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

[deeddawg]

Ooooooo seven whole pounds. LOL

Sounds like someone never had to lug their SE-30 to LAN parties or home during the holidays.

My shoulder is still dented from that padded travel bag.

Nah, just the laptop I carried to and from work every darn day rather than a couple times a year.

Thinkpad 755cd

 

[alien3dx]

I don't know much about the SD Card Slot as I've barely used it on my iMac and never used it on my old laptop, but from memory the card doesn't sit flush with the side of the computer, yeah? Or has that changed and it's spring loaded?

If it sat flush with the side, I'd be keen to utilize such a port by using it as a constant external internal for certain things, but if it doesn't sit flush it's just a slower yet much smaller external drive. Mmm... how much slower?

Never used it also maybe i'm not in the group of photographer and video editor . The last time thinking to used it just for boost memory in windows .

Hdmi port is used everyday or in travel meetup customer . I really wish no dongle or i stick with Apple tv cast (hdmi) or usb c hub

For large meeting room , apple tv airplay and for small meeting room usb c hub.

I just want hassle free dongle life . M1 battery is good enough for long run meeting.
** in old times i do hate to ask client where is the plug so i can on the laptop

 

[macsound1]

Thanks for the info.
re taping a HD to side of computer. Haha. I shan’t be doing that! I was just wondering out loud. It’s a medium capacity, medium speed, medium priced storage option. Worth thinking about though I guess.

I agree. While I haven't done it recently, I loved using the SD card slot as a place for my iPhoto library, since it always became bloated and having it require to stay within the bounds of the SD card capacity meant it didn't take up half the storage of my mac.

 

[Zdigital2015]

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.

Wireless is never going to get there.

However, I’m not capturing 4K 10-bit ProRes RAW to an SD Card either...I’m capturing it to an Atomos via HDMI and then plugging the SSD shuttle via a USB-C to SATA cable and copying the resulting footage at 500-600MB/s which negates my need for some stupid SD Card port that I would never end up using anyways. In the rare event that I need to copy from an SD Card, I’ll just hook up the camera directly to my Mac via a USB cable.

In the unlikely event I ever need a card reader, I would rather have an external reader for CFast, XQD, SD hooked up via USB-C to speed things along.

 

[HowardEv]

how to find space for MagSafe and SD or HDMI without crippling the computer in some way.

Every cable hanging off a laptop cripples it, and it’s already crippled by the laptop form factor. We need a portable uncrippled Mini with hdmi, SE, A and C ports with a wireless connection to the uncrippled thin quiet one USB-c port laptop.

Is wireless 4K video possible yet?

 

[svanstrom]

Is wireless 4K video possible yet?

Even the cheap Chromecast Ultra from 2016 handles 4K, HDR10, Dolby Vision…

If your wifi is halfway decent, then it just works.

Latency OTOH… Not a problem at all for a movie, but once you combine a video stream with any regular type of networking (as you'd find in any "non-controlled" environment), then you will start to notice a delay between input and on-screen reactions.

 

[senttoschool]

Some Users Having External Display Connection Issues With macOS Big Sur 11.1 and 11.2

Some macOS Big Sur users who are running the 11.1 and recently released 11.2 update have been experiencing ongoing issues with external displays,...

www.macrumors.com

I'm dealing with my own M1 HDMI/USB-C external display BS.

90% of USB-C hubs out there only support 4k@30hz HDMI, including mine, which is basically useless for 4k. Now that I have a 4k@60hz monitor, I just ordered a separate USB-C to HDMI 4k@60hz dongle. The cheapest USB-C 4k monitor where I'm at cost 2x more than a normal HDMI 4k monitor. On top of this, we get these USB-C/DP issues with external monitors in MacOS 11.2.

For f sakes Apple, put a god damn HDMI 2.1 port into your Pro laptops and stop this BS. "it just works" = "buy multiple adapters and pray it works". You claim that removing the charger from the iPhone package is to help the environment. But you force everyone who buys a new Mac to buy a hub or multiple adapters just to do basic things. How is this friendly to the environment?

