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Apple Rumored To Remove Old-School USB Ports On Next MacBook Pro (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: First the headphone jack, now the USB port? Rumor has it that Apple may get rid of the USB 3.0 port and the Magsafe port (where the charger plugs in) on the next generation of MacBooks. Japanese tech site Macotakara, which accurately predicted that Apple would kill the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, now also claims that the USB port is on the way out. The move would be similar to Apple's latest 12-inch MacBook and its streamlined profile. There's also word that Apple may discontinue the 11-inch MacBook Air to focus instead on the 13-inch laptop. Discontinuing the 11-inch MacBook Air would also potentially boost sales on the 12-inch MacBook. If these rumors are in fact true, then the new MacBooks will have only a USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports. Both of these ports are about the size of the part of an iPhone charger that plugs into the phone. But since most laptop accessories still plug in via the USB port, Apple owners might have to use an adaptor, or upgrade their technology. Meanwhile, the new MacBooks would likely be charged through the USB-C port or Thunderbolt 3 port. Currently, Apple already sells a USB-C dock with other USB and HDMI ports for $79. The USB-C port uses USB 3.1 Standard, according to PCWorld, which will connect to a wide variety of accessories, such as external hard drives, cameras, and printers. The USB 3.1 can also transfer data between the host computer and the peripheral accessories at a speed of 10 gigabits per second, which is twice as fast as the USB 3.0. Apple is expected to reveal the new Macs at an October 27th event in Cupertino, California.
If you've lost multiple hard drives and a broken screen because you keep tripping over the cords, maybe you need to think about where you are plugging things in.
This is the reason it's going away. It's too successful at saving you money (at the expense of Apple's bank account). Can't have features like that when you have to please the shareholders.
Meh. Most people who carry around USB devices can carry around a different cable just as easily. In the grand scheme of don't care, it's a lot less annoying than the headphone jack would have been.
And as much as I think removing the HDMI port is annoying, the truth is that I already have to carry around a retractable HDMI cable, so carrying an adapter for the relatively rare situations where I use the HDMI cable isn't that annoying either.
What is annoying, if true, is the removal of the SD card slot. Yes, Apple's SD card slot is many years out of date and should have been updated at least half a decade ago to support UHS-II, but Apple's inclusion of an SD card slot, slow as it is, has been a significant driving force in pushing camera companies to move to SD instead of CF, and has resulted in standardization that otherwise would not have happened.
Without that anchor, the industry is very likely to devolve into the wild west of card formats again. In five years, some consumer-level cameras will use CFast, others will use UHS-II SD, and others will use XQD. I wouldn't be surprised to see three or four other formats by the time all is said and done.
If true, this is a crippling blow for standards. And I really have to ask what makes this laptop "pro" at that point. It sounds like the only meaningful difference between it and the standard MacBook will be a second USB port. They're apparently dropping all the other distinguishing features that made it worth hundreds of dollars more—the HDMI port, the SD card slot, MagSafe... and the only thing replacing all that lost hardware functionality is a set of soft-reconfigurable action buttons at the top of the keyboard. Whee.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
If this was about removing legacy USB, they would put 6 of the bloody things in.
If this was about catering to customers needs, they would have a 4-2 split.
If this was about making money from selling dongles, they would do what they have done.
In this refresh we removed even more features you rely on, and then charged you extra for the privilege.
Apple. Because we don't give a shit about what you actually need.
It's being an ass.
No built-in Blu-ray for Mac users... no, better... no optical drives! Not even in the professional models.
Touchscreen is silly for computers... seems Windows users like it lots... we'll give Mac users a little bit, a touch bar... yeah, that's it.
Look at that guy over there, he's using a flash drive... how silly... he should be using the cloud... we'll make him use the cloud. What's that? He doesn't live in Cupertino with a fiber to the home type connection? Well, fuck him. He should learn to.
Dear Apple,
I'm looking to upgrade from my MacBook Pro in the next year. I want a touchscreen. I want USB ports that work with my flash drives.
It looks like I'm going to go with Windows. I'll drag my extended family along, reversing my pushing the Mac for the last 20 or so years.
I'll have to swallow my pride in the process, but you know what I call that?
Courage.
Buying a new computer with USB-C interface means, at worst, buying (for $6.99) a pair of USB-C to USB-A adapters, you dimwit.
Which I now have to carry around with my MacBook.
Or, you buy a USB-C hub with power delivery for about $25, and plug all your USB-A devices into that, and your USB-C power cable into it as well, so you can charge & connect all your devices.
Which I would also have to schlep around with my MacBook, except it's ten times more bulky than an adaptor and I need to be next to a power outlet to use it.
*slowclap*
Jesus fuck. This is like arguing that installing solar panels on your house means you have to buy a new car, new appliances, upgrade the landscaping, and also paint your fucking house.
Not really. It's more like saying that when I buy a new house I need to replace all my appliances and half of my furniture. Even if you're really keen to move house that ought to be enough to give you pause.
It's incomprehensibly stupid to make this argument, yet here you are, making it.
Stupid is as stupid does, but at least one of us is smart enough to read to the end of a headline and realises that laptops are computers too.
SCSI? nobody else (in the consumer market) used that
ADB? nobody else used that (it was for the keyboard/mouse, not printers)
Mini-DIN 8 RS-422 serial? nobody else used that
Firewire? hardly any non-Mac people used that, and most of the PCs that did used the stupid Sony iLink connector with no power so they could connect to cameras, and cameras don't use it anymore
Optical out? That stupid little switch in my MBP's headphone jack gets stuck into "optical cable present" mode when I unplug headphones, but fortunately I can store a toothpick (to unjam it) in the hinge area above the keyboard and it will still close properly
USB A? There are over 15 years worth of everybody using it, and the plugs are everywhere. I have a crate overflowing with cables and various thingies that use it. But nothing yet with USB C. Don't get me wrong, I think USB C is a good thing, but even modern TV sets that got rid of S-video inputs in favor of HDMI still have composite video inputs.
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