
Apple's new MacBook Pro might ditch regular USB ports - samsolomon
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13314972/apple-macbook-pro-late-2016-rumors-no-usb-ports
======
UVB-76
Is anyone else getting serious connector fatigue?

For so long, USB 2.0 with a Type-A connector was the standard. You saw Type-B
connectors on printer cables, but the other end always had the reassuring
Type-A connector.

Then along came USB 3.0, and USB 3.1, which have the same receptacle as 2.0,
but aren't necessarily interchangeable. USB 3.x adoption is still lacklustre,
so you now have a bunch of devices with different versions, and new systems
come with a mixture of 2.0 and 3.0 ports. Why? Isn't 3.0 backwards compatible,
and better?

Now we have USB Type-C, which doesn't bear any resemblance to anything which
came before.

USB Type-C makes sense because it's smaller, but we already have a mind-
boggling array of smaller USB connectors for mobile devices, like USB Mini-A
and Mini-B (What's the difference? Did they elope to create Mini-AB?). Then
Micro-A and Micro-B, which sound a lot like the Mini variants, but aren't.
What the hell is Micro-B SuperSpeed, and why is it actually two ports?

While all this has been going on, three versions of Thunderbolt have emerged.
Thunderbolt v1 and v2 inexplicably use a Mini DisplayPort connector.
Thunderbolt v3 uses a USB Type-C connector, but isn't the same as USB Type-C.
Or is it?

Meanwhile, the general population are still furious that Lightning came along
and rendered half their iPod/iPhone/iPad accessories redundant.

I wouldn't mind Apple dropping USB Type-A ports in favor of Type-C for the new
MacBook Pro, but I'd like some kind of reassurance that USB Type-C is going to
last more than a couple of years...

~~~
laurentdc
> I'd like some kind of reassurance that USB Type-C is going to last more than
> a couple of years...

heh [https://xkcd.com/927/](https://xkcd.com/927/)

It's unrealistic to expect a single connector/cable/pinout to last for a very
long time. Throughput requirements increase, size constraints do too,
mechanical designs improve, etc.

Even Firewire or SCSI looked like "the last interface you'll ever need" 15
years ago.

~~~
_9MOTHER9HORSE
My IO requirements haven't changed that dramatically in the past six years,
and are still well served by a Mid-2010 MacBook Pro.

I've got MagSafe for power, Mini DisplayPort for video out, Mini TOSLINK for
audio out, and USB 2.0 for everything else. There's a gigabit Ethernet port if
I want it, but otherwise 802.11n works just fine.

I'd like faster data transfer (not that any of my peripherals are USB C
compatible yet), but otherwise I don't really understand what the massive
fragmentation of connector standards does for me.

------
cuddlybacon
Finally. I have been waiting for this. I'm not being sarcastic.

I have a MBP at work and at home. When they are on the desk, both have a 7
things plugged into them. When I lift it up, I have to unplug 7 things. When I
put it down, I have to plug all 7 things back in. Being able to plug those all
into a single dongle which I can then plug into the computer. Besides
convenience, it would also make cable management easier.

That said, I hope the pro model has a least two and that it keeps an HDMI
port.

~~~
laurentdc
How about purchasing a dock?

On my ThinkPad a single cable delivers power, video, USB, Ethernet...

I'm sure Apple has identical solutions, I've seen many third party ones for
the 12" MacBook.

~~~
drivingmenuts
I finally went out and bought a 10-port powered USB dock.

Which doesn't work with my USB Midi keyboard.

Well, shit. Now what?

~~~
jrnichols
> Well, shit. Now what?

Another dongle for you!

------
vonklaus
FINALLY. I have been waiting for this. Once they lock down all of the hardware
ports they should take a hard look at the keyboard. Do users even need to be
able to enter in text input or control their own computers? The evolution of
the mac seems to confirm the persistent rumor apple is working on a tv. If
they strip out virtually any ability for a user to interact with the device,
it becomes a one-way broadcast medium, e.g. a TV. I know I can't wait, I just
picked up $300.00 headphones that ensure I can listen to the apple certified
audio for _at least_ two hours at a time. what a time to be alive.

<sarcasm>

~~~
celias
[http://web.mit.edu/redelson/www/media/stupida.pdf](http://web.mit.edu/redelson/www/media/stupida.pdf)

------
gjolund
Slowly making laptops less useful.

Why not discontinue macbooks altogether and just sell iPads?

Oh wait, the same people buy both.

If you are still paying retail for macbooks you are an idiot.

~~~
alfredxing
I can't imagine how one can code productively on an iPad - the environment and
ecosystem just isn't there. I'm sure it's just as good, or better, at things
like multimedia consumption and entertainment, but a lot of things still
require the use of a 'desktop' environment.

~~~
gjolund
Does an overpriced laptop with outdated hardware provide a 'desktop'
environment.

Yes.

Are you wasting your money on branding when you could just install linux on
any old computer and be fine.

Yes.

~~~
laurentdc
> Are you wasting your money on branding when you could just install linux on
> any old computer and be fine.

Many developers just don't want to put up with the hassle of installing and
maintaining a Linux environment. Just yesterday I've helped a friend
installing Arch on a ThinkPad T440s and we almost gave up due to libinput bugs
that made the trackpad pretty much unusable (fixed by a few hours of trial and
error and then going back to evdev). We still have to get the Intel wifi to
work decently. Apparently some glitch with power management doesn't let it
achieve full throughput.

OS X (and even a clean Windows 10 install in most cases) pretty much work out
of the box and let you focus on actual tasks.

~~~
gjolund
If you are willing to trade a couple thousand dollars for a few hours of work
I'm not going to stop you.

~~~
Haven_Monahan
A few hours of work...on the first day of use.

How many more hours of engrossing touchpad driver jiggerypokery will any
person need to do over the course of ownership before the cost of their wasted
time adds up to the cost of a macbook?

~~~
gjolund
Ubuntu takes 20 mins to install, and I have yet to run into driver issues on
any of the 5 machines in my home.

I have worked at several VFX studios that used Ubuntu for their workstations.
250+ machines, an absolute joy to manage.

I'm sorry you guys have so much trouble, but maybe you should read the docs?

