With all the talk of balance and center of gravity, I really wish they could have found a way to include at least one TB port on the right side of the new MacBook Air. I never like having all of the expansion ports on one side of the unit. I understand that port location is a non-trivial matter due to internals, but it the improvement in flexibility would be worth it. If Apple product owners made it a requirement the designers and engineers would have figured out a way to make it happen.
They can't add a third one because the M2 bus bandwidth won't handle it.
That’s fine and I understand technical limitations. Still, having one TB port on each side is still preferable to having both on one side. Wanting something and getting something are often different. This is simply a case of Apple choosing to impose certain technical limitations (with usability consequences) including limited TB ports and limited display expansion in order to hit a specific build cost and price-performance target for a product that slots into their overall portfolio of products targeting a specific market.
Apple obviously arrived at a formula that works extremely well. Most consumers, myself included, are willing to overlook the compromises, some subtle (like both ports on one side) and others not so subtle like only supporting one external display. They did however throw us a bone in the ports department with the addition of a MagSafe port that frees up one of the TB ports for general purpose use. The other upgrades of this latest MBA over the previous generation MBA are also appreciated. Regardless, we naturally want just “one more thing” on top of what Apple delivers, no matter what. That’s basically why we keep coming back looking to see what Apple will do the next time around.
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Apple obviously arrived at a formula that works extremely well. Most consumers, myself included, are willing to overlook the compromises, some subtle (like both ports on one side) and others not so subtle like only supporting one external display. They did however throw us a bone in the ports department with the addition of a MagSafe port that frees up one of the TB ports for general purpose use. The other upgrades of this latest MBA over the previous generation MBA are also appreciated. Regardless, we naturally want just “one more thing” on top of what Apple delivers, no matter what. That’s basically why we keep coming back looking to see what Apple will do the next time around.