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Who still uses dongles with new macbook pros?

W

weeener

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 2, 2023
24
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Now that Apple brought back ports and magsafe charging to MBPs, I was looking forward to ditching my usb c hub for good. But the convenience of plugging hdmi, power delivery and ethernet into a single port can’t be denied. If I want ethernet I’m going to have to use the dongle anyway, so why not take advantage of the convenient single port connection? Also it has sd slot, and additional usb connections, everything i could need. One cable and everything is connected, or disconnected if I’m taking my computer away from the desk.

So now I finally got the MacBook pro with ports I’ve been waiting for, but I’ve already found (and spent money on) a workaround that I like better. So all of those ports are going unused.

The only one I’m second guessing is whether I should stick to MagSafe for power delivery since depending on a hub to deliver power seems slightly risky long term
 
I still keep an Ethernet dongle around for situations like critical meetings, where you don't want to take the risk of flaky Wi-Fi. The HDMI port is very helpful because nearly every A/V system in the office around the world uses HDMI as the de facto standard.

In this era of Apple Silicon, MagSafe no longer makes sense for many people. It made sense when Macs were using power hungry chips that lasted two hours. Everyone was hooked to an outlet where tripping is real hazard. But these days, people aren't plugging in as often. An extra USB-C port in place of MagSafe is more useful.
 
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Makes sense, but if you already have a dongle with ethernet and HDMI, it makes the hdmi port redundant doesn’t it? Might as well combine those into one port since you’re going to be carrying a dongle anyway for ethernet

I agree I would probably take a 4th thunderbolt over the MagSafe at this point, now that I know we lost one tb for magsafe.
 
I still end up having to very regularly use separate dongles for:

1. Ethernet... as mentioned
2. USB-C to USB-A because... just too many things are still USB-A and I really cannot be arsed to update all of my older accessories from USB-A. It's not even like there are USB-C alternatives for some of them.
3. SD card because the one Apple included is atrociously slow. A good USB-C SD card reader runs circles around what Apple included
4. HDMI 2.1 because M1 only came with HDMI 2.0. I guess I could upgrade to M2 Pro for that, but... why?
5. CFExpress because some of my cameras use that and so SD card alone isn't enough.

And unfortunately, I cannot combine all 5 of those together into 1, except for maybe SD, USB-A and Ethernet into one of the more common adapters, so I still carry along at least 3 dongles in my bag everywhere.

Certainly makes the ports Apple included seem more like backup plans than actually usable ports for real professional workflows.
 
bill-p said:
I still end up having to very regularly use separate dongles for:

1. Ethernet... as mentioned
2. USB-C to USB-A because... just too many things are still USB-A and I really cannot be arsed to update all of my older accessories from USB-A. It's not even like there are USB-C alternatives for some of them.
3. SD card because the one Apple included is atrociously slow. A good USB-C SD card reader runs circles around what Apple included
4. HDMI 2.1 because M1 only came with HDMI 2.0. I guess I could upgrade to M2 Pro for that, but... why?
5. CFExpress because some of my cameras use that and so SD card alone isn't enough.

And unfortunately, I cannot combine all 5 of those together into 1, except for maybe SD, USB-A and Ethernet into one of the more common adapters, so I still carry along at least 3 dongles in my bag everywhere.

Certainly makes the ports Apple included seem more like backup plans than actually usable ports for real professional workflows.
Click to expand...
My list exactly except for HDMI... I just picked up my M2 MacBook Pro and trying to decide on the dongle and dock solution. So far I have only purchased some small USB-C to USB-A adapters.
 
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Dongles aren't going away any time soon.

Remember back 7 or so years ago, when the first MacBook Pros came out with USBc?
There was post after post exhorting that "USBa is dead", etc., blah, blah.

Well... USBa is still here, doing quite well, thank you very much.

I still have mostly USBa items -- only the latest SSDs are USBc.

Even if one has pretty much eliminated USBa "at home", one still needs to keep dongles handy, for encounters with USBa elsewhere...
 
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Yeah, as Fisherrman mentioned, USBA is still so prevalent that dongles are necessary. I really appreciate the SD/HDMI ports on my 14" (I'm not fancy enough to need hi-spec HDMI, and I'm not editing off SD cards) but the utter preponderance of USB A flash drives make it absolutely necessary to have a dongle handy. I also end up using USB A presentation clickers quite frequently.

