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Phil Schiller Says the MacBook Pro Doesn't Need an SD Card Slot (theverge.com)
Apple's new MacBook Pro models have upset many people for many different reasons. Some are unhappy with the inability to get more than 16GB of RAM, some are upset with the high-price, some are unhappy about the missing physical Escape and function keys, and many are unhappy because Apple didn't put an SD card slot in the MacBook Pro. But Apple has an explanation. From a report on The Verge: Speaking to The Independent (paywalled), Apple exec Phil Schiller said the company had dropped the SD card slot as it was "cumbersome" and because wireless transfer technology for cameras is "proving very useful" as an alternative. Schiller said, "Because of a couple of things. One, it's a bit of a cumbersome slot. You've got this thing sticking halfway out. Then there are very fine and fast USB card readers, and then you can use CompactFlash as well as SD. So we could never really resolve this -- we picked SD because more consumer cameras have SD but you can only pick one. So, that was a bit of a trade-off. And then more and more cameras are starting to build wireless transfer into the camera. That's proving very useful. So we think there's a path forward where you can use a physical adaptor if you want, or do wireless transfer."
Just take the er off his last name and you've pretty much summed the prick up perfectly.
The Apple motto, it's been that way for decades. Why expect it to change?
Apple's idea of value is hilariously distorted. Let's charge more than everyone else and deliver less.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
On more dongle dongling... What is this new adaptor fetishism?
http://www.apple.com/shop/prod...
$49.95
Less features MORE MONEY and VALUE (for them).
You've got this thing sticking halfway out
Then you did it wrong. Most SD slots I have used it sticks out just enough for you to push on the spring and get it back out.
Then there are very fine and fast USB card readers
You like lugging accessories around with you dont you? It is amazing to carry a few extra kilos of junk around! I love it.
Soon they'll just ship a plastic brick.
Here is a thought to all you people complaining about Apple's decision making on their products ... DON'T BUY IT.
The only way to get Apple to listen, is to vote with your dollars. If you buy their products, you prove them right.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I wonder if the explanation for the reader absence could be any worse.
SD is finally becoming common with DSLRs (one of the last hold-outs) and then Apple does this.
It is aggravating to a large number of photo/video professionals and enthusiasts.
...would like to disagree with Schiller in the strongest possible terms: http://www.theverge.com/2016/1... "A company that built up its entire product line on the adulation and money of professional photographers is now turning its back on them and blowing up the best bridge between the tools of their trade: camera and laptop. Without an SD card slot in the computer, weâ(TM)re left having to tote an adapter everywhere ($50 when bought from Apple), or buying a USB-C cable for our cameras ($30), or relying on entirely unreliable wireless transfer apps. Maybe thatâ(TM)s fine on the MacBook, but itâ(TM)s not okay on the MacBook Pro."
Let's be honest. The last few changes from the Apple design team have afforded little or no explanation behind them, and they certainly were not done based on consumer input.
Provide all the weak-ass explanations you want Phil. We know the real answer is Fuck You, that's why.
The disgusting nature behind this behavior from vendors is the Fuck You mentality is becoming rather addictive.
Consumers, if you want design change that even hints towards what you may want or need, vote with your wallet, because all other channels have been effectively silenced.
Yeah and who gives a sh*t?
Seriously, are Slashdot users all apple fanboys? I can't see the difference anymore between this site and all the others covering general tech gossip
First they pull out the audio jack from iPhones (duh.. audio is inherently analog), now they think they don't need an SD card slot or a goddamn escape key?
I didn't believe it at the time, but it seems like Steve Jobs seemed to play the role of "WTF ARE YOU DOING?!" Without that role being played, Apple seems to make dumber and dumber decisions.
Dear Apple... do you REALLY want to be the company where everyone has to carry around a bunch of adapters that get easily lost just to use your goddamn products because they aren't compatible with the standards everyone else in the world has chosen?
Professional cameras are expensive. Even amateur photographers will have many thousands, even tens of thousands tied up in their equipment. These people are not going to buy one of your new "pro" laptops Apple, because you've taken away the ability to either plug the (camera end) proprietary USB cable into it or the the SD card. Your solution, which is to hope that we all upgrade our camera bodies to something more convenient to you, or buy a dongle from you so we can use our cables is not going to cut it. You also killed your Aperture application after we all spent hundreds of dollars on it, and your solution to that is to use your crappy consumer-friendly Photos app.
Clearly you don't want our business anymore. I suspect Microsoft will be more than happy to take our money.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
and doesn't understand what pro users need their tools to do. They really should just drop the "Pro" from all their products. Pros use better tools.
Because if you put two card readers on a laptop that would be crossing the streams open a vortex? Seriously the amount of bullshit these 'journalists' accept from company mouth pieces is absurd.
Or, more likely, Apple just couldn't figure out how to get a SD reader into the stylishly small housing for the MacbookPro. Style over function - welcome to Apple's world.
In the near future, any Apple user will be easily identified by the bag of expensive dongles he/she would have to carry to maintain functionality. Wireless?! Gimme a break, anyone that shoots photos in volume with a DSLR (I routinely get over 1000 shots from a single live music venue shoot, low/variable light and moving subjects makes for a huge number of throwaway shots ) knows that wireless, even relatively current 802.11ac (which nearly no cameras have) can't keep up with a high volume shooting situation for even just still JPGs, let alone RAW files or video. The physically connected card has nearly an order of magnitude advantage in throughput. They are basically ceding the professional market to Linux/Windows machines.
That's the smell of iRome burning.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Yeah! Keep 'em coming! I come to Slashdot to read about the Mac! I really care about the Mac! Keep giving me stories about Mac! Not enough here about Mac! Come on, more Mac! Need Mac!
how about removing the mac os hardware lock in?
or do you want to remove the part of being able to run non store apps? Fine do that and steam will removed from apple systems.
Reality Distortion Field in full effect, but you're no Steve Jobs, fool.
Please remain calm, there is no reason to pani... wait, where are you all going?
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
The problem is the guy that knew what the world wanted died and as a result the rest of the monkeys were left in charge.
"As they are becoming so important on all our devices, Apple is changing our name to Dongle(TM)." - unknown Apple spokesman on the internet.
