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Comment by gridlockd | Hacker News Reader

> No SD card reader means the new MBP just couldn’t do this without dongles, full stop.

So you go out and buy a dongle. Or you just connect the Camera with a cable and you don't have to fiddle with the tiny SD card.

I personally never use SD cards, or any other flash cards. I never use the ethernet jack on a laptop. I very rarely use thumbdrives or other USB devices. I also don't use serial out, or PCMCIA, or compact discs, all of which still conceivably are necessary for some users.

On the other hand, I always need an adapter for video out, because it's either VGA or HDMI or even DVI.

So I go out and buy a dongle. I'm glad that the ports on my laptop is not the superset of all things anyone might need on there.

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The problem has less to do with dongles than having a diverse product line catering to multiple user types.

Apple has basically decided to make all their laptop lines ultrabooks (which is their prerogative). And because a lot Mac users are more loyal to the OS than the hardware itself, they're stuck with what Apple is offering.

As a consultant who goes to different clients, I prefer to have built-in ports as opposed to having dongles I can forget, lose or leave behind. Also, a lot of cables will wear out, and they will stop working when you need them the most (I've ruined quite a few video dongles).

This is why the old unibody MBPs were so great. Yes, they were a little chunkier, but that tradeoff was well worth it for the convenience.

It's not a consequence of being an ultrabook. Being thin means you can't have VGA or normal ethernet ports. Everything else can fit.

it doesn't even mean that.

I've seen unfolding Ethernet ports that still let the laptop be crazy thin

That's why I said normal, in fact! I'm not entirely sure how durable those weird Ethernet ports are, but they certainly exist.

I have only one laptop that had an "expanding" ethernet port (a Lenovo), and it's not great. It's the first flaky built-in ethernet port I've ever had in a laptop.

> Also, a lot of cables will wear out, and they will stop working when you need them the most (I've ruined quite a few video dongles)

Okay, but if a dongle breaks, you just buy another dongle. If a video port breaks, that's a much more expensive replacement - though I suppose you can get a USB video dongle these days.

On a side note, I wish that wireless video was more of a thing, given the security issues with physical connectors.

>> Okay, but if a dongle breaks, you just buy another dongle.

Sure. But what if you're onsite somewhere and can't get one nearby? This is a huge problem if you're somewhere where you are required to use a wire for networking (these places do exist).

Buy a spare.

> What if the spare breaks as well?

The universe hates you, you're doomed.

So the solution is to have a briefcase full of dongles?

That's why I no longer have a Mac and have a Windows laptop instead.

That’s a bullshit argument. My SO‘s Lenovo Laptops USB A ports broke. My USB-C Ports seem significantly more robust, not by implementation but by design. I don’t care about some five dollar China dongle- I care about the connectors of my computer and in this regard there is not a single connector that can compete with USB-C.

>> That’s a bullshit argument.

I said "That's why I no longer have a Mac and have a Windows laptop instead." It's not an argument. It's simply a statement of fact that explains a choice I've made for myself.

I literally switched from a user serviceable Mac laptop with plenty of ports (15" 2011 MBP) to user serviceable PC laptops with plenty of ports, with one of the primary reasons being that the newer Macbook models didn't satisfy my desire to have a full suite of ports that includes ethernet.

As for broken ports/connectors, I've had zero port failures in almost 3 decades of laptop ownership, and I don't consider myself to be very gentle plugging/unplugging my peripherals.

At the moment, I have 2 laptops with USB-C and 3 without. I personally don't see a huge difference in robustness between the USB-C and USB-A ports. Even when I buy a USB-C laptop, I still make sure that it still has at least one USB-A port so I can have dongle-free interoperability with my peripherals.

I've on three separate occasions had to run to an Apple store to buy the SD card reader dongle AGAIN because I left one of them at home while travelling. On each occasion the only option was the expensive 50 dollar SanDisk one, so i'm 150 dollars out of pocket due to this questionable choice already.

My wife has had similar experiences with the HDMI adapter.

This was of course never a problem during the years in which Apple provided a sensible choice of ports, built right into the machine.

I'll let you in on a secret: You don't have to buy Apple-branded dongles if you have an Apple computer.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb-c+sd-card+reader

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=thunderbolt+3+hdmi

As my post makes clear, I was travelling at the time.

I'll also "let you in on a secret": Apple don't make a USB-C SD card reader.

So, you're traveling to that place on three separate occasions and you somehow always end up in the same Apple store that already ripped you off before?

I'm starting to believe you like it that way.

It's great that you don't mind throwing out all of your peripherals every time Apple decides to remove a port.

I personally have better things to spend money on, so I generally don't get rid of my devices until they stop working. Apple's made it a PITA to do that, so I've stopped buying their products. Problem solved.

I don't throw them out. I buy another dongle.

Here's a selection of connectors that you can supply with Thunderbolt3 or plain USB dongles, most of which I actually own:

- Serial-Port

- Parallel-Port

- PS/2 Port

- USB A/B/C/Mini/Micro Port

- Firewire 400/800

- HDMI (and Mini HDMI)

- DVI

- VGA

- DisplayPort and Mini Displayport

- 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet

- SD/MiniSD/MicroSD Card

- CF Card

- Memory Stick

- SATA/mSATA

- IDE

- 3,5mm and 6.35mm audio jacks

Not everyone needs all of these ports, all of the time. They need some of these ports, some of the time - but everyone's requirements are different. You probably wouldn't argue that a Macbook should have Firewire Ports, but those are some of the most expensive devices you'd have, if you have them.

Should the Macbooks have more ports? Absolutely, but they should be Thunderbolt 3 ports.

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