Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Or this is one of many solutions out there that support your legacy tech. All you have to do is choose which one is right for you. But if you really are attached to all your old equipment, maybe you should not be purchasing new tech.
If Apple were to do focus groups and listen to all naysayers, then the new MBP's would have at least one of each of the following 1) Firewire 2) Ethernet 3) VGA 4) USB-A 5) SD card slot 6) HDMI 7) Thunderbolt 2 / Display port 8) Magsafe 9) Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C 10) CD/DVD drive 11) Toslink 12) 3.5mm Analog jack 13) Lightning
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Or this is one of many solutions out there that support your legacy tech. All you have to do is choose which one is right for you. But if you really are attached to all your old equipment, maybe you should not be purchasing new tech.
If Apple were to do focus groups and listen to all naysayers, then the new MBP's would have at least one of each of the following 1) Firewire 2) Ethernet 3) VGA 4) USB-A 5) SD card slot 6) HDMI 7) Thunderbolt 2 / Display port 8) Magsafe 9) Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C 10) CD/DVD drive 11) Toslink 12) 3.5mm Analog jack 13) Lightning
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Or this is one of many solutions out there that support your legacy tech. All you have to do is choose which one is right for you. But if you really are attached to all your old equipment, maybe you should not be purchasing new tech.
If Apple were to do focus groups and listen to all naysayers, then the new MBP's would have at least one of each of the following 1) Firewire 2) Ethernet 3) VGA 4) USB-A 5) SD card slot 6) HDMI 7) Thunderbolt 2 / Display port 8) Magsafe 9) Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C 10) CD/DVD drive 11) Toslink 12) 3.5mm Analog jack 13) Lightning
If they were to do focus groups, I wonder if we would have got what we got.
A faster typewriter?
If people wanted a faster Typewriter we wouldn't still be using Qwerty.
Not sure about everyone else but "On the Go" is indeed the time I least want all those ports. I want them at my desk at work when I have fast ethernet and a big screen to plug in to. Then a dock that can plug in with a single cable that will charge, back up, let me offload other files onto additional storage, download photos from a camera.
These seem more like a device for someone who uses their laptop as a desktop replacement, not a laptop. Very few of the docks or indeed monitors seem geared at people who are mobile but still have a home base.
The Mac product world is really getting like the PC world was when the Mac was killing it the first time: there are endless third party products coming out to compensate for deficiencies in the computer itself.
Also: will this thing act as a heat spreader or insulator?
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
While I get what you are saying, the other side of that coin is that bay Apple doing this, the hands of peripheral makers will be forced to more rapidly adopt this new superior technology faster than they otherwise would. 2- 3 years from now, it will be this connection will be ubiquitous, and we'll all be the beneficiaries.
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Or this is one of many solutions out there that support your legacy tech. All you have to do is choose which one is right for you. But if you really are attached to all your old equipment, maybe you should not be purchasing new tech.
If Apple were to do focus groups and listen to all naysayers, then the new MBP's would have at least one of each of the following 1) Firewire 2) Ethernet 3) VGA 4) USB-A 5) SD card slot 6) HDMI 7) Thunderbolt 2 / Display port 8) Magsafe 9) Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C 10) CD/DVD drive 11) Toslink 12) 3.5mm Analog jack 13) Lightning
If they were to do focus groups, I wonder if we would have got what we got.
Good question, and the answer is, I suspect, that they did do a focus group and the new laptop is what came out of it. The problem is that the focus group deliberately excluded people who wouldn't be around in the next thirty years or so.
What people have failed to see is that Apple didn’t build this machine for the current generation of old timers; they built it for the generation that comes next and the old-timers who are happy to move to keep up to date.
If you don't fit either of those demographics then simply buy something else. There's plenty of machines out their that you will happily connect to your old kit.
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Or this is one of many solutions out there that support your legacy tech. All you have to do is choose which one is right for you. But if you really are attached to all your old equipment, maybe you should not be purchasing new tech.
If Apple were to do focus groups and listen to all naysayers, then the new MBP's would have at least one of each of the following 1) Firewire 2) Ethernet 3) VGA 4) USB-A 5) SD card slot 6) HDMI 7) Thunderbolt 2 / Display port 8) Magsafe 9) Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C 10) CD/DVD drive 11) Toslink 12) 3.5mm Analog jack 13) Lightning
This product is just stupid and comes from listening to all the whiners and assuming that they are a viable market.
Nobody will want to semi-permanently add weight and thickness to their laptop when a smaller, lighter USB-C dock and external SSD solution will be cheaper and more mobile and a TB3 dock more functional when working at a desk.
Even if it has a battery it would be pointless as USB-C battery packs will be more flexible and less expensive.
Ugly design. All that is needed is a hub that sits 2m or 3m from your notebook, in a cupboard, or nook, or some shemozzle out of the way where you can hide all the cables, and a single USB3.1 cable that is 2m or 3m long that carries both power and ethernet/data and whatever else, and you are done. The problem with most (all) hubs is they have 1m long cables, so all the crap cables still sit on your desk. Apparently, one can't buy an *extension* cable for USB 3.1 that carries both power AND data. So, if anyone makes a hub with a single 2m cable that carries POWER + DATA, please let me know.