First off, the professional grade photo cameras which use Compact Flash/CFast or QXD aren't going to be a huge portion of the market. In fact, I doubt that that most people know of their existence. Journalists often send the Jpegs from their cameras to their phones (using WI-Fi adaptors in their camera SD slots) so it's not like Apple's doing them any favours.
SD is fine and great for large transfers so you don't have to congest your WiFi. This explanation that there are a lot of options 'creating confusion' is a non-explanation. Basically they cheaped out.
While I do like the idea of being able to power the laptop from any port, I think an intermediate step was needed. When wireless charging at a distance is here is the time to get rid of MagSafe not before. Parents who have kids running around absolutely love it!
With respect to the RAM, I see both sides of it. They wanted to get overdue machines out the door and with the processor chosen, they got limited to 16 Gigs however since the machines are marked 'Pro' and not consumer, I was expecting one with expandable memory slots. 'Cause that's what pros do. Gluing everything down and soldering the RAM simplifies the engineering no end and makes your machine slimmer but it also makes the machine a disposable one piece unit that is neither reparable or expandable.
As for the price -- I'll be giving it a big pass and hoping they bring back the Mac tower.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
I do a lot of photography, my current cameras are mostly not wireless and do use SD cards.
But I hardly ever used the internal SD reader on my laptop, because (a) it is slower than a really good SD reader, and (b) there's only one slot.
Not to mention (c), a camera I sometimes use uses CF cards...
People who still need to read cards are fine using external readers because they are faster and can handle more cards. Almost all consumers have devices (really phones) that are transmitting photos over the network anyway.
The MacBook Pro has been said by some to not be aimed at photographic professionals, but honestly everything about it is really nice for photography. The screen is better (wider color gamut), the battery life is great, it's even useful being more portable than the last models... I had been thinking about switching to a 13" for travel as the 15" is kind of heavy, but the new one is light enough it should travel well.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm a guy that is full in the Apple ecosystem and I make money programming for apple devices. But the latest macbook pros are NOT pro.
Wireless from the camera? Is this guy that much of a dipshit? Go ahead and see how fast you can transfer these 36 Megapixel RAW images from my D810 camera. Yes I use the XDHC slot and I dont want to wait a week for these to transfer over wifi. slapping the card in the macbook was super fast and worked great.
Macbook pros are not for pros anymore. It sounds like they really want to eliminate any professional use of their products by removing features that pro photographers use heavily.
It is pretty sad when the last version of the product is significantly better than the latest version.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It seems that Apple wishes, in the end, to sell people what will ultimately amount to slabs of metal and glass. I can see them removing just about every port from their hardware that they can. The Macs will eventually ship with only 1 USB port, with Apple telling customers to just get adapters, etc. Why, because fuck you we're in the dongle and add-on business now, that's why. Oh, and don't go buying that cheap shit off Amazon, because it will only break your machine, conveniently.
The iPhone? Oh, I'm calling this one right now. In the next few years, the iPhone will ship with no ports or physical ways into it, whatsoever:
The "New" iPhone will be 100% wireless, and serviceable only by Apple. Why? Because fuck you, that's why. Thinking of switching? Good luck with that, all your apps, music, movies, books, and shit you bought from us are tied to our services. You don't own it, remember? Now, how would you like to pay for your new phone, charge pad, Airpods, and extended warranty?
Ah, good choice, sir. Yes, we do offer financing. Why pay for it now when we can fleece you for 15% more over 2 years ...
Why not leave an apple logo tattoo on their forehead?
Whenever anyone says they want some kind of product "based on consumer input", what springs instantly to mind is the Homermobile.
Instead of designing a product base don what customers think they want, Apple is doing what they always do - thinking ahead, and saying what will customers NEED. What Apple has built will be more useful over the next few years than what you would rather they have built...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
My Dell laptop accepts an SD card and it fits almost completely flush, maybe 1-2mm at most sticking out. I even keep a 256GB SD card for temporary storage in it without worrying it will catch on my case.
There are two major SD card form factors, three if you include compact flash. There are two major USB connectors for computers (USB and USB-C, not including two the two micro-usb form factors or the large square 'device' connectors). There are *five* video form factors, four of which are still current (DVI, HDMI, DP, Mini-DP).
So he has a point. However, the new macbook-pro goes too far in removing ports. Standard USB ports are still *extremely* useful and for a laptop having a bunch of them is also extremely useful. They removed the separate power port, which basically means there is only one USB-C port available for peripherals.
To say it is stupid is not being critical enough.
-Matt
Then they wont be purchasing the new the 2016 Macbook Pro that cost $500 more than the previous generation for only a 7% gain in performance.
I have to agree with Mr. Schiller. His logic is impeccable. Some newer digital cameras have wireless transfer, so clearly there's no reason to plug in an SD card into a laptop.
I know, some of you are going to point out the flaws in this reasoning. So let me preemptively address these arguments.
How about cameras that don't have wireless transfer? No problem. Go out and buy a new camera just so you can use it with your new laptop. Clearly the laptop is the important part of that equation. Cameras are just disposable devices anyway, and any camera is interchangeable with any other. There's no reason to favor one camera over another, especially those that cost more than the laptop itself.
Okay, so how about when you have non-camera data on a storage device that you want to plug into your computer? Ignoring for a moment the fact that it's nearly inconceivable that anyone would ever store any data anywhere but on their MacBook, admittedly there may be a few rare exceptions. But there's a solution to that problem. Mr. Schiller is right in complaining that an SD card sticks out from the computer. That extra couple of millimeters is so annoying when I have my computer on my lap. But fortunately, you can get an adapter that reduces this to only 5-6 centimeters. It's so obvious I'm surprised no one has thought of this before!
I for one applaud the courage it takes to remove convenience from a product with "Pro" in its name. Because the one thing professionals always want is less convenience. It almost makes me want to start buying Apple.
</sarcasm>
Professional cameras are expensive.
Yes they are, and as a result...
These people are not going to buy one of your new "pro" laptops Apple, because you've taken away the ability to either plug the (camera end) proprietary USB cable into it or the the SD card. ...as a result this is not what most professional camera users do. That's because they are using cameras with multiple SD slots, and capture a lot of data - so they don't use a slower internal SD reader that limits them to one card at a time when they can use a faster external reader with more slots to finish transferring images faster.
