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M1 Max MBP has all these unnecessary ports….WTF?!
- Thread starter AdonisSMU
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I feel like this is a supply chain related. Plenty of old parts, just not new.
Not a bad thing.. still looks like a good computer.
Not a bad thing.. still looks like a good computer.
So you remember your cameras, your laptop, but you forget your card reader? And you plug your CF card into the SD reader on the new MacBooks? I don’t really understand what you’re getting at.
By the way, aside the fact I am actually a professional photographer of many years, I’m not judging the needs of a whole group, rather I understand the needs of my particular industry. Most of the top end professional Canon and Nikon cameras (by FAR the two most used pro camera brands), use CF cards. It’s just a simple fact.
Totally agree. “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all the time.“
It's not the past when those ports are the de facto ports for modern presentation displays. Anyone presenting on a modern display (not talking about monitors) will be connecting via HDMI.
I'm not interested in buying something extra, having to transport it, remembering to pack it, and remembering not to leave it when for 20 years all I've needed was my laptop alone. Clearly, the world is not ready for 100% USB-C.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
Apple computers account for a fraction of the computer market. None of the connectors on the current Mac are weird or obscure. They're all still heavily in use.
No. People held off buying and held on to their well-ported Macs. Others that needed the performance gains had no choice but to deal with the stupid TouchBar, the awful keyboards, the removal and return of the ESC key, and dongle-hell.
Now the shoe is on the other foot, but you lose nothing (since you can charge with MagSafe).
Not seeing how having but not needing impacts you in any way other than triggering OCD.
Yes. Prematurely.
Yes. Laptops need to interface with existing infrastructure. Whether Apple fans like it or not, HDMI, SD, and even USB-A are still in HEAVY use. I'll pull a percentage number out of my rear (as you did) and say that 99% of Pros will welcome the changes. The tech news outlets seem to be reporting the same. Call it fake news if you like, as is the trend nowadays.
Thank God. Being flexible and adaptable is better than being rigid and resistant to change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrabook
Yeah I know. Hence USB C -> HDMI. HDMI will probably never go away, but it will be enhanced. If the current form factor changes, then the outdated HDMI port on the computer, will need a dongle. If the form factor doesn't change, then the current USB C is more than enough to utilize any future HDMI updates while a singular outdated port cannot.
Since when does technological advances wait for anyone to be ready? I don't get it. By your logic, HDMI shouldn't have been introduced because the world was comfortable with VGA.
It seems that Apple did the bare minimum to silence its critics. It wasn't even worth Apple's attention to make sure the ports were up to date because Apple knows that these ports are not the answer to an advancing world. Why would Apple pay more in licensing fees for something that will only support the past, never the future? Now I wish Apple will apply this logic to the iPhone's ports too. Lightning is definitely outdated. The world needs conformity in order to reduce waste and sustainability. Different ports should utilize the same form factor.
Anyways, if you want to live in the past, it's your life. I don't really care to argue any more about ports.
Apple al
Go and use it.
Apple already has a machine that was made for people like you.
Go and use it.
YT tests shows 250 transfer that is on par with expensive readers.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
Useless only if you built your work/personal infrastructure on or after 2016.
Ethernet and USB-A, along with HDMI and SD, are still heavily in use EVERYWHERE, except in your futuristic microcosm.
Still not understanding the rationale against having more ports on a machine. And a "Pro" branded one at that.
Can someone explain the downside?
No, you plug the SD card where you are keeping the backups. Most of the top-end Canon and Nikon cameras are not CF only, most are CF + SD, and most people with CF+SD cameras backup the CF photos into the SD card while shooting. So if you forget your card readers, you can still read the ones in the SD slot. And if you carry lower-end cameras as secondary cameras you're likely to be using SDs there too. Or if you're a vlogger, who typically carry lighter cameras with SD cards.
Really, I genuinely think it would be hard to find a photographer who wouldn't make use of a SD card reader because he only shoots on CF cards and CF cards alone.
These garbage views of yours are the reason we can’t have nice things.
Or she, but that’s not the point.
The point is that it’s a waste of space for the extremely rare use case when it comes to professional photographers, yet it’s championed by non professional photographers as a ‘necessary’ addition for professional photographers.
It’s not.
Every professional photographer has several kit bags, more often than not ‘ready to go’.
If you need to empty cards in the field then you don’t forget your card reader anymore than you forget a lens, or indeed, your laptop.
Or we didn't upgrade because the MacBook Pros sucked from 2016 until until this redesign.
