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RetroDan

macrumors regular
Dec 17, 2015
112
150
Michigan
It’s a shame you lose a more useful high speed port to a low speed hdmi port and a card reader. it’s like having a crappy HDMI and card reader dongle permanently plugged in.
Yes, how dare they include the single most common video connector and one of the most important and popular portable media connectors in this device aimed at people who are almost guaranteed to have a real use case for them?
 

Adarna

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Jan 1, 2015
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Yes, how dare they include the single most common video connector and one of the most important and popular portable media connectors in this device aimed at people who are almost guaranteed to have a real use case for them?
People should not look at SDXC as a "memory card" but a replacement of the SuperDrive discs.

Personally I need a CompactFlash or/and CFexpress slot.

Many users who do not have a USB-C/TB or AirPlay projector or TV depend on full sized HDMI even when its just 2.0. Pre-historic places would have displays with VGA.

Pre-2016 MBP 15" had these I/O

SP719-ports_hero.png


Keeping MagSafe, Headphone, HDMI & SDXC slot "as is" this is how I would have done the USB of the 2016 to today's MBP
  • 2016 - one TB3, one TB2 & two USB 3.1 10Gbps (introduce USB-C charger & USB-C to MagSafe cable)
  • 2018 - two TB3, one TB2 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2020 - three TB4 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2022 - three TB4 or more
A gradual transition was how Apple switched from FireWire 400 to FireWire 800. The sudden switch to USB-C ports in 2016 was too jarring. By 2022 I'd be hard pressed to find any new Mac owner who wouldn't have upgraded away from USB-A due to wear & tear or changed use case.
 
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smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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Silicon Valley
I don’t like the fact that it’s proprietary and that it’s limited to charging only. It was a great port back in the day, but I don’t see why it should exist today when we have USB-C and universal power delivery. Id rather have a fourth universal port. As to quick release, USB-C dislodges just as quickly in my experience…

That bit about USB-C dislodging depends. One of my 3 USB-C Macs was a 2016 model that had ports that would dislodge easily because the cables were loose. They were a little too loose so I expected it wasn't supposed to be as loose as it was, but when I sent it in to Apple for a battery replacement under AppleCare, they elected to replace the ports too and they had a lot of snap and holding power when my 2016 came back.

I've since had a MBA and 2018 MBP with USB-C ports and both of those have port tension similar to my repaired 2016. On my original 2016, tripping on the cord would have been no big deal. The same can't be said for the others.

That said, I'm on the fence about the return of MagSafe myself. If it was done for accident prevention then I can see the utility, but wish there could have been a way to work that into USB-C charging. If it was done for fast charging, I'm dubious about that feature as I'd be concerned about degrading the battery by fast charging it.
 

smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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People should not look at SDXC as a "memory card" but a replacement of the SuperDrive discs.

I like your take on the SD Card slot a lot. It makes a lot of sense.

I'm favorable about the return of the SD card slot, but am short of being excited about it because I'll still need to use an external SD card reader if I want the fastest transfers possible. SD cards and readers will continue to get faster and are is itself already being left behind by much faster card formats as you mentioned.

On the other hand, when viewed as a fallback option for moving software or media on and off the laptop when there's no network connection? That's a lot more intriguing to me. If I want to wipe the machine and install Linux on it someday, that SD card slot will make my task a lot easier.
 
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Marshall73

macrumors 68030
Apr 20, 2015
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Yes, how dare they include the single most common video connector and one of the most important and popular portable media connectors in this device aimed at people who are almost guaranteed to have a real use case for them?
Not used an hdmi port in years apart from games consoles and tv stuff. All of our kit has been display port for years now. Same with our camera kit, usb c link on them for data transfer. I’m guessing we could just dust off a 5 bucks hdmi 2.0 dongle if we ever needed one But we’d rather use a usb c hdmi 2.1 adaptor.
 
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smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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Not used an hdmi port in years apart from games consoles and tv stuff. All of our kit has been display port for years now. Same with our camera kit, usb c link on them for data transfer. I’m guessing we could just off a 5 bucks hdmi 2.0 dongle if we ever needed one.

I still carry around a multi-port video dongle because I've walked into more than one meeting room that still had a VGA projector! I can understand people with HDMI video devices being pleased, but for people like me, adding an HDMI port doesn't change anything because it only checks one of four boxes I need checked to solve my video concerns.
 
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Marshall73

macrumors 68030
Apr 20, 2015
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I still carry around a multi-port video dongle because I've walked into more than one meeting room that still had a VGA projector! I can understand people with HDMI video devices being pleased, but for people like me, adding and HDMI port doesn't change anything because it only checks one of four boxes I need checked to solve my video concerns.
Yup, so many meeting rooms still use old wall plates hooked up with VGA even though they have replaced their old displays or projectors.
 

