

Why apple did this, why single port? - girishnayak

Is it really future of laptops. I am scared that this big people are driving unnecessarily our choice.
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MrLeftHand
As all our stuff is held in the cloud - which I dislike very much - less and
less stuff we want to connect to our machine. A few years back it was so
annoying when they started to get rid of optical drives, but now nobody misses
it. Soon we wont give a rats ass about USB as well. Especially on laptops,
because on a desktop you will still need it for a few peripherals. But on a
laptop where everything is built in...

My opinion is, that magsafe was awesome. I hate having everything in the
cloud.

And yes, these guys will do whatever they want. Because 98% of their customer
base don't give a damn and even if they do, they will still buy it, because of
brand loyalty and other reasons.

~~~
ja27
> Soon we wont give a rats ass about USB as well.

The only times I see most people with MacBook Airs have an issue is when they
swap files on thumbdrives or need to download photos. The average (non-techie)
user still isn't tech-savvy enough for Dropbox, AirDrop, etc. to swap files.

Then if they have a DSLR, they still need an SD card reader. (Surprising how
often they don't even know what that is.) Even if they have an iPhone full of
photos, getting them to their MacBook Air is beyond most users. Apple really
should just blow out the amount of included space for iCloud photos and make
sync easier.

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plopper823
By limiting the number of ports they were able to make it even thinner than
the Macbook Air. While it can be disturbing not to have multiple port, you
will be able to charge and connect an HDMI BUT... you will need an (expensive)
adaptator from Apple or a (hopefully cheap) from another manufacturer.

Source: [http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/176001/how-does-
usb...](http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/176001/how-does-usb-c-on-the-
new-macbook-air-retina-also-called-the-macbook-connect-t)

------
27182818284
Because most folks don't use more than a port at a time. Stroll through a
university campus and you'll notice that most folks with a Macbook pro/air
aren't using even 1 port (the charger) as the battery life has gotten good
enough such that you can charge in your dorm and then be good for mixed use
throughout the day.

I remember how much pushback there was about getting rid of the CD drive too,
but the truth was they weren't being used that much anymore anyway.

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frou_dh
It's simple range differentiation. The MacBook/Air can't be allowed to become
so complete that there's lessening reason to spend more on a Pro.

\- They giveth Retina

\- They taketh ports

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davismwfl
I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line, and
that others don't follow suit. That said, given that they made it a "new"
line, I think it may have a place. e.g. for some moderate to high percentage
of people that use a laptop they rarely or never plug anything into it. And
those same people are usually the ones on the go a lot, so this might really
have a good fit for those people (e.g. weight savings and super thin).

For developers it is IMO a horrible fit; however, for traveling sales force it
might be a decent fit, especially with so many Projectors being WiFi and more
businesses now have Airplay available (this one shocked me but it is nice).

I am far from a Apple fan boy, in fact it took me a forever to purchase a
Macbook pro, but I will say it has been one of the nicest pieces of hardware I
have owned. That said, I also still own and love my Toshiba laptop too as it
is a power house and was easy to upgrade and expand.

~~~
runjake
_> I really hope Apple isn't going to make this a trend across their line_

This model is a shot across the bow from Apple, but this model also isn't
intended for programmers and IT professionals. It's meant for grandparents and
a "lay about the house as needed" computer for (currently, rich) people. Apple
differentiates things with a Pro line on purpose.

The original MacBook Air had a serious lack of ports and that didn't really
trend across their line. It did not come with an Ethernet port, which
instilled some major, major outrage. But since then, some of those bowshots
have gained a foothold in the industry.

