If the Touchbar shipped on the cheaper/smaller MacBooks I could really see them shipping iPad numbers.
Funny they kept the headphone jack for "professional audio". This was the same argument I had for the headphone jack and got bashed for it like crazy here on Apple Insider. It's still confusing why they didn't include a lightning port for optional charging, headphones and headphone adapters. Makes Apple seem less confident in their choices.
If you have wired headphones, you're good. If you have wireless headphones, you're good.
Which leaves the question, how many people charge gadgets through their laptops? I don't, but unlike the anti-Macbook Pro crowd, I'm not going to assume that everyone else is the same.
I do, all the time (for the record, 2011 17" MBP). When travelling I frequently have all three USB ports in use charging devices. That means a single charger (the MBP's) plugged into the wall will charge my laptop and any three USB devices at the same time (iPhone, iPad, wife's iPhone, wireless headphones, GPS watch, etc). This is very valuable in hotel rooms which typically have very few free outlets. Even more so when travelling internationally and you need adapters just to plug anything into the wall. I also make heavy use of the ExpressCard slot with an adapter (which inserts fully and flush so nothing is sticking out) to duplicate the recent MBP SD card slots.
To me, the definition of "Pro" is not just about raw power or the ability to drive multiple 5K monitors. Just how many MBP owners do you think ever really do that? How many ever even connect to a single external monitor, let alone two? "Pro" is also about being able to get things done with minimal fuss, which includes not being dependent on a bunch of adapters. It includes being practically anywhere in the world and being able to easily buy a cable if I should lose mine or if mine fails for any reason. Adapters can fail and often do not provide the same seamless experience as a native port. And they are much more difficult to replace when you are traveling or otherwise need one on short notice. I can step into any Walgreens or 7-11 in the country at 10 PM and get any cord I'd currently ever need. The same simply is not true of USB C cords/adapters and won't be for quite some time.
The new MBPs are fine machines, but probably more so if yours spends more time sitting on a desk at home or in the office connected to a dock or via adapters to various motionless devices. Less so if your needs are more mobile. The power it provides is fantastic (for my needs, others have more demanding needs) and I think I would really like the new screen tech (the monitor, I don't care either way about the Touch Bar); but it comes with compromises with regards to other "pro" requirements I have. In a few years when USB C is more common place, the situation will be different. But that doesn't address my requirements today.
I was finally prepared to give up my 17" screen and upgrade my aging MBP. I was looking forward to Apple's MBP update this Fall and was planning on upgrading, but now I've determined that it will not be a 2016 model. I'll look for a 2015 model, hopefully at a discounted price. In 3-5 years the USB C story will be different. It's unfortunate (in my mind) that Apple couldn't have provided a transition model like they have with every past MBP port migration which would allow me to start purchasing USB C and Thunderbolt 3 devices and be in a better position for going all-C with my next laptop purchase.
You are correct that we shouldn't assume that everyone's requirements are the same as ours, but that also means understanding that thinness and raw power are perhaps not the only requirements for a "pro" machine.
You also have to admit that there are far, far more negative comments and upset folks with this upgrade than there has been for any Apple release in recent memory...perhaps ever. There are always going to be at least some number of people who are upset/disappointed, but the sheer volume of complaints this time around should perhaps give you a little pause to ask yourself if this is really just the same ranting that always accompanies an Apple announcement? Or perhaps, just perhaps, there might me a bit more legitimacy to the complaints this time around.
That simply isn't in line with reality. the 2012 retina MacBook Pro had really negative comments. Even the 2008 MacBook Air also had really negative comments. Quit trying to rewrite history. When ever Apple innovates they always get hammered. Then once people calm down they start to realize Apple was absolutely doing the right thing for their platform. Sometimes you have to ruffle a few feathers to get to the things you envision.
You just blew the minds of every serial Apple complainer on the internet. Although this will surely not satisfy that user who feels that his/her personal use case should be everyone's personal use case.
