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to be fair, the bandwidth of all the ports on the bottom laptop probably fit in 1 (maaaaybe 2? Just spitballing here) Thunderbolt 5 ports depending how fast the ethernet port is. BTW, why would you want a port that isn’t reversible like USB C lol…
That’s what happens when designers boss engineers around. Form over function is pure cancer and it’s becoming pervasive in our civilization due to the overwhelming ubiquity of propaganda(marketing). I have nothing but contempt for these trends.
“Designers boss engineers”.
That’s what happens when people who know nothing about the industry post their word soup as fact.
Alright Elon, we know nobody tops your knowledge of manufacturing around the world. Apple has the best design team in the world, they have brought us genius inventions like on off buttons under desktop computers or charging USB-C ports under a mouse. I bow to the obvious error of my ways and sheepishly retract myself from this conversation.
This isn’t Reddit.
sheepishly retract myself from this conversation.
You could’ve done this without announcing it.
Thank you from extracting yourself from your constant world saving design and manufacturing throne where you direct the machines for maximum efficiency only to reply to my low manufacturing knowledge self. Again I praise your descent from the heavens to bring about ample knowledge with your words instead of debasing yourself with snide remarks, themselves, devoid of any knowledgeable words.
Ok, redditor.
No u
The consumer does not appear to mind, unfortunately.
Good function will usually result into nice form anyways. Like old thinkpads for example.
Enjoy this wonderful Posy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjKjZwd_KY0
I love that there’s a relevant Posy video that is only 22hrs old
This pic leaves out the latest generation of MacBook that brings back some of those ports.
I guess OP would rather generate outrage upvotes, rather than spread the truth.
Even Lenovo is doing it with Thinkpads, the t14 gen 6 has soldiered ram and only two USB A ports
Even the latest P series:
https://laptopmedia.com/au/guides/how-to-open-lenovo-thinkpad-p14s-gen-4-disassembly-and-upgrade-options/You can only add/swap a M.2 SSD, and WWAN modem.
They’ve added upgradable RAM with the Gen 5 models. The WIFI card is soldered, though, which isn’t as bad but still meh for longevity IMO
Even worse, build quality and durability is significantly worse due to Lenovo making the T and P series Thinkpads thinner and lighter.
Lenovo is only a shadow of its former self. Get used to it; everything gets sacrified for the god Mammon and the sake of slimness.
I dunno - I’m pretty sure I’d choose the modern MacBook Pro’s ports over any of these other options.
Zero USB-A ports? Hell no…
An ethernet port is essential for any computer.
Exactly! What are you going to do if your router dies (or you mess something up fiddling w/ things)? I may only need it once/year or so, but when I do, it’s really important and I most likely can’t find the dongle.
An RJ-45 port could totally fit on there if they used one of those flip-down things that Dell has on their professional line.
I just this … https://a.co/d/ijxaPae
It’s really not. I have one on my work laptop and have never plugged an Ethernet jack into it. That stays permanently in my dock and gets transferred to the laptop via USB-C. All other non-desk work is done via … WiFi. Shock! Literally can’t tell the difference when making money.
Power, HDMI, a few USBs, and headphones, all you’ll ever likely need.
There’s no doubt a dongle for anything else.
Unless you want a desk setup. I have 2 monitors, kb, mouse, external dac, usb extension for thumbdrives, ethernet, usb soundcard for my mic and a kvm. That’s dp, hdmi, 6 usb-a, ethernet and I still sometimes plug-in 1-3 devices to charge them.
With that many connections, using a dock or a monitor with thunderbolt seems more practical than having a ton of stuff plugged into your laptop.
It’s not about it being practical. It’s about if it’s actually doable or not and how well it would work. Having the native ports will always be better that using a hub/dock.
Yeah, because plugging in one thing is way harder than plugging in six.
This is a classic use case for a laptop dock.
That’s a very lazy, short-sighted and first world problem way of looking at this issue.
Why would having the option of using either a hub or plugging things on separately be worse than only being able to use a hub?
Because I don’t want a chonky boi laptop to carry around.
Strongly disagree. I use a laptop with a thunderbolt dock. Being able to plug in a single cable to provide power, connect my monitor, all of my input devices, Ethernet, and anything else in a single cable is awesome. If I had to plug 10 things in manually it would be quite cumbersome. I disconnect the laptop daily as I bring it between work and home, as well as use it, well, as a portable laptop.
Kudos to you.
What you could do now is step out of your bubble and consider that other people have different use cases and might need or prefer to have more native ports.
You literally lose nothing by having more connectivity options.
Except the device inevitably ends up bigger and chunkier.
It sounds like you need a desktop computer or a docking station.
Like I already said to another user: No. There are more than a few use cases that require a mobile set up for demos for example but that you’d also want to use in a desk setting. For example, architects or sw dev.
Why are you making an effort to justify getting shafted by corporations?
We aren’t justifying getting shafted by corporations. What I and the other person are saying is that at some point as your connections and cables multiply, you need to consolidate and streamline your setup for it to be more practical and actually mobile. I’m all for having all the basic necessity ports on my laptop, but when your desk ends up as a mess of cables and pulling out and putting back your laptop becomes bothersome with having to attach/re-attach everything every time, having a dock makes it much simpler. Subjecting yourself to setting up all those cables on both ends instead of just one end is the opposite of having a mobile workstation for quick setup and cleanup.
You’re still missing the forest for the trees.
There’s no real reason why you’d have to choose having a few ports + a hub or tons of ports + the option of using a hub.
