I've seen that they made has either been neutral from a consumer perspective or negative from a consumer perspective. And yes, I count Touch ID and the Touch Bar as neutrals. Why? Those features don't, in my opinion, solve problems that are facing most of the people who are going to buy these products. They're simply bullet points on a spec sheet.

Fewer ports, less bandwidth (13"), less runtime (13"), more dongles required, and all this for a higher price than the previous gen models!

For the first time since 2008, I do not look forward to owning the latest and greatest MacBook Pro when my current MacBook Pro dies. I hope my current machine has many, many years left in it.

 

[Max Portakabin]

And the good news keeps coming. Even when explained in proper tech terms, just a shame.

It's the courage to compromise I like.

 

[hajime]

- New MacBook Pro Has Better Keyboard Than 12-Inch MacBook, But It's Expensive and Lacking Ports
- New MacBook Pros Max Out at 16GB RAM Due to Battery Life Concerns
- Apple Says It's Out of the Standalone Display Business
- New MacBook Pros Don't Include Backlit Apple Logo or Power Extension Cable
- Thunderbolt 3 Ports on Right Side of 13-Inch MacBook Pro Have Reduced PCI Express Bandwidth

When will the bad news stop?

When they stop making laptops thinner and thinner?

 

[deadsoul]

Asus/Microsoft I will never deny you ever again!!! bye Apple.

 

[boast]

I think with the higher prices, people also come with higher expectations. So something that would seem like a no big deal is amplified when you are paying top dollar.

 

[Pootmatoot]

Ahhh... the 0.5 Thunderbolt USB-C port! Such innovation!

 

[840quadra]

When was the last time Apple supported legacy connections any longer than they absolutely had to? The new Thunderbolt ports are exactly what everyone has been asking for for 20 years. And we expect Apple, who has dumped SCSI, Serial, Floppy disks, CD drives, 3.5mm audio, etc. all way before their time, to hold back here? Really?

What are these things that people have been asking for? I can understand dropping the legacy USB port that has been around since the 90s, however the connector style for MDP, TB1, TB2 is far, far, far, far, from legacy.

Wow, gone are the days where Steve Jobs would take out a jewelers loupe and examine each pixel placement, now they're cutting corners and raising the price. Kind of sad if you think about it.

Is this the Apple, I want to send my limited funds too for a computer?

I would be curious how many people would actually reach and be affected by this IO ceiling. As it stands, there aren't many TB2 capable devices in the wild these days.

 

[benjitek]

I like where they're going with the new MacBooks -- personally would get a lot more use out of the TouchBar than a screen I could write on. I think though the 2nd-gen models will be better. I'd rather have a Touch Bar with haptic feedback and don't want to concern myself about which ports are the faster ones

 

[Ghost31]

I've had every iBook and Macbook since 2005, and this is the first one I won't be upgrading to based on the rapacious pricing, and miniscule update (slower processor in the base model, and less battery life).

Nothing about this device is "pro."

This seems to be the most common theme here lately. 'Oh you don't like it? You must either be poor or not like Apple!"
And we all have to go through this speech about how long we have been Apple users and what products we use and blah blah blah. It's tiresome

I love Apple. But this new Apple...yeah. They're taking a turn for sure

 

[Pootmatoot]

How many actually need that bandwidth on even ONE port much less 3 to 4? And are actually in the market for the 13" Pro right now? How many were truly planning to get the 13" and hook up 4 TB3 devices that need that bandwidth? How many pay zero attention to far more significant positives, from screen quality to giant trackpad?

It's not about one thing. It's the growing pile of things that, collectively, make a turkey... in a mono-manufacturer environment with no alternatives without leaving the ecosystem.

 

[zhenya]

What are these things that people have been asking for? I can understand dropping the legacy USB port that has been around since the 90s, however the connector style for MDP, TB1, TB2 is far, far, far, far, from legacy.

Those all became legacy the day that the Thunderbolt 3 over usb-c port was announced. Every one of those can be combined into a single TB3 port that does all those plus a whole lot more. It's exactly the kind of thing Apple would do.

 

[840quadra]

Very reasonable! Different wants/needs for different people. I would VERY much not want it to be thicker, and I don't want legacy ports. Port transitions always hurt. They have to happen. I'd suggest looking for a single mini-dock with multiple ports: expect the available selection to balloon in the months ahead!

