What Was Apple Thinking? The New MacBook Is All About That One Port (Op Ed)

[cst1992]

You're saying all the stock is more or less the same quality. Basically what InvalidError said.

I'm disappointed with Apple though. Not too long ago, you could drop an iPhone 4 from 6 feet and nothing would happen to it. Now two-thirds of its stock fails its own tests. Apple's going to the dogs.

 

[skit75]

You're saying all the stock is more or less the same quality. Basically what InvalidError said.

I'm disappointed with Apple though. Not too long ago, you could drop an iPhone 4 from 6 feet and nothing would happen to it. Now two-thirds of its stock fails its own tests. Apple's going to the dogs.

I have not seen any test data. Just passing on some manufacturing/test experience. If those numbers are true, I would stay away from this product.

 

[canadianvice]

You're saying all the stock is more or less the same quality. Basically what InvalidError said.

I'm disappointed with Apple though. Not too long ago, you could drop an iPhone 4 from 6 feet and nothing would happen to it. Now two-thirds of its stock fails its own tests. Apple's going to the dogs.

Eh, with the patented iShatter Screen, naturally.
Plastic, contrary to stupid tech reviewers, is actually premium. All that aluminium does is help conduct force to the screen during a drop.

 

[synphul]

I don't know for sure if Jobs was the brains of the operation in terms of providing all the innovative ideas. It's pretty obvious the impact he had as far as inspiration to the company though. He and Wozniak made apple into a formidable product. When the company shoved Jobs out they went downhill and when they brought him back in they became inspired and innovative once more. Now that he's gone (rip, sad loss) the company is once again flailing since they can only ride the coattails of existing products for so long before something new needs to surface. It's no longer mind blowing products, turning the impossible into possible - more like gimmicky high priced qvc gadgets.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

I don't know for sure if Jobs was the brains of the operation in terms of providing all the innovative ideas. It's pretty obvious the impact he had as far as inspiration to the company though. He and Wozniak made apple into a formidable product. When the company shoved Jobs out they went downhill and when they brought him back in they became inspired and innovative once more. Now that he's gone (rip, sad loss) the company is once again flailing since they can only ride the coattails of existing products for so long before something new needs to surface. It's no longer mind blowing products, turning the impossible into possible - more like gimmicky high priced qvc gadgets.

People in the know complained about apples overpricing and shortcomings even when jobs was around. It's just that now everyone else is starting to catch on and realize that Apple products were never anything special. But yeah, i dont know if this macbook would have passed by jobs without a "wtf you only put one port? fix this mess!"

 

[termathor]

Like was the point of the article, I would never buy a Macbook with:
- no magical magnetic power plug
- no USB type A connectors (min, 2 of them, more would be better)
- RJ45 connector for network

Last one can be debated today, however. But the rest, just, NO.

If your laptop can't connect with a bit historical kit (type A, etc ...), there's no point really. I'm suffering enough from not having native VGA on my 2012 macbook ...

 

[genz]

Like was the point of the article, I would never buy a Macbook with:
- no magical magnetic power plug
- no USB type A connectors (min, 2 of them, more would be better)
- RJ45 connector for network

Last one can be debated today, however. But the rest, just, NO.

If your laptop can't connect with a bit historical kit (type A, etc ...), there's no point really. I'm suffering enough from not having native VGA on my 2012 macbook ...

I definitely wouldn't call USB-A "historic". It's is still and continues to be industry standard. I don't even know of one (1) USB-C device other than this thing's charger.

 

[scolaner]

"But chances are, most of the folks purchasing a MacBook will be college students and average users who won't necessarily be equipped to work around the MacBook's pointlessness."

FTFY

Haha, I see what you did there. But that wasn't a typo. Just inventing words.

 

[Girl_Downunder]

About the only thing I ever saw re: Macbooks that I found completely awesome (this, coming from a Linux/MS/iMac user & IT tech) was the "mag-charger"-- that, is simply brilliant. PC laptops all come to me with broken power ports & too high a fee to warrant repair, so the laptop becomes a land-fill denizen. Great.