The only reason the professional camera users ever attach to a laptop via cable is for tethering use in the studio, and then all they will need to carry on is a USB adaptor cable...
Your solution, which is to hope that we all upgrade our camera bodies to something more convenient to youM
Apple's solution is either an adaptor or getting a USB-C to whatever flavor of USB your camera supports cable, or as I said an adaptor - don't be a dramatic idiot.
You also killed your Aperture application after we all spent hundreds of dollars on it
It was "hundreds of dollars" maybe five years ago? It was $70 for a long time before Apple stopped selling Aperture... which by the way still works fine. I agree that Photos is not a good replacement but it's not like there are not a lot of other photo management choices also (though to be sure, I preferred Aperture to anything around now so I am sad to see it no longer supported).
Clearly you don't want our business anymore.
Right because you are going to drag around a Surface Desktop unit... The new MacBook Pros have better screens for photo editing than the Surface Book (the only surface model with an SD card reader), and by the way the Surface Book is using the same GPU as my late 2013 MacBook Pro that I am upgrading from.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The more I think about it, the more I realize he's absolutely right - The Macbook Pro DOESN'T need a SD slot. No computer does, really. Nor does it need a keyboard, monitor, usb ports, any of it really. The Macbook doesn't care.
It's the users who need them.
the price increase is to weed out the users without the courage to pay more for less, and the ones that whine about paying for dongles and adapters.
The last Mac I bought was my 2011 MBP. The last Mac I bought for our company was a 2014 mac mini. I have no plans for purchasing any more Apple hardware because their entire lineup has become a sick joke. Their entire desktop lineup is decrepit and laughable, and they seem focused on adding gimmicks to their laptops designed to increase sales of accessories instead of useful features.
This is what happens when a company that was led by engineers becomes led by penny pushing MBAs. Jobs has been dead only a couple years and Apple has already jumped the shark.
Never used it. It sounds a lot more complicated for the average user to setup that wireless transfer than to just stick the SD card in the computer.
Well, I guess those "Pro" users Apple is targeting will be using a USB-C to A adapter as well as a USB-A to SD adapter. This must be courage.
That is a really weird excuse.
Sure, you can design an SD card slot so that it sticks out a bit. But many laptops have a push to eject so it sticks out a couple of mm at most.
And is a separate reader really less cumbersome?
But I can't work out what their real reason might be. The cost of a slot is tiny. Even third party readers aren't expensive. Adding the slot to the existing hardware must be a trivial cost.
Okay, technically my employer purchased the one I'm typing this on now - a 2015 MacBook Pro, which was purchased this past spring specifically because of the (accurate) rumors stating the next version would be losing most of the ports and slots.
I really like this thing. I use the SD slot once or twice a month. I use the Thunderbolt/Displayport ports and the HDMI ports to drive external monitors. I like the MagSafe connector. This machine is well built, and plenty fast. Plus all my Unix stuff runs on it too.
Why am I bothering to say all this? Well... there's a darn good chance my next laptop purchase. a few years from now, won't be a Mac. I'll need to do a fair bit of testing, of course, but I will be looking at how much of a hassle going back to a Linux laptop will be. It's ironic, because I originally moved to Mac from Linux to get away from the hassle. And, all in all, I'd really prefer to stick with OS X... er, macOS, as a platform. But Apple seems hellbent on making their laptops less useful for those of us who actually do need a laptop for work. Sure, having to use a VM to run Photoshop a few times a year will be a hassle... but carrying around a dozen dongles is even more of a hassle - and it's harder to misplace a VM.
#DeleteChrome
Works for me.
I really dont care cause I wont be buying a MB"P", but I do use my SD card slot, ya know at work, for the camera we use in the lab ... the camera takes a special cable that you can never freaking find.
BUT my point is " You've got this thing sticking halfway out." no I dont with a sd card inserted its dead flush with the side of my laptop, to eject it you actually have to push it inside the laptop a bit with a fingernail to get the spring to release. You may have reasons for removing it, but your bad design with things sticking half way out is really a poor excuse
and external dongles suck way worse
So what Apple does, in a nutshell, is charge more, but deliver less. They don't listen to the wants and needs of their consumers, and instead forcefully shove their own will down your throat in order to make more money off of their "Apple branded/compatible" accessories which will be necessary in order to use the things you want (see: elimination of the headphone jack, elimination of the SDcard slot, and any number of other walled garden bullshit marketing/sales tactics.
You need to complain too. If a company does something that consumers don't like, and consumers don't buy it but offer radio silence as to what is wrong, it is hard for the company to correct the issue since they may not correctly identify it. The right answer when a company does something you don't like is to stop buying their products and let them know why. It won't always lead to a fix, but it is the strategy that will most likely lead to a fix.
As an Apple user for about 10 years, Apple pisses me off more and more with each dumb announcement. I love OSX and Linux, but I don't want Linux on my desktop and I don't want of the crippled Apple laptops. Hopefully my 3 year old Macbook Pro that has USB and an SD card can hold out for a few more years until Apple gets a clue and adds some useful things back...
I see they didn't have the courage to remove the headphone jacks on the MacBooks yet. Interesting.
Apple says new Macbook Pro from 2017 will NOT have a screen; Apple suggests that by not having a screen, it will be a huge space saving and people can carry it better.
Newer UHS-II SD card readers are much faster than the ancient UHS-I reader that they included,
Which is why anyone serious was already using an external SD reader and realized why they would not really use an internal one that much anyway.... you might use it for a year then something faster would come around and who wants to wait for images to transfer?
and somebody probably calculated that upgrading to UHS-II would require replacing their USB-2 hub with a USB-3 hub
Every single port is USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support, so basically they are operating a way faster "hub" than that already internally.
The SD reader took up space that would have meant something else being more limited - either battery or, more likely, one less USB-C port. All for the sake of a handful of laptop users compared to the total market, and here I'm talking just about photographers and not even the total userbase!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple doesn't support wireless MTP in Photos or image capture on mac or iPhone. You can get clients for the phone, but not to feed into Photos on the Mac. Grr!
