USB-C in 12-Inch MacBook Adds Limitations but Opens Up Possibilities

[coolspot18]

Gut feel says yes, though. It's like a microSD in the iPad - it's not missing due to lack of space to put it.

MicroSD slots are pretty small, I'm sure Apple could have tucked one in somewhere if they wanted to.

However, it goes against their business interests to do so - instead they can push overpriced memory upgrades instead. Even Google seems to have caught onto the trend too so it looks like nothing will be changing anytime soon

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If there is no Thunderbolt port and the adaptor doesn't appear to have a Thunderbolt out... is it dead? Would be nice if they'd get the exact type of connectors on all devices across the board. Simplify AC/charging on every product they sell.

Thunderbolt was on life support on launch, killed by USB 3.0, buried and done with USB 3.1.

 

[diveshrimp]

Apologies if I am repeating anything said already, but I CBA to read through 22 pages of comments…

I think what some people are missing the point of with the new MacBook is that it is designed to be a small, lightweight machine to use on the move and not as a main computer, so the lack of ports (whilst annoying) isn't much of an issue as realistically who is going to be sat on a bus or train using the laptop with external disks etc plugged into it? The thing that I think is missing is integrated mobile connectivity (and a slot for a SIM). I do wonder why there is no USB-C adapter for SD cards - I guess Apple are leaving that for a 3rd party supplier to do.

 

[bingeciren]

The thing that I think is missing is integrated mobile connectivity (and a slot for a SIM).

Why do you need a slot for SIM when you can use your phone for hotspot? Another SIM = another monthly bill from the phone company + fixed charges on top of a data usage = more expense.

 

[dealmaker]

This is a joke product - what were they thinking?

I'd like a MacBook Air with a 12" Retina screen - and a slightly larger battery - thats all they needed to do.........

 

[bingeciren]

This is a joke product - what were they thinking?

I'd like a MacBook Air with a 12" Retina screen - and a slightly larger battery - thats all they needed to do.........

What I fear is that they will kill the entire Air category eventually and force people to chose between a lightweight and less capable Macbook, or a heavier but more capable Macbook Pro.

My Air is like a swiss army knife. Perfectly lightweight for travel and equally versatile on my desk when I connect it to my TB Cinema Display, which serves as a docking station with its Gigabit Ethernet, 3x USB ports, 1x Firewire 800 and a TB port.

I will not "downgrade" to the new thin Macbook and continue to use my Air until Apple comes up with an acceptable alternate.

 

[hpe]

So how would it work in an office environment?

- Power supply (because it is running all day)
- Ethernet cable
- External monitor
- External hd for backup

How would that work on the new MacBook? If I'd use the $80 adaptor, I would have to disconnect the power supply to make a backup?? Or I need to buy a new Cinema display so I can power my laptop though the display?

In the end, Im sure we can somehow "live" with only one connector, but why would they not put two in the device? Beats me!

MacBook - DOCK - everything you want (except for Thunderbolt as it doesn't work over USB, it is essentially an extention of the PCI bus...)

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Errr, Atom CPUs are an Intel product as well ?

Of course,you are correct, I meant APPLE's OWN chipsets
http://www.bandwidthblog.com/2009/04/30/apple-to-build-their-own-chipsets/

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Image

When making this I was disappointed to see Apple only do the high speed network adaptor with a thunderbolt connection. The USB one shown here is the slow kind. Also, while they have an SD card reader with a lighting connection, they don't have one in USB 3 flavour, there are no Apple USB hubs either. So you'll have to resort to mostly third-party junk if you want to do anything useful with your USB-C port.

Apple's short lead, hard-wired into a chunky white box design, is really impractical. It's a shame Mr Ive didn't put the same effort into designing these as he did with the Macbook.

Good job on this post

 

[B2k1977]

All the jokes aside, MagSafe is a superior charging port. And you DO have to charge the laptop.