So, what does Apple do? Gets rid of it! Good grief. And a single port? WTF?

Never mind the Mac-addicts & the attempt at spin (it's all about asthetics & "it's more like a tablet" baloney)- no tablet costs freaking $1400! Not only that, my $99 Asus tab actually has lots of ports...& it's thinner!

No, this is arrogance, as the writer has said. A love affair with minimalism gone awry.

 

[InvalidError]

And a single port? WTF?

Exactly what they need to sell some expensive dock, port replicator and other accessories that also support USB-PD to go with it: as soon as you need more than one thing plugged in, you need a USB-PD-capable hub of some sort and I bet the models that have all the ports people want will cost a small fortune.

 

[Girl_Downunder]

And a single port? WTF?

... as soon as you need more than one thing plugged in...

You mean, immediately?

Apple really needs Steve. I'm not a fan of Apple, but even I am cringing.

 

[michaelmouse]

This evolution of apple's products, I think, exposes their philosophy which is not good.[for us the consumer]. Who is not going to want to charge and transmit video at the same time? So now we have to pay another $79 plus tax and shipping not to count another $20 for a piece of wire 2 or 3 feet long!
Well, why didn't they put this in the computer? Because it wouldn't fit, and still be the same dimensions, [the computer]. Sooo what do they do? Add another box, how cool is that!! The philosophy is that apple is continuing to be GREEDY and the bad news is that it's at your expense. The good news is that apple is finally coming on board to main stream computing.[ It was and still is just a matter of time if you want to reach the majority of consumers. There was some sarcasm involved in the conveyance of this perspective.

 

[canadianvice]

This evolution of apple's products, I think, exposes their philosophy which is not good.[for us the consumer]. Who is not going to want to charge and transmit video at the same time? So now we have to pay another $79 plus tax and shipping not to count another $20 for a piece of wire 2 or 3 feet long!
Well, why didn't they put this in the computer? Because it wouldn't fit, and still be the same dimensions, [the computer]. Sooo what do they do? Add another box, how cool is that!! The philosophy is that apple is continuing to be GREEDY and the bad news is that it's at your expense. The good news is that apple is finally coming on board to main stream computing.[ It was and still is just a matter of time if you want to reach the majority of consumers. There was some sarcasm involved in the conveyance of this perspective.

Exposes? The ecosystem philosophy has been around since day one, limiting inherent connectivity to support sales of ecosystem friendly adapters only makes sense as the logical extension of that philosophy.

That's why I like hardware agnostic OS's.

 

[wave84]

For what used to be the best TECH site in the world, it's shocking how much IQs have dropped around here in recent years.

1. Any comparison with an ipad stops abrubtly when you realise this thing has 8GB ram, 256GB PCIe storage, and, you know, OSX. So it will run pretty much everything you throw at it, from World of Warcraft to Photoshop.

2. It is FANLESS. That means zero moving parts, zero noise. This is a reason alone for me to get it.

3. The fact that it has one port is not bad at all. Basically there are two main work scenarios:
a) You work from your desk (external monitor, etc). So you have a hub attached and all you have to plug / unplug is ONE cable (not 5). This is actually a good thing, not a bad one.
b) You go mobile. With a 9 hour battery, why the hell would you ever need more than 1 port? (assuming you ever do, for that 1% of situations there are adapters).

4. The only somewhat bad part is Core M, which is why I would wait for Skylake, which shows great promise over Broadwell. But even so, the CPU is probably more than ok for 90% of folks out there.

5. Wanna bet that in 1-2 generations, the new Macbook is going to become the new reference in laptop design? Just as it happened with the Air.

 

[cst1992]

2. Unless you live in an anechoic chamber, noise from laptop fans is not a botheration at all. (Not talking about gaming laptops, just general ones).
3. You'll need to have a hub connected ALL the time for things that don't have USB 3.1, means instead of looking sleek, it'll look ugly.
5. No Macs for me then, EVER.