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How in the next 3-5 years (the average timeframe these laptops will be widely used) is HDMI likely to be replaced? There may be new revisions but they have always been explicitly backwards compatible, so just as HDMI 1.4 devices can output to HDMI 2.0 displays I would expect HDMI 2.0 devices will output to HDMI 3.0 (or whatever follows) displays and will still do 4K 60Hz. Maybe by the end of that lifespan 8K displays might be frequent enough to even think about. If you need to output a higher refresh rate now, then use a thunderbolt adapter, but don’t discount the value that being able to plug a ubiquitous HDMI cable in without an adapter to drive up to 4K 60Hz is for many, particularly for professionals. As for form factor changes, maybe one day, but there are so many HDMI devices that a new form factor would need something to justify the cost of change, and given 8K60 is with the current form factor and has barely any adoption yet you will be waiting a long time.
HDMI as a digital connection offered something VGA did not, and VGA had reached its limits, DVI was the alternative but it never had the ubiquity that HDMI has now.
Products have to exist not only for the future but the here and now. In the here and now USB-A is still the most common connection on PC’s (I wish they had included one, but I will live), SD is as close to a standard aa there is for camera media and HDMI is the near ubiquitous standard for displays.
If you never use the HDMI port or the SD card reader fine, but many people will and you lose nothing by them being there. Ironically if they did support HDMI 2.1 that would mean needing 48Gbps of bandwidth so that could mean taking IO bandwidth from elsewhere (so actually losing something).
If it’s about aesthetics they still make a small and thin laptop, and next year I am sure we will see a new version of that.
No -- "they" haven't necessarily
Not everyone buys new computers constantly.
A lot of people have been still using 2015 and older MacBooks.
The last part about a larger Air is so so important.
Let people choose thin and light or larger and port filled and powerful to the Max..
But please Apple - PLEASE - don't tie it to screen space like you've always mistakenly done.
Lots of people just want a larger screen, but have no use or desire for most other aspects of the large "Pro" laptops.
Please finally make a larger MacBook Air!
DSLRs will be obsolete before SD cards.
Or she, of course
I wasn't implying otherwise, sorry if it seemed that way.We'll have to agree to disagree here. I don't think using SD cards is an extremely rare use case for professional photographers. But I have no other ways to prove it to you other than anecdotal evidence and pointing at the fact that Apple seems to agree, or they wouldn't have included the SD card slot in the first place.
Maybe it's just that we don't agree on the definition of what a professional photographer is. I know people who do photography for a living, but they don't have several kit bags ready to go. They have one, and two cameras at best, because that's what they can afford for their work.
I've also visited —for a totally unrelated reason— a shooting studio of a major fashion brand. They probably weren't using SD cards on their day to day work, as there were only Canon 1Ds there, and being on a studio, I don't think they needed to backup CF on-camera. But I think there's a wide range of photographers in between, which I would call professional photographers too. And, ultimately, what I call them is irrelevant: Apple has to target the first group as much as the second, or they wouldn't sell many MacBooks to photographers.
I dont personally use SD card's but I know a lot of photographers and people in other industry's too. HDMI may seem unnecessary but it is a big relief to have that built in in my line of work. It doesn't matter that its not HDMI 2.1, I just need it last minute to plug into projectors and TV's for presentations.
But to be honest the port I wanted back most was USB-A, just one. Because the fact is, there's just so many people that still hand me USB-A memory sticks, and further, somehow Logitech STILL ships mice with USB-A receivers! so that's a constant need for an adapter for me as I use the MX Master and find the built in bluetooth spotty at best.
But to be honest the port I wanted back most was USB-A, just one. Because the fact is, there's just so many people that still hand me USB-A memory sticks, and further, somehow Logitech STILL ships mice with USB-A receivers! so that's a constant need for an adapter for me as I use the MX Master and find the built in bluetooth spotty at best.
No... HDMI has continued to advance, and the companies that use displays continue to use HDMI because it can handle everything they need as their display technology advances. Since that connector is used for these advanced displays and these machine for many "Pros" will often be connected to these these displays, it makes sense to include the port for them. Clearly Apple agrees. For presenting, we are a long way from 8K screens being a mainstay. And since Apple already has engineered the port into the chassis, there's no reason why HDMI 2.1 won't show up in some future refresh when being able to output that much data via HDMI is necessary.
USB-C only was Apple's past in predicting the future. Luckily they came to their senses and realized the current and near future is better with direct HDMI connectivity. And for that, I gave them my money. When the time comes to put HDMI to bed like it came for VGA and DVI, I'll be there and ready to go. Until that time, give me the ports I need to do what I need to do without the added stress, space, and expense of dongles. I reject your dongle hell.
I didn’t mean that, although it’s rarer than you imagine. I’m referring to needing a built in SD card reader.
Probably ? there are many types. There are professional Instagram photographers that only use an iPhone. Professional in that that’s how they earn a living. It’s a wide definition these days.
Thats weird. I have two Logitech MX mice, one with an A adapter and the other without; the latter I got because the M1s only hade two ports which I didn't want to occupy just for the mouse. I haven't noticed any BT issues with non-adapter mouse. Regardless, if you are already using an adapter, can't you just attach a USB-C/A converter and just leave it connected.
I've been waiting 6 years for Apple to bring back the ports.