Ondrej Holzman Apple's chief marketing officer Phil Schiller in an interview for The Independent describes the obstacles his company had to overcome in order to introduce a computer as thin as it is fast and powerful, such as the new MacBook Pro.
Schiller, as is his wont, enthusiastically defends the (often controversial) moves Apple has made in its line of professional notebooks, and also reiterated that the California firm has no plans to merge mobile iOS with desktop macOS.
Phil Schiller: Our online stores received more orders for the new MacBook Pro than any "pro" laptop before.
— Jablíčkář.cz (@Jablickar) November 2, 2016
However, in an interview with David Phelan, Phil Schiller very interestingly explained why Apple removed, for example, the slot for SD cards from the MacBook Pro and, conversely, why it left the 3,5 mm jack:
The new MacBook Pros do not have an SD card slot. Why not?
There are several reasons. First, it's a rather unwieldy slot. Half the card always sticks out. Then there are very good and fast USB card readers, in which you can also use CF cards as well as SD cards. We could never work this out - we chose SD because more mainstream cameras have SD, but you can only choose one. That was a bit of a compromise. And then more and more cameras are starting to offer wireless transmission, which is proving useful. So we've gone the route where you can use a physical adapter if you want or transfer data wirelessly.
Isn't it inconsistent to keep the 3,5mm headphone jack when it's no longer in the latest iPhones?
Not at all. These are professional machines. If it was just about headphones, then it wouldn't need to be here, as we believe that wireless is a great solution for headphones. But many users have computers connected to studio speakers, amplifiers and other professional audio equipment that do not have a wireless solution and need a 3,5mm jack.
Whether keeping the headphone jack is consistent or not is up for debate, but the two Phil Schiller answers quoted above seem to be inconsistent mainly. That is, at least from the point of view of that professional user, for whom the Pro series MacBooks are primarily intended and which Apple often flaunts.
While Apple left the key port for the professional musician, the professional photographer did not without reduction won't go around. It's clear that Apple sees the future in wireless (not just in headphones), but at least in terms of connectivity, the entire MacBook Pro is still a bit of future music.
We can almost be sure that USB-C will be the absolute standard in the future and it will bring many benefits, but we are not there yet. Apple knows this very well and is once again one of the first to try to move the entire technological world to the next development phase a little faster, but at the same time, in this effort, it forgets its true professional users, for whom it has always cared so much.
A photographer who takes hundreds of photos a day will certainly not jump at Schiller's announcement that he can use wireless transmission after all. If you're transferring hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes of data a day, it's always faster to put a card in your computer or transfer everything via cable. If it wasn't a laptop for "professionals", cutting ports, as in the case of the 12-inch MacBook, would be understandable.
But in the case of the MacBook Pro, Apple may have moved too quickly, and its professional users will have to make compromises more often than is appropriate for their daily work. And above all, I must not forget the reduction.
If you're missing some ports on the new MacBook Pro, OWC is here to help once again, introducing a Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 13 ports. pic.twitter.com/sqO8fuMLT2
— Jablíčkář.cz (@Jablickar) November 3, 2016
I definitely support apple on this one. It is true that they could have left the sd card reader and Schiller's answer is pure alibism, but otherwise I agree with the use of only usb-c. It's just a shame that Apple doesn't want to put them in iPhones and iPads as well. All his devices would thus have only one port.
Yes exactly. if usb c was in Macs, iPads and iPhones, I would understand that step, it would look really comprehensive. charging, data transfer... all on one connector. having "15" or a port replicator in the bag because "the sd card came out" is pure alibism. it is very good that MS has taken a second breath and is starting to present really very interesting products.
just hello "you don't happen to have lightning" I accidentally left it at home and won't charge it :-(
Nobody has USB-C either.
I just have :) But thanks to the MacBook device, this doesn't bother me, and I think that USB-C will not be a bad choice - true, I will also deal with how to connect a Thunderbolt disk array...
After all, through the TB3 – TB2 reduction for only 15 hundred... :-/
yeah, i wasn't looking. So far I have a MacBook Pro from 2011 :) and I only have a MacBook for travel…
USB-C is clearly the future. Today I was choosing a motherboard for a PC and one of the parameters that must be met is at least one USB-C port
At least one would be enough for the new rMBP, the rest could easily remain in their original state.
the fact that they removed the reader seems to me to be a reasonable step (unlike the absence of ports). However, I understand that photographers will not agree with me.