He's totally right, having a specific memory card slot in a computer really isn't that useful these days. Most folks don't ever use them; for those of us who do, it's a mixed bag as to if the card is the right type, and it's not a day-to-day event. If it is day-to-day, buy an adapter. I've used mine only a half dozen times to write Raspberry Pi images, which I easily could have done using another machine and a USB card reader. If having an SD card reader is a deal-breaker, go back to the 90s and get the last Mac with a floppy while you're at it.
All that said, they have removed other useful ports and that is annoying. These are/were ports that many people actually used.
I can appreciate that Apple wants to create elegant and beautiful technology. They need to appeal to their customer's hearts as well as their practical needs.
But when Apple evaluates how elegant and minimalist their products are, they need to connect all of the NECESSARY dongles first, and then look at the total solution they have created. Because a Mac with a bunch of dongles hanging off it is a hell of a lot less elegant and minimalist than one with actually useful ports built into the damn machine.
Link the product registration of the new MacBook Pros so that each one can be associated with one iPhone/iPad (that uses Lightning)/iPad Pro serial number, and/or one MacBook Pro model serial number that has an SD Card slot. If you register your new MacBook Pro with a linked Lightning-using iDevice, you get the USB-C to Lightning dongle at no charge. If you register your new MacBook Pro with an older MacBook with an SD Card slot's serial number, you get a USB-C to SD Card dongle at no charge. Demonstrates Apple listens, and Apple cares about loyal customers who bought into its ecosystem.
Isn't this more or less (Bluetooth instead of transfer tech for cameras) what they said about the headphone jack that they removed from the phone, but kept on their laptop?
So Apple says fuck you buy a $700-3000 camera body to fix this "problem". How about I just but a Razerblade Stealth instead?
Any other REAL "pro" laptop will do the job. You know laptops with USB, HDMI, .. ports, SD card, more than 16GB RAM, a full keyboard, ...
Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
If they're not getting royalties on the port, they're not putting it in; it's really that simple.
...you're probably too stupid to use an SD card.
After all, ain't no SD card every increased your smugness & vanity. Oh no, sistaaaaaah.
So all you apple fangois get your one button mouse out of the closet and bask in the glory of your crippleware hardware and know OSX is actually spelled OSUX, cos the suck isn't complete without U.
To paraphrase Phil's explanation: "we couldn't figure out whether SD or CF cards were better, so we decided to do neither."
And that's despite the fact that essentially every currently available consumer, prosumer and professional camera supports SD cards or some high-capacity variant thereof. As a semi-pro photographer (meaning I get paid to shoot events, but that's not how I earn all of my income), I have not used a CF-only camera for something like 10 years now. Heck even Canon's flagship 1D has supported SD since MkII back in 2004.
One is lead to the speculation that the real reason was to shave a few pennies from manufacturing costs by eliminating SD support.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
"Form follows function" is a principle associated with modernist architecture and industrial design. [ref. Google search] This is a concept Steve Jobs executed with razor like efficiency during his time at the helm of Apple. Sadly, since his departure, Team Apple has only focused on form alone, to their own detriment. This is their decline. This is their fall from grace. This is what defines those with vision and understanding from mere imitators and corporate shills.
...as you were saying Phil.
So, "there's a path forward where you can use a different computer." Mac user for decades. Not buying this one!
How does a USB dongle with a reader attached to it stick out less than an SD card mounted in the laptop?
Apple removes the SD card slot because photographers don't need it anymore, but thinks professional musicians need the headphone jack to record and mix.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
If the device doesn't work for you, then don't buy the device. Problem solved. Are you still learning to walk? No, you've changed. Are you still learning to use silverware when you eat? No, you've changed. Attempting to remain unchanged in a changing world is a lesson in frustration. We must be flexible enough to bend.. lest we risk breaking in the slightest breeze.
Dear Phil Schiller,
Fuck You!
Everyone everywhere
Seriously. If you look up "Asshole Move" there should be his picture and the his quote about SD slots being cumbersome. Also unmentioned in the summary is the fact that they are also doing away with the hdmi and USB ports also. So useful. Supposedly it only had Thunderbolt/USB-C which nothing supports.
That said, I'm not sure what the deal is with wanting more than 16GB of RAM. I have 16GB of RAM in my desktop and it's really a complete waste (it made sense at the time as RAM was cheap and I didn't want to have to do an upgrade later). No one really needs anything near that really, and not anytime soon either. If you *DO* legitimately need more than 16GB of RAM for your work, you are undoubtedly not using a mackbook anyway.
Today I can buy an SD card that is 1TB. This greatly adds to the effective disk storage of the machine. I don't use it for camera.
That seems to be Apple's new theme song...
When your ethernet disappears... buy a dongle!
Need to connect your iphone... buy a dongle!
Want to read your SD card... buy a dongle!
Want to use headphones on your iphone? buy a dongle!
I'm surprised they don't sell a usb3 dongle that's just an 'esc' key at this point.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
The good news is, you can get an adapter for SD Cards that plug into the headphone jack.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
One, it's a bit of a cumbersome slot. You've got this thing sticking halfway out.
I have a 2 year old Dell Latitude E5440 with an SD card slot that does not stick out at all. When I insert it, it snaps cleanly in place and flush with the body of the laptop.
I guess Dell has the patent on this type of technology.</sarcasm>
Let's see:
Cheap trail cam: no wifi, and in any case I'm not dragging my laptop into the woods when I can carry a 3 gram microSD back home instead.
Camera #1: Wifi is a PITA to set up.
Camera #2: no Wifi
all cameras: why carry around a USB cable?
RepRap Prusa i3 printer: Uses micro SD. Can be connected via USB but only if place dang close to computer. Screw that.
So, yeah, I want an SD slot. (I do have a bag full of $1US SD-to-USB adapters, which is what I have to use on various existing computers anyway)
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
There are plenty of better alternatives at sensible prices. Clearly these macbooks are not viable options for professional users. 16Gb is about base level for a cheap laptop, and pretty painful if you do any serious development or graphics work. Apple are aiming a good milking at their target market - users who like a pretty case, and don't know anything about computers. Why criticise them for that? These users will probably be happy, as long as the exterior is new and shiny, and it runs an OS designed for the technically iliterate. There are plenty of other taxes on fools; lottery, gambling, dodgy investment schemes... The lack of any sesible connectivity, and the poor graphics and memory options are clear showstoppers as a dev box, and the lack of an escape key, and annoying gimmicky extra screen are clear indications that this is targeted at the low end user of almost non-existent computer knowledge.
