Whoops, I forgot that one. You’re right But I don’t consider MagSafe as a port per say but always a connector to power all computers
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What ports should make a return to the 2021 Macbook Pro?
- Thread starter senttoschool
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The Intel Mac Mini is limited by the capabilities of Intel UHD 630 integrated graphics (and which has to take its VRAM from main RAM). That is not a GPU you would choose if you wanted to run multiple 4k displays, even though it technically could.
The M1 Mac Mini is limited by the capabilities of the M1's integrated graphics (which doesn't use VRAM and has to share a maximum of 16GB of system RAM). It's a lot faster than any of Intel's iGPUs but it is still not the GPU you would choose for multiple high-res displays, even if it did support them - heck, you'd probably get 8G of VRAM for that, let alone 8G of total RAM. Probably because it was designed primarily to enable a MacBook Air or smaller with passive cooling, who's users are not queuing up to run dual 5K displays.
The forthcoming Apple Silicon high-end MBP will certainly not contain Intel HD 630 graphics and is very, very unlikely to contain the same M1 as the Air. If it doesn't contain a substantially new SoC, Apple will be laughed out of the shop whatever ports they put on the thing.
There is no magic 8 ball. The elephant in the room is a 6" high soft toy. Predicting the I/O and display capability of the new Macs based on the limitations of M1 or Intel UHD is just a ridiculously weak argument.
Sitting right there on the desk in many meeting/conference rooms (often disappearing into a sealed box or with the other end plugged into a ceiling-mounted projector, so if you bought a USB-C to male HDMI cable you're stuffed). Or, on my TV, just unplug FireTV and use that cable... because - guess what - HDMI is still the standard interface for everything A/V related so people have spare cables - and if all that fails most decent-sized supermarkets or high-street electrical stores will sell you a basic HDMI-HDMI cable - with USB-C, if you're lucky, they'll have a USB C-to-A phone charge cable.
The inconvenient truth is that - outside of Narnia where everybody and their talking dog has the latest Apple kit - the main thing that USB-C is being used for is as a replacement for the old USB-B/micro-B connector on phones & peripherals, and anything that doesn't say "Apple" on the box still comes with a USB-C-to-A cable or adapter... which doesn't matter because only a minority of expensive devices actually need, or can use, anything faster than good old USB 3.0.
None of which explains away why one of each devices display outputs is hardwired to HDMI, nor disproves a theory that the same limitation would continue with a new Mac with built in hdmi.
it’s not about “it only supports 2 displays”. It’s about “one display is forced to use hdmi”. The new soc could support 8 displays, if one them is forced to use hdmi that’s worse than if it could be used from USB-c.
I honestly don’t understand how you keep missing the point with that. Or maybe that’s the whole point of your posts.
This seems weird to me. Flat edges means it will be really difficult to pick up the device from the table. Imagine a flush iPhone 5 without camera bump and that it weights 2kg. This is also why the edges of most (all?) laptops are not flat.
I do agree it would look nice. Like a big iPad Pro.
That's why people that bought a TiBook actually have those laptops still placed exactly where they were first placed; there have been both physicists and removal services involved, but no one has so far been able to figure out how to pick them up. ?
Less of a taper wasn't a problem back then, and it won't be now either. Besides, who the duck got the train of thought going that less taper to get a port to fit would require less/no taper around the whole thing?! ?
Flat edge? Really? Besides it has so many ports, you can grab it by the ports.
This would be flat (minus the bottom taper).
It will probably still have the feet to keep it a little clear of the surface, and maybe even a small chamfer like the 2015, just not the full 'pouch' underneath? Difficult to describe, but imagine the 2015 top case as in your photo, but with a completely flat bottom panel. This would be the biggest design language change since the Unibody design was introduced so I'm really interested to see where they go. I think Gurman initially downplayed the design change though he rowed back a bit after that?
Haha, reading your post I put my fingers along the edge of my MBP and felt the curved bottom. Absolutely would be impossible to pickup without that curve.
On that note however, we're used to the current design of the MBP that has flat sides and a curved bottom. Technically the curve is part of the bottom case, not the body.
What if this new design reverted to something like the old iBooks where access was through the keyboard and the bottom case wasn't removable like it is now?
You'll laugh but I had an accessory handle for my TiBook which mounted to the screen hinges. It was fantastic for carrying it around and when collapsed the handle end was under the bottom of the computer so it lifted the rear up.
I meant like this:
But the lime green one. If it’s going to be terrible at least make it a terrible colour too.
I had one of those iBooks, personally I really liked the lime but I ended up with the special edition grey and white one (I think it was higher spec than the colorful ones). Back then the colorful Macs were a breath of fresh air after years of beige and drab dark grey plastic. The iBook handle was a clever design and very nice to have since the computer itself was al little awkward to grip by its body.
*Edit*
Here is the TiBook handle.
*Edit*
Here is the TiBook handle.
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I was using "users" as a collective noun. "Actually need" meant "the demand is sufficient to justify the required design trade-offs". That's the usual way of thinking about adding new features.
The 2019 MBP 16" supports four 4k displays or two 6k displays, because it has a proper midrange GPU. I expect that the 2021 model will support at least as many. People using more than two external displays are in such a small minority that requiring one of them to be over HDMI is not a bad trade-off.
