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

[Snappers]

That's one of the few port reduction complaints that is valid since many devices still on the market use SD cards that need to be removed to copy data.

Your usage does not fit in with Apple’s vision of how you should be living your life. /s

 

[LimerickRunner]

It is very necessary if you need more than 5 GB to backup your devices. Unless your an Apple fanboy who wants to pay the iCloud backup tax. Get a clue ....

If your whining about paying iCloud storage why are you in the Apple ecosystem?
Apple products are premium and an iCloud backup service is fantastic!

 

[solipsism]

I am sorry but Apple is out of control. It is one thing to have a premium it is another to rip your faithful customers off. I have waited for 2 years for this laptop.. I don't care about the under powered specs, I don't even think I would ever come close to the PCI transfer limits even when reduced but the price is unacceptable.

I will gladly move back to Dell/windows, waiting for the next XPS with kaby. This is the last straw.

1) You didn't do a full comparison of the HW or consider how this affects usability.

2) You say that you'll never come close to utilizing the PCI transfer limits, but if Apple stuck with TB2 speeds and had no support for 5K@60 monitors there would be a lot of complaints. Are you saying those complains would be unfounded?

3) I'm always confused by this "faithful" comment. You know Apple has millions upon millions of customers. Why should they single out you and make a machine that suits your specific needs without any concern for what Apple wants to make or the bulk of their "faithful" based. Personally, I wish the move to USB-C would have happened last year and I wish the trackpad was an OLED display, but Apple catering to my specific desires doesn't mean I get angry at them because I'm not an elitist who thinks it's all about me.

 

[citysnaps]

Nice devices, but getting too expensive. Also there is no reason 13" can't have 3 ports since 1 will be used for charging most of the time so that leaves 1 for everything else. Not acceptable in my opinion.

One for everything else? How about three for everything else? Not acceptable? Really?

Or, are you anticipating using the full TB 3 bandwidth available from every port on your 13" laptop? Multiple massive and super-fast SSD RAID arrays, and, multiple external 5K displays?

What laptop are you using now that meets those requirements? Or, there's the 15" MacBook Pro...

 

[MallardDuck]

I call this the arrogant update. 4 years and get get a gimmicky touchbar, worse battery life, a meh GPU and CPU, no 16 GB option (because Apple knows that battery life is more important to us than performance - yes mom, whatever you say mom), and an absurd price hike.

I had to buy one, because my old machine is on it's last legs....but I'm not happy about it.

Or the 6, that's right 6, dongles, I bought to go with it. There's no good HDMI option out there (the multiport adapater is bulkier than I need, and has terrible reviews).

We all should send the dongle packaging to Jony Ive.

A meh, and a miss for this update.

 

[ladycsr]

1) You didn't do a full comparison of the HW or consider how this affects usability.

2) You say that you'll never come close to utilizing the PCI transfer limits, but if Apple stuck with TB2 speeds and had no support for 5K@60 monitors there would be a lot of complaints. Are you saying those complains would be unfounded?

3) I'm always confused by this "faithful" comment. You know Apple has millions upon millions of customers. Why should they single out you and make a machine that suits your specific needs without any concern for what Apple wants to make or the bulk of their "faithful" based. Personally, I wish the move to USB-C would have happened last year and I wish the trackpad was an OLED display, but Apple catering to my specific desires doesn't mean I get angry at them because I'm not an elitist who thinks it's all about me.

What part of "I" did you not comprehend?

 

[LimerickRunner]

I call this the arrogant update. 4 years and get get a gimmicky touchbar, worse battery life, a meh GPU and CPU, no 16 GB option (because Apple knows that battery life is more important to us than performance - yes mom, whatever you say mom), and an absurd price hike.

I had to buy one, because my old machine is on it's last legs....but I'm not happy about it.

Or the 6, that's right 6, dongles, I bought to go with it. There's no good HDMI option out there (the multiport adapater is bulkier than I need, and has terrible reviews).

We all should send the dongle packaging to Jony Ive.

A meh, and a miss for this update.

All this judgement on a product you have not received yet, I think this new MacBook Pro is going to amazing and how they've made even the 15" thinner than the air, engineering marvel.

 

[solipsism]

What part of "I" did you not comprehend?

Oh, I read all your uses of 'I', like when you started off your rant with "I am sorry but Apple is out of control." Then you made a comment where you called yourself a "faithful customer" and insinuated that because of your self-titled designation Apple should create products around your specific needs, hence my reply.

 

[jerryk]

In the long run I am not sure this matters that much since TB-3 supports daily chaining 6 devices.

 

[Taz Mangus]

1) You didn't do a full comparison of the HW or consider how this affects usability.

2) You say that you'll never come close to utilizing the PCI transfer limits, but if Apple stuck with TB2 speeds and had no support for 5K@60 monitors there would be a lot of complaints. Are you saying those complains would be unfounded?

