Apple's MacBook revival plan: Bring back old features • Hacker News Board

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

#381

Post by yarcob » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

The nice thing about my 2015 Macbook Pro is that it's useful without any accessories. I can just throw it in a bag and walk out the door.

It's got enough battery life that I usually don't need to bring a charger. It has all the ports that I ever need. I can hook it up to a projector with the built in HDMI port, I can put in the SD card from my camera, or I can quickly copy files from someones thumb drive. I don't need to think about bringing the right kind of cables for what I'm planning to do.

Sure, the new Macs are a lot faster, but every Mac released after 2015 would be a downgrade for me.

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

#382

Post by dangerbird2 » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

fastball wrote: post #201

someonehere wrote: post #196

I bought a Microsoft Surface laptop 13” for work to test builds with. That laptop has a headphone port, USB-A, USB-C and a proprietary Microsoft port the power adapter plugs into. Don’t have that adapter handy while traveling? You can still charge it via the USB-C port with another charger. I can see Apple copying another facet of Microsoft’s Surface line. The other being the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro.

That sounds like a terrible idea. Why have a proprietary charge port if it can also charge with USB-C?

Except in practice, you get the worst of both worlds: a proprietary charger that looks like a USB-C. And even if it is proprietary, the Magsafe and similar ports are miles ahead of any USB-C charger in preventing tripping and IO port damage from dogs, children, and clumsy adults walking over the charger (granted, USB-C is a huge improvement over traditional round DC ports)

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

#383

Post by john_alan » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #335

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…

I drank the USB-C kool-aid that Apple proposed but it just completely failed in practice. I now carry multiple different (and incompatible) USB-C cables which is in no way better than the magsafe + usb charger I had before. Three years ago I had one USB-C charging brick with a lightning and USB-A cable and my macbook magsafe brick. Now I carry a USB-C charging brick with a lightning cable for ipad and iphone, my USB-…

You’re doing it wrong. You don’t need all of those cables. Get one that works with all of them.

You also only need one high watt brick not lots of different rated ones.

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

#384

Post by mc10 » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:00 PM UTC

strogonoff wrote: post #376

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…

I have a dock that has all the connectivity options I need (an entirety of which can’t possibly fit in a portable device) while stationary, and it also charges my laptop. While on the go, I can pick dongles for what I need at the time. Most of the time it’s either nothing or a memory card reader. The need for memory card reader becomes increasingly rare, as devices have AirDrop, cameras have Wi-Fi, and for larger fil…

> built-in card reader dies and part of my laptop is dead weight until I send the whole thing in for service.

Is this a frequent occurrence for you? I have a 6 year old MBP and all of the ports still work great. I would naively guess that P(port breaking) << P(dongle breaking).

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

#385

Post by numbsafari » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

xirbeosbwo1234 wrote: post #368

csomar wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this the reason to push for no more ports than the USB-C. After the Macbook become USB-C only, manufacturers started to move to USB-C instead of USB-A and some of them include an adapter. The quicker we move, the better. It'll be a little painful at first, but then we'll have only USB-C for everything.

When I buy a computer, I want something that makes my life better. I do not want something that deliberately makes my life worse to achieve a strategic goal for Apple Computer. We saw the same thing with Flash. Apple didn't like Flash and wanted it dead. They couldn't manage to kill it off through negotiation or outreach or by offering a better alternative, so they instead decided to weaponize the iPhone by refusing…

They did offer something better: HTML5.

Don’t blame Apple for Flash’s demise. Blame Adobe. They allowed it to become the inefficient, security rats nest that it was.

The web is amazingly better now that Flash has been relegated to its best use: historical animations and games.

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

#386

Post by chaostheory » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

I want my glowing Apple logo back. The only thing good about the Touch Bar is fingerprint ID, but I can do without it

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

#387

Post by pushrax » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #363

pushrax wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wireless headphones are an e-waste nightmare (in particular Airpods, designed to never be disassembled). When used with a mobile phone, their convenience is incredibly minor, and for me is more than offset by the need to keep them charged. I agree with getting rid of dying interfaces, but this is a case where it makes way more sense to keep options available. Almost everyone uses audio, and different people have diff…

Does the fact that there's a tiny and cheap dongle not make it all ok? You can keep using whatever devices you want if you've got some special use-case. Just pop the dongle in. For everyone else... we don't have to add it to the devices and we get a better device.

Apple's 3.5mm audio dongles are honestly very well engineered and they're selling them at an uncharacteristically reasonable markup. Great DAC implementation. I use mine all the time.

I just don't believe most people think the device is better without the headphone jack. It's not a "special use-case". Deleting the jack has definitely driven some sales for wireless headphones to people who don't want to use the dongle, rather than a desire to get rid of the wire.

For some reason it's very hard to find a cheap and solid way to charge via Lightning and use wired audio at the same time. My workaround is to charge after I'm done listening. Probably good for reducing phone use, but it can be annoying on occasion.

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

#388

Post by ralphc » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:09 PM UTC

johnwalkr wrote: post #63

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…

Same here. I like the touch bar but unless they find a way to make it feasible on a Bluetooth magic keyboard, I’d rather have no touch bar for consistency. If they are going to kill it they should have killed it with the first M1 MacBooks. I’m also all in on USB-c (even my shaver uses it for charging) and don’t miss MagSafe at all. Charging from either side is surprisingly handy. One charger for everything is a trave…

Yes, that's what I appreciate the most with the USB-C on my 2019 MBP. No matter where I am I can plug the charger in on either side nearest to the wall. Of course with the M1 or later ARM chips charging will be less of an issue.

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

#389

Post by totalZero » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:10 PM UTC

dognotdog wrote: post #191

totalZero wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do anything with photography, you are carrying around a camera, batteries, and lenses anyway. Just buy a 12$ card reader and put it into your camera bag with all your other expensive stuff. It surprises me that people who buy high-dollar computers are so reluctant to buy an extra cable. TB3 natively supports DP at faster speeds than HDMI 2.0b can push. You can buy a TB3 to DP1.4 cable online for $15. Even the…

Maybe consider that it’s more nuanced in real life. That $12 card reader, even expensive USB-3 card readers, are often a lot slower than that builtin one. They get lost and broken, not even considering that when you’re on the go, many photographers will absolutely try to shed as much unnecessary weight as possible, as not many people are built like the hulk or have an entourage of assistants doing the heavy lifting.…

The speed of the SD is far more limiting than the speed of the card reader itself, even for USB2.0.

As for whether I consider the nuances of "real life," I traveled by land across several countries with a DSLR, and took hundreds of photos a week. My DSLR has a CF slot and an SD slot; I used the SD slot for a wifi chip, and saved all photos to CF. My CF reader hasn't gotten lost or broken, and I didn't have "an entourage of assistants doing the heavy lifting" (whatever that means when talking about a card reader).

In real life, you can just use an external card reader. It's not a big limitation, just like it's not a big limitation that laptops these days don't have optical drives.

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

#390

Post by egypturnash » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 6:10 PM UTC

I never needed an SD card until suddenly I needed one. And then there I was with one permanantly lodged in my old Air's SD port, with my music collection on it, because I needed more room on the HD.

I have been enjoying being able to dock my current Pro to the desk setup with one cable that carries power/video/audio/USB but I keep on eyeing my slowly-filling hard drive and worrying about what I'll do when I need more space. I hate carrying external drives around.

A "magsafe USBc" connector would be super awesome, IMHO.