Marshall73

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Apr 20, 2015
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i think the return of MagSafe is because Apple realised that they were losing money on replacement chargers. If the USB C charging cable frayed you could replace it with a higher quality braided cable for a few bucks without replacing the charger for $99. So now apple can sell you a MagSafe cable for 50 bucks to replace your frayed one. They even switched back to the straight connector which was notorious for fraying vs the right angled one.
 
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Adarna

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Jan 1, 2015
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I like your take on the SD Card slot a lot. It makes a lot of sense.

I'm favorable about the return of the SD card slot, but am short of being excited about it because I'll still need to use an external SD card reader if I want the fastest transfers possible. SD cards and readers will continue to get faster and are is itself already being left behind by much faster card formats as you mentioned.

On the other hand, when viewed as a fallback option for moving software or media on and off the laptop when there's no network connection? That's a lot more intriguing to me. If I want to wipe the machine and install Linux on it someday, that SD card slot will make my task a lot easier.
Are you using a SD UHS-III or SD Express card? Apple's using the SD UHS-II spec for that slot.

Just like the Face ID camera it may not been used in 2021 because of the chip shortage or cost.

These are the SuperDrive disc replacements for the past & current I/O
  • SDXC memory cards
  • USB 3.1 flash drives & external SSDs
  • TB external SSDs
  • FireWire external HDDs
For the iMac 27"/iMac Pro replacements I want a replication & update for these I/O
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • SD Express card slot (but I really rather have CompactFlash or/and CFexpress slot)
  • four USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • four TB4 40Gbps
  • 10Gbps Ethernet
31242d052ff8a05cdfe65288d3423000.png
 
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smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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i think the return of MagSafe is because Apple realised that they were losing money on replacement chargers. If the USB C charging cable frayed you could replace it with a higher quality braided cable for a few bucks without replacing the charger for $99.

The new MagSafe is USB-C to MagSafe so you should still be able to use a third party charger. It's the cable that's different.
 
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smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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Are you using a SD UHS-III or SD Express card? Apple's using the SD UHS-II spec for that slot.

No, I just need UHS-II, but I've seen speed tests of common card readers having very poorly sustained performance in comparison to high end card readers that are far more expensive.

I've contemplated getting one of those high end readers, but will now wait and see how the onboard reader on the 16" M1 Max performs.
 

vladi

macrumors 65816
Jan 30, 2010
1,008
617
Laptop should be a laptop not a living room or office décor piece with a dock attached to it because it lacks I/O. MBPs always had thermal issues due to their style over substance designs. Unless you are cross platform user you would never understand how throttled everything gets on MBP and how over the time everything inside falls apart pretty much due to dust collection.
 

Adarna

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No, I just need UHS-II, but I've seen speed tests of common card readers having very poorly sustained performance in comparison to high end card readers that are far more expensive.

I've contemplated getting one of those high end readers, but will now wait and see how the onboard reader on the 16" M1 Max performs.
Odds are its the full implementation of UHS-II as its sharing the same bus as TB4
 
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Adarna

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Laptop should be a laptop not a living room or office décor piece with a dock attached to it because it lacks I/O. MBPs always had thermal issues due to their style over substance designs. Unless you are cross platform user you would never understand how throttled everything gets on MBP and how over the time everything inside falls apart pretty much due to dust collection.
Apple provided thermal requirements to vendors like Intel. Intel could not deliver because they have all PC OEMs under their roof once Apple did the PowerPC to Intel transition.

Being a monopoly removed any incentive to spend serious R&D money until Apple left last year.

As early as 2017 Apple was already spending R&D money into tech to transition from Intel to Apple Silicon. Back then people were comparing the performance per watt of the Apple's A11 Bionic chip found in 2017 iPhone 8 and X to those of the Intel chips found in a 2017 MacBook Pro.

Worldwide Apple ships more iPhones than all PCs shipped globally year over year.

So Apple's R&D cost to develop the M1, M1 Pro & M1 Max has already been largely paid for by iPhone money. They just had to spend a tad more extra for specific Mac use case.
 

Adarna

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The new MagSafe is USB-C to MagSafe so you should still be able to use a third party charger. It's the cable that's different.
Imagine if they created that in 2016 in conjunction with the 2016 MBP? A lot of MagSafe owners would be smooching Tim Cook.

I'd be one of them as I have 4 MagSafe chargers with frayed cables.
 
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smirking

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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Imagine if they created that in 2016 in conjunction with the 2016 MBP? A lot of MagSafe owners would be smooching Tim Cook.

I'd be one of them as I have 4 MagSafe chargers with frayed cables.