Jobs created Keynote for himself - and named it too. He knew about PROFESSIONALS needing to do presentations. Everywhere I see VGA connections still to this day with some having HDMI connections. Nobody is going to have presentation connections for USB-C for a very long long time.
I can't believe he would have made the MacBook so crippled it can't even connect to a projector without a bigger mess! I've seen students present and how the Windows users struggle and the Mac users do not.
I read that the 16GB is the choice of chips they had and Intel's next version will support 32GB. So maybe that isn't Apple's fault... in which case Phil should have said something better than blaming battery life for that decision. 4-Core Intels don't have a decent GPU this time which is why AMD is utilized more and that would raise the price over their previous dependence upon Intel GPUs (except top model.) Again, they are stuck to Intel's offerings... don't they have any input?
They shouldn't have left the Display Market because somebody needs to "innovate" with a eGPU case integrated with a display. Just selling an eGPU would have helped.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I have one of those wireless capable cameras. Nearly worthless feature.
First, you have to connect your laptop/phone to the camera's wireless AP, not the other way around. Goodbye internet while transferring files, and having to fuck around with the wireless settings. Want to transfer files to desktop? Nope.
Second, on the cameras I have experience with (Olympus and Sony), you have to use the manufacturers app to transfer files. Want to simply access the files as a disk? Nope. Want to transfer RAW files? Nope.
The only thing the wireless feature is useful is as a remote shutter trigger and viewing the LCD screen when the phone is on a tripod.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I'm not buying Macs of any sort anyhow, but what matters is that a lot of photographers use SD slots frequently and won't be happy not having a built-in slot. Every such change makes a netbook just as useful and a whole lot cheaper.
You would be thanking Jobs for 16GB! Probably something along the lines of "at this time we had a choice between waiting another year for Intel or making a hotter, heavier, bigger laptop than the old model and we didn't want to do either because that wouldn't be progress." People would cheer... the 32GB or nothing people would wait instead of trying to find alternatives.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I have a Lenovo T61 with built-in card reader. It will take SDcard. It will take Memorystick. It will take xd Cards. Its height is that of an Expresscard slot and its a single slot. The cards you plug in are flush when inserted (and locked, even with the different sizes). So much for "you can only pick one". What year is that computer? 2008 or so? And Apple cannot imagine something like that is possible?
This is just another case of being "courageous", nothing else.
The fact the SD Card sticks out really does suck. Soon after I bought an digital camera with an expensive high speed SD card so I could take raw photos quickly I had the SD plugged into the laptop on my lap an reached to grab a drink. The laptop slid off my lap fell on the floor and snapped the SD card in half. I was very sad.
Phil,
Did you ever think that people may use the SD reader for things other then cameras? You've made the SSD non-user replaceable and now you've taken away the only removable mass storage device that we had on the device to work around your bad design choices. Go screw yourself.
Anyone who has hired a wedding photographer will probably agree.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
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This is a fundamental shift for Apple, away from usability and user experience, in favor of making life easier for their engineers. The SD slot is only cumbersome to engineers trying to squeeze it into a paper-thin laptop, not for the users that actually use the damn thing. My last several laptops have been macbook pros. My next one will not be.
I've been an Apple customer since 8.6 and the next laptop I buy won't be one Apple makes. I was using Macs to do CS class work in 2001 when I literally had peers say "Macs are kinda gay dude." Apple has lost me as a customer, and I know I'm not alone. If I'm going to spend $2500 or more on a laptop, I want 32GB of RAM and a replaceable battery. Those are bare minimums for a "Pro" laptop.
You know what "pro" uses a MacBook pro now? Literal office professionals who just use them for super slick web surfacing and Microsoft Office type work. That's it. Want to build real software that requires more than a few REST APIs like anything Big Data? Get Lenovo, Dell or HP on the phone because Apple thinks we need battery life more than 32GB of RAM.
You are missing the point: it is bad design to make a system where everyone has to carry around a bag of dongles in order to use it. If this were not the case then why, in its hey day, did Apple ship laptops with ethernet, USB and Firewire ports? They could easily have just used nothing but Firewire and sold dongles for everything else. Apple hardware used to be sleek, elegant and functional. Now it is just sleek and elegant and that is not acceptable for a laptop at the prices they want to charge.
At the price Apple charges for their MBP, it should include 1 of each dongle for free.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Phil Schiller said the company had dropped the SD card slot as it was "cumbersome" and because wireless transfer technology for cameras is "proving very useful" as an alternative.
Note the multiple stupid assumptions.
1) The only use for SD cards is cameras
2) All cameras support wireless
3) You don't have LOTS of big pictures to transfer, (which takes FAR longer over wireless than just popping your SD card out).
Bummer! You need a physical, easy to hit, ESC key for vi / vim.
It kinda makes you wonder how many engineers were consulted about the new design. I'm guessing Steve Jobs would have taken input from them into consideration.
I guess I'll be mapping the backquote key to ESC if I buy a new MacBook Pro.
Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
I can't really see why I'd prefer the newer ones. It's not that they're just poor in comparison to the older systems, they're much worse. No USB ports, no MagSafe cord, the price is $400 more, and while I'd rather have a 4 lb computer instead of a 4.5 lb computer, I just don't care enough to abandon USB ports and the MagSafe adapter. There isn't even a good dongle for attaching a couple of USB 3 drives to the machine, which is bona fide insane.
It seems like my decision is made. What I *don't* understand is why Apple came up with these deliberately crippled machines. They're close to unusable.
Even worse, Apple doesn't even have a good way to attach a couple of USB 3 drives to a Thunderbolt port. What's *wrong* with these people?
a screen. Its ugly and frankly, its function is overrated. The future of computing is through you Apple watch. The Apple watch can do anything the cumbersome deprecated laptop screen used to do.
Actually, my bad, I didn't realize that a Thunderbolt 3 port can operate as a USB C port, so a USB A to USB C adapter is all you need to insert a USB drive. However, on a dual Thunderbolt system, can you get power *and* a USB port on the same Thunderbolt port?