And to offer a dongle that only a single USB-C port is a major oversight. They could have put two, so you could charge and use the new USB-C devices that are coming out (which will inevitably drain power faster than anything else, e.g., disk drives with motors)

Not to mention, losing control over peripherals is a win for the consumer, but a loss for Apple, and in the history of Apple, that has actually been a loss for the consumer (it moves towards an open Microsoft ecosystem vs closed Mac ecosystem).

It's not that this laptop is dumb. It is a step towards the future. But a lot of steps are taken toward the future every day, and they fail, while others win. People take those steps and trip and fall right onto their fat ugly faces.

Making the "floppy disk" argument is a far reach from a 12" laptop with a single USB port and an insufficient dongle, when a 13" one is available with lots of ports and better everything.

Also: the use case of "reporters"... reporters are notorious for using USB drives; SD cards from cameras too... Wireless world? Yes. But that doesn't address the need to plug in to external displays, external hard drives, TVs/Projectors (HDMI), etc.

Who is this really aimed at? Nobody! It's a flop. If they start messing with the other MacBooks like this, I am going to a Hackintosh. This is total garbage.

It's finally time to start thinking about firing Tim Cook (or as they say... asking him to step down).

He should take Ive with him.

 

[B2k1977]

I'm just annoyed we now have a port on this particular macbook that looks like a lightning port, but isn't, and that the iphones and ipads might now get usb-c later this year and we'll have to buy all our accessories new again!

that's really going to piss me off since I just dropped 800 for an ipad

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Exactly. Someone was moaning that this wasn't 'powerful enough' ... Seriously people?!

It's not anywhere near enough computer for the price they are asking. That company has lost their damn minds.

 

[iRun26.2]

Do we know anything about the charger that the new MacBook comes with? On Apple's website, it says "power adapter with cable management system" - could that mean the charger may have at least a built in USB port or something?

View attachment 534225

I hope you are right (an excellent catch on your part). That would be very nice!

Unfortunately it could just refer to a system to wrap up (manage) the charger's cable(s).

 

[kmj2318]

How long will the MacBook Air line be around for? It's weird that this new one isn't an Air, even though it's the queue at MacBook ever.

I guess the Air will be like the non-retina MacBook Pro. I can't see them adding a retina to the Air with this new one around. Looks like it'll be back to the MacBook and MacBook Pro line up. The Air is a very good in between spot while the MacBook matures.

 

[deconstruct60]

Great so while you're plugged into a dp monitor/screen (higher than 1080p or 4k@60hz) you won't be able to charge or use a usb device? Fail

If DP is all the adapter does then generally yes. But

1. If using a 4k@60Hz external screen most users can probably turn off the internal one. That screen is actually one (if not the major ) battery consumer. Yes on battery, but also have possibly turned some stuff off also. 20 hours straight usage not, but can be an offset.


2. A DP adapter that is a desktop, plug-into the wall full time , docking station may still be able to provide power. DP is running on a separate set of pins than power and DP is generally not a "power bus" source so really should be largely not messing with power pins. Also even if have to negotiate power status with system or pass through keyboard/mouse data there is still the separate legacy USB 2.0 channel from the adapter to the system. It is just USB SuperSpeed that is block not the legacy data.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

...It's not anywhere near enough computer for the price they are asking. That company has lost their damn minds.

I agree. It looks like it was assembled from pieces all over the table. Unfortunately noone was able to find more extensions. But no prob there is an adapter.
The main problem is the price tag and the real functionality of this device.
This type of product fragmentation leads nowhere as we know from the past of Apple.

 

[deconstruct60]

AAaannd here we go again with one-port-to-rule-them-all rulet.

Not all Type-C ports will be have maximum protocol flexibility provisioned to them. Even on Macs long term probably won't get everything possible output from every single port.

It is not anymore "one port to rule" than Thunderbolt was. Lots of folks will spin it that way but it isn't.
Its uptake is going to be faster because USB has a much larger user base and the connector itself (not the switching logic required for the alternate modes ) is simple and relatively (even to other USB usages ) inexpensive; the alternate modes are not required .


What USB has created is standarized way for other protocols to "re use" just the physical connector. It is a mechanism to share ( possibly one at a time ) a connector to different things. It isn't "ruling" as much as "cooperating".

