The point was ripoff is relative. 80 for an optional accessory on my pricey laptop doesn't hit that point for me. Sure I'd prefer less, but it doesn't seem that big of a deal.
Exactly.
Also, let's face it: Most of the people complaining about the MacBook should clearly be getting a MacBook Pro.
It seems to me the complaints are coming from those who just wanted a retina display in the MBA. But then at what point do the MBA and MBP become too similar to be separate product lines? I'm sure Apple's ultimate goal is to phase out the MBA and get the MBPs to be thinner and lighter.
For people that need more ports, why not just buy a 13" rMBP? The 13" rMBP starts at $1299 - the same starting price as the rMB. The rMB wasn't designed for power users and with 9-10 hours of battery life I'm sure Apple's thought is you won't need to be charging it while you're using it. I currently have an aging Windows PC. It's currently running Windows 7 but it slower than molasses. I hate firing it up. I'm seriously considering getting one of these rMB's and if I do my iPad will probably get less use as a result.
It seems to me the complaints are coming from those who just wanted a retina display in the MBA. But then at what point do the MBA and MBP become too similar to be separate product lines? I'm sure Apple's ultimate goal is to phase out the MBA and get the MBPs to be thinner and lighter.
For people that need more ports, why not just buy a 13" rMBP? The 13" rMBP starts at $1299 - the same starting price as the rMB. The rMB wasn't designed for power users and with 9-10 hours of battery life I'm sure Apple's thought is you won't need to be charging it while you're using it. I currently have an aging Windows PC. It's currently running Windows 7 but it slower than molasses. I hate firing it up. I'm seriously considering getting one of these rMB's and if I do my iPad will probably get less use as a result.
Mostly agree, except in my case, my iPad Air 2 goes places and does things no laptop ever could.
Can someone help answer this question: With just one USB-C port that functions both for charging and for video output, does that mean that I would need to allow the battery to drain down if I choose to connect to an external monitor? Or does is there some way to keep the machine connected to power while also connecting it to an external monitor? This is not an issue with my current MacBook Pro, of course, because the video-out and power-in are separate ports.
I assume there will be a video out and then power cord plugin in the adapters(like with the hdmi lighting). So no worries, if your monitors being powered by the cord as well, then that's an issue.
I assume there will be a video out and then power cord plugin in the adapters(like with the hdmi lighting). So no worries, if your monitors being powered by the cord as well, then that's an issue.
see post #41, Apple sells both VGA and HDMI video adapters with 3 ports: video (VGA or HDMI), USB-C, and USB 3.1
For most users, this computer is near perfect in display, size, power and weight. One additional USB-C port with Skylake chips inside would make this beyond ideal. Maybe later this fall...
Here's what your getting wrong. Most people don't need more than a simple tablet to browse the internet and send a quick note to mother. Most people don't buy things. Individual people with individual needs buy things.
But whatever your standpoint, it seems that the law of diminishing returns is hitting apple more and more. The obsession with thinness is making it impossible to provide a decent level of functionality.
The point was ripoff is relative. 80 for an optional accessory on my pricey laptop doesn't hit that point for me. Sure I'd prefer less, but it doesn't seem that big of a deal.
It's partly about what the markup is too. How much is it really costing them to build this kind of adaptor? They make one for just USB A for $19. Google's USB C to displayport and to HDMI each cost $40 and they don't usually put high margins on products so maybe dealing with video comes with some added complexity but even so, $80 is a lot for an adaptor, especially if you have to plug into different projectors and need both HDMI and VGA. Powerpoint presentations aren't for power users. The Mini-dp to VGA adaptor is $29 and although it's not a multi-adaptor, that's because they designed the laptops with mini-dp with everything else included. An extra USB C port would have meant they could just build a cheaper USB C to dp or HDMI separately.
