What ports should make a return to the 2021 Macbook Pro?

[Pilot Jones]

Very niche, most pro cameras can sync wirelessly.

Maybe so...but why would any working professional who values their time do that?

As someone who professionally works with 4K footage & RAW photos daily, I can promise you that I do not have the patience to spend hours wirelessly transmitting Gigabytes of videos & photos...a process that takes just minutes if you can simply plug the damn thing into a slot.

it’s the MacBook Pro. It may not completely take away the necessary functionality, but removing the SD card slot does nothing but hinder & annoy the Pros who intend to use it in their daily lives.

 

[leman]

It was a problem 4 years ago when I bought the MBP with USB C, it still is today. It's insane in my opinion that you have no way to multiply your USB C ports easily.

It’s a demand and supply question. As more accessories start using USB-C, more hubs will appear on the market.

But USB-A is dead. It’s not compatible with newer USB standard. It is a slow and agonizing death but it’s a done deal.

 

[JeepGuy]

My most wanted port is the SD slot. Never been a fan of dongles, you can lose them, you can forget them.

 

[cupcakes2000]

USB-A can't go away, simply because it's impossible to find a USB-C Hub that simply multiply your USB-C ports, like USB-A can easily.

If you have a USB-C to Ethernet adapter, a USB-C External Drive and a USB-C Mouse, it's literally impossible to use those 3 at the same time on your 2 USB-C port MacBook Air/Pro.

But you can, with the right dongle, use those 3 + charging if they all are USB-A accessories instead.

It was a problem 4 years ago when I bought the MBP with USB C, it still is today. It's insane in my opinion that you have no way to multiply your USB C ports easily.

You can buy the usb a hub you crave, and replace the cable with a usba - usbc cable. EDIT- I may have misread the question, I thought you wanted a usbc compatible hub that has a multitude of usba ports.

Maybe so...but why would any working professional who values their time do that?

As someone who professionally works with 4K footage & RAW photos daily, I can promise you that I do not have the patience to spend hours wirelessly transmitting Gigabytes of videos & photos...a process that takes just minutes if you can simply plug the damn thing into a slot.

it’s the MacBook Pro. It may not completely take away the necessary functionality, but removing the SD card slot does nothing but hinder & annoy the Pros who intend to use it in their daily lives.

Most pro cameras use cf cards. They’re faster.
Most pros will use an adapter regardless anyway. They’re faster.

 

[Maconplasma]

it’s the MacBook Pro. It may not completely take away the necessary functionality, but removing the SD card slot does nothing but hinder & annoy the Pros who intend to use it in their daily lives.

If you're not a Pro photographer then don't speak for the rest of us. I happen to be one and I have multiple DSLR's and Mirrorless from Nikon, Canon and Sony. Between the 3 brands I have CF, SD and XQD cards. An SD card slot would be 100% useless to use with all 3 of my cameras. No true pro photographer has just one camera and many newer professional cameras use C-Fast, XQD and some SD cards. Nice try but this SD card argument is so old and irrelevant.

 

[sracer]

Q. What ports should make a return to the 2021 Macbook Pro?

A. None. Apple needs to be more courageous and remove the last remaining ports.

How many people are there who currently own an MBP and have come to terms with the lack of ports who want any ports to return?

 

[cupcakes2000]

Q. What ports should make a return to the 2021 Macbook Pro?

A. None. Apple needs to be more courageous and remove the last remaining ports.

How many people are there who currently own an MBP and have come to terms with the lack of ports who want any ports to return?

This argument never makes sense. There are 4 multipurpose ports now. Anything you want goes. Before there was a random selection of ports which you’re stuck with. In the old days this was necessary. It most definitely isn’t necessary anymore with usbc/tb. It just isn’t feasible to cram useless single use ports on.
More usbc/tb I can get behind.
I don’t want whatever ridiculous single use port you want. This way I don’t need to have it, and this way- you can still have it.

 

[sracer]

This argument never makes sense. There are 4 multipurpose ports now. Anything you want goes. Before there was a random selection of ports which you’re stuck with. In the old days this was necessary. It most definitely isn’t necessary anymore with usbc/tb. It just isn’t feasible to cram useless single use ports on.
More usbc/tb I can get behind.
I don’t want whatever ridiculous single use port you want. This way I don’t need to have it, and this way- you can still have it.

If you see no differences in use cases and user experience between a general-purpose port and specialized port then I can see your point.

 

[537635]

If you see no differences in use cases and user experience between a general-purpose port and specialized port then I can see your point.

I will argue that you cannot have an elegant, minimalistic device and also cater to every (or many) specific use case with a specialized port.

USB-C is the ultimate port. 100W of power, 40 Gbps of data. You can connect ANYTHING. From 6k external display to a COM port device.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I will argue that you cannot have an elegant, minimalistic device and also cater to every (or many) specific use case with a specialized port.

USB-C is the ultimate port. 100W of power, 40 Gbps of data. You can connect ANYTHING. From 6k external display to a COM port device.