Because Apple is using integrated GPUs, they should have plenty of bandwidth to spare. SSD, HDMI, and the assorted data ports all require roughly the same bandwidth as a single TB3 port. That's 7 TB3 ports in total, which is equivalent to 18 PCIe 4.0 lanes. AMD's latest CPUs support 16 (laptop) or 24 (desktop) PCIe lanes, so 18 lanes is certainly doable.
This is a great photo that shows the differences. The "squared" part of the body of the MBP is too thin for USB-A or HDMI, and would have to be at least 1.5mm thicker. The curved bottom part of the case could be reduced of course to allow this, but it would make the machine look thicker, which probably doesn't align with Apple's design aesthetic, and would appear to customers as a retrograde move.
Although there is still utility in HDMI, USB-A and SD card slots I just don't see Apple going backwards from the "purity" of the universal connector that is USB-C. There are already relatively cheap solutions for those who need these ports - USB-C -> HDMI cables, cheap USB-C -> USB-A adapters (a couple of $ each), and fast UHS-II/III SD-card readers. An SD-card reader would be useful to many people with cameras/drones and some other devices, but it's not the only standard, and may be in decline (CFExpress, SD Express may become dominant).
No. I was thinking an official, more elegant solution, on the lines of a dedicated charging port but a USB-C at the other end instead of a plug like the previous MagSafe.
The SD-Card is still going to relevant for the next the 5-7 years and maybe even more in other developing countries. I have seen a LOT of cameras with SD and even the top of the line cameras still do come with SD.
I agree, and all my cameras have SD cards, which I expect to be using for at least another 10 years. However, I would also expect to see more pro-sumer cameras using other formats (including SSDs or USB-C connected storage for video).
Apple likes to "look forward" rather than back, so I wouldn't expect a standard SDXC slot. Maybe an SD/CFExpress type-A like the Sony A7Siii. SD Express is too new, and AFAIK there are no cameras yet that use it (or available cards for that matter). If Apple added a UHS-III / CFExpress-A reader, I would be happy, and it would be relevant for a large number of current and future cameras.
SD card slot is at the top of my list. I can (and have) replaced most of the USB A and HDMI cables in my life, but this is something that’s always going to need a dongle. And please, not micro SD.
HDMI would be nice, but I don’t see it happening.
USB A would also be a nice to have, but like HDMI I don’t see this returning.
Magsafe - I’m torn on this. If they make this a cable that I can use with my existing brick then I guess I don’t see the harm. I did really love MagSafe back in the day.
HDMI would be nice, but I don’t see it happening.
USB A would also be a nice to have, but like HDMI I don’t see this returning.
Magsafe - I’m torn on this. If they make this a cable that I can use with my existing brick then I guess I don’t see the harm. I did really love MagSafe back in the day.
Ok, so I guess let's beat this dead horse some more because you're still avoiding giving an answer.
Irrespective of the GPU involved, on Macs from 2018 onwards, the total number of concurrent displays supported via TB3 ports connected to anything (native TB3, native USB-C, DP, HDMI, DVI, VGA, shadow puppet projector, you name it) is one less than the number supported "total" - i.e. one video channel is hard-wired to go out to the HDMI port.
Now, as you say the 2019 MBP16 supports 4x4K displays, or, importantly, 2x5k or 2x6K. If you use 1x 6K, you can still run 2x 4K. So, I do not think its unreasonable to question if a hypothetical 2021 MacBook Pro with a HDMI port built in, would lose the ability to run 1 of those 4K displays, and potentially, the ability to run two 6K displays simultaneously. I don't know if that's going to happen, nobody knows anything yet. But it's not some pie in the sky theory - it's literally just looking at other products with the same technology incorporated. Yes, I know the 2019 Mac Pro doesn't seem to exhibit this behaviour - so as I said - I'm asking a question.
So - in a hypothetical scenario where adding HDMI means it needs (for whatever reason Apple chose to make it so in the Intel and m1 Mac minis) a dedicated channel to itself, and that channel is no longer available to TB3 port usage, do you consider that a worthwhile tradeoff?
Or to put it another way: if it meant some users can'r run 2x 6K displays, or 4x 4K displays via the TB3 ports, so you don't have to carry a $12 adapter, would that be a "worthwhile tradeoff?"
What is technically possible is irrelevant. What actually happens is what I'm concerned with. Apple's MPX modules with a HDMI port don't have the same vampiric configuration as the Mini's do. But it's a choice Apple made somewhere along the line. Given that they made that decision for the 2018, and then - even when losing 1 of the 3 total - chose the same setup for the 2020 model, I see no reason to be confident they won't make the same decision for other Macs.
Obviously. Using that many displays is a niche use case, and doing that with displays that don't support HDMI is even more rare. On the other hand, many people frequently connect their laptops to projectors in random meeting rooms and conference rooms. Being able to do that without adapters is one of those little things that make the user experience good.
In the conferences and workshops I attend, the unprepared Mac user is a common sight. Someone's talk is delayed, because they have trouble connecting their laptop to the projector. And it's almost always a Mac user – people with Linux/Windows laptops no longer have similar trouble with projectors.
To you I guess. Some of us prefer flexibility.
I'd love to hear about this 6K HDMI display you've got? **** it, even 5K.
Having a laptop hobbled because someone else doesn't want to use a $12 adapter isn't what I'd call a "good" user experience.
Sounds like you attend a lot of amateur hour talks.