Apple picker A few days ago, Apple presented new MacBook Pros and in addition to the Touch Bar and the new body, the removal of practically all standard connectors, which was replaced by the USB-C interface, was a big novelty.
At first glance, this procedure may seem innovative and, given the parameters of USB-C (significantly higher speed, double-sided connector, the possibility of powering through this connector) as a highly professional solution, but there is one problem - Apple was ahead of its time and the rest of the industry is still in the phase of 100% adoption of USB-C is far from over.
It sounds a bit paradoxical, but in the light of the newly introduced MacBook Pros, Apple, which pays great attention to simplicity, elegance and purity of style, falls into the ranks of companies in the world of graphic professionals and photographers, when in addition to a laptop and a power adapter, you will have to carry practically the entire briefcase with adapters. However, just go to the Apple store and search for "adapter".
Monitors and projectors
If you are a professional or any other photographer, graphic designer or even a developer, there is a high probability that you do not work directly on the laptop display, but have a large monitor connected. Unless you're one of the lucky ones who already have monitor with USB-C (and that there are really few of them yet), you will need the first reduction, probably from USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) to MiniDisplay Port (Thunderbolt 2) - Apple charges for it 1 crowns. And that's just the beginning.
If you need to present your work on even larger TVs or via projectors, then you need a USB-C to HDMI adapter, which is also suitable for many monitors. Apple offers for such purposes USB‑C multiport digital AV adapter, which, however, is even more expensive - it costs 2 crowns. And if, unfortunately, you still have to work with VGA projectors, it will cost more money. Be similar USB‑C multiport VGA adapter za 2 crowns or easier variant from Belkin za 1 crowns.
The photographer is missing something
The number of reductions starts to increase, and that's only when you need a bigger monitor or somewhere to mirror your work. If you're a photographer, then there's no escaping SD or CF (Compact Flash) cards on which SLRs store your photos. You pay for a fast SD card reader that you plug into USB-C 1 crowns. Again, we take into account the offer of Apple, which sells SanDisk Extreme Pro reader.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]When you buy the latest phone and the latest computer, you don't connect them together.[/su_pullquote]
In the case of CF cards, it is worse, there is apparently no reader that can be plugged directly into USB-C yet, so it will be necessary to help reduction from USB-C to classic USB, which stands 579 crowns. However, it will still find many other uses, because practically every device has a classic USB connector today. Even the Lightning cable from iPhones, which you cannot connect to the new MacBook Pro without a reduction. The adapter will also come in handy for connecting flash drives or external drives.
It used to be easier to connect to the network, but it must be said that Ethernet has not been in MacBooks for a long time. For a complete list of possible reductions, however, we must also mention another piece from Belkin that Apple offers, i.e reduction from USB-C to gigabit Ethernet, which stands 1 crowns.
You're out of luck with Lightning so far
However, by far the biggest paradoxes exist in the area of cables, connectors and adapters within the entire Apple portfolio. In its not only mobile products, the Californian company has been promoting its own Lightning connector for a long time. When it first showed it as a replacement for the 30-pin connector in the iPhone 5, it planned to attack USB-C, which was already in its infancy, with it. While in iPhones, iPads, but also in the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad or Magic Keyboard they really rely on Lightning, in MacBooks they go the USB-C route and these devices do not understand each other directly at all.
It's truly paradoxical that today when you buy the latest phone from Apple and the latest "professional" computer, you don't bundle them together. The solution is again another reduction, respectively a cable that has Lightning for iPhone on one side and USB-C on the other for MacBook Pro. However, Apple charges for a meter of such a cable 729 crowns.
And one more paradox. While in the iPhone 7 Apple showed "courage" and removed the 3,5 mm headphone jack, in the MacBook Pro, on the contrary, it left it as the only other port besides USB-C. You can't even connect headphones from the latest iPhone directly to a MacBook Pro (or any other Apple computer), you need a reducer for that.
The scary number of adapters, adapters and cables that some will necessarily have to buy for the new MacBook Pros has been a problem for many people in recent days. Moreover, given Apple's pricing policy, this is no small matter. The new computers themselves start at high prices (the cheapest MacBook Pro without Touch Bar costs 45), and you can end up paying several thousands more for reductions.
If, in addition, this might not be such a problem for everyone, then for the vast majority of users it will certainly occur in the sense that it will be necessary to constantly think about all those reducers and cables. For example, if you forget the external SD card reader and come across a full card in the camera on the way, you are out of luck. And such a scenario will be repeated with most other reductions.
In short, instead of having a "professional" computer with you that can handle everything you need, you'll always have to think about whether you can actually connect this at all. Apple was ahead of its time here with USB-C, and we'll have to wait until everyone else gets used to this interface. And maybe some do-it-yourselfers are already devising a prudent business plan based on the fact that they will start producing elegant and padded bags in which you can put all the cables and adapters for your MacBook Pro...