The good thing about USB C is that it's at least the new standard and not just an optional smaller port so devices will switch over quite quickly:
There's a flash drive there with USB C on one end and USB A on the other. Still, this presents another problem with Apple's multi-adaptor because it has USB A so if you buy a backup drive with USB C but need to do a backup while on power, you need a USB A to C cable while on power and USB C to C cable when mobile. An extra port would have needed no adaptor and no separate cable. Two ports also lets you copy from one drive to another. I assume the multi-adaptor would let you do that by unplugging the power and you'd put one drive in USB C and the other in USB A but would it be enough to power two bus-powered drives?
There's a reason they eventually put two ports onto the Air. They might not do it here but they should. If Google can do it on the Chromebook and allow charging on either side, Apple can do it too.
Clearly was a design regression on Apple keyboard layout and for sure the next models will follow the same approach.
The small left and right arrow keys were something that since years distinguished the apple keyboards from the others because the enabled better ergonomics for the user..
Now the arrow keys have the same shitty layout as the other shitty HPs...
Here's what your getting wrong. Most people don't need more than a simple tablet to browse the internet and send a quick note to mother. Most people don't buy things. Individual people with individual needs buy things.
But whatever your standpoint, it seems that the law of diminishing returns is hitting apple more and more. The obsession with thinness is making it impossible to provide a decent level of functionality. I suspect that many purchasers will buy this one just for show. You know ? Lookee, I have a cool device, I am a cool person :-) .. and one day I'm gonna get a life.
try getting that life before you post such nonsense. this ultra portable gets better battery life despite its thinness. so I see no harm in its thinness, which serves it's primary use case -- portability (weight being a factor). if you need a bunch of legacy ports, go with a pro, or use hubs, docks, or adapters as needed. but it's an ultra portable first. that's it's use case.
and no, nobody buys these tools to show off. seriously get real.
I have been a happy Mac owner since the eighties, seen a couple of instances where Apply has stumbled just short of making a great product. This looks like one of these, but I have no doubt Apple will make it, still to me this looks like a half-baked product!
The initial adapters are expensive, but being USB licensing fees aren't going to be high; expect third-party equivalents at lower cost very soon.
Note that the quality of said follow-on adapters will be variable. Caveat emptor, and all that.
Meanwhile, most MacBook owners are going to be quite satisfied with the machine. Those who really do need more power/connectors/bragging points should get something else. Don't for get that the base MBA models cost exactly as much as the new MB; more storage/memory/etc loft the price higher, but that's not something that surprise anyone who can talk and chew gum at the same time.
Maybe it'll help with your purchase decision, or make you sleep better, or both, if you thought of it as a $1379 computer with removable USB and HDMI ports.
Maybe it'll help with your purchase decision, or make you sleep better, or both, if you thought of it as a $1379 computer with removable USB and HDMI ports.
/rolleyes
It's funny, if they made it $1399 — $100 more — but included the adapter, I don't think it would have been an issue. It may have been too much in general, but that would be based on the other ridiculous comments about the processor being too slow for the cost, even though you're paying a lot for that low-voltage processor which I think is $300-380 on Intel's price sheets.
It's funny, if they made it $1399 — $100 more — but included the adapter, I don't think it would have been an issue. It may have been too much in general, but that would be based on the other ridiculous comments about the processor being too slow for the cost, even though you're paying a lot for that low-voltage processor which I think is $300-380 on Intel's price sheets.
Didn't old mac laptops do this? I vaguely remember my '04 iBook coming with a mini VGA->VGA or something like that
Didn't old mac laptops do this? I vaguely remember my '04 iBook coming with a mini VGA->VGA or something like that
(edit: and it was freaking expensive!)
They did, and I never cared for it since it was stuff in the box I wouldn't use. Also, the original iPhone came with a dock. Pods used to come with both a FW and USB cable, but that was because FW was used for charging with a PSU and USB for syncing on Windows since they didn't have FW ports for syncing and USB on most Windows machines were still pre-2.0 which didn't allow for charging. Amazing we now finally have 100W of power and 40Gbps from a tiny, reversible USB-C port.
Here's what your getting wrong. Most people don't need more than a simple tablet to browse the internet and send a quick note to mother. Most people don't buy things. Individual people with individual needs buy things.