It's one of those things where if you work totally alone, it's possible to switch to USBC exclusively, but when you have non-plugged in co-workers, they're gonna hand you a USBA drive that you need to use.
 
I carry 2 USBA to USBC adapters (very small) and 1 USBA to USBC short cable (about 6 inches) in my bag. I bring a USBC to Lightning cable to charge my iPhone (and iPad mini when I bring it along), a USBA to Garmin charger that I use with an adapter though Garmin just started selling a USBC to Garmin charger - I just need to upgrade my watch to get it. I also carry a USBC cable to charge the Beats Fit Pro and I have a few legacy devices (Jaybirds X3 headset, Anker MicroUSB flashlight) that require an adapter.

I am migrating to USBC but it's taking a long time and it will never happen for my legacy devices. I'd love a USBA port on a MacBook Pro 16.
 
I use a dongle for USBa connections. It was cheaper to buy a dongle to use an extra USBa mouse I had rather than buying a Bluetooth mouse.
 
I keep two USB-A adaptors and an ethernet adapter in my laptop bag. I can't imagine a future where I'd consider leaving them behind.
 
I just replaced my Mid‘15 MBP with an M2 MBP and need a couple adapters till I replace my external display and Tether Tools cables.
 
I used a newer Apple Bluetooth mouse while mobile today and it works quite well. I have an older version from 2010 which doesn't work as well. I may just bring the Bluetooth mouse as it will save me a port and a dongle.
 
weeener said:
Makes sense, but if you already have a dongle with ethernet and HDMI, it makes the hdmi port redundant doesn’t it? Might as well combine those into one port since you’re going to be carrying a dongle anyway for ethernet

I agree I would probably take a 4th thunderbolt over the MagSafe at this point, now that I know we lost one tb for magsafe.
Click to expand...

As a frequent traveler, I rejoiced when Apple reestablished MagSafe charging on its laptops. Most of my co-workers agree as well.
 
I keep Ethernet and hdmi adapters around partially because they take up next to no space in my bag, so why not? And also, I can use them with my tablet, as well. No usb-a adapters because, y’know, it’s 2023…….
 
JPack said:
In this era of Apple Silicon, MagSafe no longer makes sense for many people. It made sense when Macs were using power hungry chips that lasted two hours. Everyone was hooked to an outlet where tripping is real hazard. But these days, people aren't plugging in as often. An extra USB-C port in place of MagSafe is more useful.
Click to expand...
USB-C is better when you want a combo port for power and data, and you never want data to be broken in the middle of transfer, so a secure port makes more sense. If you're just looking for power, something that can be tripped safely like Magsafe is still a lot better IMO.
 
Pakaku said:
USB-C is better when you want a combo port for power and data, and you never want data to be broken in the middle of transfer, so a secure port makes more sense. If you're just looking for power, something that can be tripped safely like Magsafe is still a lot better IMO.
Click to expand...

I agree MagSafe is a safer design when tripping is a hazard, but from my experience it's no longer common. Meeting rooms and libraries have tables with inset power outlets. Office desks have a power bar or a dock and/or USB-C monitor. If you're working at Starbucks, a typical power bank offers 20,000 mAh (75 Whr) which is good for a day. It's pretty rare to find power cables on the floor these days, at least from my travels.

lsm-inset-power.jpg
15-00064101.jpg
 
If I'm having to use USB-C for other connections to stationary objects, I don't think I'd particularly mind power delivery going through USB-C rather than MagSafe 3. Yes, you forego fast-charging on a 2021/2023 16-inch MacBook Pro (you don't necessarily forego it on either size of M2 MacBook Air nor any 14-inch MacBook Pro). But one would imagine that, if you're to be stationary for any serious length of time, you'll still be able to charge up sufficiently. Otherwise, until they bring back USB-A and some form of Gigabit or faster RJ-45, I'll probably still carry around dongles. Though, it won't be quite as dire of a need with a 2021 or later 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro as it would've been with any 2016-present 13-inch MacBook Pro.
 
I haven't personally needed a USB-A/C dongle in a while when on the go, but I did used to keep an HDMI adapter in my laptop bag when I had my M1 MacBook Air. Since getting the 14" MBP, that's also been discarded (which is nice, since a few weeks ago I needed to unexpectedly connect my laptop to a TV in a conference room and wouldn't have had an adapter with me had I still required one).

I do still keep a single USB-A/C adapter in my bag just in case...

And once the iPhone goes USB-C, I'll get to do away with the lightning cable I need to carry, too!
 
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