Apple updates its 12-inch MacBook with faster chip, but no extra USB | Hacker News Reader

Apple updates its 12-inch MacBook with faster chip, but no extra USB

cnet.com

25 pointsjefflinwood31 comments

My wife and I both have to travel. This is my favorite travel computer. At home, or when working all day on location, I prefer my MBP retina 15. At the airport, in a plane, or next to bed I like the 12 inch MB.

There is a lot of speculation over the single port. There are a couple of USB C dongles. One is USB-C to regular USB. The other is USB-C to USB, USB-C, and HDMI. The later allows charging the MB while using USB and connecting a monitor. I keep a little zip up with my Apple USB-C charger and the larger dongle. I leave the charger and dongle at home if getting coffee with my MB. On the road I carry the little zip up bag with charger and dongle. Even carrying both is lighter than any other laptop charger I have. (The USB-C charger is only a bit bigger than an iPad charger.)

I see this laptop as a "more productive iPad". I have a main MacBook Pro 15" that is permanently attached to two monitors, and a bunch of other devices. Having a secondary laptop that I can use on the go or in bed, without detaching the existing one, would be nice. So far I've been using my iPad for that purpose, but the 12" MacBook would provide me with a significantly nicer experience. At least for any task that isn't content consumption. For my use case, the single USB port is not an issue (as much as I otherwise dislike laptops with only a couple of USB ports).

I stopped using my iPad completely when I got the new Macbook. it's just as light, the screen is better, it's more comfortable to hold, and the keyboard is fantastic.

They don't learn anymore, do they?

The single port was a horrible failure. I'm sure their shareholders enjoyed the thought of every single MacBook owner buying one of those multi-adapter cables, but that was a mistake my family only needs to make once.

This makes me sad. I love Apple. I love their products. I loved working there, a lot. But stories like these make me think they are calcifying into what Microsoft was in the 00s.

Once things like Magic Leap are mainstream, there is zero guarantee Apple will remain relevant at all.

EDIT: Since everyone is ripping on me for not considering every single possible use case, here's my response:

The problem is not that Apple made a lighter laptop with limited uses, it is that this laptop is crowding out better options for people - particularly employees who are assigned computers - who clearly need more. I see people all the time being assigned new MacBooks and who need the extra adapters, and those same people come back and complain that the adapters break! I don't get why companies buy them buy the bulk, unless apple is pushing some amazing deals.

Your comments are usually good, but this one reads like something from the fanboys on MacRumors. It might not be right for you, but I haven't seen any evidence of the single port being a failure in the market.

I and everyone I know who has used single-port MacBooks have expressed frustration with the need to swap cables or use the adapter, which among my family members has broken twice, and not for lack of proper use or storage.

I never really understood why it is better for the consumer to be either inconvenienced or out an extra $70 for an unattractive dongle. It's like if a wedding dowry was a facelift and a boob job, except the groom has to pay for it.

I own the new MacBook and have been surprised at how little impact the single port has had on my day to day life. I use it for work, and it's actually nice to come into the office and only need to plug into one port instead of the three I used to plug into (power, HDMI for monitor, usb->lightning adapter). I don't understand the outrage over fewer ports, it's an easy trade-off for me given how thin, light and portable this laptop is.

Well you don't just need the dongle with its generous one USB port, you also need a USB hub to connect to the dongle.

I have the dongle with USB, HDMI and USB-C. I have not hit a scenario where I was searching for another port, and I've had the machine since launch.

Honestly, it's a great laptop and is far more functional than those (who have not used one) are lead to believe. My only gripe is video playback can be laggy with hi-def videos. It sounds like they're trying to fix that problem with the new model.

My girlfriend bought one (slightly egged on by yours truly) and LOVES LOVES LOVES it. Although it does disappear in the sofa cushions a bit too often ;-)

In short: maybe you and the people you know aren't the target market. Which is OK, we get it that it doesn't work for you. But the inference that there isn't a market where it works wonderfully is simply wrong.

I don't actually own a mac, but I can see where he's coming from. For me using a laptop with a single USB port would be very difficult. That being said my current setup has 3 ports and I still end up using an adapter so perhaps I should just give in to reality and accept that I need one either way..