Exactly.

If you see no differences in use cases and user experience between a general-purpose port and specialized port then I can see your point.

My user experience is better with a multipurpose port. I’m a professional photographer. As fast usb is infinitely better than a slow usb or a built in reader limited to a card that doesn’t even exist on all pro cameras. And when it does, it’s part of a dual card system and used to back up tha main card. With this same port I can access hdmi. Ethernet. Whatever I want.
Why is this kind of choice a worse choice than the kind of limited choice single use ports offer?

 

[Pilot Jones]

If you're not a Pro photographer then don't speak for the rest of us...

...No true pro photographer has just one camera...

What a condescending and quite frankly, offensive argument.

So just because I don't use 3 expensive digital cameras with more advanced technical builds means I'm not as much of a pro as you? You don't know anything about me, my career, what I have achieved or how much I make, so first off I'm going to need you to reel your assumptions all the way back in.

Second, since you feel like making this a pissing contest about gear, I have 2 mirrorless digital cameras + 5 Film Cameras including 16mm & 35mm for video and 35mm & Medium Format ones for stills. I use all of them professionally and do exceedingly well at life.

And yes both my digital cameras have SD card slots. I use them regularly for 4K Video capture & RAW photography.

Creative professionals aren't accountants working with the same version of Excel globally. We all have a wide range of requirements and needs to cater to and, like it or not, SD Cards still happens to be the more universally implemented solution for camera storage.

 

[cupcakes2000]

What a condescending and quite frankly, offensive argument.

So just because I don't use 3 expensive digital cameras with more advanced technical builds means I'm not as much of a pro as you? You don't know anything about me, my career, what I have achieved or how much I make, so first off I'm going to need you to reel your assumptions all the way back in.

Second, since you feel like making this a pissing contest about gear, I have 2 mirrorless digital cameras + 5 Film Cameras including 16mm & 35mm for video and 35mm & Medium Format ones for stills. I use all of them professionally and do exceedingly well at life.

And yes both my digital cameras have SD card slots. I use them regularly for 4K Video capture & RAW photography.

Creative professionals aren't accountants working with the same version of Excel globally. We all have a wide range of requirements and needs to cater to and, like it or not, SD Cards still happens to be the more universally implemented solution for camera storage.

Then you will know how slow and terribly ineffective inbuilt sd card readers are. And therefore use an external reader. So what is your point? All professional photographers everywhere will agree that getting your images from the card to the computer is painstaking and time consuming without a good card reader or 5 attached to a fast port.

 

[Tchakatak]

• SD Slot​

  This is a nice to have but not necessary. Very niche, most pro cameras can sync wirelessly.

I would love to see you syncing some braw, or some proper 4K / 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 video footage over wireless. What a mess.

 

[dogslobber]

Full size dual link DVI.

 

[JouniS]

But USB-A is dead. It’s not compatible with newer USB standard. It is a slow and agonizing death but it’s a done deal.

USB-A is anything but dead. If you buy a keyboard or mouse from Apple today, the charging cable you get connects to USB-A. USB-C is rarely used in applications where you don't need high bandwidth, because manufacturers don't want to pay extra for nothing. Almost every device comes with USB-A ports if the device is thick enough, because they are cheap to add and make the user experience better.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I can't see apple adding USB A ports back either.

Yes I was getting at that

 

[zakarhino]

MagSafe but only if charging (at a decently high speed) remains available via USB-C. The convenience of having a single power brick charge almost any gadget (without having to swap cables) is to good to pass up and I prefer it over the benefits of MagSafe. MagSafe should be a secondary way of charging rather than the only way.

 

[Jorbanead]

I would love to see you syncing some braw, or some proper 4K / 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 video footage over wireless. What a mess.

Serious question - can you even record 4K 4:4:4 video on an SD card? Same with RAW? I didn’t think the transfer rates were fast enough on SD cards. I thought that was only achievable on a CFast or SSD card? Also most new cameras come with USB cables to transfer files if needed.

Personally it seems like SD cards are somewhat niche if you factor in the entire MacBook Pro consumer base. Plenty of customers buying the MBP don’t have a use for an SD card slot, and using universal connectors that can handle high throughput and charging makes the most sense for every customer. Not everyone can use an SD slot, but everyone can use a USB port. Getting a USB card reader is not that expensive and they’re pretty small and portable too. I just throw one in my laptop bag.

Ethernet cable is too big of port to fit on a slim design chassis. So it’ll never happen. Especially since the new macs are likely going to have WiFi6 and Apple is all about wireless whenever possible. For the small % of people that actually need to plug in, they can just buy a dongle.

USB-A port may also be too big to fit in the chassis. It’s hard to know without seeing the new design, but usb-c allows for very slim designs.

HDMI is desperately needed, but that port is also too big as well. They could maybe compromise and do a mini-HDMI port which would work well. Of course people would complain they can’t just use their cables they have - but I just think the full size port may be too big for the slim chassis.

