Daekwan

I own a Tesla Model Y.. and people who *claim* they DONT want CarPlay is quite possibly the dumbest take I've heard in all of tech.

Why?  Because anybody who has EVER used CarPlay knows it's 100% optional.   If you don't want to use it, you literally never have too.   We've purchased 4 brand new vehicles since 2018 and every one of them came with both CarPlay & Android Auto except my 2021 Model Y.   And while I've used nothing but a iPhone since 2009.. I'm still thrilled that my vehicle has Android Auto because guess what.. Im not the only person who will ever drive my vehicle.   If my sister wants to borrow my car and she has an Android phone.. all she has to do is connect her phone to my car and she instantly has the same infotainment interface that she's been used to using for the past 5 years.   Its because of these reasons.. in my opinion, every 2023 vehicle should come with CarPlay and Android Auto.  Both are 100% optional to use.    I'll never understand the simp standpoint that somehow having fewer options.. is better than having more.   As the customer give me everything reasonably possible and let ME decide what I want to use.. or not use.

As for why CarPlay is still very much viable on a Tesla.. it's because Tesla has done a horrible job rolling out new native streaming apps, updating old native streaming apps, and adding additional capabilities to the Navigation and phone/text message systems.   The Model S has been around for over 10 years now.. and only in the past year Tesla has just rolled out native Apple music and added waypoints to their Navigation.    For several years streaming music in a Tesla meant using Slacker Radio.  Only a few years ago was Spotify finally added and guess what.. even now Spotify still requires a PREMIUM subscription to use.   So that's $10 a month for Spotify premium + $10 more a month for Tesla premium connectivity.. who doesn't want to pay $20 a month to stream music in the car?  Meanwhile CarPlay & Android Auto are both still 100% free to use.. stream in higher quality thanks to a larger bitrate..  use the 5G connection on your smartphone instead of the older 4G/LTE stuff in the car.. and have over 100 streaming apps!   And I promise you those CarPlay apps will get updated 100x quicker than Tesla updates its native apps.   Tesla FINALLY updated the native Spotify app just this month with the latest software update.   Spotify has been buggy as hell for years and finally 3 years later its gets a modern interface.

Tesla now has how many native audio streaming apps... 7?? Seven lol!!!  As far as NAV goes.. I agree Tesla's in-car NAV works well.. but guess what.. it doesn't show me where the police are hiding or speeding/stoplight cameras like Waze.   Or report accidents, road debris, construction, detours, weather, stranded vehicles, or any of the countless other features Waze reports.   Apple Maps is still much better when it comes to actual lane guidance, vocal directions, and overall presentation.. plus it also gives haptic feedback on my Apple Watch for every turn meaning I can mute the voice guidance entirely and STILL get physical prompts when its time to turn.   Meanwhile, Tesla still doesn't have a WatchOS app.  Finally, nothing works better for search, POI, or reviews than Google Maps.   

At the end of the day, I should be able to choose which apps I want to use for audio streaming and navigation in my vehicle.. regardless of which manufacturer's logo is on the steering wheel.   The idea that I should be forced to use only what Tesla allows me to use.. is the lamest excuse possible.   

altivec88 said:

If all you can get out of the ports in the back is USB 2, why in the world are the connectors type C. Oh yah, to sell dongles. 

Although the monitor designs look like crap, for the price, I wouldn't mind picking up some of the 5k monitors.   Unfortunate, even a new state of the art $10 000.00 Mac Pro can't use them and with no idea when or if Apple will update them, we've got to pass.

The entire point of the 2016 MacBook Pro & LG monitor announcement is to push people towards USB-C.  Either you commit 100% to USB-C.. or you dont.  The moment you go halfway on USB-C.. is the moment you open the door to people to revert back to older versions of USB-C.  While I agree the 2016 MacBook Pro does have some shortcomings, the 2017 and 2018 models should only improve on this initial new design.. and the price should drop significantly.  And we all know many laptop, phone and tablet manufacturers simply copy what Apple offers.. which should mean a few years from now, there should a ton of USB-C devices on the market.  All thanks to Apple being the first major company to push USB-C adoption 100%.  