 

[fuchsdh]

Some Users Having External Display Connection Issues With macOS Big Sur 11.1 and 11.2

Some macOS Big Sur users who are running the 11.1 and recently released 11.2 update have been experiencing ongoing issues with external displays,...

www.macrumors.com

I'm dealing with my own M1 HDMI/USB-C external display BS.

90% of USB-C hubs out there only support 4k@30hz HDMI, including mine, which is basically useless for 4k. Now that I have a 4k@60hz monitor, I just ordered a separate USB-C to HDMI 4k@60hz dongle. The cheapest USB-C 4k monitor where I'm at cost 2x more than a normal HDMI 4k monitor. On top of this, we get these USB-C/DP issues with external monitors in MacOS 11.2.

For f sakes Apple, put a god damn HDMI 2.1 port into your Pro laptops and stop this BS. "it just works" = "buy multiple adapters and pray it works". You claim that removing the charger from the iPhone package is to help the environment. But you force everyone who buys a new Mac to buy a hub or multiple adapters just to do basic things. How is this friendly to the environment?

The "naked robotic core" argument is that you're basically only shipping the bare minimum that works for most people. Some people will buy new chargers, adapters, etc., but many people won't.

The environmental argument here seems pretty slim, though. The cost of adapters versus the cables is pretty minimal. In terms of e-waste, stuff like running out and buying a new M1 Mac mini or MacBook if your old one worked fine is a far bigger contributor to negative environmental externalities.

The argument is about convenience.

 

[Ethosik]

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.

That is unrealistic. There are many businesses I need to visit that still only have VGA projectors. As a “professional”, never assume someone else will have what you need. I have had to come back home to get VGA cables and adapter before. Get a nice laptop bag. Get a USB-C to HDMI cable. That way if someone doesn’t have a spare cable, you can still connect to a projector. Most businesses also put the HDMI cable in the wall to the projector so you can’t even use it anyway.

 

[JouniS]

That is unrealistic. There are many businesses I need to visit that still only have VGA projectors. As a “professional”, never assume someone else will have what you need. I have had to come back home to get VGA cables and adapter before. Get a nice laptop bag. Get a USB-C to HDMI cable. That way if someone doesn’t have a spare cable, you can still connect to a projector. Most businesses also put the HDMI cable in the wall to the projector so you can’t even use it anyway.

I haven't needed VGA for years. When I got my current MBP three years ago, I deliberately chose not to have a VGA adapter. Every place I've visited has had a HDMI cable ready, and the projector has often been too far away to use any cable I might reasonably carry with me.

 

[HowardEv]

Latency OTOH

Ok, so if the latency of a wireless video connection is unacceptable, the laptop could connect to the base unit with a 6’ thunderbolt cable. But I bet latency issue could be solved with a new thin client / base station design.

 

[svanstrom]

Ok, so if the latency of a wireless video connection is unacceptable, the laptop could connect to the base unit with a 6’ thunderbolt cable. But I bet latency issue could be solved with a new thin client / base station design.

You could bet that the moon is flat and made of cheese; but that doesn't mean that you'd win the bet.

General networking has limits as far as latency, and it's the same with any other solution that has to share (or fight for) bandwidth. It's easier to solve with games that doesn't have to push 4k+ synced material.

This is what makes Stadia (Google) so damn interesting, though, because they are betting on having solved this. Question is "only" if they've solved it good enough for regular desktop usage.

 

[Ethosik]

Well that's just carrying a cable vs a dongle (vs nothing)... mosts meeting rooms have a HDMI cable (male) sticking through the middle of the table that you plug into and present.

And that's the point... people want to just walk in with their Mac and not need any additional cables (not to mention I still have issues with C-HDMI cables being a big wonky, flickering, etc. - I carry an Apple adapter as well as 2 different 3rd party ones just in case... between them I generally get it sorted... right now the issue is sorted due to covid and lockdowns)

And what if you need to hook up to a projector and they don't have a spare HDMI cable? Or the cable is in the wall? It is REALLY not that difficult to have a laptop bag with a few cables and adapters. I have my own HDMI, VGA, Ethernet cables in my bag and several adapters. It adds no extra space and it barely changes the weight.

 

[Ethosik]

you see discussion of 10Gb, even 1Gb residential internet. the new wifi6 speeds are not all that faboulus.
so
an ethernet port would be good
otherwise upper end MBP is kinda an island

Well if the ethernet port is 1Gb, what happens in 5 years when you want to use 10Gbe? I can easily add one using one of the TB3 ports.