I have a MacBook Pro, and now it doesn't have a built-in Ethernet jack. But
it's not a big deal at this point. Even as a network engineer, I only pull out
my TBolt Ethernet adapter a couple times a week. The end effect is that I have
less cables to deal with on a daily basis and I'm more mobile. I can plop down
anywhere at work, open the laptop, get on wireless, and get chucked onto my
special VLAN. This is way better than before.

~~~
davismwfl
Yep, I can see your points. My MacBook Pro is slightly older so I still have a
ethernet port, but I can't remember the last time I plugged it in so its
basically a waste of space. So it makes sense they are really looking at
what's used etc.

Where I get nervous is things like USB, if you blow out one port you are ok if
you have 2-3, but if you only have 1 its a bad day. Not that this is some
regular or common occurrence, and typically I use a hub when connecting custom
hardware, but it would suck if something failed and it blew out my only port
on a machine. Hence my reason for hoping they keep the Pro series a little
more flexible.

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contechual
Product Pipelines are tricky.

I feel on the one hand, they could have retained both ports and the retina
screen.

On the same token, you want to increase the legacy of a market driven product
line. Correct me if I'm wrong here but you want to "intentionally" flaw the
product to provide room for improvement on the next generation.

I'm sure the Product Dev. team has an idea on their pipeline as to what the
5th generation should look like and what their prospective specs are for the
6th generation product after the 5th is finally locked down for confirmation.

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saluki
The only positive I can think of is if there is an easy to plug in hub with
thunderbolt/hdmi out along with a few usb-c ports that would allow me to use
one plug when setting up with my external monitor and timemachine drive. Then
I'd be ok with one plug.

It would be nice to have one on each side and avoid having to purchase/use a
hub. And be able to plug in on either side to charge.

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vishnuharidas
Using USB-C wasn't the problem. The real problem is - they put only one port
there. You cannot charge while you are connected to an HDMI projector /
external HDD or a pen-drive.

But the latest Google Chromebook "Pixel" has two USB-C ports on either sides
of the device.

~~~
mcrae
"You cannot charge while you are connected to..."

I hear this repeated a lot but I don't believe it is true. You could either:

1) Connect to a monitor or other USB-C peripheral that supports sending power
down USB-C, or

2) Use an adaptor that exposes HDMI or USB3, and also provides a USB-C
passthrough like:

[http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-
av...](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-
adapter)

I realise that it is inconvenient, but I think its misleading to repeat the
same inaccuracy over and over.

~~~
sjs382
I posted this elsewhere
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9186834](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9186834)),
but I can see this scenario happening very easily:

But if I have external storage plugged in (I'm copying a large file), and I
need to charge the laptop, then I need to disconnect the drive in order to
charge the laptop?

There are countless examples where daisy-chaining these devices becomes very
inconvenient.

~~~
maxerickson
Plugging in before starting large file copies probably doesn't quite get you
to "very inconvenient".

I don't really get the vision behind 1 port, but I don't get the angst either
(not buying things is pretty easy).

~~~
sjs382
Needing to restart a process that takes an hour, just to plug in my device...
Yes, I consider that very inconvenient.

~~~
maxerickson
Why would you ever start the copy without plugging in first? One answer is
that a plug isn't handy, but it starts to become a rare scenario when you want
to copy a huge file, don't have ample battery and plugging in first isn't
convenient.

(I continue to suggest not buying computers with 1 port as a great solution to
the problem)

~~~
sjs382
Is checking your battery status before you start doing something, a usual
occurrence in your usage? It isn't for me, and I'm sure it's something I would
adapt to do, but in the mean time, it's an inconvenience.

For instance, I often work outside and keep my charger at my desk inside.
Sometimes I'll start something, check in on it in 10-15 minutes, see its going
to take a while to complete, then go plug the machine in, inside, if it's
going to take a while.

Sure, it's not something that can't be overcome (I'm not suggesting it is),
but the need to check my battery (and to _remember to check my battery_ )
before doing something is an unnecessary inconvenience.

It's almost like I'm saying how wonderful the magsafe connector is for when I
trip over the cable, and your response is "well, you don't need that—just
don't trip over the cable". Sure, I don't need it, but it's just better with
it.

~~~
maxerickson
Look at my first comment. I objected to you calling something that is less
convenient than you would like "very inconvenient". We don't have to agree
about the "very", it probably isn't worth any more attention from either of
us.

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piratebroadcast
How the fuck am I supposed to use this as a development machine? I use an
external monitor, I charge my iPhone, etc. What the fuck.

~~~
loumf
That's what the MacBook Pro is for. Pros.

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totoroisalive
The less trend makes almost exact models looks different and their cost will
vary a lot

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kakakiki
Off topic, a recent viral video parodying apple's design choices -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZ8ek-6ccc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZ8ek-6ccc)