And I'm not sure if anyone has every told you this, since you seem so mind-bent on Apple selling dongles (as-if they even needed that revenue stream).  But USB-C is an entirely **OPEN** standard of USB.  Meaning ANYONE can make a USB-C cable, adapter, hub, monitor, etc.   I dont know where you get this idea from that Apple is the only manufacturer selling USB-C 'dongles'.   In fact it goes a bit further than that.. this marks the first time in history that the ENTIRE MacBook line of computers from Apple is now absolutely free of any PROPRIETARY Apple ports.   So buy your 2016 MacBook from Apple.. and buy ANY future cables.. from ANY manufacturer you choose.. as long as they follow the USB-C spec.  As much as I loved Magsafe, you know what I love even more?  No longer needing to purchase additional Magsafe chargers @ $99 a piece.  

But please dont let these facts about the open end, standardized, next generation USB-C spec cloud your insane judgement that somehow Apple only moved to USB-C.. because they need to sell dongles to survive lmao.   I bet you are still angry that Apple once upon a time also dropped the PS/2, Serial, Parallel, Floppy & Optical Disc drives from the MacBook lineup.. and somehow forced you to buy an "Apple dongled" USB external disc drive lol!! 

cropr said:

The move to USB-C is the right move, so I don't mind that the new Macbooks have a USB-C ports.  But the devil is in the details, and the details are not right. 

• I have 3 different offices and the number of dongles I have to carry in my professional life as an iOS app developer is ridiculously high (5 for the moment). At least once a month I forget one of my dongles.  When will Apple realize that 1 dongle is an light inconvenience, 2 is a inconvenience, 3 is painful and more is a REAL PITA.  Dongles are not the solution, they are the problem.
  
• The fact that in a 2 months time you release an iPhone 7 and an MBP that cannot communicate without an extra cable is disrespectful for the iOS developer (and I could have used another word).  Apparently Apple has lost the global vision it was known for in the Steve Jobs era, where all its products worked seamlessly together. Now products are developed independently from each other, a strategy some software company from Redmond is famous for.  

If you have 3 offices.  Why not buy 3 dongles?  That would sold the problem of you having to carry around a bunch of dongles.  Or even better.. just buy a dock for each office.  That way you can still use your older devices.. with your newer devices.  I kid you not.. I have 4 (yes four) MagSafe chargers for my 2015 MacBook.  2 of them were left over from previous MacBooks and use the MagSafe2 adapter.  One I bought on my own.  And one was included with the 2015 MacBook.  Why do I have 4 Magsafe chargers?  Because I use my MacBook in 4 different places any given day of the week.  One in the bedroom, One in the basement office, One by the living room couch and the final one is at work.  And carrying a charger to different places in the house on a daily basis gets real old, real quick.

While I agree it would be nice for them to include dongles in the box.  At the end of the day all of these consumer electronics are luxuries.  And as with any other luxury.. you have to pay to play.  If you can pay $1000 for a brand new iPhone7.. then surely you can pay $19 for a Lightning or USB-C cable.  Want a brand new shiny device?  Then be prepared to pay the asking price of being on the bleeding edge of technology.

strells said:

jorgie said:

Yeah because there's no way you could make the device thicker and give it a bigger battery.

This.

The thin and light design requirement is the problem, not the technology.  Trust me, I honestly want one of these machines, but I don't care if it weighs an extra pound and is a little bit thicker due to a bigger battery that can power more RAM.  I'm sure most pros don't care as well.

I disagree. 

The vast majority of mass produced consumer electronic devices such as the MBP is designed around the 80/20 rule.  And I would imagine the overwhelming majority of MBP users appreciate the tradeoff of much lighter weight.. to sacrifice maxing out at 32GB of ram.  Yes there are a few power users here and there who crave as much RAM as possible because they are doing all of this fancy CAD, photo or video editing.. but they make up just a few percentage of overall MBP users who use their machine for a variety of tasks and are always on the go from point A to point B.

As someone who has owned a 2009 MB, 2010 MBP, 2011 MBA, 2014 rMBP, 2015 rMBP and 2015 rMB.  I can assure you not being able to run 32GB of RAM was the least important factor in my decision not to upgrade the 2016 rMBP.  The same goes for the switch to all USB-C ports and loss of the MagSafe connector.  