3) I'm always confused by this "faithful" comment. You know Apple has millions upon millions of customers. Why should they single out you and make a machine that suits your specific needs without any concern for what Apple wants to make or the bulk of their "faithful" based. Personally, I wish the move to USB-C would have happened last year and I wish the trackpad was an OLED display, but Apple catering to my specific desires doesn't mean I get angry at them because I'm not an elitist who thinks it's all about me.

Of come on now, how dare you respond with a well reasoned, logical and thought out reply. I swear some people like to hear themselves complain.

 

[Hanzu Lao]

One for everything else? How about three for everything else? Not acceptable? Really?

Or, are you anticipating using the full TB 3 bandwidth available from every port on your 13" laptop? Multiple massive and super-fast SSD RAID arrays, and, multiple external 5K displays?

What laptop are you using now that meets those requirements? Or, there's the 15" MacBook Pro...

Can you count?

 

[ilfn143]

if my mbp dies i'll get the previous gen mbp. mag safe, sd card reader, usb-a.

 

[terraphantm]

The dGPU uses most likely uses x8 PCIe lanes, as it has in the past (check your System Profiler; under Graphics), which leaves x8 more lanes for TB3 (2 Alpine Ridge controllers @ x4 lanes each). This exhausts the CPU lanes. There are x16 PCIe 3.0 lanes in the QM170/HM170 chipset and Apple needs at least x4 lanes for the SSD/Flash, which leaves 12 for the rest of the various I/O in the system.

So why couldn't Apple use those extra lanes on the 13"?

 

[citysnaps]

Can you count?

Of course. Why the childish snarky response?

 

[Mac 128]

Stop bothering. They maybe don't know how it is to work with many devices that requires different ports. And with all dongles and docks and adapters and @#$@ it would be so frustrating for people like us.
But it's easy to say NOW that usb-c is just fine...when you just have your macbook and your starbucks coffee and post @$!% on blogs and forums .

Ok. I just said NOW because Apple has "forced" everyone to use USB-C but look at music industry for example. Most of the USB Cards are on USB-A ports. Look at photographers- SD Cards everwhere. We still need those ports and to carry around dongles and docks it's not a solution. The technology and the other products/devices must adopt USB-C first
EVEN IPHONE 7 MUST HAVE A USB-C CABLE WITH IT BUT NOOO. Buy a dongle
And this thing is frustrating me. Why would I want to buy dock? It destroys all the portability and everything. Apple struggles so hard to make the macbook pro thinner and lighter but BOOM a wild dock appears xD. So ironic.

If you need technology on a daily basis that upgrading to Apple's new paradigm complicates for you, you continue using your old equipment, or upgrade to a new product that serves your needs -- Apple still sells the 13" & 15" 2015 MBPs.

Living on the cutting edge is not for everyone. And transitions are always tough. If it's not for you right now in your industry, there are good options for staying in the Apple ecosystem without much compromise. The same for the iPhone and loss of the headphone jack. The 6s is an excellent phone, one which the 7 does not do much to improve on, and it looks almost exactly the same. If someone needs a headphone jack, don't buy the 7, or don't complain about the dongle.

I lived through the original iMac/USB transition and it went down exactly the way this is going. And let me tell you, there were not so many inexpensive dongles to help with that transition -- then again Apple had the smallest customer base it likely had since the Apple 1. Had Apple waited to adopt USB until after the industry had supplied plenty of accessories and equipment to support it, it might no have happened. It took a bloody long time to happen and much of that was due to the success of the iMac.

This is simply history repeating itself, and now as then, I'll take the steps I need to support my professional career in the most efficient way possible, for which Apple has given me many tools to do so.

 

[Macist]

This is the tipping point for many. I've bought Apple devices in the past where I hated the design, the price, the spec, the ports, etc. and just got on with it because, hey, macOS was nice to use. But not anymore.

 

[Hanzu Lao]

Of course. Why the childish snarky response?

So what are you talking about? I'm no professional, designer or artist, i just like Mac and compared to my 2014 MacBook Pro this is a very painful downgrade in port department. Going from a separate charging port, 2 thunderbolt, 2 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 SD and 1 headphone jack to JUST 2 USB C ports is a downgrade and it's not even the same price.

 

[Jim]

Are they purposely trying to throw Phil Schiller under the bus by giving him lines during the presentations that are proven to be "lacking" or just plain inaccurate. In the keynote about iPhone 7 he gave a shout out to the auto renewers when in fact (at least initially) there was no plan to accommodate those individuals with phones any sooner that someone who was not a participant. Now, they give him a line that boldly states you can plug in your cords on either side without any reservations. Then this article states that there are considerations. If it's Phil .... double check your script, if it's not, Phil, watch your back.

 

[Hanzu Lao]

If you need technology on a daily basis that upgrading to Apple's new paradigm complicates for you, you continue using your old equipment, or upgrade to a new product that serves your needs -- Apple still sells the 13" & 15" 2015 MBPs.

Living on the cutting edge is not for everyone. And transitions are always tough. If it's not for you right now in your industry, there are good options for staying in the Apple ecosystem without much compromise. The same for the iPhone and loss of the headphone jack. The 6s is an excellent phone, one which the 7 does not do much to improve on, and it looks almost exactly the same. If someone needs a headphone jack, don't buy the 7, or don't complain about the dongle.