"Phil Schiller Says the MacBook Pro Doesn't Need an SD Card Slot"
Well, Phil Schiller is wrong.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Why not simply use a cable with USB-C to whatever kind of USB connector is on the card reader? The card readers I have all have a cable with USB to something like USB-Micro. You don't have to use an adaptor, and a number of SD card readers already ship with USB-C cables.
The adaptor cable works also of course; it's just that you can make it simpler.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Imagine if this mentality were brought to the housing industry.
I can in fact easily imagine that - it's this. People are not really clamoring for solar and energy efficiency when considering homes, so it's forward thinking to build homes like that people will enjoy later even though it may not move as many sales now.
You would live in a home without panes of glass (deemed optional),
That is more like shipping a laptop without a keyboard, which Apple did not do... instead Apple shipped a laptop that instead of standard windows included some windows with snap glass so you could shutter them electronically.
doorknobs would be replaced with magnetic locks that require a proprietary RFID card to operate.
More like they would be on a network you could use some electronic system to unlock - people love keycards for work, why not home? It would actually go over well.
Flavors and colors you previously knew and love would randomly be replaced with proprietary spices,
And that is called "high end restaurant" which people flock to... only the process of update and replacement is not random, it's carefully considered. USB-C is simply a more forward thinking port to include than the incredibly old USB port we all know today.
Apple's laptop sales figures so for for the update confirm that people are flocking to what Apple is server, no matter how much a bunch of aged bitter programmers whine like three year olds.
You've really made a hash of that argument!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So, since Apple's laptops are now so annoyingly void of useful ports (ethernet, multiple USB 3.0 ports, SD Card, etc.), is it time to just figure out what appropriate high-end Wintel laptops can be made Hackintoshes with full device support?
Keep the Mac OS, dump the Apple hardware?
A camera can't be taking pictures while its processing a wifi transfer. As long as that remains true (and it will for years to come) even the redhot new 802.11ad standard is too damn slow to replace plugging the storage card into the computer for transfers.
If 802.11ac transfers direct from the camera are fast enough for you then you're not a pro and would probably be happier just using an iPhone 7 for your photo needs.
The same excuse for removing the headphone jack, which will be the next sacrifice on the next Macbook Pro revision - mark my words.
Apple fans will do whatever they want, but the roadmap for the company is getting all common universal standards, making a proprietary version that works better with Apple products, and limiting all their hardware to those. TV without competing channels, proprietary wireless technology (it's already done for audio), and the list keeps growing.
I have no doubts that they'd design their own cameras, audio recorders, file formats, storage devices, and all sorts of electronics to lock people further in.
Depending on Apple's next target, it could be limiting AirPort Express to Apple devices, locking up their implementation of USB Type-C to Apple devices, or a bunch of other things... they have all the cards, they play how they want.
The inconvenient and outdated excuse will always work because universal standards always have to sacrifice something in order to work across multiple brands being platform agnostic. The only reason why the new wireless audio standard from Apple can connect so easily to Apple products is just that: because it can only connect to Apple devices. Bluetooth has to go through pairing process because it needs to identify the platform it's connecting to.
I personally want no part in that shit. We've been there. Back a few decades ago, every cellphone had it's own proprietary connector. Every accessory was expensive, worked like crap, and could not talk to other brands. It was far more difficult to find a charger and a pair of headphones that would work with your particular brand of phone. Transfering files from your cellphone to a computer was a hellish process... you needed to install proprietary drivers and software, the whole thing worked like crap, and you never knew how much you could do. Kinda similar to iTunes or iCloud on Windows.
Yes, there are advantages to that type of approach, but there's a reason why universal standards exists, and people will soon be re-learning once again the problems of all these proprietary crap, and removal of choice from costumers to lock them further in a walled garden of sorts.
Nothing like paying a ton of money for the privilege of having to purchase an additional peripheral just to do something as basic as transfer something from an SSD card...
That's an argument? Most cameras have settled on SD cards for memory storage. I'm not sure any current ones or even ones made in the last 5 years still use compact flash. For older cameras, yes, you have to use an adapter, but it makes sense to support the most common standard and SD card slots are so inobtrustive that they hardly mess up the style or occupy signifcant space inside. Most SD cards do not stick half way out (the current slot on my MacBook Pro swallows up 2/3 of it), and there are plenty of slot mechanisms that make it almost flush with the surface (e.g., spring-loaded ones). Apple's choice of slot does stick out more than average, he's right about that, but it doesn't have to be that way. My camera also has 2 SD slots, which means I can keep shooting pictures while one card is out of the camera and transferring files. Yes, wireless camera transfer can work ... but it's not that common a feature and if you want to download GB of images it's still slower and rapidly sucks away camera battery life if you do have it.
You know what does stick out a lot more than an SD card and risks getting bent/stressed as a result? A whole fricking dongle. Oh, and also a power plug thanks to magsafe being abandoned.
"Phil Schiller Says the MacBook Pro Doesn't Need an SD Card Slot"
A better way to say this:
SD Card users don't need a MacBook Pro
20% of Apple's profit comes from marking up memory chips in their hardware. Hence, they make sure to make it difficult for the consumer to add memory to their devices.
Look... the guy can't very well get up there in an interview and tell you that, "Yeah... we kind of suck at designing a new laptop that will truly make pros and power users happy." He's got to try to sell what the company delivered. But don't forget, this is the Apple with Tim Cook at the helm, who recently was quoted as not understanding why people still want to use a computer instead of a tablet/mobile device.
I really think there's a disconnect in the company between what true power-users expect and what Apple's upper management thinks makes for the "best overall product". They're heavily fixated on "style" right now, and not entirely wrongly so. They figured out that stylish hardware sells quite well and for premium prices. There's a real desire out there for computer gear that looks impressive and stands out. (Even in business.... I know the marketing firm I work for absolutely cares about having "thin, lightweight, elegant" laptops to carry around. They opted for Macbook Airs despite the performance hit, back in 2011, and never looked back. There's just too much perceived value in showing up at a client meeting and whipping out a sleek looking portable with the respected Apple logo right on it. It says "successful" and "well off enough to afford these instead of some budget portable", among other things. And when you travel a whole lot? The light weight and small size really does get appreciated.)