If you prefer to “consolidate” your devices to a single poinf of failure on an external device then by all means, go ahead. I just think that it’s pretty crappy that options are being artificially limited and users of all people are making excuses for it.
In this situation a hub is still better. You can pack all the stuff away plugged into the hub for easier set up. If your plugging that all into your laptop, you’ll need to plug it all back in again when you move.
Which might be an issue for you but it’s not for me. Also, I prefer the flexibility to have all of the ports I might need, natively.
That’s a use case for a laptop dock if ever there was one.
Cause I live toting a do gle around and risk breaking the laptop because of it.
I did enough of that in the 90’s, TYVM
in the ’90s*
Username checks out.
Yes, and it’s better to be downgrading USB-C ports with adapters than to be stuck adapting a USB-A port to USB-C or ethernet.
SD card reader is nice to have if you fuck around with cameras and microphones.
Cause I live toting a do gle around and risk breaking the laptop because of it.
I did enough of that in the 90’s, TYVM
in the ’90s*
We’re mindlessly bashing Apple here, we don’t need your sensible reasoning!
Where do you see Apple bashing? Most comments are about the general state of notebook ports.
From my personal experience Apple products aren’t as great as the fanboys claim but are far far better than they haters say they are.
Continue bashing, they use apple maths and only have ports on expensive models.
That picture is from the tech specs page of the base 14-inch
Yeah, props to Apple for bringing back the card reader and HDMI. When I bought my early 2015 MBP I specifically went with the older model because these ports were removed on the newer one which also came with the shitty butterfly keyboard as well which they’ve also since discontinued.
If you got that kind of money to spend on a laptop, sure. I really don’t.
Edit: to be clear, I know this is a stack of Mac’s in OPs picture, but the development that the entry models have basically no ports at all is a more recent development. Having to pick the pro just to be able to connect your stuff without dongles or hubs is a bit insane considering the price (and price difference).
I have an M2 Air, and all mine is missing from that is the SDXC slot, third TB4 and HDMI, and honestly, it’s fine. A third TB4/USB would be nice for when I’m doing my radio show and have to plug in my controller and mic while also charing my phone, but I already have a hub so it doesn’t bother me.
That said, the limited ports on my M1 mini are quite problematic. Two TB3/USB, but one of them is lost to a DisplayPort cable for my second monitor. So I have a desktop computer that functionally has three USB sockets, which ain’t great. But again, I have a hub, so it’s not a huge problem.
Yeah M1+ Macs are great. I say this as a diehard Apple hater
I’m no Apple fanboy (never owned a product of theirs and never will) but to be fair, those two USB-C ports can do everything the old, removed ports can do and more. The real crime here is not putting enough of them on the laptop.
My brand new ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 has HDMI, two USB-A 5Gbps ports, a headset jack, a half-height Ethernet port, as well as two thunderbolt 4 ports and an optional smartcard reader.
I agree that Apple kinda inadvertently ruined the port selection on many laptops for a while but it’s gotten better over the years; even Apple brought back HDMI and SD-Card readers.
I believe that the topmost (M1?) MacBook still has a headphone Jack on the other (right-hand) side.
PS: by no means am I an apple fanboy, but I inherited an old Retina MacBook Pro that I installed Linux on and now use as my daily driver. It still holds up extremely well considering it’s 11 years old. The only ports it’s really missing is an RJ45 and (nowadays) USB-C.
As someone who daily drives a laptop for work and does field work on server facilities, finding a modern replacement that has both a RJ45 port and square USB (USB-A?) ports available on both sides, has been a pain in the hassle.
And I’m not even crying over the loss of VGA any longer. That one I can live without.
I’m not very tech savy but for years I wondered if I could somehow cram a desktop computer in an aluminium suit case. The challenge is getting to the point I will just take it.
I dont know why this is controversial. I’m way more happy with 4x USB-C, than 5 unique ports, that will likely never be used on a regular basis, even when they were relevant
Oh no! They took out ports the vast majority of users would never use in their entire life, making production cheaper and also making room for new technology to develop and evolve, while enabling whoever needs a specific port to simply buy a fucking dongle and get the job done. Oh and this also made it possible for the entire machine to be lighter and thinner, more thermally efficient and have infinitely better battery life.
The horror 🙄
infinitely better battery life
All my laptops have a battery as shitty as ten years ago.
Then get a Mac.
Eh, I’m talking about real computers, not devices that cosplay as one.
How cutting.
Yeah which ports are folks actually missing here? Looking at various ports.
Magsafe: This has returned on the new machines. I like it for the green / orange charge indicator. RJ-45: Ok I kinda of get it, but it’s such a tall port. Personally I’d prefer a thinner laptop in this instance. Mini DVI: long dead. Replaced with HDMI. The MacBook pro’s have HDMI FireWire: long dead USB A: Replaced with USB-C. Ok one A port here would still be useful. Headphone / Mic: Still there, just as a combo port on the other side. SD card reader: The MacBook Pros have this. Mini Display port: Long dead.
In short if you want HDMI and SD card reader and are anti dongle you get a MBP which has both.
Either way now have ports that can push insane bandwidth and route USB, PCI, HDMI and DP over the same cable which is incredibly versatile.
Mini DVI: long dead. Replaced with HDMI. The MacBook pro’s have HDMI
HDMI has always been inferior to DisplayPort, for computer displays. I’d personally consider DP to be the natural successor to DVI.
Buy dongles and splitter dongles.
The new (not that new anymore) macbook PROs do have separate DC input, HDMI, SD card slot and HDMI. And to be honest, for an average computer user those ports are pretty useless, however if you do need them it comes at a rather steep premium.
ThinkPad gang laughing in redundant tf ports
