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by tekklloneer 3527 days ago
While I appreciate USB-C, it's still too early to go USB-C only, especially on a "professional" laptop. And, the transition to lightning headphones is a glaring example of the left hand SOMEHOW not being aware of what the right hand is doing.

Plus, the touch bar sucks. Compensating with indentations and force touch could have made it an amazing and useful tool.
3 comments
mikeash 3527 days ago
That's how Apple does things. When they see something new that they want to push, they jump on it even if it seems premature. Before long, they're just ahead of the curve.

1998 seemed too early to go USB-only, but it turned out to be a great move. And that was a situation where you often needed all-new peripherals, versus this machine where you just need a cheap adapter or a new cable.

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tekklloneer 3526 days ago
I fully agree, but the situation two decades ago is extremely different today. Also, I wasn't clear but I was specifically thinking of the lack of HDMI/display port unless I missed that it has it (which is possible).

I already have a laptop that lacks hdmi and has usb c, and i miss it on a regular basis. Carrying dongles really sucks.

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mikeash 3526 days ago
It doesn't have those, no. The adapters are apparently pretty simple, but you do need them.
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grzm 3527 days ago
"it's still too early to go USB-C only"

It does seem odd to have only one kind of port. That said, you can also look at it as "you only need one kind of port". No need to mix and match adapters. Just X to TB3.

As for too early, it's a chicken-egg thing. Someone is going to be early to market, and the market needs pressure to make the change.

"Compensating with indentations and force touch could have made it an amazing and useful tool."

I agree that force touch would be great. I think this is an iteration thing that we'll see in the future.

As for indentations, yeah, it would be nice to have something to know where one key ends and the next begins. It does limit flexibility though. And it's also a screen, not just a keyboard. Not sure how the indentations would work with the display.

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Bud 3526 days ago
a) you haven't used the Touch Bar. Seems a tad early to conclude that it sucks. b) what transition to Lightning headphones? The MacBook Pro keeps the old headphone jack. Do your homework before reflexively criticizing, please.
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extra88 3526 days ago
You can't use the headphones that came with an iPhone 7 to listen to anything other than another iOS device, including this new MBP.

The mistake people are making is thinking the iPhone's transition is from 3.5mm analog audio to Lightning digital audio. It isn't, it's a transition to wireless audio, including the Lightning headphones is a compromise.

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tekklloneer 3526 days ago
a) i develop for touch interfaces. Short of any unannounced magic, I know how they work. You have to look at them, and keyboards are input devices based around not looking at them. I'm sure they'll be useful in their current incarnation for some users, but very detrimental for others.

b) I was referring to the transition to non-wireless lightning headphones on the iphone 7, which they proposed as an alternative. It looks and feels sloppy in that regard. One hand working on macbooks isn't aware what the hand working on iphones is doing.

Do your homework before reflexively criticizing, please.

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