Damn....you're paying to upgrade to the latest tech...which then requires you to purchase legacy tech to make your product functional.
Apple is great at most of the few things it does. This isn't one of them.
Nonsense, it doesn't require you to upgrade at all. I'm a pro software dev and i've never used a SD card, and have no need for ethernet, firewire, HDMI, VGA, or any legacy ports. In the rare event I need somebody else's legacy drive I'll use a small adapter completely painlessles. I want power and light weight, not a desktop. MBPs have been awesome machines and i don't see how this one will be any different. I'm certain you'll see the rest of the industry copy it, too.
At last a voice of sanity! By which, of course, I mean someone who agrees with me...<g>
As a longtime 13" MBP (mid-2010 model, with SSD upgrade) user I've been in the market for a new laptop with pro power and connectivity, a retina display, but Air level portability. And that's exactly what my new 13" 2016 MBP delivers. Although I do prefer to use wired ethernet in my office, the need for a small USB-C to ethernet adapter that stays permanently tethered to its ethernet cable is hardly a big deal.
Yeah, I could have wished for a somewhat lower price, especially since my own 2016 MBP is heavily up-optioned (faster processor, 16GB RAM, pricey 1TB SSD), but you've got to pay to play.
The battery runtime issue apparently experienced by some people and referred to in another post is a head scratcher. I'm not seeing that at all. In casual mobile use on WiFi my battery only drops to about 90% over a 2-3 hour period. This isn't to say that those people seeing much shorter runtimes aren't having an actual problem, but it seems clear that it isn't a fundamental characteristic of the platform. The inexplicably variable test results reported by CR reinforce that. (Note: Don't conflate this with the 15" MBP's battery life when its power-hungry GPU is in use.)
Apple or Belkin make adapters/docs for nearly every connection you would need. Some people don't need any legacy ports and others might need a couple different ports so just pick and choose the few adapters that you need. Chances are that if you need other ports you are carrying around peripherals that use those ports so you likely have some extra space in your computer case anyway.
Dudes buy a 2015/15 if you can find one, gees. I already know in 2019, I will be buying some 2013 models of a certain kind... for cheap... watch more movies to get an idea of how technology works... here's one for ya, How old is R2-D2 in Episode VI? nah Episode VII? then maybe you'll get the idea, and if you ask are we there yet? the answer is a ... YES...
This definitely looks like a mock up. If it were real, it looks too thick and they do not show the representative ports. The LineDock on Indiegogo looks better.
Comments
I want them at my desk at work when I have fast ethernet and a big screen to plug in to.
Then a dock that can plug in with a single cable that will charge, back up, let me offload other files onto additional storage, download photos from a camera.
These seem more like a device for someone who uses their laptop as a desktop replacement, not a laptop.
Very few of the docks or indeed monitors seem geared at people who are mobile but still have a home base.
Also: will this thing act as a heat spreader or insulator?
If you think latest tech needs legacy tech to be functional, then you are not using the latest tech right!
Seriously though, the new MBPs do work without the need for any legacy ports.
Good question, and the answer is, I suspect, that they did do a focus group and the new laptop is what came out of it. The problem is that the focus group deliberately excluded people who wouldn't be around in the next thirty years or so.
What people have failed to see is that Apple didn’t build this machine for the current generation of old timers; they built it for the generation that comes next and the old-timers who are happy to move to keep up to date.
If you don't fit either of those demographics then simply buy something else. There's plenty of machines out their that you will happily connect to your old kit.
Day before yesterday, someone was on this site saying that they still needed a VGA port for using projectors.
listening to all the whiners and assuming that they are a viable market.
Nobody will want to semi-permanently add weight and thickness to their laptop when a smaller, lighter USB-C dock and external SSD solution will be cheaper and more mobile and a TB3 dock more functional when working at a desk.
Even if it has a battery it would be pointless as USB-C battery packs will be more flexible and less expensive.
As a longtime 13" MBP (mid-2010 model, with SSD upgrade) user I've been in the market for a new laptop with pro power and connectivity, a retina display, but Air level portability. And that's exactly what my new 13" 2016 MBP delivers. Although I do prefer to use wired ethernet in my office, the need for a small USB-C to ethernet adapter that stays permanently tethered to its ethernet cable is hardly a big deal.
Yeah, I could have wished for a somewhat lower price, especially since my own 2016 MBP is heavily up-optioned (faster processor, 16GB RAM, pricey 1TB SSD), but you've got to pay to play.
The battery runtime issue apparently experienced by some people and referred to in another post is a head scratcher. I'm not seeing that at all. In casual mobile use on WiFi my battery only drops to about 90% over a 2-3 hour period. This isn't to say that those people seeing much shorter runtimes aren't having an actual problem, but it seems clear that it isn't a fundamental characteristic of the platform. The inexplicably variable test results reported by CR reinforce that. (Note: Don't conflate this with the 15" MBP's battery life when its power-hungry GPU is in use.)
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/line-dock-thinnest-and-smartest-laptop-power-bank-battery--2#/