But IMO, Steve Jobs used to be pretty good at demanding interesting styling while still expecting certain functionality was there. I didn't always agree with his priorities, and as we can almost all admit -- sometimes his design choices were poor (Apple puck mouse, anyone?). But most of the time, he was in the ballpark, finding a good blend of the two.
Without him to provide guidance (or was that shoving it down their collective throats?) -- I think Apple has become too design/style heavy, without enough folks on the other side demanding raw power and functionality. Like it or not, the Apple corporate culture has NEVER really been about listening to what the users said they wanted. I'm not sure it's ready to start now? Apple believes it was largely successful because it DIDN'T listen to what people asked for. Instead, it came up with things they didn't even think about or realize they wanted until it was shown to them.
I get the sense that the "Apple faithful" expect to be wowed by these types of radical new ideas with new product releases, but the company is slowing things down a bit, doing more evolutionary updates to existing products. So in that sense, they're disappointing people. Evolutionary updates aren't a bad way to approach things either. I mean, once you have proven "winners" -- why mess with success? I definitely think that works well for the iPhones, where people often keep buying them BECAUSE they don't want the hassle of re-learning how to do various things in Android or another OS, and they already invested in a number of iOS apps they want to keep using. But when you go to incremental updates more than "amazing new things", you really have to also start listening more to your users and doing what they ask for.
I can't speak for everyone, but the people I generally see commenting about this stuff online seem to all be saying, "Enough with lighter and thinner as features! Give us more battery life and more ports that don't need dongles and adapters!" And right now, Apple is absolutely ignoring all of that. Perhaps they think it runs counter to their priority of "style"? But IMO, there's little more ugly than a Mac with a bunch of dongles hanging off of it so you can get things hooked up properly to it. They seem to pretend that scenario doesn't really happen..... (and for their upper management who clearly aren't power users, it probably doesn't).
With the design decisions Apple has been making lately, I can only guess that their Reality Distortion Field has experienced some kind of polarity shift and it's now affecting management instead of users.
Takes aged. Can fail. Does not always work. Aggravating.
They've also eliminated the ability for you to expand your storage with a JetDrive or other SD card so that if you need, say 512GB, you need to buy the more expensive configuration from them. For a lot of things, like picture or document storage, you can get away with and SD storage device and avoid the Apple toll. Not anymore.
This is because the market of hipsters who think they are professionals is larger than the market of real professionals...
He is absolutely right about all those common consumer cameras having wireless anyway. Just as Apple is right that consumers won't need Ethernet, or VGA, or Displayport, or HDMI. Consumers don't need to worry about the lack of the escape key and are so used to touchpads that the new function bar will come as second nature to them.
The only thing wrong with the Macbook is that they still haven't fixed that typo on the website. It still says Macbook Pro. I thought they'd notice their mistake and remove the Pro from their site within a day or two because they are normally so quick but they've really dropped the ball on this one. I mean this is the consumer facing website and they can't even get the product title right.
Someone should invent an electronic box that I can attach to the bottom of my Macbook Pro. I would open the box, insert an SD card reader, DVD drive, whatever into the box, close the box, and plug it into a universal port on the laptop. The box would take care of converting to/from USB-C.
A box that contained only ports would be simpler. But a box that contained peripherals would be better, because then I wouldn't have to carry the peripherals separately from the laptop, plug them in, and find a place to put them. (Ok, my laptop's on my lap. I guess I'll put the external DVD drive on the chair next to me.)
When I used my MacBook, there would need to be a way to raise it a couple of inches above the box, to help keep it cool.
All thing needs in a case that attaches to the bottom and provides a shitload of ports like Thunderbolt, USB 3, SD, HDMI and anything else that suits your fancy. Maybe even an extra battery. And then, when you just want maximum mobility and no peripherals, you still have an option of a thinner, lighter laptop then if it had to include all these ports. I think I could live with this.
Sir, you post is brilliant and insightful. Please call Apple and read this to them verbatim. I would give you mod points if I had them.
I got my first ever laptop, an iBook (!), about 10 years ago, it was great to have a laptop with a well-integrated UNIX system (for development) with excellent multilingual support while being able to run Skype, edit videos etc. without too much hassle. Not a pro photographer but I take a fair few photos of family and hobbies so the SD card slot sees a lot of use. Ethernet port too. The optical drive is the only thing that's redundant . OS X is a bit meh but as long as I can launch terminals and applications it's OK. Most of my real work I do on my Linux desktop.
However the 2011 MacBook Pro I'm currently typing this on will be the last one I ever buy. I'm happy to add a bit of extra weight so as not to carry a bag full of expensive loseable dongles around, and no I do not want that fancy thing they're replacing the function key row with. My next laptop will run Linux.
As a paranoid millennial, I don't use the cloud, avoid apple products at all costs, and perform all transfers directly. There's a reason why I have a 64gb micro SD constantly being swapped between my s60 and my Surface 4. It's way faster as well. Nothing beats point to point contact! I understand the need for innovation, but form over function only makes sense in an abstract sense.
Saying that something is cumbersome because it sticks out of the laptop half an inch is an over exaggeration. Having to purchase and plug in an adapter that's a foot long is cumbersome.
Not to mention unsightly.
If Apple deemed a standard-size SD card sticking out of a Macbook Pro as being "cumbersome", why could they not have replaced it with MicroSD?
The price, capacity, and speed of MicroSD is now at a point where they are at-parity with their full-size counterparts. Plus, adapters make it easy to use them in existing standard-size SD applications. The form factor of a MicroSD slot would have fit perfectly alongside the slim USB-C ports. Thus, the Macbook Pro could have retained a built-in high-speed card slot while still achieving anorexic thinness.
It is obvious that Phil Schiller hasn't had the displeasure of using a camera's built-in wireless implementation. Either they require an AP (impossible to use behind a captive portal) or create their own AP (you have to disconnect from the 'net to use it). Bluetooth just doesn't have the bandwidth (25mbps) to transfer many gigs of RAW photos or HD video in an acceptable amount of time.