Apple responds to customer criticism and significantly lowers the price of USB-C adapters for the new MacBook Pro. Prices are reduced by hundreds of crowns. pic.twitter.com/4evh5THoJZ
— Jablíčkář.cz (@Jablickar) November 5, 2016
Unfortunately, it is. What they did with the laptop, which is supposed to be used in a business environment, is the biggest Apple fail I've ever experienced. And I really wish for him to let the users eat it up. If they were at least decent enough, if they want to make the revolution, they would have added the basic reductions to the machines from CZK 50 and up. It would still be a stretch, but at least it wouldn't be a mockery. The cheapest usable hub costs around seven thousand - buy a new one, do you want to carry a laptop for presentations and plug in a USB device, or just an iPhone? Oops three more reductions... The machine itself looks good, but this is really bad.
what file? from my point of view, a huge fail is mainly that nowadays manufacturers stuff clouds of different connectors into laptops, although a few universal ones would have been enough for a long time.
And that customers suffer? Well, they suffered even when apple threw out all the existing connectors and equipped the PC with only classic USB (which was a "novelty" at the time), and today we look at him as a pioneer, thanks to which USB became widespread. This is the same case, we have x dozens of different connectors and still carry reducers for everything.
Erm...I have a MacBook Pro retina 15″ Mid 2015. So I really don't know which connector is extra here. I have USB, Thunderbold 2 (Display port), SD card reader and HDMI port here. I don't really want to sacrifice either of them. And just randomly, I went through normal laptops from other manufacturers and it's the same. Could you tell me the connector that manufacturers put in notebooks today and that it is obviously extra? At least one, I don't want clouds.
I'm definitely not excited about the new MBPs, but shouldn't that be the point of USB-C? It's hard to replace the SD card reader, but why not just replace USB-A, DP, HDMI, etc. with one connector in the future? I quite like this idea, however, I think that Apple should have just added USB-C to Macbooks before it becomes more widespread.
If it happened as an evolution and not as a revolution, then there would be nothing to discuss. And I will come back to canceling RS-232, parallels port and replacing it with USB. Since I'm a person with an older date, I of course remember it very well, and it was also very controversial at the time, and at the first moment, Apple jumped at it. So the problem was with the parallels port, which was used for printers, the RS-232 ones were not used as much at that time, after all, there were far fewer accessories back then than today. But here the replacement of one connector was dealt with, i.e. that you bought one reduction, and in addition, the change was made on stationary computers, so you didn't have to worry about forgetting it somewhere. It just made it a financial expense again, and people are very sensitive to that.
What about wi-fi cards? Wi-fi in the camera? You don't even have to choose
cards from the camera slot.
So there is a nice difference in speed when copying 16/32 or more GB via WiFi or via USB. I don't think this is the right way, at least for now. Yes for a few photos, but probably not for professional work.
if he only added them, no one would use it because everyone would reach for the more available USB 2 and USB 3
No? VGA not working? Until recently, DVI was used, which was completely unnecessary. HP and sometimes other manufacturers give DisplayPort. That is not enough? Do you really find it quite adequate to scatter 4 different connectors on different products (because we still have hdmi here), although it would be enough to use only USB C for all video outputs for at least a year or almost two? And before that, Thunderbolt was able to perform the same function for 5 years.
Just look at the VGA expansion in new projectors as well. Even though there is no chance to transfer Full HD through it, every manufacturer puts it there "because everyone has it on their computer" even though it is an incredibly outdated standard. What about HDMI? That hdmi, which is not capable of transmitting 4K in normal quality, and when they released ver. 2.0 so no one deploys it again and even after a year and a half it is not widespread. so fragmentation again.
We generally have an awful lot of options, connectors and protocols, and manufacturers can't agree on which one to use. But because of backward compatibility, they also cram VGA in there and thus unnecessarily keep it alive even in new products. And after all, this state, where HDMI has at least somehow settled in the majority, is the result of many years when unusable DVI was installed.
As I said, Apple's step hurts and will hurt for at least a year, but I believe that other manufacturers will resort to a similar purge, at least in some product category, and it will force the rest of the manufacturers to finally install the majority, just as it was USB in the days of the serial port and PS2.
Well, yes, but apparently not even Apple itself is clear about it. Somewhere Lightning, somewhere USB-C. Why, for example, does the Apple TV have its own USB-C and the ATV controller has Lightning. Personally, I would be in favor of Apple at least installing USB-C everywhere, otherwise it will be a mess anyway.
