Comment by sdan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sdan | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Don't get me started on wireless interference (another one of petty problems that comes with a "Pro" machine)

For some odd reason, when I use an adapter, the following happens:

1. The dongle (USB A to C or even a simple HDMI dongle) has some weird interference with my wireless connection. It happens everywhere I go as well (not limited to my wifi) So I always have to have 1 port connected to ethernet. Guess what? the MacBook "Pro" I have (with function keys) only has 2 ports! So it's either another dongle or a MacBook I can use with only 1 port.

2. Another really weird thing is after getting one of these apple dongles and plugging in ethernet and everything; then unplugging it from my macbook, my phone and any nearby devices lose internet connection. I can't explain it other than some literal sheild the dongle makes that prevents my phone from working.

In conclusion:

There are a lot of petty little flaws that make the $1k+ (or $2,3k+) MacBook Pro bad. I mean wireless interference is something I really shouldn't be worrying about.

This is specific to USB-C and unshielded cabling. It's the same issue that Louis Rossman tried to blame on the new MacBooks until his Dell laptop started doing the same thing with the adapter. Especially for powered USB devices, unshielded cables will cause all kinds of interference. Make sure that whatever adapters you're getting are properly shielded and/or switch completed to USB-C to avoid these situations.

Interesting. Maybe Apple's not to blame then!

Time to wrap my dongles around in aluminum foil once again!

Also side note: Louis Rossman is a super funny guy (biking around NY to find a better place is both hilarious and fun to watch)

I'm not a fan of his. Although I think he's super-smart and one of the few people I would actually trust to repair my devices on a component level, I really hate his click-bait videos when they're anti-Apple and/or pro-Right-to-Repair and he intentionally omits or mischaracterizes things to make the discussion more sensational.

This USB shielding issue is one of those times. He spent almost an hour bitching about how Apple had skimped out on the new Touch Bar MacBooks and how they couldn't even get basic WiFi working and then, when it was pointed out that it was likely due to his cables and it happened in another video, he completely ignored it and never corrected the initial video to explain that it had nothing to do with the MacBook. His only admission ever has been on a buried comment in a Reddit post where a user flat-out asked him to confirm the case.

His whole assessment of Apple with regard to right-to-repair is also really disingenuous and he constantly brings up PC Kompaniet (do a Google search if you're not familiar) as an example of Apple being hard on the little guy without mentioning that "the little guy" was actually doing exactly what Apple accused them of but stopped doing it when it went to court and the court decided to dismiss the case on the grounds that the offending behavior had been terminated. Since that other portion didn't fit his narrative and would no longer support his stance that Apple is the big, bad corporate enemy of small repair shops, he just ignores it.

He's funny but I would take everything he says with a grain of salt. He's a YouTube personality, after all.

SeizedBatteryGate turned me off of Louis Rossman for life:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9pow06/louis_rossman...

I liked the guy before he became a professional YouTuber who pretends to not be one.

Would recommend anyone else who's a fan to take this grain of salt as well. I take him superficially most of the time since clearly he has a bias against Apple.

Yeah, this is not an Apple specific problem if it's the same I experienced: https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/products/docs/io/u...

Using a 5ghz wifi network, if possible, should fix it

Thank you for explaining why my crappy thumb drives no longer interfere with my wifi!

That is one way to fix it too, if you don't want to have to re-buy shielded cables.

You had a choice to get 4 USB-C ports instead, if that was a big deal. And there are numerous affordable port expanders that will give you multiple USB-A ports, HDMI, Ethernet, a card reader, power in, using only 1 port. So this isn't really an intractable problem.

There is no "Apple dongle" that does what you describe, so I would surmise that you got a cheap unshielded product. I would return that product and get something that is built right. Your wireless interference issue has nothing whatsoever to do with the MB Pro itself.

There isn't a 4 USB-C port version of the MBP w/ function keys. If there was, I'd definitely buy it. But recently Apple even slashed those... which is somewhat disappointing since after using the touch-bar here and there on others computers somewhat regularly, I can't get myself to love it as much as having real function keys that aren't "unreliable" (or don't pop up at the right time).

As others have said, regardless of Apple dongle or not wireless interference seems to be a problem that expands the Apple domain.

If you want to hear another issue with the MBP, when charging you can sometimes feel some charge on the restpads next to the touchpad... which I've heard from electrical engineers is a really silly and trivial thing a Pro machine should probably not have.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com