Even when you plug a camera into a USB port, you'll still be disappointed. Camera manufacturers assume that serious users are going to use a card reader, so their built-in USB implementations will often go cheap with USB 2.0 rather than the faster 3.0. This is especially true for the consumer-grade point & shoots.
So, I believe that Apple's true rationale was hubris and an complete failure to communicate with their customers and understand their needs. Snap up the refurb'd last-gen model while you can.
all you idiots don't know shit. Apple is always right so just buy it already.
HDMI / DVI will take a very long time to die.
Are there even any big at least 8X8 DP matrix switchers?
as for presentations lot's of places are only cabled for vga.
What the hell are you on about, old man? I buy damned near everything through Amazon now and when they make nationwide fresh food available I'll never have to step foot into the shithole known as walmart again. This week I have in fact bought pens and lighters, though I will concede I bought them in three packs and not singles as you mentioned. I also bought razor blades, toilet paper, a gallon of bleach, a display box (full of single packets) of Alka Seltzer and an entire case of beef jerky. It's 2016, damned near 2017. Us young'uns specifically do shit opposite to your generation just as you did to your parents. From my point of view, it's silly to go out period let alone down the street to the corner gas station especially with paranoid people like you running around jerking yer guns off (I read your other posts). You're just being a crotchety old fuck whining about times a changin'.
I was a fan of the Macbook Pro and I've owned several models. I will not be buying this one. They basically took everything that was great about the Macbook Pro and threw it away.
Those are all reasons why it's not as bad to remove the slot, but none of them tells us why it's actually a good idea.
In plenty of non-Apple laptops, the sd card doesn't stick out. So that is a retarded argument.
Where the FUCK do I plug the SD StorEdge from my existing MacBook Air into the new one when it's missing the slot, along with all the other things it's missing?!?
They needed to eliminate the port to get rid of competition for their insanely overpriced memory they like to over-charge their customers for.
Meanwhile, they expect us to pay more and more while offering us less and less with each new generation of CRAP they produce. I guess they have to support their drug habits somehow.
IT should including a Dildo for Tim Cook, a pistol for blacks, a pot for women, and a MacBurger for whales. Did I forget any minority, which is all Apple cares nowadays? I used to be a Mac fan, fuck them.
...just to find out who Phil Schiller is. I wasted my time.
I'm not aware of any particular makes and models of DSLR that offer built-in 802.11ac. But if your existing DSLRs make the files on the CF or SD card available through MTP or mass storage, search the web for pocket nas to find a device that connects to the camera's USB port for wireless file transfer. This one supports only 802.11n though.
DSLR = digital single lens reflex camera
DSRL = Double Stuf Racing League
Once again, Apple has demonstrated its couragiousity. Certainly, there can be only one contender for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
Seriously, though, what happened to the old Apple? The Apple of simplicity and good design? Apple has started to remind me of one of those fashion shows where all the clothing is ridiculously impractical -- where the models can barely make it down the runway and back again. They are designing for their own egos rather than for the users they are selling to.
Problem(s) solved.
https://www.amazon.com/HyperDrive-Through-Charging-MacBook-Chromebook/dp/B01ACMIB5Q?th=1&psc=1
I've had a MBPr for a few years.
I usually have power, headphones, two USB-A, one Display-Port, and one HDMI cord plugged into it. I also use the SD slot about once a week. So I do use a lot of things on it.
But even with all that, I'd much rather just have all those things transition to one Universal port that can be plugged into any slot, and never be "upside-down"
USB-C is an excellent thing that allows all of those things to happen over one port that happens to be small enough to fit on pretty much all computing devices we currently have in use.
And it's faster than all of them.
And you can get or give power over it.
Yes, it's true that while there are a bunch of different cables to connect monitors, mice, headphones, and power, there will be the need for adaptors. But I'd rather have adapters for a few years while all the manufactures move to direct USB-C connections than continue to have to have so many different port types which are all inferior to the USB-C
If no manufacturer takes this step to streamline their products, there won't be enough incentive for others to change. It's a chicken or egg problem.
Apple pushes new technology by putting it in their high end products so that users who are already willing to spend a lot more, are forced to take the pain of paying for the cutting edge while the industry responds and adopts the new and better tech.
Long time Apple supporter, first time contributor. I have an iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5. I still own 5 MBPs - I even still have a functional Apple IIE with joystick and 5 1/4" floppy drives as well as a Mac Classic. I have purchased a lot of software for my Apple Devices. When Apple no longer allowed me to upgrade my RAM and Hard-Drive I was perturbed, but I still bought a new MBP fully maxed out. That said, I have really noticed the lack of a network port. Now removing the SD card slot? I am not a professional photographer, however I work extensively with Chromebooks. I use the SD slot to create recovery images for chromebooks - to "powerwash" them. There are many uses for the SD card slot that wireless and bluetooth just do not fill. This is pretty much the last straw for me. I have already seen used MBPs jump in price by 15%. I will continue to use what I have and maybe buy a few spares, but it makes me sad to see that Apple has lost its status as "The Innovator" in the industry. These new changes are not innovations. Removing functionality is not innovation. Forcing a square peg into a round hole is not innovation.
Well, back to building hackintoshes I guess.
It's the OS that has me sold, the hardware has been nice but I entered the Apple ecosystem by way of building my own computers I guess when my current MacBook pro starts showing signs of age I'll go back that direction. That is unless someone at apple gets fired and a new lineup of decent machines materializes.
640k ought to be enough for everybody, right? And there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home, right?
You customers want certain features. Either you listen or you can go the way of other companies that thought they could tell their customers what they want.
1) multiple cards are for backup reason, not continuous space
Many pro photographers have multiple cameras these days, they may have a mirrorless and a DSLR and/or some compact fixed lens camera... do you think multiple cameras means one card, or more than one card?
Also even with just one camera I know a LOT of photographers that shoot across multiple cards in a day, because one card dying doesn't mean you have lost all your photos.
Apple could invest the effort to design the fastest SD reader,
They would but it wouldn't matter. That would only be for the year the laptop was bought, which will be used for many years after... within a year there could be a better card reader. That happened originally which is why I don't use my built in reader much at all.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
They could have at least provided a Lanyard Loop for the 12 dongles you'll need to carry to make your MacBook Pro usable ...