 

[Ethosik]

Enough ports that I don't need to carry a hub and a bunch of adapters. In other word make them "Pro" level again.

Like the Surface Pro that only has one USB port? Not really sure why people keep bringing the name of the product up. Can the Macbook Pro support 1.5 TB of RAM that some professionals need? 24GB of Video RAM for very high end video production/modeling work CUDA cores?

 

[senttoschool]

My dongle life:

• Purchased a reputable $50 USB-C hub
• Found out this USB-C hub doesn't support 4k@60hz. Found out that 90% of USB-C hubs sold don't support 4k@60hz.
• Had to purchase a separate 4k@60hz HDMI --> USB-C dongle
• Seller lied and sent me a 4k@30hz dongle instead
• Ran to the store and bought a second 4k@60hz dongle for $30
• The second dongle works but does not set to 60hz by default. Had to use SwitchResX to manually set to 60hz.
• But now I'm having the now infamous MacOS 11.2 issue where my external monitor goes black every 30 minutes or so
• In order to use my existing mouse, I'm using the USB-A port in the hub
• I purchased a $60 wireless Logitech MX 2S Master mouse to go wireless but I'm having huge latency issues with both the Bluetooth connection and the USB-A receiver. Now I'm back to using my wired USB-A mouse.
• Now whenever I want to use a mouse, I have to bring my big ass hub along.

Over $100 wasted on dongles and shipping, hours of product research, hours of searching for solutions to software issues, days of waiting. I estimate that I've probably lost $1000+ of time and from purchases.

Sorry, but having USB-C only ports in 2021 is stupid. I was promised a simpler experience. Instead, all I'm getting is a headache, time wasted, money wasted.

Maybe in 2030, USB-C only will finally work.

Until then, give me ports instead of 15 minutes of extra battery capacity or 1mm thinner.

I'm highly technical, works professionally as a software engineer, built many custom PCs in my lifetime. Can you imagine the frustration that a soccer mom or a 20-year old art student goes through living the dongle life?

 

[svanstrom]

And what if you need to hook up to a projector and they don't have a spare HDMI cable? Or the cable is in the wall? It is REALLY not that difficult to have a laptop bag with a few cables and adapters. I have my own HDMI, VGA, Ethernet cables in my bag and several adapters. It adds no extra space and it barely changes the weight.

What if they don't have a projector, it's not that hard to have your own small/pocket projector; not to mention that you should come with your own battery pack as well, just in case all their fuses break.

Seriously, though…

I care less about the weight as I do the space. In cubic whatevers it isn't much, but if like me you have a classic looking, relatively soft-shelled, briefcase (like this one) these damn things somehow always end up bulking up next to each other; taking the look from classic, to bloated melon.

My work, and personal preferences, already require me to have things in my bag; and I in no way feel it reasonable that I have to come looking like a traveling cable salesman (or Himalayan backpacker) in preparation for other people to have broken meeting rooms.

I honestly just don't get what kind of sh*t you people are willing to put up with when you are invited to give presentations, and no-one's even bothered to have a functioning room ready for you; and I don't get how you expect a "normal" person to be able to function in such environments.

The average person at MR is probably to be considered a "techie" of at least a junior kind, but these are computers that are used by "normal" people; business people. The equipment has to just work for these people; and like @senttoschool just showed it's not 100% even someone aware of the problems can quickly just get the right adapter/cable.

I'm sorry, but as much as USB-C on paper was that one port to rule them all, it just hasn't worked out that way; and it would be best if the ports the computer came with actually supported easy use for most people. If "the market" hasn't been able to get a decent HDMI-port as an add-on, then it's back to the drawing board for Apple to fix this very real problem.

 

[alien3dx]

What if they don't have a projector, it's not that hard to have your own small/pocket projector; not to mention that you should come with your own battery pack as well, just in case all their fuses break.

Seriously, though…

I care less about the weight as I do the space. In cubic whatevers it isn't much, but if like me you have a classic looking, relatively soft-shelled, briefcase (like this one) these damn things somehow always end up bulking up next to each other; taking the look from classic, to bloated melon.