Yes! Emphasis added.
I just don't see 'pent up demand' as being a sufficient motivator for record orders of a book that on its face obviously now lacks 'Pro' features that people supposedly need. 'This MBP dropped features I use and need but I'll spend >$1000 anyway' just doesn't play.
And I'd expect a slowdown in the purchase of most any major computing product from any manufacture after six months.
My guess is that more users will be happy with this MBP than not, and that buyers' remorse will not be anywhere nearly as widespread as some people expect/hope.
Apple should have kept one previous model 15", kept its feature set and added Ethernet, souped it up, 32G RAM and battery life be damned, and sold it as the Mac Book PRO, and renamed all the others MacBooks.
I don't need a such a Mac, but there are still those who do. Make the Pro label really means something. Doing that would open up Apple to all the 'Apple admits...' click-bait articles. Apple could weather that teapot tempest.
Simply not possible given the use of the Skylake chipsets. People have created hackintels that use 32GB of ram but the reality is that ram is not HUGE factor in terms of performance. It's just spec geeks whining about hardware they know very little about.
If the Touchbar shipped on the cheaper/smaller MacBooks I could really see them shipping iPad numbers.
Funny they kept the headphone jack for "professional audio". This was the same argument I had for the headphone jack and got bashed for it like crazy here on Apple Insider. It's still confusing why they didn't include a lightning port for optional charging, headphones and headphone adapters. Makes Apple seem less confident in their choices.
If you have wired headphones, you're good. If you have wireless headphones, you're good.
Which leaves the question, how many people charge gadgets through their laptops? I don't, but unlike the anti-Macbook Pro crowd, I'm not going to assume that everyone else is the same.
I do, all the time (for the record, 2011 17" MBP). When travelling I frequently have all three USB ports in use charging devices. That means a single charger (the MBP's) plugged into the wall will charge my laptop and any three USB devices at the same time (iPhone, iPad, wife's iPhone, wireless headphones, GPS watch, etc). This is very valuable in hotel rooms which typically have very few free outlets. Even more so when travelling internationally and you need adapters just to plug anything into the wall. I also make heavy use of the ExpressCard slot with an adapter (which inserts fully and flush so nothing is sticking out) to duplicate the recent MBP SD card slots.
To me, the definition of "Pro" is not just about raw power or the ability to drive multiple 5K monitors. Just how many MBP owners do you think ever really do that? How many ever even connect to a single external monitor, let alone two? "Pro" is also about being able to get things done with minimal fuss, which includes not being dependent on a bunch of adapters. It includes being practically anywhere in the world and being able to easily buy a cable if I should lose mine or if mine fails for any reason. Adapters can fail and often do not provide the same seamless experience as a native port. And they are much more difficult to replace when you are traveling or otherwise need one on short notice. I can step into any Walgreens or 7-11 in the country at 10 PM and get any cord I'd currently ever need. The same simply is not true of USB C cords/adapters and won't be for quite some time.
The new MBPs are fine machines, but probably more so if yours spends more time sitting on a desk at home or in the office connected to a dock or via adapters to various motionless devices. Less so if your needs are more mobile. The power it provides is fantastic (for my needs, others have more demanding needs) and I think I would really like the new screen tech (the monitor, I don't care either way about the Touch Bar); but it comes with compromises with regards to other "pro" requirements I have. In a few years when USB C is more common place, the situation will be different. But that doesn't address my requirements today.
I was finally prepared to give up my 17" screen and upgrade my aging MBP. I was looking forward to Apple's MBP update this Fall and was planning on upgrading, but now I've determined that it will not be a 2016 model. I'll look for a 2015 model, hopefully at a discounted price. In 3-5 years the USB C story will be different. It's unfortunate (in my mind) that Apple couldn't have provided a transition model like they have with every past MBP port migration which would allow me to start purchasing USB C and Thunderbolt 3 devices and be in a better position for going all-C with my next laptop purchase.