Of course I agree. This schizophrenia shows exactly that someone here has forgotten about the coordination between their own products, which I think is one of the biggest fails that Apple has made. If he released the iPhone a year ago, you would think, ok, it's a development. But the fact that they released the phone a month ago and already made a connector casting for it, and now they made another one for laptops, shows that they should really think about the development and production. Because now it's really not one ecosystem anymore.
yes, the headphone jack is failed. it's an immortal connector. ingeniously invented
Could you show me a new laptop that has a VGA connector? Like DVI? I'm not saying that manufacturers shouldn't agree on standards, but we're talking about something completely different! Just as you needlessly deal with HDMI parameters. And the fact that DVI was used and not HDMI is a completely different matter. When DVI and HDMI were created, they were on completely different devices, because DVI was on monitors and HDMI was on TVs. And since monitors were and still are quite often produced without speakers, and DVi had better parameters than HDMI, so DVi was simply put into notebooks and computers. The fact that evolution led to the fact that a different connector was finally created and prevailed, namely Display Port, is another matter, and of course the inertia of production is a given. And mind you, I have nothing against evolution or a small revolution. But what Apple has done is a brutal revolution in every way and it will not be easy at all. It is clear that it will last. That it will have negative consequences is also very likely, because there will certainly be a large group of users who will not try it.
When I open alza and specify that the laptop should have VGA, it offers me almost 850 models. Is it really so few and rare that you can write "show me a laptop with VGA"? After all, VGA nowadays is mostly not only available in ultrabooks, where it physically cannot fit, the vast majority of laptops still have it, and almost every model in the category under 20k has it.
I agree that it should go the way of evolution and not revolution, but you can see from the VGA itself that they have been trying to remove it evolutionarily for a good 15 years and they still don't succeed.
And DVI is just a good example, DVI initially had better parameters than HDMI, but only paper ones. Already the first version of HDMI was capable of Full HD, which at the time (year 2002) was much more than what could be put into monitors. That is, there was no single reason to prefer DVI over HDMI, just the inability of manufacturers to agree on a single standard. At that time, DVI was also used in some TVs, it was not the domain of monitors only. the sound was then routed through a regular 3,5mm jack. Another thing is the industrial segment, but even today it is separate and has different specifics. In any case, two different digital outputs began to proliferate at the same time and gradually "divided" the market, although there was no reason for this. And this despite the fact that DVI did not have sound and the resolution was only slightly higher (1080 vs 1200) at a time when both were well above the resolution of commonly available products.
It's a brutal step, but I believe that it will last and when the initial hysteria subsides and awareness of the possibilities of this solution spreads a little more, it will be copied again by more manufacturers, and honestly, I'd rather wear a VGA adapter than have the manufacturer modify the chassis, increase the body and made further concessions to integrate an archaic connector. I have this year's HP for 30k (elitebook), where the manufacturer, as with other more expensive lines, has integrated DisplayPort and I often struggle with it, because somewhere on the monitors there is DVI, somewhere HDMI, somewhere only VGA, and yet in the last 10 years it could already to be known only by one of them. Anyway, I have a fairly "regular" laptop, I still pull several adapters, and I still often deal with malfunctions, because it is not reliable.
So yeah, big apologies, you really got me with that VGA :D.
hdmi, mini display port and sd card...
– these are the unnecessary ports we are talking about here.
why use them when there is USB-C/thunderbold 3 with a throughput of 40GB/with a huge number of channels?
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the only minus is that most of the equipment adapts within about 2 years. the problem is really different projectors and televisions with a lifespan of 10+ years...
There is talk of a file here, but I don't think it's nearly as hot. Already now, a person must have different reductions for each thinner laptop (regardless of the manufacturer). They're just not on USB-C, but on something else. But it would have been fair if at least a basic reduction to USB-A was included.
I would also note that the paragraph about headphones sounds incorrect. A reduction for connecting headphones with Lightning (included with the iPhone 7) to the headphone port is not included with the phone. The one included is the other way around.
Of course you're right, the bug crept in. But that's just the icing on the cake of the whole despair, when you're just having total bad luck with those headphones.
Or dock aka port replicator. Like the one you bought last time for USB-C…
There are two ways to look at it.
1. today's eye
I consider the absence of an SD card reader to be a big minus, I have it in my router, in my car, in my SLR camera. the impossibility of connecting a UTP cable as well, Wi-Fi hotspots are prohibited or even disabled in many places, especially in larger companies. connect Macbook to displayport, or hdmi... I also need that. Fortunately, I don't have lighting headphones yet. I can do without VGA and DVI. whenever it happens that the projector in the office is quite hysterical and only equipped with VGA+... I download and delete the data and the iPhone via ImageCapture, so the cable...
in short, in my bag there should be: reduction to SD card, UTP, DisplayPort, USB-A, lightning - usb-c. Without it, I simply couldn't get out of the barracks...
so far I'm solving it so that my ntb has USB, reader, Dp, HDMI, Thunderbold/minidisplayport... the only thing I carry with me is a mouse and a charger... vsjo. it only runs Win7 but I'm fine. I don't even have a single adapter at home with the iMac...I connect everything I need directly. TB, USB, memory sticks, UTP...