But whatever your standpoint, it seems that the law of diminishing returns is hitting apple more and more. The obsession with thinness is making it impossible to provide a decent level of functionality. I suspect that many purchasers will buy this one just for show. You know ? Lookee, I have a cool device, I am a cool person :-) .. and one day I'm gonna get a life.
Then look at what your "individual needs" are and decide which machine is for you, and why. If this particular machine doesn't meet your needs, get a different one. As has been pointed out, the base MBP starts at the same price as this does. Get that, and you get a great display, a faster CPU, etc., and all the ports you need.
If, on the other hand, that stuff isn't important to you, get the MacBook.
See how simple that was? Jeez. This isn't freakin' rocket science.
Comments
The point was ripoff is relative. 80 for an optional accessory on my pricey laptop doesn't hit that point for me. Sure I'd prefer less, but it doesn't seem that big of a deal.
Exactly.
Also, let's face it: Most of the people complaining about the MacBook should clearly be getting a MacBook Pro.
For people that need more ports, why not just buy a 13" rMBP? The 13" rMBP starts at $1299 - the same starting price as the rMB. The rMB wasn't designed for power users and with 9-10 hours of battery life I'm sure Apple's thought is you won't need to be charging it while you're using it. I currently have an aging Windows PC. It's currently running Windows 7 but it slower than molasses. I hate firing it up. I'm seriously considering getting one of these rMB's and if I do my iPad will probably get less use as a result.
It seems to me the complaints are coming from those who just wanted a retina display in the MBA. But then at what point do the MBA and MBP become too similar to be separate product lines? I'm sure Apple's ultimate goal is to phase out the MBA and get the MBPs to be thinner and lighter.
For people that need more ports, why not just buy a 13" rMBP? The 13" rMBP starts at $1299 - the same starting price as the rMB. The rMB wasn't designed for power users and with 9-10 hours of battery life I'm sure Apple's thought is you won't need to be charging it while you're using it. I currently have an aging Windows PC. It's currently running Windows 7 but it slower than molasses. I hate firing it up. I'm seriously considering getting one of these rMB's and if I do my iPad will probably get less use as a result.
Mostly agree, except in my case, my iPad Air 2 goes places and does things no laptop ever could.
I assume there will be a video out and then power cord plugin in the adapters(like with the hdmi lighting). So no worries, if your monitors being powered by the cord as well, then that's an issue.
see post #41, Apple sells both VGA and HDMI video adapters with 3 ports: video (VGA or HDMI), USB-C, and USB 3.1
- VGA output using the USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter or
- HDMI video output using USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter
I'd buy the force trackpad immediately.
Here's what your getting wrong. Most people don't need more than a simple tablet to browse the internet and send a quick note to mother. Most people don't buy things. Individual people with individual needs buy things.
But whatever your standpoint, it seems that the law of diminishing returns is hitting apple more and more. The obsession with thinness is making it impossible to provide a decent level of functionality.
It's partly about what the markup is too. How much is it really costing them to build this kind of adaptor? They make one for just USB A for $19. Google's USB C to displayport and to HDMI each cost $40 and they don't usually put high margins on products so maybe dealing with video comes with some added complexity but even so, $80 is a lot for an adaptor, especially if you have to plug into different projectors and need both HDMI and VGA. Powerpoint presentations aren't for power users. The Mini-dp to VGA adaptor is $29 and although it's not a multi-adaptor, that's because they designed the laptops with mini-dp with everything else included. An extra USB C port would have meant they could just build a cheaper USB C to dp or HDMI separately.
The good thing about USB C is that it's at least the new standard and not just an optional smaller port so devices will switch over quite quickly:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2903292/usb-typec-peripherals-are-on-the-way-and-storage-devices-are-first-up.html
There's a flash drive there with USB C on one end and USB A on the other. Still, this presents another problem with Apple's multi-adaptor because it has USB A so if you buy a backup drive with USB C but need to do a backup while on power, you need a USB A to C cable while on power and USB C to C cable when mobile. An extra port would have needed no adaptor and no separate cable. Two ports also lets you copy from one drive to another. I assume the multi-adaptor would let you do that by unplugging the power and you'd put one drive in USB C and the other in USB A but would it be enough to power two bus-powered drives?