You are correct that we shouldn't assume that everyone's requirements are the same as ours, but that also means understanding that thinness and raw power are perhaps not the only requirements for a "pro" machine.
You also have to admit that there are far, far more negative comments and upset folks with this upgrade than there has been for any Apple release in recent memory...perhaps ever. There are always going to be at least some number of people who are upset/disappointed, but the sheer volume of complaints this time around should perhaps give you a little pause to ask yourself if this is really just the same ranting that always accompanies an Apple announcement? Or perhaps, just perhaps, there might me a bit more legitimacy to the complaints this time around.
That simply isn't in line with reality. the 2012 retina MacBook Pro had really negative comments. Even the 2008 MacBook Air also had really negative comments. Quit trying to rewrite history. When ever Apple innovates they always get hammered. Then once people calm down they start to realize Apple was absolutely doing the right thing for their platform. Sometimes you have to ruffle a few feathers to get to the things you envision.
Apple: Making every wrong decision in technology since 1976¡
Still, they should have asked Phil how folk are supposed to connect their lightning headphones to this laptop. I thought the dongle in the box would do it; it won't. So what's the trick, Phil?
Just a question: does anyone here feel that Schiller has his finger on the pulse of the computer/tech world?
For my part, the answer is no. Microsoft is everywhere with commercials that say "You can't do that on a Mac" and "My Mac doesn't do that". Apple's response (direct or indirect) is nowhere to be found. Is this because Schiller can't think of a response, or because the products that might counter such ads or create their own buzz don't exist? I think the Touch Bar is a significant advance in user interface, and I don't know if the Surface is going to be crap or the Next Big Thing, but right now it's all anyone is talking about. Why would you cede this battlefield to a deep pocket competitor?
Based on the Apple executive interviews everyone is commenting on, the recent Apple approach of "we just took years and years polishing and polishing this pebble until it glowed" is Band on the Titanic Redux. And bad things tend to happen when you bring marketing and advertising all in house. Maybe we can get another Bokeh photo feature ad for iPhone (ask around yourself...most people seeing those ads have no idea what the ad was about), or another "shot on iPhone" ad. I know the "shooting in the rain at night on a skateboard" ad was, uh, riveting.
I qualify as one of the oldest Apple fanboys (1985 and a crap ton of Macs ever since), but this boat needs a new crew. Maybe the Admiral can stay on board, maybe not.
I'm not sure why people who claimed this always end up looking the most stupid around but they do. I mean, Apple respond to Microsoft? WTH? They did that when Microsoft is king, not now.
Also glad that this user is showing his head is firmly in his ass with comment about "Bokeh" (Portrait) shot on iPhone, while everyone else out there is loving it. Even my ex-girlfried who only use Galaxy phone is thinking about buying iPhone (the price is only one thing that hold her back). Oh and yes, "Shot on iPhone" campaign is such a failure, isn't it? When we have an idiot like this, no wonder legitimate concerns get washed up in a trolling sea.
The next couple of years are going to be interesting for Apple. Their drive for thin products is getting ridiculous.
The Touchbar strikes me as something like the S7 Edge. Not convinced it is a groundbreaking new UI that I would use, unless I decide to like Emojis..... Your mileage may vary.
Not to mention a user couldn't connect their 1 month old iPhone 7 (+) to this laptop without a dongle. Not to mention SD cards, USBs, HDMIs....... I totally understood DVI, VGA, Cd drive, and MAYBE Ethernet but no HDMI? Every projector I have seen in the last 4 years uses HDMI; you know, what "professionals" do with laptops. The included port is why I bought the mid-2012 retina.
Apple needs to get their interface connections in order. It is sloppier than I have ever seen it with poor consistency. If they are going to cold turkey USB-C on their products, the iPhone 7S/8 better go that way as well.
Of course, Apple apologist will find some reason that Apple is prefect.