I greatly welcome the weight savings, but my primary reason for skipping out on the '16 rMBP upgrade is price.  Once the touch bar model drops down to around $1200 street price.. I'll be trading in my '15 rMBP for it.  Chances are that wont be until next year.. when you will probably see the '17 rMBP get announced with 32GB of RAM max and Kaby Lake cpus that support 32GB of LDDR4 ram.  At that point.. I'd imagine you'd be interested in one also.  

thedba said:

Daekwan said:

bloggerblog said:

And this is the type of thing one needs to lug with them if they need to connect to a projector, use a USB drive from a customer, or be flexible in the real world. 

And yes, an SD slot in the laptop is essential to many pros because they can plug it with a 250GB drive and use it as a library.

Here's an idea.  If you are the type of person that needs to lug around a laptop to apparently plug into a bunch of projectors around the world every day of your life.. then do NOT buy the 2016 MacBook.  The other 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999% of us have no need for such.  

On a much less sarcastic note.  If only someone made a $70 USB-C mini hub that is the size of a credit card, fits in your pocket and had HDMI, USB 3.0 and SD card reader.. then you would have nothing else to wine about.  Too bad that device does not exist:  https://www.amazon.com/HooToo-Shuttle-Delivery-Charging-Output/dp/B019R9ILTG

I mean if such a device existed.. you'd be out of excuses.  

Yeah, if such a device ever existed, say on amazon or something, then the argument would be, how do I connect via ethernet or why didn't Apple include it in the box for free? 
/s

Funny you mention that as Im using a Thunderbolt2-to-Ethernet dongle as im typing this right now on my 2015 MBP Retina.. (you know the holy grail of MacBooks because this one actually comes with USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and SD card reader). Because Im running my '15 rMBP in 'desktop mode'.. I bullshit you not it needs four (yes 4) different freaking cables plugged into the side of it to truly accomplish 'desktop mode':

1) One cable is for MagSafe power
2) The second is a Thunderbolt2-to-HDMI 2.0 adapter so I can connect the MBPr to my 40" Samsung 4KTV (runs the desktop at 4K@60hz!!)
3) The third is a Thunderbolt2-to-Ethernet adapter because my wifi sucks in the basement and Im too cheap to put another WAP down there 
4) The fourth is a USB-to-lightning cable that I use for the sole purpose of charging my iPhone, Apple Keyboard2 & Trackpad2 when using 'desktop mode'.

Four freaking cables that I pretty much plugin every time Im down here.  I use the 4 cables so much, I have them zip-tied together to make them easier to find when connecting.  Of course the new 2016 MacBook with USB-C could accomplish the same setup with a single cable plugged into a hub that sits permanently on the desk.. and I could connect a ton more stuff to that hub.   But the last "real MacBook" as people on the internet like to call it, I dont need to use any dongles because it already has every port I need built in lol.


Anybody wanna trade their 2016 MBP w/TouchBar and TouchID for my holy grail 2016 MBP that needs no adapters or dongles??

bloggerblog said:

Soli said:

bloggerblog said:

the fact that it does not have a single USB-A in the back is an indication that we really need those dongles even at our desks.

No you don't. If you're going to buy a new Mac and new display that only supports USB-C then spend another $5 on a cable that is USB-C. But this is all irrelevant because anyone who is bitching about USB-C coming into vogue is not going to be wanting a new Mac or display that supports only USB-C. This was never intended for people like you.

If there's any issue to take, it's that the USB-hub in the back is USB 2.0 speeds.

You're missing the point or intentionally overlooking it. It's not about the extra money, it's the lack of consideration that is leading to inconveniences 

If you can afford a $1700 laptop.. and $600-1200 monitor to go along with it.

You can also afford a $5.99 USB-C to USB-A cable from Amazon.com.   Yes it would have been a nice gesture, but no.. Its really not an issue or inconvenience.  

I'm not surprised at this poll at all.  Everything has a certain pricepoint and experience.  I honestly would expect a person who paid $200 for a Galaxy S7 to be as satisfied with their purchase as a person who paid $600 for their iPhone7.   After all.. some people buy KIA and some people buy BMW.  

What I would not expect.. is someone who paid $600 for their Galaxy S7 to be as satisfied.. as someone who paid $600 for their iPhone7.  If I'm going to pay $50,000 for a brand new luxury car.. then I dont care how features and gimmicks the KIA has.. it is simply not in the same league.  And it definitely does not have the same status, customer service, resale value and overall user experience.