My work, and personal preferences, already require me to have things in my bag; and I in no way feel it reasonable that I have to come looking like a traveling cable salesman (or Himalayan backpacker) in preparation for other people to have broken meeting rooms.

I honestly just don't get what kind of sh*t you people are willing to put up with when you are invited to give presentations, and no-one's even bothered to have a functioning room ready for you; and I don't get how you expect a "normal" person to be able to function in such environments.

The average person at MR is probably to be considered a "techie" of at least a junior kind, but these are computers that are used by "normal" people; business people. The equipment has to just work for these people; and like @senttoschool just showed it's not 100% even someone aware of the problems can quickly just get the right adapter/cable.

I'm sorry, but as much as USB-C on paper was that one port to rule them all, it just hasn't worked out that way; and it would be best if the ports the computer came with actually supported easy use for most people. If "the market" hasn't been able to get a decent HDMI-port as an add-on, then it's back to the drawing board for Apple to fix this very real problem.

i using this https://uniqcreation.com/collections/sleeve/products/cavalier?variant=12325365121116 .
It might seem like sleeve but it has handle like old bags and can easily put in travel bags together .

** lot of space for dongle life

 

[senttoschool]

i using this https://uniqcreation.com/collections/sleeve/products/cavalier?variant=12325365121116 .
It might seem like sleeve but it has handle like old bags and can easily put in travel bags together .

** lot of space for dongle life

Living that dongle life

If the 16" Apple Silicon Macbook Pro comes with an HDMI or USB-A or both, I'm switching to it on day one.

 

[macsound1]

That is unrealistic. There are many businesses I need to visit that still only have VGA projectors. As a “professional”, never assume someone else will have what you need. I have had to come back home to get VGA cables and adapter before. Get a nice laptop bag. Get a USB-C to HDMI cable. That way if someone doesn’t have a spare cable, you can still connect to a projector. Most businesses also put the HDMI cable in the wall to the projector so you can’t even use it anyway.

I haven't needed VGA for years. When I got my current MBP three years ago, I deliberately chose not to have a VGA adapter. Every place I've visited has had a HDMI cable ready, and the projector has often been too far away to use any cable I might reasonably carry with me.

Working in professional event management, VGA was always the most reliable because it forced an active conversion in the adapter, so you knew the signal was going to work.
USB C based MBPs would work sometimes over HDMI when connected directly to the projector with a dongle.
But 2 screens, smart whiteboard, Crestron, ballroom setups, we would always convert USB C to VGA or better yet, rent a stack of 2015 MBPs that had working HDMI ports.

 

[senttoschool]

rent a stack of 2015 MBPs that had working HDMI ports.

I miss not having dongles. Still the greatest Macbook ever built. ?

 

[oldMac]

Now that we're discussing legacy tech, I want an upgradable math co-processor.

Should have gone full Quadra instead of the Centris.

 

[darngooddesign]

Should have gone full Quadra instead of the Centris.

You never go full Centris.

 

[spiderman0616]

I honestly don't need anything but USB-C these days. Almost every device I connect to my Mac is already USB-C. There is really only one exception--I still use my Apple SuperDrive sometimes and they still don't make a version of that with USB-C included. Heck, even the Nintendo Switch shipped with USB-C. I love that I can just pop it on to the Mac charger on my desk if I really need to and am not near my dock.

I think as far as aesthetics go I'd rather just keep that multimedia dongle handy in my laptop bag for those rare times where I need a card reader or USB-A connection. Accessory makers need to get with the program and make the move already. It's been years.

 

[alien3dx]

I honestly don't need anything but USB-C these days. Almost every device I connect to my Mac is already USB-C. There is really only one exception--I still use my Apple SuperDrive sometimes and they still don't make a version of that with USB-C included. Heck, even the Nintendo Switch shipped with USB-C. I love that I can just pop it on to the Mac charger on my desk if I really need to and am not near my dock.

I think as far as aesthetics go I'd rather just keep that multimedia dongle handy in my laptop bag for those rare times where I need a card reader or USB-A connection. Accessory makers need to get with the program and make the move already. It's been years.

why does accesory maker need to follow 10 % market while 90% market still using hdmi ?