Yup, the usual:
I can't see a use for the Touchbar, so it must be useless. It can't connect to a one month old iPhone because none of Apple's customers would ever think of just connecting it wirelessly (if they ever need to connect an iPhone at all). Apple's customers will need every single dongle every created because WIRELESS DOES NOT EXIST! It doesn't have every single socket dating back to the candle holder on Babbage's Difference Engine, so surely no one will buy it. Remember WIRELESS IS SOMETHING YOU IMAGINE DUE TO YOUR DRUG HABIT. IT DOES NOT EXIST! The only reason this thing will sell like hot cakes is because apologists think Apple is perfect.
Nice job; I think you covered everything.
"Of course, Apple apologists* will find some reason that Apple is prefect" - That one is for you.
Not sure how one calls USB 3.0, HDMI outdated......... Everything in my house, including my iPhone cables use it. Sure, lets phase it out but why not include one port for 3-5 more years? Then USB-C might be more mainstream. Nor did I say it needed every port ever. But again, I should expect logic from the "Apple can do no wrong crowd." Wireless is still a subprime experience. Air Play is a joke compared to HDMI in my experience.
I have two dongles for my mid-2012 Pro, I would need 5 or so for this new one.
OR you buy ONE dongle which does SD card, USB 3, LAN and HDMI. Then you only have one dongle.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok? What is the point of making the laptop so thin if you need to carry around such a dongle to make the laptop usable? Furthermore, these are the most expensive laptops Apple has released in a long time. The added cost of dongles is an extra burden. These are *not* pro machines. Pros need things like hdmi for presentations, optical audio for music, SD card readers for photography and competitive graphics with CUDA support for scientific applications. These are at best prosumer machines and represent a continuation of the trend away from pro markets at Apple. I can understand removing ports if better alternatives are available and it makes the experience better but this just crippling the machine for the sake of some designers preference. The number of different port formats Apple has used for video makes me seriously contemplate that the dongle business is very important to Apple. As an Apple user and supporter through the darkest days and continuing to this day, I'm disappointed.
OR you buy ONE dongle which does SD card, USB 3, LAN and HDMI. Then you only have one dongle.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok?
1) The previous model didn't have Ethernet/LAN. That left 4 years ago.
2) Why would you pay $300 for something you don't need, especially when there are all sort of varieties ranging as low as $5.
3) If you're still using VGA, Ethernet, DVI, an SD card, and other archaic ports that the rest of the world has been moving away from then you need to ask yourself why the fuck are you looking at a modern MacBook Pro in the first place? The answer is simple: you're not. You're just here bitch and moan.
OR you buy ONE dongle which does SD card, USB 3, LAN and HDMI. Then you only have one dongle.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok?
1) The previous model didn't have Ethernet/LAN. That left 4 years ago.
2) Why would you pay $300 for something you don't need, especially when there are all sort of varieties ranging as low as $5.
3) If you're still using VGA, Ethernet, DVI, an SD card, and other archaic ports that the rest of the world has been moving away from then you need to ask yourself why the fuck are you looking at a modern MacBook Pro in the first place? The answer is simple: you're not. You're just here bitch and moan.
Totally rediculous and insulting comment. Never mentioned Ethernet and pro cameras/photographers use SD card and will do for some time.
It was ease of use that were macs know for. Touch bar is going that way. Using space that most users use sporadically for something truly new. One would expect it in consumer level macbook from that point of view. But it is usable for pro as well and in first wave cost would be too high for consumer line. So we may see it in next update to 12" macbook. It is a question what will be consumer line of macbooks in future whether there will be any. I thought that Macbook Air will be replaced with fanless 14" ultra thin macbook but is is probably not going to happen.
Apple is targeting wider audience with new easy to use feature. How other it could wows Windows users? And iOSification is targeting PC users with iPhones.
And last thing is that new design ir reference design for next few years and once Intel will deliver appropriate chips we will get 32 GB RAM, HDMI and other missing things.
