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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

#361

Post by bartvk »

smichel17 wrote: post #289
bartvk wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because I'm going to have to replace everything You mean, you'll have to replace the cables. Not the devices themselves, unless you want to be able to use USB-C-to-C cables everywhere.

Actually, I mean that I'm dreading the choice between replacing everything and dealing with a hodgepodge of different cables. Right now, all of the "source" devices (for lack of a better word) have USB-A "out" — laptop, desktop, charging bricks — and all the peripherals — phone, tablet, bluetooth speaker, xbox controller… — have USB-Micro "in". Thus, the only type of usb cable that I need is A->Micro. If/when I repla…

OK yeah, you're right about that.

Some thing that _will_ be easier though, is your laptop. When you get a new one, get one that charges over USB-C. That option was obviously never available with micro-USB.

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

#362

Post by strogonoff »

All the recent buzz about Apple’s supposed MBP updates traces back to a single source, which also has promised Apple AR glasses in 2020 (I bet this is why Bloomberg didn’t feel comfortable putting the name on the rumour).

The idea of additional I/O ports seems questionable, given performance of Thunderbolt 2 and USB 4.0 in latest devices. (Support for SD cards, which has the author so excited, seems especially dubious to me. Sure, there are professionals using SD cards, but just as well there are professionals using CF cards or microSD cards; it’d seem quite un-Apple to try to satisfy everyone.)

Then there’s the obvious stuff (microLED).

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

#363

Post by chrisseaton »

pushrax wrote: post #352
chrisseaton wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

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

#364

Post by Retric »

oblio wrote: post #280
Retric wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C can’t charge nearly as quickly as a high power proprietary charger. In use USB-C needs to supply power for both charging and operating the laptop, so what might take 3 hours to charge with USB-C might take 20 minutes to charge with a dedicated connector. That’s not to say every laptop’s proprietary charger will supply noticeably more than 100W, but many examples exist.

I'd be surprised if a 13" Surface doesn't charge well enough at 100W, though.

13” Surface laptops had up to 90Wh of battery. Batteries get hot when charging due to inefficiency, meaning it takes more than 90Wh to charge a 90Wh battery. Subtract the power demand while in use and your well over an hour to fully charge.

By comparison a quick charge to 80% in under 20 minutes while under full load should be possible assuming sufficient cooling and power. That’s not a huge deal most of the time, but it’s still plenty useful if your sharing a single outlet etc.

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

#365

Post by p_l »

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…

HDMI to VGA conversion, even through displayport connector, is much simpler topic than properly handling USB-C feature negotiation, and as I mentioned in another comment, it was common for USB-C dongles to exhibit problems, especially on macOS (non-Apple branded dongles tended to have better success rate on non-mac systems, Apple-branded dongles were consistently problematic on everything).

Usual case was that with dongles, the display wasn't detected, at all, and having spent quite a bit of time fiddling with it, it didn't seem fixable.

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

#366

Post by speedgoose »

wtallis wrote: post #290
daxfohl wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no problem with the touchpad on my XPS, but I find the touchscreen quite useful. * Have to log kid into Teams classroom in the morning: pick up laptop, tap calendar, tap meeting, tap join, done. Much quicker than dragging a pointer around everywhere. * Cooking dinner, greasy fingertips, want to skip songs: tap Skip with my knuckle. * Looking at pictures, maps, reading a website, etc with family or looking thro…

None of your points seem at all convincing to me. It's like you haven't used a good touchpad. If you say things like "Much quicker than dragging a pointer around everywhere", then your current touchpad sucks . If it ever feels like you're dragging the cursor around, then you're dealing with a touchpad that has inadequate sensitivity and precision that forces the cursor speed to be set unreasonably slow. Likewise for…

The Apple touchpads are good, probably the best, but they are not good enough to replace a touch screen.

Similarly, the old iPod click wheels were good, probably the best at their time, but they have been replaced by a touch screen for the better.

About the touchpad gestures, I prefer gestures on my touch screen personally.

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

#367

Post by megablast »

p_l wrote: post #260
jimnotgym wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since 2015 we have had all this clutter in the meeting rooms with different chargers, adaptors for monitors, projectors etc. In fact every mac user I know has a little hub to run everything! I'm currently using a Thinkpad and I have never felt that I had too many ports! I don't carry any adaptors.

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..."

So it took you 4 hours to connect the projector to the hdmi port on your p51. My MacBook worked in seconds.

See what fun we have when we lie and exaggerate.

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

#368

Post by xirbeosbwo1234 »

csomar wrote: post #357
jimnotgym wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since 2015 we have had all this clutter in the meeting rooms with different chargers, adaptors for monitors, projectors etc. In fact every mac user I know has a little hub to run everything! I'm currently using a Thinkpad and I have never felt that I had too many ports! I don't carry any adaptors.

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 to support Flash at all. Their angry customers then killed Flash for them.

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

#369

Post by pilsetnieks »

JohnBooty wrote: post #340
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..."

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..." I don't understand this. There are plenty of arguments against against going all-in on USB-C and forcing people to buy/carry multiple dongles. I don't like dongles myself! I still use a (pre-USB C) 2015 MacBook Pro, partially for that reason. I g…

Unless you happen to have a cheap 3rd party dongle, use 2.4GHz wifi, and have to have internet access while doing your presentation or whatever. (3rd party dongles often have bad shielding and it interferes with 2.4GHz signal, it's a pretty widespread issue. You cannot really "fight it," though, you need to get another dongle.)
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