Most Mac users don't take pictures anyway, do they? :)))
well, usually at least in starbucks cafe for instagram...
where did you get that? :D quite a few photographers use maca.
Isn't that irony?
Sory my mistake. After Schiller's statement, my sense of irony left me.
I don't mind the headphone input on the iPhone and the card reader (which I've used 3 times in 4 years) at all. I already take pictures with one iPhone, when it is not on claim. Currently, Apple has other bigger problems ;-).
Well, to tell the truth, the top models of cameras still use CF cards for a large part, so removing the reader is a steal for their users.
Another thing is that the USB speed has generally increased a lot with newer cameras, so logically the amount of downloads "over the cable" without removing the card from the camera is increasing.
Just these two situations (and that's quite common, it's not a sci-fi story) will make the group of "cursing photographers" smaller...
Nonsense, they should have integrated Thunderbolt 3 into the lightning connector, if the new MBP had purely lightning connectors instead of USBC, I would understand.
Which is somehow not technically possible, look how many pins and wires there are in the thunderbolt 3 cable and how many lightning…
It is technically possible, of course, but it would have to be introduced anyway in the case of integrating the thunderbolt interface into the lightning connector, lightning revision 2, preferably with more pins and at the same time backwards compatible. This is not technically unsolvable, the reason why lightning is better than usbc is the connector size and lifespan.
UsbC has an area with pins inside the female connector, with lightning the pins are on the circuit of the female connector, this is technically a much better solution.
It's just that the ultra-reliable connector would become unreliable, those pins in lightning aren't that "wide" for nothing.
It was still more reliable than USBC.
"...what obstacles did his company have to make..." Well, I just hope it's lost in translation. Because if Phil Schiller really put it this way, then the whole current strategy of Apple is much clearer to me. :)
For example: "...Half of the card always sticks out..." this is a real gem. So the current management of Apple is insurmountably hindered (understood, bothered) by half of the SD card sticking out, but at the same time, a bunch of reductions that also (and of course) somehow stick out are completely acceptable to them...
Another hilarious piece of crap is Sofia's alleged choice (at least according to Schiller's list), which the entire Apple design department had to deal with earlier: i.e. how to get a CompactFlash interface into a computer, which is by its very nature the desired state of every anorexic. :)
And I'll probably leave music professionals with a headphone output without comment.
Look, I've been an Apple user since 1995. Loyal and understanding. But lately I'm actually praying that some competitor will come up with something more interesting. Because this primitive marketing ptydepe is almost starting to offend me. And almost because I'm still giggling... :)
It's like the ovum and its virus. Everyone knows that it's different, but it doesn't stop you from always standing up for the virus. I just don't know what I'd rather do. That Apple's claims are just conscious bullshit, or that the gentlemen are serious. In the first case, I may not like it, but somehow I accept it, because "money is money" and "everyone lies". In the second, I would have to start to worry that they are really sick and out of touch with reality. When I see how epic they always are, how hard they work, what big obstacles they overcome and how they get the most out of themselves, and then I take any product from the last few years, it just doesn't sit well with me. What others don't even "think about" and everything is OK, they solve terribly and the result is what it is. So, I'd rather believe that it's conscious bullshit and it's just like an ovar virus.
Unreal, you can add politics to the discussion about Apple. So when the politician is already active, Cook let it be heard that he would advocate for a cashless future. I don't have to explain to a smart person what the real problems are and where a 100% cashless society is going, and there's no point in explaining it to you, you wouldn't understand.
I confirm reading (not understanding) the post.
' But many users have computers connected to studio speakers, amplifiers and other professional audio equipment that does not have a wireless solution and needs a 3,5mm jack.'
I would like to see a studio that 'professionally' uses a 3.5mm jack.
Studio maybe not, it will have external cards...but at concerts, in clubs, djs, musicians, everyone uses MBP.
And do they have the equipment connected to the jack directly in the MBP? Somehow it doesn't seem to me that the DA converter in the MBP is worth anything.