I for one rarely hang anything off the side of my laptop. I'm OK with a dongle when the need arises. I'm more than OK with a step toward an all-TB-3/USB-C future. But I do know others desire's are different.

(And remember: you won't be achieving merely the same connectivity as last year, you'll be achieving better: you'll have gained USB-C and Thunderbolt 3. That may well matter during the life of the system.)

I guess I never considered my 2015 MBP to be too thick, however, once I got used to it, my 2008 MBP started to feel quite chunky.

I think meeting in the middle on size, Dropping the legacy USB port, keeping 1 TB2 port, and offering more memory would have gone a long way.

 

[avanpelt]

When was the last time Apple supported legacy connections any longer than they absolutely had to?

Since when is a USB 3 type A port considered "legacy"?! I bet I could find that port on 90+% of laptops on the market today at prices ranging from $400 to $2,000. I also don't see SD cards disappearing. They're in everything from $100 point and shoot cameras to $2,000 DSLR camera bodies.

 

[sammich]

On a more constructive note, on the 15": could you technical SLI two cards across two eGPUs?

 

[doelcm82]

This has nothing to do with saving pennies but rather how many lanes of PCI-Express are available on the Intel processors each computer uses. I had been wondering how they were going to pull off 4 completely equal ports, but rather certain that being Apple they would, but even they can't make something from nothing.

I think that in practice this will affect relatively few people, but it's a bummer nonetheless.

I wish I could afford a setup where my peripherals would max out the bandwidth of all four ports. But I can't so this doesn't really affect me.

 

[CausticPuppy]

This has nothing to do with saving pennies but rather how many lanes of PCI-Express are available on the Intel processors each computer uses. I had been wondering how they were going to pull off 4 completely equal ports, but rather certain that being Apple they would, but even they can't make something from nothing.

I think that in practice this will affect relatively few people, but it's a bummer nonetheless.

Stooooop... you're ruining the circlejerk.

 

[myscrnnm]

Honestly this won't affect me, as I've never had to use more than two USB ports on my laptop at the same time anyway. But I can see this negatively impacting power users.

 

[AVEGA]

Honestly why not have 2 USB 3 instead of 2 crippled USB c ?

 

[manu chao]

The limitation on charging through the Digital AV Multiport adaptor seems really silly at this point. It honestly tells me they didn't update their dongles to fully support the new MBP systems. In addition to that issue, the Multimedia adapters HDMI port doesn't support 60hz video on anything larger than 1080P. The low charging speed, and video limitation really makes it a worthless / inadequate product for the new MBP.

The 'problem' is that TB3 allows for up to 100 W of power (in either direction), but dimensioning all TB3 components on all TB3 devices to being able to handle that amount of power makes things even more expensive (and/or delays the release because the lower-power components will come to market first). But I guess, price is no issue for you.

 

[Pootmatoot]

Since when is a USB 3 type A port considered "legacy"?! I bet I could find that port on 90+% of laptops on the market today at prices ranging from $400 to $2,000. I also don't see SD cards disappearing. They're in everything from $100 point and shoot cameras to $2,000 DSLR camera bodies.

Yup, on 100% of laptops and computers (bar 3 or 4), 95% of peripherals, and the vast bulk of TVs, dumb terminals, stereos etc.... is a very odd definition of "legacy".

 

[doelcm82]

Since when is a USB 3 type A port considered "legacy"?! I bet I could find that port on 90+% of laptops on the market today at prices ranging from $400 to $2,000. I also don't see SD cards disappearing. They're in everything from $100 point and shoot cameras to $2,000 DSLR camera bodies.

The SD cards themselves are not obsolete, but I find it more convenient to transfer pictures from my GoPro or DJI camera wirelessly than to fumble with that microSD card and the adapter I'd need to fit it into my 2014 rMBP's SD card slot.

 

[ghost187]

The non touchbar MacBook Pro has 11% bigger battery, no touchbar or t1 chip to drive, a 15w vs 25w CPU, lower power gpu.

If this MacBook Pro has 12-13 hour battery I'm buying it.

 

[Altis]

Of course they will.

 

[manu chao]

Honestly why not have 2 USB 3 instead of 2 crippled USB c ?

Better to have two USB-C/TB3 that can provide 98% of all tasks (though possibly requiring a tiny USB-C to USB-A adaptor) than USB-A that can provide may 30% of the tasks of USB-C/TB3.