From my point of view before I will get macbook with USB-C only ports it will take ages and then USB-C will be everywhere and wireless transfer from devices standard. Early adopters have more difficult position. That is true.
1) The previous model didn't have Ethernet/LAN. That left 4 years ago.
2) Why would you pay $300 for something you don't need, especially when there are all sort of varieties ranging as low as $5.
3) If you're still using VGA, Ethernet, DVI, an SD card, and other archaic ports that the rest of the world has been moving away from then you need to ask yourself why the fuck are you looking at a modern MacBook Pro in the first place? The answer is simple: you're not. You're just here bitch and moan.
Totally rediculous and insulting comment. Never mentioned Ethernet and pro cameras/photographers use SD card and will do for some time.
Professional cameras use SSD, XQD, CFast, CF or SDXC. Only one of which was supported by the SD reader in the old MBP.
Many pros will use CFast or XQD if they have that option just because it's fast and at the end of the day a UHS-2 SD card isn't all that much cheaper anyway.
My guess is that the exec team at Apple probably do have a very good sense of the market. I think their problem is that they haven't figured out a way to serve anything more than about 10 to 20% of any given market (assuming we use broad definitions of markets, that is) while still maintaining their quality standards.
My concern is that they aren't even interested in figuring out how to serve a bigger share of the market. Instead, they seem more interested in carefully expelling one group of users in favor of another. With that approach they will eventually alienate a lot of people.
Yes, the 10-20% profitable markets.
As far as "expelling" any group the only group they are apparently "expelling" are "pro" users clinging to 2011 MBPs. If their "pro" business can't sustain at least a 4 year refresh cycle on laptops it's not very "pro" anymore. The fact that folks can solider on with 5 year old MBPs isn't because of the legacy ports but because of the efficiency of the operating system.
Switch if you are stupid. Your competitors will thank you.
In any case, the biggest buyers of higher end MBP laptops today appear to be enterprise buyers with large OS X deployments. Like IBM. The developers and engineers are just as "pro". And frankly, the vast majority of creative pro's will be equally well served by the new 2016 MBP because they appear to be excellent machines.
OR you buy ONE dongle which does SD card, USB 3, LAN and HDMI. Then you only have one dongle.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok?
1) The previous model didn't have Ethernet/LAN. That left 4 years ago.
2) Why would you pay $300 for something you don't need, especially when there are all sort of varieties ranging as low as $5.
3) If you're still using VGA, Ethernet, DVI, an SD card, and other archaic ports that the rest of the world has been moving away from then you need to ask yourself why the fuck are you looking at a modern MacBook Pro in the first place? The answer is simple: you're not. You're just here bitch and moan.
Didn't have Ethernet, needed a dongle! Exactly what people are complaining about now because it was a pain then and the donglefest now is even worse.
Wow, as low as 5 dollars! With Apple's, ehem, premium quality, or just some Chinese rubbish?
SD and Ethernet are archaic? Have you paid us a visit from the future because SD and Ethernet are very much alive and kicking today.
My guess is that the exec team at Apple probably do have a very good sense of the market. I think their problem is that they haven't figured out a way to serve anything more than about 10 to 20% of any given market (assuming we use broad definitions of markets, that is) while still maintaining their quality standards.
My concern is that they aren't even interested in figuring out how to serve a bigger share of the market. Instead, they seem more interested in carefully expelling one group of users in favor of another. With that approach they will eventually alienate a lot of people.
Yes, the 10-20% profitable markets.
As far as "expelling" any group the only group they are apparently "expelling" are "pro" users clinging to 2011 MBPs. If their "pro" business can't sustain at least a 4 year refresh cycle on laptops it's not very "pro" anymore. The fact that folks can solider on with 5 year old MBPs isn't because of the legacy ports but because of the efficiency of the operating system.
Switch if you are stupid. Your competitors will thank you.