5 pairs of wires, 4 pairs to displayport, one pair left to data or power!

It helps to be able to count. There are 12 active pins in a Type C connector; not 10. ( 24 total but the 'other' 12 are just for when plugged in the 'other' way ).

There is a Type-C pin table here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#3.1


USB 2.0 ( not 1.0 ) is on a separate set of wires just like every other USB 3.x connector Type A, B, or C.

Hmm, does usb1 work with just one pair? Wouldn't it be funny to use usb1-speeds with brand new MB to illustrate how much handier it is to pay for iCloud?

Not sure who is using USB 1 devices in day-to-day usage anymore.

Again, seems like anybody who'd like to connect MB to modern high resolution display, should wait for next gen.

Yes. Probably will be a merge with Thunderbolt v3 and DP v1.3 later in future systems to provide it. That may mean waiting for the 1-3 more iterations for this specific model to get one or both of those.

Is this that (once again) Apple is trying to show how inferior usb is compared to their magical port (fw or tb)?

More so Apple wants folks to start dumping Type-A. They know it isn't going to happen over night, but the sooner folks start the sooner will get to critical mass of the future.

This is "step 0" on a path toward a much larger number of future systems that are substantially thinner than what 20+ year old standards provide for.

 

[B2k1977]

I agree. It looks like it was assembled from pieces all over the table. Unfortunately noone was able to find more extensions. But no prob there is an adapter.
The main problem is the price tag and the real functionality of this device.
This type of product fragmentation leads nowhere as we know from the past of Apple.

Put this in the pile with the Lisa and the Newton.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Put this in the pile with the Lisa and the Newton.

Good point.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

That is simply pathetic. I am a long time Apple fan (and still am) but this thing is simply BS.

1 effing USB - C port?

Why? Oh yeah, those adaptors are JUST 80$...

You cant even charge the damn thing while using the USB-C port to connect SOMETHING like a drive or whatnot!

Are they even remotely serious?

They are serious because they are becoming ever more out of touch with reality (i.e. too much success predicting the future of devices has made people like Ive too cocky).

The BEST way to rid ourselves of this monstrosity is for people to NOT BUY IT. When their sales are so abysmal that it's an unmitigated disaster, THEN maybe Mr. Cook will realize Johnny Five ain't such hot stuff, after all.

Sadly, though, this won't happen because the utter legions of Apple Kool-Aid drinkers will eat this thing up alive because it's "SO FREAKING THIN THIN THIN THIN THIN!!!!!"

What's next? An Apple iOS controlled toilet!??!?!!? NO WAY!! It wipes your butt FOR you at the press of an iPhone icon? SWEEEET.

 

[NT1440]

Funny to see exactly the same responses as when the Air came out.

I don't know if anyone of you guys realize this, but this is for the next generation of macbook users. Not many college kids are whining about lack of optical drives or SD card readers.

This gets the norm set for a wireless world. Someone has to take the jump, and Apple has. This will be the new normal in the notebook industry. Bookmark this thread and come back 2 years from now if you want to remember how angry you guys were over nothing.

There is a range of machines for a reason. Buy what you need, and don't bitch about pricing, it's a mac after all.

 

[numlock]

Funny to see exactly the same responses as when the Air came out.

I don't know if anyone of you guys realize this, but this is for the next generation of macbook users. Not many college kids are whining about lack of optical drives or SD card readers.

This gets the norm set for a wireless world. Someone has to take the jump, and Apple has. This will be the new normal in the notebook industry. Bookmark this thread and come back 2 years from now if you want to remember how angry you guys were over nothing.

There is a range of machines for a reason. Buy what you need, and don't bitch about pricing, it's a mac after all.

but the air actually improved in the port offering department as it matured so its like the worst example out there.

you can actually plug external devices into other/previous models this one requires dongles.

but yes this one laptop will improve internet connection worldwide. apparently the benefit of a faster connection wasnt enough of a reward. a handicapped overpriced netbook will get things rolling.

you could argue most macs are quite competitively priced. this one however

 

[LordVic]

Funny to see exactly the same responses as when the Air came out.

