seanj

davgreg said:

The lockdowns in China are creating problems in many areas beyond computer chips or the assembly of devices.

I work in Radiology and the most widely used contrast agent in CT scans and many other applications to include the Operating Room is in very short supply. This is a very serious issue as CT imaging is a critical and often difficult to replace test. There are many people who cannot have an MRI and there are many times when an Ultrasound or MRI will not be able to replace the CT exam. Non contrast CT imaging is significantly less detailed.

I am quite sure there are many other examples. And FYI, that contrast agent was invented in the US and production was moved to China years ago. Grrr…

fred1 said:

I hope they can do this in a European country as well. 

jdw said:

"I still haven't used either of them..." —Andrew

I've never understood the reason to express that sentiment insofar as there are ALWAYS some features some people will use while others don't.  Same with software like Photoshop.  But as with Photoshop, why would we want to ask for feature deletion when you yourself simply don't use a given feature or set of features?  I mention this because I long debated with the Cupertino Status Quo worshippers (who worship the feature status quo of whatever is new from Cupertino) in this forum about the SD card slot -- back when Apple killed it off on the MBP and I argued for its return, but the naysayers bashed me by saying it's never coming back.  Ha!  Vindication! It's back!

With that said, I agree with Andrew that Apple should have given us the latest tech.  The Panasonic GH6 is an amazing camera and it comes with an SD Express slot along with another slot that is regular UHS-II.  So long as the Express slot is backward compatible and allows us to use full speed UHS-II cards too, I think an Express Slot on a MBP should be included.  That doesn't diminish the greatness of the 16" M1 Max MBP without Express right now.  It just is hope for a future update. 

All said, the SD card slot is very much needed by people such as myself and I LOVE the fact you don't need ANOTHER STUPID DONGLE to get it back.

As to HDMI, here's where I practice what I preach about NOT COMPLAINING about features I don't use.  I don't use HDMI.  But I know people who do and therefore I am super happy it's there for them.  I really am.  I have no desire whatsoever to moan that it takes up space.  I like the fact it's there, even if I personally don't use it.  Because hey...  Maybe I will one day!

What many of us love about the MBP of old is that it was packed with ports -- even ports some of us never used.  The fact we have everything we need WITHOUT A STUPID DONGLE is key.  There will always be times to connect other things like drives with a cable, and for that we need to Thunderbolt ports.  So it's not like those ports won't be used.  And if a multi-port adapter is needed in those cases, so be it, because in those cases, I will most likely be at home.

Pack the MBP full of features, let's let's all be happy.  That's my take on it.

And THANK YOU, APPLE for having reversed course and turned the naysayers on their heels by giving us back what you once took away.  It's refreshing!

hmurchison said:

If the iMac can be considered a pro computer then you may as well call a raspberry pi a pro computer

It’s a Lifestyle computer.