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Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

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Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#311

Post by dillondoyle »

BluSyn wrote: post #14

My controversial hot take-- I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those th…

FYI if you didn't know - even if it is widely known I have not known about super basic features hidden behind UI - you can use hot corners to lock screen very quickly. I use bottom right corner.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#312

Post by phkahler »

BlackFingolfin wrote: post #278
p_l wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on site at a client fresh after they started upgrading people to USB-C/thunderbolt MBPs/Airs... Very quickly meetings started with question of "who has a laptop with real HDMI/DisplayPort? We would like to start in 15s instead of 15 minutes of fighting with dongles..."

Anecdotes are not data. I can easily counter yours with mine: I use such a dongle a lot whenever I am presenting on conferences etc, and have been doing so for many years (even before the all-out for USB-C/Thunderbolt on MacBooks, there were no VGA ports, while many projectors still were; now I see a lot of HDMI, but still need the adaptor). And I habe yet to have a single issue caused by that! Sure, damaged VGA cabl…

>> Anecdotes are not data.

Yes they are. The singular form of data is datum, not anecdote.

A personal experience is a data point. A 2nd hand story may well be an anecdote. "I have this and use it for that" is very much data in this case.

Is it enough to make product design decisions? No. Should Apple throw it out as an outlier? I would argue no - to think one person is a special snowflake with a unique problem is a mistake too.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#313

Post by cehrlich »

cpgonzalez wrote: post #8

The article's criticism of the 12-inch MacBook are preposterous. The 2 lb Macbook is the best laptop I've ever owned, by far. Maybe I'm too sensitive about weight, but I feel an incredible difference between 3 lb and 2 lb laptops, especially if its sitting on your lap for extended periods of time. The keyboard and charger have never once been a hindrance to my workflow, as the article makes it out be. I really wish A…

The 12" MacBook was a fantastic computer. I used one from 2016 until a few weeks ago. However many of the (perfectly reasonable) compromises that Apple made to build this tiny 12" ultraportable also ended up being applied to the rest of the product line, where they just don't make much sense. Specifically the 2016-2019 MacBook Pro were really affected by this.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#314

Post by [deleted] »

derefr wrote: post #308
veridies wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cameras are used for multiple professional purposes, including videography and commercial photography. SD cards are also used in devices such as Zoom audio recorders, which I often use for recording music. Especially right now, I'll loan a Zoom and a nice mic to a musician so that they can record tracks for me remotely. They're also the standard boot device for computers like the Raspberry Pi. Basically, they're a pr…

Regarding videography: professional digital video isn’t usually recorded to SD cards (nor was it ever, ever since “professional digital video” became a thing.) 4K RAW was “too big” when that was what videographers worked with; and 8K RAW is “too big” now. It’s not just that you’ll fill up the card before you’re done a single recording session; often an SD card just won’t have the IO bandwidth to persist writes at the…

[deleted]

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#315

Post by bmelton »

dtech wrote: post #111
skohan wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they don't bring back USB-A, but the SD card slot and hdmi have been sorely missed. If you do anything with photography, being able to just plug the card directly into your laptop makes a world of difference. Same thing with walking into any meeting and already knowing you'll be able to plug into a projector if needed, without having to run out and grab a dongle.

Others never use SD and have a USB-C to A dongle permanently plugged in (me). The ideal exact connectors probably differ a lot per person, and at least USB-C+Thunderbolt can support everything. HDMI is probably the least controversial, although there will also be people who never connect external displays.

Agreed. It probably should have occurred to me before, but a lot of the Wacom and Huion drawing tablets with screens use HDMI for display and some kind of USB for input. Obviously that would be better if they were upgraded to thunderbolt models that could do both, but that would of course require another $1000+ upgrade for those users on top of the laptop.

Of course the real question is how much more quickly does thunderbolt get adopted when nobody's Macbooks have HDMI, which is probably one that Apple is asking themselves. They've never shied away from pushing industries forward to accommodate them.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#316

Post by projektfu »

chrisseaton wrote: post #251
waheoo wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit myopic. You can strike a balance. You're argument is the same thing that led to "we should get rid of headphone jacks because we have Bluetooth." Bluetooth is an option, its not the best option, but I wouldn't suggest removing Bluetooth because we have a headphone jack.

> You're argument is the same thing that led to "we should get rid of headphone jacks because we have Bluetooth." I mean... yeah it's the same argument and I agree with both. When we got Bluetooth and decent ear pods... time to get rid of the headphone jack we don't want both, one is redundant. Simpler, cleaner, more uniform is better for these devices in my opinion.

I'm just one data point but thanks to "courage" I hardly ever use headphones on my iPhone anymore. I never have the lightning earpods with me, and it can't use any of the random headphones I had stashed in various useful locations. Bluetooth headphones don't really fit into my life either. Thanks, Jony.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#317

Post by ajdegol »

exhilaration wrote: post #262
varispeed wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use SD cards daily to transfer data from cameras or different devices for further processing. It is handy to be able to just slide it in. I also have a dongle in an other laptop which works fine, but you need to be careful with these - I bought one cheaper dongle and it totally destroyed my SD card upon inserting. Unfortunately there was no backup as there was original material on it. So now I first do backup on a…

The dramatic decline in camera sales has been discussed a few times on HN, here's a random google result: https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/dont-look-at-this-graph-sho... Cameras are rapidly turning into a niche product, it makes no sense for any laptop manufacturer to include an SD card reader at this point.

It's almost like something interesting was happening in early 2020...

The same graph for the rest of the year. http://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/e/dw-202011_e.pdf

Camera sales are lower than previous years. AI pictures look unnerving; but it's definitely the way things will go.

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#319

Post by mrgordon »

chrisseaton wrote: post #242
alex_c wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... no? If there’s a trade off involved then the “best” solution is the one that works for me at the cost of inconveniencing others :) I don’t think you’ll convince people to think otherwise.

> If there’s a trade off involved then the “best” solution is the one that works for me at the cost of inconveniencing others :) But Apple aren't just trying to please you - they're trying to please most people. Most people don't use SD cards or USB-A devices anymore. The few who do can still do it using dongles, but the majority get a better laptop without them.

Do you really believe most people don’t use USB-A devices anymore? Even the iPhone 11 is USB-A and that was the newest until like three months ago lol

Re: Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features

#320

Post by marcodave »

dunmalg wrote: post #277
Terretta wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do hate the extra ports when at the beach. It’s easy enough to find usb-c rubber gaskets to keep sea salt air out, but not for arbitrary ports or slots. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BPNBNJ5/

On the list of most marginally relevant edge cases, I think "beach proof design" ranks pretty high.

"Designed (and used primarily) in California"
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