In any case, the biggest buyers of higher end MBP laptops today appear to be enterprise buyers with large OS X deployments. Like IBM. The developers and engineers are just as "pro". And frankly, the vast majority of creative pro's will be equally well served by the new 2016 MBP because they appear to be excellent machines.
I agree that Apple should not pursue low margin market segments.
But I would like them to be able to pursue high margin but low volume segments. The reason is that when you add up all those high margin but low volume segments, it's actually pretty big.
Apple's entire business used to be a high margin, low volume niche. Same with NeXT. Why must those high margin, low volume niches be discarded? I think it's because Apple still has a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time. Don't get me wrong -- they've made a lot of progress compared to where they were in 2007. Back then they had to delay Leopard to get the iPhone out, but today they are able to crank out annual updates for both iOS and macOS -- that's a huge improvement. But I think they still have some difficulties doing many things at once. I certainly appreciate the challenge, and I don't know the solution -- but it's a problem worth solving, and I'm confident they can solve it if they try.
I thought the dongle in the box would do it; it won't.
Why not?
Not really sure why pulled a dislike for asking a question, but anyway…
The dongle supplied with the iPhone isn't so you can plug your lightning headset into a 3.5mm jack; it's so other headphones can plug into your iPhone, so it plugs into a lightning socket, which these new laptops don't have.
So far I haven't found a dongle that takes a lighting cable and allow you to plug it into a 3.5mm jack.
Wow, as low as 5 dollars! With Apple's, ehem, premium quality, or just some Chinese rubbish?
Chinese rubbish? You mean like the iPhone 7? The fact that it's sourced from China doesn't mean much anymore quality wise. The $65 USB-C hub seems well built. I prefer Anker to HooToo simply because I've been happy with Anker products and especially their customer support and I haven't bought anything from HooToo yet.
My guess is that the exec team at Apple probably do have a very good sense of the market. I think their problem is that they haven't figured out a way to serve anything more than about 10 to 20% of any given market (assuming we use broad definitions of markets, that is) while still maintaining their quality standards.
My concern is that they aren't even interested in figuring out how to serve a bigger share of the market. Instead, they seem more interested in carefully expelling one group of users in favor of another. With that approach they will eventually alienate a lot of people.
Yes, the 10-20% profitable markets.
As far as "expelling" any group the only group they are apparently "expelling" are "pro" users clinging to 2011 MBPs. If their "pro" business can't sustain at least a 4 year refresh cycle on laptops it's not very "pro" anymore. The fact that folks can solider on with 5 year old MBPs isn't because of the legacy ports but because of the efficiency of the operating system.
Switch if you are stupid. Your competitors will thank you.
In any case, the biggest buyers of higher end MBP laptops today appear to be enterprise buyers with large OS X deployments. Like IBM. The developers and engineers are just as "pro". And frankly, the vast majority of creative pro's will be equally well served by the new 2016 MBP because they appear to be excellent machines.
I agree that Apple should not pursue low margin market segments.
But I would like them to be able to pursue high margin but low volume segments. The reason is that when you add up all those high margin but low volume segments, it's actually pretty big.
The opportunity costs are probably too high to make it worth the bother. High margin at low volume is only slightly better than high volume at low margins in comparison to high volume and high margin products.
If Apple has 4 extra product engineers should they use them on a product that is worth hundreds of thousands in revenue or one worth hundreds of millions in revenue?
There is a finite supply of top tier engineers so should Apple hire 2nd tier engineers to work on your high margin low volume computer?
I'm thinking no...although they probably should give the Mac Pro a little love and one is rumored to appear this month.
The next couple of years are going to be interesting for Apple. Their drive for thin products is getting ridiculous.
The Touchbar strikes me as something like the S7 Edge. Not convinced it is a groundbreaking new UI that I would use, unless I decide to like Emojis..... Your mileage may vary.
