There's plenty of space on the sides of an iMac. There's no logical reason to make the edge so thin.
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Why don't iMac have front ports?
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There's plenty of space on the sides of an iMac. There's no logical reason to make the edge so thin.
That's been my criticism all along. You can make a case for the laptops being thin and light. For the iMac which sits on a desk and you look at it straight on, there's no reason to make it so thin. You introduce cooling issues, and lack of flexibility port placement.
it will be interesting to see how the port change for 2016/2017. We may only have USB-C ports doing ethernet, DP 1.2, TB3, and USB 3.1 high speed. BTW, the SD reader is getting old. If Apple is going to include one, it should be U3 UHS-II compatible for high speed reading and writing. Easier for Apple to just put in the high speed ports and let us decide if we want a SD, CF, Fast CF, XQD or other type of media reader. Including an old slow SD reader is not the right way to go.
Yes but if it's thinner, it's better no?
Well at least that's what
think![doublepost=1470055068][/doublepost]
But isn't the point of the all in one so you don't have to have seperate card readers etc?
The iMac design would look terrible with ports open on the front. This is a bizarre question.
Yes but if it's thinner, it's better no?
Well at least that's what
The really stupid thing about the thinness obsession is that it only gives the illusion of thinness as it's thicker in the middle. It takes up the same amount of desk space as it would if it were a uniform thickness to the edge and they could put the card reader back on the side like they used to.
Yes but if it's thinner, it's better no?
Well at least that's what
[doublepost=1470055068][/doublepost]
But isn't the point of the all in one so you don't have to have seperate card readers etc?
I don't know about better functionally, but the general trend in TVs is thinner. And as much as I hate to admit it, even though it makes no difference whatsoever to performance, the thinner TVs look better. Now the iMac is not a TV, but whatever trend is driving thin as possible TVs seems to also apply here. I do like the way my iMac appears sitting on my desk at work, vs. the older ticker model that friends still have on theirs. It just looks nicer.
As to the point of all-in-ones, I'm not sure. The original Macintosh had a handle. I saw a guy riding down the street on a bike with a on iMac under his arm. I thought he might have stolen it, but then I didn't think anybody would be that brazen. So perhaps there's still some of that old Macintosh spirit alive in the design. The original Mac also had all of its ports on the rear, and had as much thought about what the back looked like sitting on an executives desk as the front. I know I appreciate how mine looks sitting on my desk to those who enter the room. As for those ports, the difference is today we pass around data on USB thumb drives, and SD cards, which should be a little easier to access than the rest. The thumb drives were easier to attach when the keyboards were wired, but the remote ports are gone with wireless. But maybe that's the point as well ... Apple wants you to transfer stuff wirelessly. Even the iPhone syncs wirelessly now -- though you still need a USB port to plug it into to charge it. So I tend to leave a Lightning cable plugged into my iMac ready for when I need it -- until I have to plug something else into the port. In reality I could plug my phone into any charger anywhere in the office, but that's not as convenient. Even so I end up with a bunch of cables hanging off the back of my Mac ready for when I need to use them. Hardly attractive or practical.
The SD card reader is perplexing regardless. Even the original Macintosh had floppy drive access on the front of the Mac until it was finally discontinued. And the SD card is the modern equivalent. The only practical way to access SD cards is with an external card reader placed in a more accessible location. I have he same problem with the Mac mini. Why include an SD card reader if it's not easily accessible? Frankly, I'd rather have an extra USB port if I've got to add an external card reader. There are card reader extenders, but this seems far worse than using a USB one:
@MCAsan has a point, if they're going to include a card reader, it should be far more universal than this old standard Apple continues to support. And maybe that's the point, that Apple's about to get rid of it, rather than keep up with changing standards. Hard to imagine as progressive Apple usually is that they've kept it around this long. But maybe that was their plan on the desktops, keep it there to make customers happy, but make it difficult enough to use so that customers come up with other ways to use SD cards anyway, and are prepared for when it's removed.
In general, desktops are the easiest to add adapters to, because they don't move. So back to your original question, it doesn't seem important to have card readers built into desktops. However, the question applies most dramatically to MacBooks, where I think the idea is that you don't have to carry around a bunch of dongles and accessories. And from all indications, it appears Apple is getting ready to drop it from their portables. and that seems like quite a loss to those who use the slot. Could so few customers actually use it?
Yes but if it's thinner, it's better no?
Well at least that's what
[doublepost=1470055068][/doublepost]
But isn't the point of the all in one so you don't have to have seperate card readers etc?
The more you bundle the greater the chance some component is getting old. Give me separate devices with high speed ports.
It sounds like you're being sarcastic, but it should in fact be much more aesthetically pleasing that way. I run a cable through the back (which is invisible from the front, of course, because of the cable management hole on the iMac stand) and then along the back of my desk to a powered hub anchored on the side. Every port I need is thus incredibly conveniently placed and none of them are visible from the front of my desk.
Yes I was being sarcastic. I'm glad you found something that works for you but having to go around to the side of my desk to get at a card reader or USB hub is just not faintly convenient for me.
Or, they could have employed some, you know, design resources, and made an Apple logo that slid to reveal an SD card slot and a USB port for short-term usage. Having to turn your computer around each time you need to plug in a USB cable or SD card is simply bad design. I get the current port placement from an aesthetic point of view. However, there are a range options lying between naked ports on the front and everything in the back. They could have really blown us away with a motorized Apple logo tied to a proximity sensor that moved aside/split in two/etc. to reveal an SD slot and USB port. Apple's design prowess seems to be mostly invested in thinning, shrinking, and watch bands these days.
As already mentioned, there's a good usability argument for putting them on the back. If you actually hold up some high-performance USB thumb drives (like the 128GB Sandisk Extreme Pro: https://amzn.com/B00HR7FWUC) to the front, you'll see it creates a potentially hazardous situation. Depending on the keyboard and mouse/trackpad position, the thumb drive would be at risk of getting broken off. I have six Macs including three iMac 27s, and in their current desk position they would all be poorly served by front-facing USB ports. If your iMac sits further back on your desk, creating fore/aft space from the screen to the mouse or trackpad, there might be less chance of a conflict, but Apple is not going to design based on that one situation.
It is similar with bus-powered USB hard drives. I have several dozen of those to store video data, and plugging them in the front would not work well. The strain relief on the USB cable is often long so they effectively stick out as far as the Sandisk Extreme Pro USB stick. Then after insertion, the drive can't just lay on top of my mouse or trackpad -- it must be pushed underneath the iMac or (gasp!) I have to get up, walk around and position it properly behind it. If I do that I may as well plug it in behind.
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That's great for you. Doesn't work well for me and a lot of other people. I wouldn't need all the plugs in front or on the side - one plug and the card reader would work. Judging from the number of people using hubs and the fact that you can buy a custom hub that plugs in the back to give and hangs below to give you front access, it's not an uncommon need. So I am forced to have a hub sitting below my iMac and the aesthetics are compromised anyway.
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