I lived through the original iMac/USB transition and it went down exactly the way this is going. And let me tell you, there were not so many inexpensive dongles to help with that transition -- then again Apple had the smallest customer base it likely had since the Apple 1. Had Apple waited to adopt USB until after the industry had supplied plenty of accessories and equipment to support it, it might no have happened. It took a bloody long time to happen and much of that was due to the success of the iMac.

This is simply history repeating itself, and now as then, I'll take the steps I need to support my professional career in the most efficient way possible, for which Apple has given me many tools to do so.

Cutting edge? This is a new euphemism for masochist?

 

[papisax]

They had a power issue with the USB ports on the 13" MacBook pro retina from 2013 too. Only certain devices are able to use USB power on one of the two USB 3 ports.

This model you need an adapter to even connect a usb drive. They removed the SD card slot too. This with the limited RAM, maxing out at 16 GB and this Thunderbolt issue mentioned here classifies these machines as NON PRO. You do not receive an extension cord to the power adapter either.

Apple is no longer paying attention to the details that it once prided itself on, giving their customers the best quality, powerful machines. They are not sensitive to the needs of pro users anymore. I do not mind spending a lot of money on a machine. I just want to get my money's worth.

I am disappointed.

 

[Hanzu Lao]

They had a power issue with the USB ports on the 13" MacBook pro retina from 2013 too. Only certain devices are able to use USB power on one of the two USB 3 ports.

This model you need an adapter to even connect a usb drive. They removed the SD card slot too. This with the limited RAM, maxing out at 16 GB and this Thunderbolt issue mentioned here classifies these machines as NON PRO. You do not receive an extension cord to the power adapter either.

Apple is no longer paying attention to the details that it once prided itself on, giving their customers the best quality, powerful machines. They are not sensitive to the needs of pro users anymore. I do not mind spending a lot of money on a machine. I just want to get my money's worth.

I am disappointed.

It's a nice laptop, but there is nothing about it that is really PRO.

 

[Jim]

Heh, the whining is almost comical at this point. Of course I'll be called a McPologist!

This is nothing new anyway, the previous smaller MacBooks (Airs, etc) had reduced Thunderbolt functionality over the larger pros. The cylinder Mac Pro doesn't have Thunderbolt 2 on all 6 ports, it divides 3 TB buses among them. So, the 13" MacBook Pros probably only have 1 thunderbolt 3 bus instead of 2 on the 15", or some other lesser vs. greater combination (not sure how the TB 3 hardware support works). You should've been complaining about this for years as it's been that way since Thunderbolt was introduced on the smaller devices vs. the larger.

I get this, so why make a point in a presentation that isn't exactly true. It's akin to saying you can get in any door to drive your car, conveniently leaving out the fact that climbing over consoles and seats may ensue unless you use the driver door. The statement is truish but doesn't warn of potential functionality issues.

 

[citysnaps]

So what are you talking about? I'm no professional, designer or artist, i just like Mac and compared to my 2014 MacBook Pro this is a very painful downgrade in port department. Going from a separate charging port, 2 thunderbolt, 2 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 SD and 1 headphone jack to JUST 2 USB C ports is a downgrade and it's not even the same price.

It's not "JUST 2 USB C" ports.

You have four TB 3 ports, any of which, or all, can be used as a USB 3.1 port. That's a total of FOUR USB 3.1 ports (each supporting up to 10 Gb/sec). Also, each of the four ports used as TB can support multiple daisy chained devices. They can also drive multiple external 4K/5k displays, and your display can charge your laptop over that single data cable.

 

[Pootmatoot]

If you need technology on a daily basis that upgrading to Apple's new paradigm complicates for you, you continue using your old equipment, or upgrade to a new product that serves your needs -- Apple still sells the 13" & 15" 2015 MBPs.

Living on the cutting edge is not for everyone.

Cutting edge!?! Name one area that Apple is still in the cutting edge in 2016. Dongles?

By your argument, Windows 8 was cutting edge, forcing people to touch who didn't want it. Microsoft realised the horror show they'd unleashed, so dialed back the touch into the proper transitional experience it's made in Windows 10.

USB-C won't even be mainstream by 2020 - and even then it'll be a niche for external hard drives and monitors, two things many users don't even use. USB-C usage will be driven forward by phones... and every phone bar the iPhone.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Wow. This ****ing company has gone THIS far huh.

I thought that the final save point for this MacBook Pro was that at least it's a powerful computer. But clearly, Apple went as far as to reduce the speed of certain ports to save some pennies. Unacceptable, Apple. A pro machine my ass.

the Nerd Rage is strong in this one...
[doublepost=1477843887][/doublepost]

- 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
- Apple Continues to Sell Base Model 2015 MacBook Pros at Same Price Points (ty @Pentium)

When will the bad news stop?

when MR and its readers decide to stop being negative nancies and haters?