Really USB-C just makes the most sense. It’s super small, reversible, allows the highest throughput, can be used for charging, and can handle video, audio, and anything else you may need. Of course I’d personally love to see all the ports mentioned here, but realistically I don’t think Apple will do this if they want to achieve a slim, sleek chassis. I’d love to be wrong though.

 

[JouniS]

HDMI is desperately needed, but that port is also too big as well. They could maybe compromise and do a mini-HDMI port which would work well. Of course people would complain they can’t just use their cables they have - but I just think the full size port may be too big for the slim chassis.

The cables other people have are the bigger issue.

When you are in a meeting room / conference room, you should be able to plug in the cable that's already there and start presenting after a few seconds. For Mac users, that has always meant having the right dongle in hand. For some reason, Apple has never wanted to use the same ports for connecting displays as everyone else. Even now, Apple insists on using USB-C for aesthetic reasons, while HDMI is the default solution for the rest of the world.

 

[iPadified]

The VGA port of course. Still usable in auditoriums. HDMI is fine but our auditoriums have a fistful of dongles for most situations.

That we need more ports than USB-C in 2021 is an absolute failure of the IT industry as a whole. What happened to near field high speed wireless?

 

[senttoschool]

It’s a demand and supply question. As more accessories start using USB-C, more hubs will appear on the market.

But USB-A is dead. It’s not compatible with newer USB standard. It is a slow and agonizing death but it’s a done deal.

It's dead. But what about the billions of perfectly good USB-A accessories that have already been made? What about the fact that the majority of accessories sold at this moment still use USB-A?

It's dead in the sense that the USB consortium won't update it with the latest speeds. But it's not dead in the real world because most accessories don't need 40Gbps transfer.

Put USB-A back. Apple can get rid of USB-A in 2026 when the next-next-gen of Macbook Pros come out.

Apple got rid of USB-A 10 years too early which forced everyone to have to buy hubs/dongles - which is bad for the environment and bad for user experience.

 

[537635]

It's dead. But what about the billions of USB-A accessories that have already been made? What about the fact that the majority of accessories sold at this moment still use USB-A?

It's dead in the sense that the USB consortium won't update it with the latest speeds. But it's not dead in the real world because most accessories don't need 40Gbps transfer.

Put USB-A back. Apple can get rid of USB-A in 2025 when the next-next-gen of Macbook Pros come out.

Apple got rid of USB-A 10 years too early which forced everyone to have to buy hubs/dongles - which is bad for the environment and bad for user experience.

It's called pushing technology forward. Apple is known for this. They were the first to get rid of CD players, magnetic hard drives, other legacy ports (COM, LPT, PS2, 3.5mm jack - that one is a bit tricky).
Putting USB-A on a new device in 2021 is madness.

It's simple. Any new product has to have USB-C or Lightning, otherwise I won't buy it. It simplifies things a lot when traveling and also day-to-day. I'm patiently waiting for iPhones to switch to USB-C although I admit that Lightning is a far more resilient connector.

I'm in the market for a new laptop this year. I've switched away from USB-A completely in the last year. I won't buy a laptop if it has USB-A...

 

[JouniS]

Putting USB-A on a new device in 2021 is madness.

The rest of the market disagrees. For example, Xbox Series X has three USB-A ports, one HDMI port, and one Ethernet port, while PS5 has three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, one HDMI port, and one Ethernet port. It looks like USB-C is primarily seen as a special-purpose high-speed port and a replacement for Micro-USB.

 

[senttoschool]

It's called pushing technology forward. Apple is known for this. They were the first to get rid of CD players, magnetic hard drives, other legacy ports (COM, LPT, PS2, 3.5mm jack - that one is a bit tricky).
Putting USB-A on a new device in 2021 is madness.

I wouldn't compare CD players/magnetic hard drives to USB-A vs USB-C.

Downloading from the internet eventually became a far superior solution than CD players in terms of speed, ease of use, and durability.

SSDs became a significantly better solution for storage.

USB-C offers virtually no advantage of USB-A for the vast majority of accessories. It just makes things a bit more expensive.

 

[senttoschool]

The rest of the market disagrees. For example, Xbox Series X has three USB-A ports, one HDMI port, and one Ethernet port, while PS5 has three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, one HDMI port, and one Ethernet port. It looks like USB-C is primarily seen as a special-purpose high-speed port and a replacement for Micro-USB.

Exactly! Most platforms come with more USB-A ports than USB-C ports in 2021.

Go to Amazon, search for the latest AMD/Intel motherboards. They all come with 1-2 USB-C ports and 6 USB-A ports.

And because platforms come with more USB-A ports in 2021, accessory makers continue to ship the vast majority of their products in USB-A.

The world simply refuses to switch to USB-C because it offers no advantage over USB-A for the vast majority of accessories and it just makes things a little bit more expensive.

USB-C is really only needed for niche things like external GPUs. And HDMI continues to dominate video output, USB-C is basically just a specialized port.