2. tomorrow's eye
simply Apple will release it wirelessly nice Marcony. The absurdity of this in-between situation always reminds me of Mr. Wozniak's iconic backpack...
sees…
Marconi
Or you just need to buy a port replicator, which today is smaller than a small wallet, the price is around two thousand, and it will replace your entire handbag with reducers and adapters ;-)
try to look a bit, out of curiosity I was looking for a USB-C dock for my HP yesterday and I was really pleasantly surprised at how many of them Alza offers and, compared to earlier prices, even for a pittance. And I quite believe that for a few thousand you will find one that will really have all the mentioned connectors in one body, you just have to look.
Such a port replicator for the new MB Pro with TB3 will cost more like 10 to have everything you need. And as sorry, to put almost 80 liters for 15″ in the base and immediately another 10 to be able to connect what I need, it is simply not.
I have the feeling that in general Apple has started to cough on professionals and please do not count me among the professionals. But how else to explain the fact that a person working on Apple's professional tool Aperture, who paid for it, has a lot of work in it, a whole archive, etc., suddenly finds that it is a dead end? In short, this is unbelievable, and now the crown of everything in the form of reductions to everything, this is a complete tragedy, how things are moving in a completely different direction, how it is losing its meaning, how no one is managing it. How to leave the icons in the form of a glowing apple, magsafe, etc. This is a mess... I don't know what I'm going to do, I love Apple, but this is really too much. Help!
Why doesn't anyone figure out what to do with the old thunderbolt adapters? I paid a lot of money for them, so that I could connect everything I need and I said to myself: OK, I understand this move by Apple, thunderbolt as a universal is quite nice and makes sense.
But it doesn't! Change and in the form of USB-C and thunderbolt is abandoned. :D
So I don't mind the universality of ports and the need for reductions. But Apple should realize what it's doing to users, because I don't think I'm the only one who would have purchased thunderbolt adapters, which I have to uncompromisingly throw away and replace with new ones when I upgrade my macbook.
This is just history repeating itself, Apple always adheres to some standard, in the past FireWire, then FireWire 800, then Thunderbolt, people buy a lot of peripherals for it, and in the following versions of computers the interface is missing, everything has to be solved with (expensive) reductions . How can they be so sure that USB-C / thunderbolt 3 will be what finally "saves" us? In my opinion, equipping the MB Pro with only USB-C is an unnecessarily radical step. As well as removing the SD card slot and HDMI and classic USB. But what I regret the most is MagSafe.
I don't see much of a problem with that. Dropping the SD reader is crap, yes, but otherwise I support apple in this. How else to force the market to switch to the new standard as quickly as possible? Despite the fact that no one I know had to use all the ports. If I need to connect a monitor or discs, I will buy a new connecting cable, which I am sure most manufacturers will offer soon. I have no choice but to buy a card reader (if it is not in the monitor), a vga/hdmi adapter if you need to present, and most people probably a classic usb adapter. Or buy some usbc hubs of which there are quite a few and they look really nice. A reduction to things like ethernet and such will be used by very few people. Wifi is almost everywhere and this is a much more convenient way than dragging a cable. As for the phone cable, its price will be lost in the mbp price. I still think that this is a better option than if Apple supplied the new IP with a usb cable, which most people still have nowhere to plug. A person who buys such a computer must expect some extra expenses. I have a lot of comments about the new mbp, but as far as the ports are concerned (apart from the absence of an sd reader), I'm completely fine. For those who are so bothered by it, they can stay with the existing machines for another year or two. Performance is sufficient for most people, and the usbc standard will hopefully spread quickly during that time.
or buy a satechi hub and have a card reader, two usb 3.0 and you can also charge it.. it's small, compact and it solves 99% of the problems you describe above.. I have it with a Macbook 12 and I'm satisfied.. the same connection with an iPhone USB-C can be solved for a hundred with a cable from Remax, which can do exactly the same thing..
Sony was the "master" of cables and connectors. Camera, camera, players, phones... everything had a different connector, cable, charger... When your dog chewed something, you had to decide whether to buy an incredibly overpriced incompatible item or a new device. Conversely, a device without a cable was worthless.
I understand the outraged users that it's not cheap, but I still think Apple's decision is the right one. After all, it is the dream of every reasonable user to have one connector for everything. I believe that with this seemingly unpleasant and painful step, we have come close to the end of the era, every device has its own cable, terminal, connector, connection... I wish the manufacturers of monitors, cameras, phones, tablets, etc. would accept this decision, at least for the time until it really it won't go according to Marconi.
http://www.gjszlin.cz/ivt/esf/ostatni-sin/images/porty.jpg