There's a reason they eventually put two ports onto the Air. They might not do it here but they should. If Google can do it on the Chromebook and allow charging on either side, Apple can do it too.
nravo
Clearly was a design regression on Apple keyboard layout and for sure the next models will follow the same approach.
The small left and right arrow keys were something that since years distinguished the apple keyboards from the others because the enabled better ergonomics for the user..
Now the arrow keys have the same shitty layout as the other shitty HPs...
Picture of the arrow keys on all apple laptops until now:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2199/2175804613_2fea30c96c.jpg
try getting that life before you post such nonsense. this ultra portable gets better battery life despite its thinness. so I see no harm in its thinness, which serves it's primary use case -- portability (weight being a factor). if you need a bunch of legacy ports, go with a pro, or use hubs, docks, or adapters as needed. but it's an ultra portable first. that's it's use case.
and no, nobody buys these tools to show off. seriously get real.
With some ridiculously costly adaptor?
I have been a happy Mac owner since the eighties, seen a couple of instances where Apply has stumbled just short of making a great product. This looks like one of these, but I have no doubt Apple will make it, still to me this looks like a half-baked product!
The initial adapters are expensive, but being USB licensing fees aren't going to be high; expect third-party equivalents at lower cost very soon.
Note that the quality of said follow-on adapters will be variable. Caveat emptor, and all that.
Meanwhile, most MacBook owners are going to be quite satisfied with the machine. Those who really do need more power/connectors/bragging points should get something else. Don't for get that the base MBA models cost exactly as much as the new MB; more storage/memory/etc loft the price higher, but that's not something that surprise anyone who can talk and chew gum at the same time.
Maybe it'll help with your purchase decision, or make you sleep better, or both, if you thought of it as a $1379 computer with removable USB and HDMI ports.
/rolleyes
It's funny, if they made it $1399 — $100 more — but included the adapter, I don't think it would have been an issue. It may have been too much in general, but that would be based on the other ridiculous comments about the processor being too slow for the cost, even though you're paying a lot for that low-voltage processor which I think is $300-380 on Intel's price sheets.
It's funny, if they made it $1399 — $100 more — but included the adapter, I don't think it would have been an issue. It may have been too much in general, but that would be based on the other ridiculous comments about the processor being too slow for the cost, even though you're paying a lot for that low-voltage processor which I think is $300-380 on Intel's price sheets.
Didn't old mac laptops do this? I vaguely remember my '04 iBook coming with a mini VGA->VGA or something like that
(edit: and it was freaking expensive!)
They did, and I never cared for it since it was stuff in the box I wouldn't use. Also, the original iPhone came with a dock. Pods used to come with both a FW and USB cable, but that was because FW was used for charging with a PSU and USB for syncing on Windows since they didn't have FW ports for syncing and USB on most Windows machines were still pre-2.0 which didn't allow for charging. Amazing we now finally have 100W of power and 40Gbps from a tiny, reversible USB-C port.
Here's what your getting wrong. Most people don't need more than a simple tablet to browse the internet and send a quick note to mother. Most people don't buy things. Individual people with individual needs buy things.
But whatever your standpoint, it seems that the law of diminishing returns is hitting apple more and more. The obsession with thinness is making it impossible to provide a decent level of functionality. I suspect that many purchasers will buy this one just for show. You know ? Lookee, I have a cool device, I am a cool person :-) .. and one day I'm gonna get a life.
Then look at what your "individual needs" are and decide which machine is for you, and why. If this particular machine doesn't meet your needs, get a different one. As has been pointed out, the base MBP starts at the same price as this does. Get that, and you get a great display, a faster CPU, etc., and all the ports you need.
If, on the other hand, that stuff isn't important to you, get the MacBook.
See how simple that was? Jeez. This isn't freakin' rocket science.