Not to mention a user couldn't connect their 1 month old iPhone 7 (+) to this laptop without a dongle. Not to mention SD cards, USBs, HDMIs....... I totally understood DVI, VGA, Cd drive, and MAYBE Ethernet but no HDMI? Every projector I have seen in the last 4 years uses HDMI; you know, what "professionals" do with laptops. The included port is why I bought the mid-2012 retina.
Apple needs to get their interface connections in order. It is sloppier than I have ever seen it with poor consistency. If they are going to cold turkey USB-C on their products, the iPhone 7S/8 better go that way as well.
Of course, Apple apologist will find some reason that Apple is prefect.
Yup, the usual:
I can't see a use for the Touchbar, so it must be useless. It can't connect to a one month old iPhone because none of Apple's customers would ever think of just connecting it wirelessly (if they ever need to connect an iPhone at all). Apple's customers will need every single dongle every created because WIRELESS DOES NOT EXIST! It doesn't have every single socket dating back to the candle holder on Babbage's Difference Engine, so surely no one will buy it. Remember WIRELESS IS SOMETHING YOU IMAGINE DUE TO YOUR DRUG HABIT. IT DOES NOT EXIST! The only reason this thing will sell like hot cakes is because apologists think Apple is perfect.
Nice job; I think you covered everything.
"Of course, Apple apologists* will find some reason that Apple is prefect" - That one is for you.
Not sure how one calls USB 3.0, HDMI outdated......... Everything in my house, including my iPhone cables use it. Sure, lets phase it out but why not include one port for 3-5 more years? Then USB-C might be more mainstream. Nor did I say it needed every port ever. But again, I should expect logic from the "Apple can do no wrong crowd." Wireless is still a subprime experience. Air Play is a joke compared to HDMI in my experience.
I have two dongles for my mid-2012 Pro, I would need 5 or so for this new one.
OR you buy ONE dongle which does SD card, USB 3, LAN and HDMI. Then you only have one dongle.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok? What is the point of making the laptop so thin if you need to carry around such a dongle to make the laptop usable? Furthermore, these are the most expensive laptops Apple has released in a long time. The added cost of dongles is an extra burden. These are *not* pro machines. Pros need things like hdmi for presentations, optical audio for music, SD card readers for photography and competitive graphics with CUDA support for scientific applications. These are at best prosumer machines and represent a continuation of the trend away from pro markets at Apple. I can understand removing ports if better alternatives are available and it makes the experience better but this just crippling the machine for the sake of some designers preference. The number of different port formats Apple has used for video makes me seriously contemplate that the dongle business is very important to Apple. As an Apple user and supporter through the darkest days and continuing to this day, I'm disappointed.
you completely failed at reasoning. using a $300 dock is not required to restore any functionality. i've never used any of the shit you're talking about for my work -- hdmi, optical audio (wtf?), or SD, which is a consumer format and not even compact flash which is what all my pro cameras use.
not everybody needs all your legacy shit all the time. i'd bet most people don't need them most of the time. many people don't need them any of the time. thus it makes the most reason for those needing the legacy use cases to use adapters when needed.
Comments
I'm not sure why people who claimed this always end up looking the most stupid around but they do. I mean, Apple respond to Microsoft? WTH? They did that when Microsoft is king, not now.
Also glad that this user is showing his head is firmly in his ass with comment about "Bokeh" (Portrait) shot on iPhone, while everyone else out there is loving it. Even my ex-girlfried who only use Galaxy phone is thinking about buying iPhone (the price is only one thing that hold her back). Oh and yes, "Shot on iPhone" campaign is such a failure, isn't it? When we have an idiot like this, no wonder legitimate concerns get washed up in a trolling sea.
So you think that having to buy and carry around a $300 brick sized dongle to restore functionality that the previous gen model had is ok? What is the point of making the laptop so thin if you need to carry around such a dongle to make the laptop usable? Furthermore, these are the most expensive laptops Apple has released in a long time. The added cost of dongles is an extra burden.
