Is it just me or is it bull....

[DTphonehome]

what I think hurts the USB ports on the Mac laptops is how they designed the screen lid and how it open. The design may look pretty but it end up destoring a ton or space that they could of put some of there ports in the rear of the computer.

Have the set up where they can use the back side of the computer things like vents, a USB or 2, Firewire and power normally all go there. Other things I have seen back there on others is things like the eithornet port sound can (I like that one on the side). Problem is in the design they cannt use th back side of the computer at all to store things like that. I personally would much rather have the power plug into the back of computer than the side.

Also that change would not change the thinkness of the laptop at all while closed. Just it would be a little taller while open because part of the screen is not going to dro down the back side of the laptop.

The TiBooks had almost all the ports on the back, which makes them harder to reach when you're at a desk, and makes the whole computer deeper because the hinge has to float above the ports.

 

[DougTheImpaler]

With Apple coming | THIS CLOSE | to abandoning FireWire (like on the new iPod, for example) I'd like more than 2 USB ports. Say you take your laptop on the road...if you want a mouse, there's one USB port...and if you have a new generation iPod, there goes your other. So now you have to hot-swap. More would prevent that. It's a good idea, I think. I don't see why they don't put 2 ports on each side of the machine.

 

[jordanste]

Exactly.

I guess some people just don't like USB hubs. I sure don't.

In fact, I find it atrocious that my iMac has only 3 USB ports, while they managed to fit four in the new Mac mini.

I should get a wireless keyboard... but then I would lose the two USB ports on my Apple keyboard.


On second thought, I hate USB. I hate my iMac. I hate Apple. I hate computers. I hate technology.

hahaha.

 

[Timepass]

The TiBooks had almost all the ports on the back, which makes them harder to reach when you're at a desk, and makes the whole computer deeper because the hinge has to float above the ports.

Oh I never stated all of them. but a lot of extra ports can be dump to the back. For example on the back side an extra USB port, Firewire 800 port, S-video point (none of which the Macbook currently has) They could easily move back there the power plug, and the DVI out. All the common ones that are used all the time are still on the side. Only ones that where moved from this design change is the DVI and the Power plug.

as for deeper no it doent. instead the hinge is in the monitor. I would say look at some standard PC laptops to understand what I mean. if you notic the hinge does not add anything to the messurements while closed since it part of the space the screen takes up. The only diffence would be while open. It would be a little higher and not as deep since now the screen would be over the behind the back of the laptop.

The only draw back is it makes the back look a little uglier but then again the sides look pretty bad so I dont think it really matters. if they do cut the vent holes back there it look just fine.

 

[DTphonehome]

as for deeper no it doent. instead the hinge is in the monitor. I would say look at some standard PC laptops to understand what I mean. if you notic the hinge does not add anything to the messurements while closed since it part of the space the screen takes up. The only diffence would be while open. It would be a little higher and not as deep since now the screen would be over the behind the back of the laptop.

It's really hard to explain, you have to see them side by side to appreciate it. I also thought it was stupid to move all the ports to the side when they released the 15" AlBook, but when I saw it in the store, it made sense.

 

[Timepass]

It's really hard to explain, you have to see them side by side to appreciate it. I also thought it was stupid to move all the ports to the side when they released the 15" AlBook, but when I saw it in the store, it made sense.

I have and I still though it was a stupid design. I am much more of a fan of fuctionalllity over looks.

Size is fuctional.
The hinge design currently is for looks not funition.

I would rather use that space in the back for more ports. Namely I would like to have at least a 3rd USB, and a firewire port.

A good example of a design I like is from alienware my friend has. It is a moble design so it really pretty light and pretty thin. It demision are about the same as the mac book (it is under 1 in thick). Yeah it lacks a true firewire port but that has 3 usb among several others. below are 2 linka to the port set up I thinking of. The first one the top is .75in think and the other it is .85in thick
http://alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Sentia_m3200/sentia_gallery_ports.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-SENTIA-3200&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT#sub
http://alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Sentia_m3400/sentia_gallery_ports.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-SENTIA-3400&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT#sub

That is what I mean by a changing the design just a little to get a lot more ports added. Yeah the back side not going to look as sexy but honestly I think the extra ports are by far more important to me in design.

 

[mmmcheese]

With Apple coming | THIS CLOSE | to abandoning FireWire (like on the new iPod, for example) I'd like more than 2 USB ports. Say you take your laptop on the road...if you want a mouse, there's one USB port...and if you have a new generation iPod, there goes your other. So now you have to hot-swap. More would prevent that. It's a good idea, I think. I don't see why they don't put 2 ports on each side of the machine.

Apple abandoning Firewire on the Mac is about as likely as Steve Jobs wearing a Hawaiian shirt for a keynote. DV cams use firewire, and as long as they do, the Mac will have firewire.

The iPod lost firewire because it would require a larger design, and extra parts (which add cost to production). If 70% of the iPod market is PC users, and most use USB, then the added expense doesn't make any sense, from Apple's point of view. The majority of PCs in the last 3 years come with USB 2, so the speed difference is minimal anyway. Even if people don't have USB2, it still functions, just much more slowly.

The portal player system-on-a-chip already has a built in USB2 controller, so whether they use it or not, it is there. To add firewire, Apple has to purchase another chip and fit it on the board (which is already quite crammed). And even if the chip only costs $1 per unit, it still costs Apple nearly $1 Million per quarter just to address a minority of the market share. (This story is old, but I used the quarterly numbers from here, and the numbers have only gone up since then. http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/07/14/numbers/index.php)

Anyway, it'll be many years before firewire is retired for something bigger and better (whether it is something else, or firewire800+), and by then, current machines will likely be too "slow" to use.

 

[dejo]

With Apple coming | THIS CLOSE | to abandoning FireWire (like on the new iPod, for example) I'd like more than 2 USB ports. Say you take your laptop on the road...if you want a mouse, there's one USB port...and if you have a new generation iPod, there goes your other. So now you have to hot-swap. More would prevent that. It's a good idea, I think. I don't see why they don't put 2 ports on each side of the machine.

Sounds to me like no hot-swapping is needed but let me count this out slowly to be sure:

2 available USB ports

- 1 (for mouse plugged in)

= 1 available port

- 1 (for iPod plugged in)

= 0 available ports

Seems to me 2 USB ports is sufficient for this example.

 

[Timepass]

Sounds to me like no hot-swapping is needed but let me count this out slowly to be sure:

2 available USB ports

- 1 (for mouse plugged in)

= 1 available port

- 1 (for iPod plugged in)

= 0 available ports

Seems to me 2 USB ports is sufficient for this example.

For me it lets see
1 for mouse
1 for ipod
need at least 1 more for a flash drive (oddly enough I quite offen have 2 plug into my computer but that because they are coming from multiple people who have different things I need for what we are doing. (like I think the record was 3 of us had some part of a power point for something going on that night to run it though the computer).

It just wear we pull the stuff from