I'm totally happy with my single port MacBook. Rarely I need two things at the same time and as we're moving to a more wireless world, less will we need it! It's a bet on the future not on the present.

Were you also sad when Apple launched a laptop with no CD/DVD drive?

No, but I never use CDs. I use USBs and SDs and extra monitors fairly often.

How am I expected to write apps for an iPhone if I have to choose between having my iPhone connected or having electricity?

Oh, I can just by an adapter? I'd rather buy a new computer.

OK then maybe that's not a computer for you and your kind of work. I think it's personal. As a nomadic front-end developer, I'm really happy with it. I would be equally or more happy with one port more, no doubt, but it doesn't feel like a problem to me.

Until they switch to single-port across all their devices this is a non-issue. You still have other options in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines.

I write apps for iPhone. I have a dongle that gives me power, connects to my iPhone, and connects to an extra monitor.

I'd rather carry around a dongle that weighs less than an ounce than add 2 lbs of weight to my laptop to accomadate more ports

Does it really add 2 lbs of weight to add some USB ports?

No. The MacBook Air isn't even 1 pound heavier.

This product is intended for parents to buy for their kid going off to college. It's pretty ideal for that.

It would be a terrible computer for me due to the lack of ports and lack of performance but it's not meant for me. That's why I have an rMBP.

The difference in ports is one of the differentiators and signifiers that this machine is not meant for us.

When this was originally released I was sure a usb-c cinema display was right around the corner. That would make sense as a product strategy: monitor = docking station.

I was wrong, obviously. Presumably when there is a usb-c capable laptop from apple that can drive at least one 5k display we will see it come out.

I don't think you can really make a blanket statement like that. It isn't good for you or I, but anecdotally I know a few people who are more than happy with theirs.

I'm a developer. The lack of ports (and really, raw CPU power) would infuriate me. My boss, a former developer turned manager who spends most of his day in meetings, loves his single-port Macbook.

You apparently previously worked for apple, and are on HN.

Therefor, it's probably a safe bet you're a developer of some kind.

What exactly makes you think the thinnest lightest laptop Apple have ever produced, is targeted at you specifically?

Do you also complain that their iMacs and Mac Pros are less portable than a laptop, and that their MacBook Pros have smaller screens than a 27" monitor?

They have a range of products. There are definitely some gaps I would agree with you about (I'm still clinging to a 17" MBP) but faulting an ultra thin/light laptop because it doesn't suit your specific use-case is ridiculous.

I suppose if Apple do release a car, your first comment will be "this is crap it only has four wheels and 5 seats. My cousin's big-rig has 18 wheels and can carry a 40' shipping container!"

I regularly see MacBooks being issued in corporate and higher education environments where employees are either tasked with buying or were given the extra cables. Again, those cables break too regularly for comfort (power/adapter ~1 break per year). There must be some great deals going on cause I can't see why they keep doing it. If it's cost, well, my 2012 Air works just as good as the day I bought it.

Your metaphor, more accurately: "My company said I would be given a truck for my work. Why are we all driving sedans with attached trailers?"

So now your complaint is, "other people are buying laptops I don't like, I don't understand why"?

You gotta stop putting words in my mouth or I won't reply.

My problem is with <employers> making expensive purchases that are not necessarily better than the cheaper options, and can be more inconvenient as well.

If you aren't the employee why do you care?

You show no interest in discourse. I'm done talking to you.

I don't see why employers making bad purchase decisions signals Apple "calcifying into what Microsoft was".

Just because some employers (and some ordinary people) might purchase it for situations where it's not the best option doesn't make the single-port MacBook "a horrible failure."

More like a Lotus 7 with a bicycle trailer

I expect it's very frustrating to see employees being given an insufficient computer. That's not Apple's fault though. (I mean unless they're misrepresenting things somehow, which I don't think they are.) Apple still has, last I heard, some great Pro machines that support far more wired connectivity options.

If a business buys the one when they need the other, or fails to replace broken cables, then that business is at fault.

Let the record state that my bile is exclusively for the new MacBooks and that the Mac Pro is a beautiful and delightful computer.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com