Yeah, I'd have loved having MagSafe in 2016. Someone a lot smarter about hardware than me explained me to me back then that they may have had challenges engineering MagSafe charging alongside USB-C charging with their new design and opted to drop MagSafe. I ended up not really missing it as my ports on that 2016 were so loose the power came out all the time.
 

Adarna

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Yeah, I'd have loved having MagSafe in 2016. Someone a lot smarter about hardware than me explained me to me back then that they may have had challenges engineering MagSafe charging alongside USB-C charging with their new design and opted to drop MagSafe. I ended up not really missing it as my ports on that 2016 were so loose the power came out all the time.
I have a 2011 MBP 13" & 2012 iMac 27".

If I had to buy a Mac after that I'd probably have opted for the 2015 MBP 15" then wait for the 2021 MBP 16".

As my use case hardly changed I would opt to buy a new Mac after Security Updates stops.

So that would be the 2021 MBP 16" & 2022 iMac 27" or largest screen.

These are how long Apple devices receives Security Updates
  • Up to 10 years with Macs
  • Up to 8 years with iPads
  • Up to 8 years with iPhones
  • Up to 4 years with Watches
That's why I would have liked to get my iPad on a 36 month or longer amortization with my carrier.

If they offered 120 months for Macs & 96 months for iPads I'd go with that.

If I had the foresight to buy a 32GB/64GB instead of 16GB iPad 2 I'd have kept it for over 8 years before upgrading before its 9th year.
 
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Sophisticatednut

macrumors 68030
May 2, 2021
2,635
2,559
Scandinavia
People should not look at SDXC as a "memory card" but a replacement of the SuperDrive discs.

Personally I need a CompactFlash or/and CFexpress slot.

Many users who do not have a USB-C/TB or AirPlay projector or TV depend on full sized HDMI even when its just 2.0. Pre-historic places would have displays with VGA.

Pre-2016 MBP 15" had these I/O

SP719-ports_hero.png


Keeping MagSafe, Headphone, HDMI & SDXC slot "as is" this is how I would have done the USB of the 2016 to today's MBP
  • 2016 - one TB3, one TB2 & two USB 3.1 10Gbps (introduce USB-C charger & USB-C to MagSafe cable)
  • 2019 - two TB3, one TB2 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2021 - three TB4 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2024 - three TB4
A gradual transition was how Apple switched from FireWire 400 to FireWire 800. The suddent switch to USB-C ports in 2016 was too jarring.
Nah they should have released with only one kind of port not multiple versions.
  • 2016 should have three TB3 ports, one SDXC port, HDMI 2.0b and USB-C to MagSafe 3.
  • 2019 three TB3 ports, CFexpress typ B slot, HDMI 2.1
  • 2021 three TB4 ports, CFexpress typ B, HDMI 2.1
  • 2024 four TB4 ports, CFexpress typ B, HDMI 2.X version
No need to have dedicated USB port as TB3 already supports USB 3.1 and usb 2. And TB4 is USB 4.0
 

ponzicoinbro

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Aug 5, 2021
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I don’t think what we saw last few years was Ives vision. He made lots of fully featured machines in his time.

It was generally a race between all companies who can make the slimmest machines.

Now companies realizing that was a dumb race and x86 hot chips made it worse.

It’s better for hardware design to be practical and solid.
 

Adarna

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Nah they should have released with only one kind of port not multiple versions.
  • 2016 should have three TB3 ports, one SDXC port, HDMI 2.0b and USB-C to MagSafe 3.
  • 2019 three TB3 ports, CFexpress typ B slot, HDMI 2.1
  • 2021 three TB4 ports, CFexpress typ B, HDMI 2.1
  • 2024 four TB4 ports, CFexpress typ B, HDMI 2.X version
No need to have dedicated USB port as TB3 already supports USB 3.1 and usb 2. And TB4 is USB 4.0
I love your idea but even I acknowledge that SDXC is the most popular memory card in an already shrinking camera market largely thanks to the iPhone and Android.

For those wondering I changed my timeline to every 2 years rather than every 3 years.
  • 2016 - one TB3, one TB2 & two USB 3.1 10Gbps (introduce USB-C charger & USB-C to MagSafe cable)
  • 2018 - two TB3, one TB2 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2020 - three TB4 & one USB 3.1 10Gbps
  • 2022 - three TB4 or more
So 6 years to phase in an all TB4/USB-C MBP.
 
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childu

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 27, 2011
62
87
I added a new comparison photo to the original post between the previous MacBook Pro and the new one. What a difference, it got bulky:(
 
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matrix07

macrumors G3
Jun 24, 2010
8,226
4,895
Guilty, arrest me if this is a crime. Technology gets thinner and lighter with time, we’re going back
Yes, and looks how it did to professional Mac laptop that is thin. I’m always thinking human has an ability to learn but clearly not everyone.
 
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