These are *not* pro machines. Pros need things like hdmi for presentations, optical audio for music, SD card readers for photography and competitive graphics with CUDA support for scientific applications.
These are at best prosumer machines and represent a continuation of the trend away from pro markets at Apple.
I can understand removing ports if better alternatives are available and it makes the experience better but this just crippling the machine for the sake of some designers preference.
The number of different port formats Apple has used for video makes me seriously contemplate that the dongle business is very important to Apple.
As an Apple user and supporter through the darkest days and continuing to this day, I'm disappointed.
2) Why would you pay $300 for something you don't need, especially when there are all sort of varieties ranging as low as $5.
3) If you're still using VGA, Ethernet, DVI, an SD card, and other archaic ports that the rest of the world has been moving away from then you need to ask yourself why the fuck are you looking at a modern MacBook Pro in the first place? The answer is simple: you're not. You're just here bitch and moan.
Professional cameras use SSD, XQD, CFast, CF or SDXC. Only one of which was supported by the SD reader in the old MBP.
Many pros will use CFast or XQD if they have that option just because it's fast and at the end of the day a UHS-2 SD card isn't all that much cheaper anyway.
As far as "expelling" any group the only group they are apparently "expelling" are "pro" users clinging to 2011 MBPs. If their "pro" business can't sustain at least a 4 year refresh cycle on laptops it's not very "pro" anymore. The fact that folks can solider on with 5 year old MBPs isn't because of the legacy ports but because of the efficiency of the operating system.
Switch if you are stupid. Your competitors will thank you.
In any case, the biggest buyers of higher end MBP laptops today appear to be enterprise buyers with large OS X deployments. Like IBM. The developers and engineers are just as "pro". And frankly, the vast majority of creative pro's will be equally well served by the new 2016 MBP because they appear to be excellent machines.
Wow, as low as 5 dollars! With Apple's, ehem, premium quality, or just some Chinese rubbish?
SD and Ethernet are archaic? Have you paid us a visit from the future because SD and Ethernet are very much alive and kicking today.
But I would like them to be able to pursue high margin but low volume segments. The reason is that when you add up all those high margin but low volume segments, it's actually pretty big.
Apple's entire business used to be a high margin, low volume niche. Same with NeXT. Why must those high margin, low volume niches be discarded? I think it's because Apple still has a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time. Don't get me wrong -- they've made a lot of progress compared to where they were in 2007. Back then they had to delay Leopard to get the iPhone out, but today they are able to crank out annual updates for both iOS and macOS -- that's a huge improvement. But I think they still have some difficulties doing many things at once. I certainly appreciate the challenge, and I don't know the solution -- but it's a problem worth solving, and I'm confident they can solve it if they try.
The dongle supplied with the iPhone isn't so you can plug your lightning headset into a 3.5mm jack; it's so other headphones can plug into your iPhone, so it plugs into a lightning socket, which these new laptops don't have.
So far I haven't found a dongle that takes a lighting cable and allow you to plug it into a 3.5mm jack.
Chinese rubbish? You mean like the iPhone 7? The fact that it's sourced from China doesn't mean much anymore quality wise. The $65 USB-C hub seems well built. I prefer Anker to HooToo simply because I've been happy with Anker products and especially their customer support and I haven't bought anything from HooToo yet.
The opportunity costs are probably too high to make it worth the bother. High margin at low volume is only slightly better than high volume at low margins in comparison to high volume and high margin products.
If Apple has 4 extra product engineers should they use them on a product that is worth hundreds of thousands in revenue or one worth hundreds of millions in revenue?
There is a finite supply of top tier engineers so should Apple hire 2nd tier engineers to work on your high margin low volume computer?
I'm thinking no...although they probably should give the Mac Pro a little love and one is rumored to appear this month.
not everybody needs all your legacy shit all the time. i'd bet most people don't need them most of the time. many people don't need them any of the time. thus it makes the most reason for those needing the legacy use cases to use adapters when needed.
it ain't rocket science.