They certainly have the equipment through some kind of port, but they mostly plug their headphones into the jack.
Well, that jack also includes an optical digital output. It was probably aimed there.
:D but the wise Apple canceled the optics. So all that's left is the analog jack...
that's great, but I'd rather use an external sound box there as well (I understand that it's another box that I have to carry with me). The optical output is great, I could see the use there, but still.
I use my Mac 80% for music (listening and creating/recording...) and despite the fact that I definitely don't consider myself a professional, I bought the basic M-Audio FastTrack 2 just out of principle.
In my opinion, Jack in Macs is ok for headphones and at most for some home movie/music munching through home boxes.
BTW: I just saw somewhere on the net: 'New MacBook Pro drops optical audio out through headphone jack'
I see it as a tax for progress. Although in this particular case I see him as being forced by the shareholders (they had to show them something, and with only new processors for old models they wouldn't thank the world anyway). And who else can bite a higher price and a lot of tricks (they pull them anyway) than a professional user?
And the fact that HW manufacturers can't come to an agreement and suddenly deploy USB-C is more of a plus - God knows what else they would agree on if they could do it globally :-)
From my point of view, the laptop has much bigger problems - unnecessary thinness (heating), the metrosexual strip instead of a piece of keyboard, horizontal enter, but that's already OT.
What is horizontal enter? :D if you mean the long enter over only one row of keys, then all keyboards with US layout have it... Otherwise, I agree, the strip is nicer, but not as a substitute for keys.
Oh, I didn't know that. I guess the Americans have crooked little fingers. :-) It seems logical to me that it is vertical and I have always had it that way.
I always thought it was weird too :-)
Perhaps Apple should also explain to us who, in its view, is the pro for whom it is a Pro.
I currently have a mid 2014 MBP and I sure hope it lasts a long time. I use a Mac for work, so I'd think I'd be one of the Pro targets. I work as a consultant, so I work a lot on the road, in the office, at the customer's home. The Mac is great for me, it lasts a long time, the system is stable, I run Office365, I close the lid, open the lid - the Mac runs and I work - great.
Basically, I always have to have a reduction to VGA ready, for presentations. Some customers don't have wifi, so I still have a reduction to Ethernet. Furthermore, I use the O2 USB LTE modem practically all the time. But that's OK, 2 reductions, modem to USB ... that's not a problem.
But with the new MBP? I will have to have a USB-C/USB adapter, then an Ethernet adapter and, in addition to VGA, HDMI. The customer will be amazed when I take the "state of the art" Macbook out of my bag and onto the table, along with the spider of various reductions. I can already see it, especially some staunch opponents of Apple will be really amused and pleased.
Not so much for me. I'd rather have an MBP without the "useless" strip and with some reduction instead of making the machine a millimeter thinner.
Or maybe I'm just not a Pro and I'll have to check with Microsoft next time :-(
I can't help but see all the smiling faces in Apple ads, but it seems to me that Apple thinks that all its customers (including Pros) go to school, surf the net, travel for fun, take photos and listen to music ? But there are people who really work on it, right?
Basically I agree. However, in my opinion, this situation is temporary. I have practically everything from Apple myself. I use a Macbook 12″ when traveling/at home, one USB-C that I charge through, I practically never needed to connect anything else. I have everything on iCloud and I am satisfied. I have a MacMini 2011 mid at work, because together with late 2012 they are the last pieces where you can easily upgrade the RAM, in 2014 it is already directly on the board, but that is OT. Basically what I was trying to say was that when apple removed the floppy drive users rioted, when it removed the CD drive users rioted. When the mac came with USB only, they rioted again. Users will riot all the time. But manufacturers will now start producing and even outright spewing out accessories for USB-C, and in a while no one will even bark at the old USB and it will be self-evident. For myself, I would like Phil Schiller to stop talking about marketing gibberish, but that's the face of Apple. They were a little ahead of their time with this, maybe they are pushing the saw unnecessarily. An SD reader would certainly fit there. I'm more bothered by absurdities... I have an iPhone 7, I got lightning headphones for it, so I won't connect them to the MB. I also have a USB-Lightning cable, I will not connect it to MB either. On the other hand, this is probably not necessary if I have all the content wirelessly. But that's absurd. What is indisputable is the inefficient 2-core processors and insufficient RAM for professional applications such as Logic Pro X or Final Cut. I would also mention Aperture, which was the best for editing photos - it can't be compared to Photos, but that would be a long time again. It seems to me that Apple has been a bit unconceptualized in recent years. They should think a little more about their super ecosystem that they are disrupting with this.
and what do they have to think about?