I don't know if anyone of you guys realize this, but this is for the next generation of macbook users. Not many college kids are whining about lack of optical drives or SD card readers.

This gets the norm set for a wireless world. Someone has to take the jump, and Apple has. This will be the new normal in the notebook industry. Bookmark this thread and come back 2 years from now if you want to remember how angry you guys were over nothing.

There is a range of machines for a reason. Buy what you need, and don't bitch about pricing, it's a mac after all.

the first air was actually seen as a terrible purchase. it was slow (Atom Processor), had limited ports, and really wasn't all that functional.

the first Macbook Air sales were fairly low due to it's insane pricetag.

it wasn't till the 2nd version of the MBA, which brought about 2 USB ports, and Thunderbolt, alongside the i5 processors, and a base price drop to $999, did we see true succesfull sales numbers on MBA's and subsequently the explosion of Ultrabooks to replace the netbook failure.

 

[JTToft]

Please don't dictate to me what I should learn....you're not my mother!

Your example is poor and I know exactly what a contradiction is without the need for your to explain in brackets. A better example would have been 'The towering midget'!

Depending on how the title is read, it could be seen as a contradiction. There could have been a better way to describe.

- Sure, learn whatever you want.
My example is quite apt, actually. It clearly demonstrates that an action can both add limitations and open up possibilities at the same time.

I'd love to hear the interpretation under which you believe the discussed proposition is a contradiction.

 

[435713]

They are serious because they are becoming ever more out of touch with reality (i.e. too much success predicting the future of devices has made people like Ive too cocky).

The BEST way to rid ourselves of this monstrosity is for people to NOT BUY IT. When their sales are so abysmal that it's an unmitigated disaster, THEN maybe Mr. Cook will realize Johnny Five ain't such hot stuff, after all.

Sadly, though, this won't happen because the utter legions of Apple Kool-Aid drinkers will eat this thing up alive because it's "SO FREAKING THIN THIN THIN THIN THIN!!!!!"

What's next? An Apple iOS controlled toilet!??!?!!? NO WAY!! It wipes your butt FOR you at the press of an iPhone icon? SWEEEET.

LMAO good stuff!

They really do need some major flops but as you said it ain't going to happen. I saw Asus has an even THINNER notebook coming out with 3 USB ports and a few others as well. I can't recall them all but it was loaded up with ports. Also it was $799 with 8GB RAM and a 256 SSD. Looks good too IMO. It is what it is though, the MBP will become thinner when the Macbook takes over the Air. It will lose more functionality but it's pretty I guess. Yosemite would be pretty if I was a 12 year old female I guess, but I am not. Industrial design any day over that OS.

Ive is literally insane with some of the crap he has been spouting. I mean it, he has lost his freaking mind.

 

[NT1440]

the first air was actually seen as a terrible purchase. it was slow (Atom Processor), had limited ports, and really wasn't all that functional.

the first Macbook Air sales were fairly low due to it's insane pricetag.

it wasn't till the 2nd version of the MBA, which brought about 2 USB ports, and Thunderbolt, alongside the i5 processors, and a base price drop to $999, did we see true succesfull sales numbers on MBA's and subsequently the explosion of Ultrabooks to replace the netbook failure.

Thats EXACTLY my point.

The first adopters get the technology up to full manufacturing scale, that is their purpose in the market.

 

[numlock]

Thats EXACTLY my point.

The first adopters get the technology up to full manufacturing scale, that is their purpose in the market.

your post was about that consumers adapt but it was apple who backtracked with the previous air.

there is no point in looking back at these threads in two years if apple actually adds back what posters find missing today.

 

[djsukebe]

Macrumors Forum poster: "Hey, don't get the MacBook... it only has one port and you can't hook up your usb hard drive, thunderbolt display, or hdmi without unplugging the power charger"

Ideal MacBook customer: "I don't have any of those things, what's thunderbolt?"

Macrumors Forum poster: "Oh, well you will need to plug your iphone in"

Ideal MacBook customer: "It syncs over Wi-Fi by itself"

Macrumors Forum poster: "Oh"