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Bandaman

Cancelled
Aug 28, 2019
2,005
4,091
@OP

Your data vs Apple's analytics data.

I know where I would put my bet on.
Did Apple’s analytics cause them to remove MagSafe for no reason and then bring it back? Not everything Apple does makes sense, but at least they’re moving in the right direction again.
 
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Vermifuge

macrumors 68020
Mar 7, 2009
2,067
1,589
Did Apple’s analytics cause them to remove MagSafe for no reason and then bring it back? Not everything Apple does makes sense, but at least they’re moving in the right direction again.
Seems like an Ive idea.
 

Micka88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 25, 2019
345
133
Had you not attempted to justify your conclusions with statements such as MagSafe “keeps disconnecting as soon as you move with the laptop”, I might have taken you a bit more seriously.
Yes, it does (seriously). Just now I raised the Macbook a bit (to see if I forgot some paper under it) and mag safe disconnected immediately.
 

Micka88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 25, 2019
345
133
It is not pulling straight that does it but rather the down angle (for example when you lift the laptop) - by that it disconnects very lightly.
 

anthony13

macrumors 65816
Jul 1, 2012
1,055
1,203
The legacy ports dont bother me, at the same time they are of no use to me. Mag Sage is take it or leave it, and I will say I've already run into a moment where I missed the fourth usb-c port. It's a bit funny to me that of all the ports they decided to bring back, they omitted the USB-A port. Of all the old ports, that's the one I would have requested.
 

Micka88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 25, 2019
345
133
The legacy ports dont bother me, at the same time they are of no use to me. Mag Sage is take it or leave it, and I will say I've already run into a moment where I missed the fourth usb-c port. It's a bit funny to me that of all the ports they decided to bring back, they omitted the USB-A port. Of all the old ports, that's the one I would have requested.
Exactly my points.
 

cababah

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,891
504
SF Bay Area, CA
Just took my 14" on its first travel use case and found the abundance of ports extremely useful - I used all USB-C ports to charge my stuff and even could have used a 4th!
 

turbineseaplane

macrumors P6
Mar 19, 2008
17,454
40,303
The "new" design is straight up uglyness

I have to be honest - I felt the same when I saw and touched the new machines.

The shaping of it is like an aluminum "bathtub" or something.

Functional for sure -- just went from 100 to about a 20 on the "sexy" scale.
 

Bandaman

Cancelled
Aug 28, 2019
2,005
4,091
I have to be honest - I felt the same when I saw and touched the new machines.

The shaping of it is like an aluminum "bathtub" or something.

Functional for sure -- just went from 100 to about a 20 on the "sexy" scale.
Yeah it's very weird to me in person. Was very jaunting after using my M1 Air for so long. The screen looks amazing, but I really do not like the aesthetic of everything else. And that notch is worse than I thought it would be.
 
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sb in ak

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2014
73
41
Homer, Alaska
Seems to me like Apple made some reasonable compromises on port selection to serve a variety of creative professionals. Not ever going to completely please everyone. Loss of one USBC and gaining MagSafe, SD, and HDMI to answer all the folks bemoaning their loss seems pretty reasonable. Even if the ports aren’t top spec— super useful to connect to a projector or something in a pinch without dongles. Glad to see Apple is actually listening to folks and prioritizing function over form for once. I think the new laptops look great. Really do seem like a little bit of an homage to the old TiBook.
 
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Pochi Hanaki

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2009
143
54
SD card: it is much quicker and easier to connect the camera via USB-C cable (not speaking of the fact that when you have 2 and more SD cards in the camera you see them all together.


Explain how it’s faster to search for a cable, connect to your camera, connect it to your computer than it is to just pop out an SD card and insert it?
 
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Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
20,396
23,902
Singapore
So if these ports are so important and necessary, why then Apple stopped providing them for many years ? And those who needed them had to buy those highly overpriced and unpractical docks etc. (that you often can't find or lose). Mistake, chaos or a kind of random decisions ? And now when they come back with them, they forget to add the most needed and practical one for most people: USB-A.

My guess is that Apple had hoped that they could push users towards adopting usb-C for everything.
2ac3b97a573feb43092c45e112bc36b5.jpg

Take this setup for example. Samsung has started bundling usb c to c cables with their T5 drives for a few years now. And best of all, you can plug these cables into any port you want, because they are all usb c on one end.

It’s all very clean and streamlined if you can get the right accessories for it, but admittedly, not everyone may be committed enough to go to that extent.
 

Micka88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 25, 2019
345
133
Explain how it’s faster to search for a cable, connect to your camera, connect it to your computer than it is to just pop out an SD card and insert it?
Cable is always around and needs just one second to connect. And it is much faster than opening the port in the camera, removing the card, putting the card in the computer port, removing from the port and putting back to the camera (not speaking of a potential card damage when doing this). When you have 2 SD cards in the camera, for sure the photos/videos you need will be in the other one (while when connecting via cable you see both).

And as I can see, some softwares have difficulties reading and importing directly from the card port (like Capture One - I tried, it was almost impossible, connecting to the camera - it was done immediately)
 

ugru

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2002
518
555
Caput Mundi
This can be done also with the new models.
Generally speaking you do not have 1 TB4/USB-C less, you have the same number of usable ports since 1 was used for charging anyway.

But with the new one now you can have this AND a HDMI projector attached AND still have the SD CARD slot free to be usable....See? more ports are always better...

Only in 1 scenario you will have 1 USB-C more, when you connect a USB-C monitor that also charge the laptop....but in this case you will probably have the laptop connected to a TB4/TB3 dock anyway....
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
20,396
23,902
Singapore
This can be done also with the new models.
Generally speaking you do not have 1 TB4/USB-C less, you have the same number of usable ports since 1 was used for charging anyway.

But with the new one now you can have this AND a HDMI projector attached AND still have the SD CARD slot free to be usable....See? more ports are always better...

Only in 1 scenario you will have 1 USB-C more, when you connect a USB-C monitor that also charge the laptop....but in this case you will probably have the laptop connected to a TB4/TB3 dock anyway....

You are right, but I am also reminded of the iphone which lost its headphone jack a few years ago. In hindsight, here’s where I think Apple was trying to go with the 2016 MBP design.

They wanted a thin and light form factor, all the better to appeal to the mass consumer. This is perhaps where their design team erred - you have a product that professionals rely on for their work, but are being forced to make sacrifices for another segment of users.

The compromises included the butterfly keyboard, the prone-to-breaking display cable, lesser battery and worse thermals. Which were further compounded by Intel evidently not being able to meet their promised roadmap.

My guess is that the move to all usb-c was also in part to enable this thinner form factor. Looking at the side of the MBP, there was clearly no space for a HDMI port, and having 2 ports on each side made for a cleaner symmetrical look.

I also believe that going all-in on USB-C was also intended to force the hand of manufacturers and consumers everywhere. Yes, in the short run, users may be inconvenienced when they find they don’t have a desired adaptor on hand, but perhaps the ideal was that in the long run, everyone is using USB-C for everything, from power to data to display.

That’s perhaps the future of computing that Apple was trying to drive - a thin and light package that can tether to an ultra-powerful rig (eg: a 5k display with attached e-GPU, multiple external drives and Ethernet) when needed.

It’s classic “short term pain for long term gain”. It sounded good on paper, but I guess this is one area where Apple tried to push users in one direction, and they ended up pushing back.
 
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