Yes, there are people who work at MBP, and at the same time they often travel for fun, take photos and listen to music. These are people who bought MBP for performance, whether for work with sound, graphics, video, etc. The old basic MB Air is completely sufficient for MS office and presentation on the projector, so the new Pro is not for you, you can rest easy:- ) And if you decide that you absolutely need it, then surely there is a USB-C reduction/whatever, it doesn't have to be connected x times between each other.
Well, it seems to me that you are probably not one of those people who work on a laptop all day. I don't mean it badly. But it's quite a difference to watch 15 hours a day on a Pro and Air display.
I live on projects, I need a machine that is powerful (also because of the virtual machines I use) and that I can always rely on. And I also listen to music and sometimes take pictures :-)
But no, I take the new MBP to be progress, I can only hope that my current MBP will last until USB-C is really a commonly used interface. Because yes, there are reductions, but it's really a stretch, regardless of the fact that it significantly spoils the impression of the super design that the comp has.
BTW OT: At one client, one person told me, looking at the beautiful MBP and 2 connected reducers, that he already understands what is hidden under the name Apple Ecosystem :-)
Of course, the Retina on the Pro is elsewhere, no question about it. I rather don't like the talk of people who make a living from MS Office (if it's different, sorry, but it sounded like that from the first post) and everyone who "plays with pictures, songs, etc." on the computer are toys... Otherwise, I agree, my the first thought when I saw the news was: "Great, in some time, when the market reacts and the USB-C/whatever reduction will be for 150 crowns in every electric, or it will be normal to have a straight USB-C/whatever cable, it will be great." On the other hand, if I'm one of those people who have the latest tech toys of all kinds, they absolutely need to have the latest model a month after release, and I'm going to pay 70000 for a laptop, I can probably still add three little things to the order to connect everything with "the rest " home.
Art has come with innovations at the right time. It has been confirmed many times in the past that those who succeeded paid for it.
The iPad 1 was also ready at least a year before it was shown at all. And for at least a year, there were jokes about it being a mat for slicing meat.
Correct me fellow Czechs, but did Apple really have to make obstacles? Didn't she have to overcome or conquer them rather?
Of course you are right bro :)
apple reduced the price of adapters .. that the reaction to the responses to the new MBP?
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/04/apple-drops-prices-on-usb-c-adapters/
But even if he gave them away for free, it won't change how impractical it is at the moment :-( Otherwise, he also reduced the prices of new LG monitors, who knows why.
Well, maybe something will change, because Apple gets to eat it on all fronts. I haven't experienced that in the time I've been following Apple (approx. 10-11 years). Check out the comments below that article: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/apple-macbook-pro-new-philip-schiller-interview-phil-iphone-ios-criticism-a7393156.html#commentsDiv
They should really discuss it, they will compare the prices/offer and further development will go in some reasonable and, above all, comprehensive direction. I would mainly be interested in where manufacturers in general get the need to constantly thin things out. I don't even know when was the last time I thought, um, this should be thinner. When it's at the price we're currently looking at.
OT: BTW, a colleague and I tried configuring a Mac Mini for fun on Friday.
1. to choose a model with a 1,4GHz dual-core, they probably can't even be serious.
2. 8GB of ram should be enough, but as things develop, 16GB is better to reorder, firstly for future use and secondly, it cannot be replaced because it is on the board. so +6400 CZK
3. The last 3 osx with HHD are unusable, so SSD + CZK 6400
Well, the result is really very interesting. 2 core i5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and Intel Iris int. Graphic Design. and all for a brother's popular price of CZK 34790. My first mac was just a mini. I bought the foundation. He also bought a faster disk (5400 rpm -> 7200 rpm), I also bought ram. and for about 19 I had a great machine that I worked on for 3 years (cinema4D, photoshop, illustrator, final cut, aperture)...
We'll see how it goes, but it's not the first time something has come their way. I think that even if Apple doesn't profile themselves like that, the only thing that will change their approach is money. As long as we buy it, there is no reason to look at the needs and requirements of users. That "Pro" users are complaining? If 2x as many Macbooks are sold to ordinary users, I think that Apple will not care and will continue to shout about it to the world. I'm cleaning out my audio library right now, adding to it and thinking that it's useless, because I haven't been listening to much music on my mobile for almost 2 months. Why? Because I have an iPhone 7 and Apple loves music. I am alone? I'm not. Has anything changed? Yes, it has changed, the availability of Air Pods (which I wouldn't even want for free) has been pushed back. There are still no quality headphones with a lightning connector, nor a reasonable reduction with a better DAC. The world goes on anyway, most users don't care and are excited about the included headphones, excited about the included reduction and praise Apple for the fact that the reduction is included "for free" and are satisfied with the output. So why should Apple bother with this? But I'd like to be wrong.
Well, the lightning/jack reduction should win the award for the most pornographic reduction ever made. Disgusting... on the one hand, watching Ivo slowly masturbate over the perfection of the products and then he allows someone to sneak a "5cm" adapter to him and plug headphones into it :-) Same as the argument that it's simply better that she doesn't look at it for a short while before moving the data connect an external reader from the mac SD card.
Now I thought of a completely crazy variant. Card reader connected to USB-C/USB-A adapter connected to MacBook pro :-)
If it was only about the length, but the quality is nothing, both the sound and the reduction itself, the fart cable will last. Not to mention the fact that most of the headphones that people want to connect are not white.
As for the epic videos and bullshit, no words. That's how it will turn out with that reader, what's the point of a USB-C reader if I'd only have it for a mac? I will still need the Ačko reduction for other devices.
But maybe we're just weird and don't have the ability to see the world through the eyes of Ivo and his ilk. I don't understand him and neither do the expressionists and other painters and artists. But it is known that they were all "outsiders" in their time. In 100 years, maybe even Iva will understand humanity. I just hope USB-C will be on most devices by then :)
I don't know what everyone's problem with wireless headphones is, that's the last thing that bothers me. Currently, old headphones can be connected via bluetooth with a simple and small module, and it even has a remote control. Really cool.
It's worse on the MACbBook, but I've used the card reader 3 times in the last 4 years, so I really wouldn't mind using an external one ;-).
I don't see how people can give Apple shit when they claim that the most people in history bought the new Procko ;-). If you don't poop :-).
Didn't buy, pre-ordered because it was supposed to be delivered in 2 to 3 weeks from the show. Now deliveries are in 4 to 5 weeks.
When Steve Jobs was there, they introduced a new model on Tuesday and it was in stores on Friday, so fewer people pre-ordered it.
Now it is being pre-ordered by companies that are putting it in stock to get it by the end of the year, because the old mbp from 2012 have already been written off.
We will be able to estimate how many they actually sold at the end of January, when Apple announces how many Macs it sold in the current quarter. If I don't put them in the same category as Apple Watch, iPods, Apple TV, adapters and other accessories :-)
So maybe it's bullshit ;-).
For me, such a device is too expensive for the domestic "edge".
Such marketing statements can be generated... The most people in history bought a PRO when we read about the decline of the computer market for the last two or three years, the Mac is more expensive again and there are discussions full of people lamenting...
1) "the new headphone jack no longer supports as/pdif digital connection" - is that true? 2) why are there so few usb-c devices when it is a trend? All MS, Google, Apple have always committed to this..
1. unfortunately yes
2. I don't understand either, USB-c is great, but it will still take a few months before it becomes the 'new' standard everywhere. Although Apple made a similar drive removal - removed FDD/CD-ROM, etc. However, in my opinion, these were completely different situations. USB-A is by no means obsolete and I think it will be around for quite some time. The fact that MBp doesn't even have one is bullshit.
Apart from the ridiculously high price and the absence of an SD reader, it looks like a pretty good machine. I admit, I don't have it. 3380 Euros is simply too much for a bloated 13-inch note.