[wilsonnb3]

> When you bought a 2013 MacBook Pro, you didn’t need to buy accessories because it had it all - hdmi, usb, etc. - and it was useful without any additional accessories and met or exceeded my needs in almost all circumstances.

Except it didn't have VGA which is still popular in conference rooms to this day, so you needed an adapter for that. Some people probably needed an adapter for Ethernet as well.

Not to mention you needed a MagSafe 2 charger instead of a universal USB C charger.

> effort to boost margins or go thin, and it’s basically made the devices reliant on a host of adapters

They did it on the MacBook because USB C is more convenient than having specific use ports. The same reason you're happy that the 2013 MacBook had two USB three ports instead of two PS/2 ports and a serial port.

As for removing the headphone jack from the iPhone, they did it because you can send audio over Bluetooth or lightning. No reason to include a redundant port that does only one thing.

[AlexandrB]

> universal USB C charger

This mythical device does not exist. USB-C PD includes 5 different power profiles[1] and even if your adapter is big enough subtle compatibility problems still pop up - my colleague's laptop complains about his adapter every time you plug it in for some reason. The situation is better than when every PC product line had their own power connector, but if you were in the Mac ecosystem you already mostly had the same thing because every laptop just used the same of Magsafe connector.

USB-C also brings back the problem of tripping over the power cord and sending your $3000 laptop careening towards a wall or the floor.

> As for removing the headphone jack from the iPhone, they did it because you can send audio over Bluetooth or lightning. No reason to include a redundant port that does only one thing.

What if I want to charge my phone and listen to music and own really nice headphones that don't need to be upgraded every year? Oops, can't do that anymore without this monstrosity: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAH9D7KY71...

I've been using the top rated "budget" Bluetooth headphones from The Wirecutter for a year now (Jabra Move) and they blow. Like most bluetooth devices, the connection only works "most of the time", sometimes they connect but don't identify as headphones (?) and I have to power cycle them.

They also weigh noticeably more than my previous favourite, portable, wired headphones (Sennheiser PX 100-II) with worse sound quality to boot. I only noticed this when switching back to my wired headphones after I forgot the Bluetooth ones at work and realizing that the wired ones felt almost weightless by comparison. If this is the best that Bluetooth headphones in the ~$100 range have to offer, I don't want it.

Oh yeah, and I have to charge the fuckers every day because what I needed was another device that's useless unless I remember to plug it in constantly when I'm not using it.

Thanks Apple.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_(Physical)#PD

[Dylan16807]

Why does having five profiles make it difficult to be universal?

Those are deprecated anyway. All you should need to know about a charger is the max wattage.

[AlexandrB]

> All you should need to know about a charger is the max wattage.

Right. It should be that easy, but in practice not everyone is going to implement the spec correctly. If you call Apple support when someone else's power adapter doesn't work I guarantee they will tell you that only official Apple power bricks are "supported".

At the moment, in practice, I've mostly seen USB-C chargers showing up with newer tablets, not laptops. So if you need to bum a charge from someone you're probably going to get a charger that's too small.

[wilsonnb3]

> This mythical device does not exist. USB-C PD includes 5 different power profiles[1]

It does exist. Yes, there are issues like the ones your colleague experience but most of the time you can charge your phone, MacBook, or Windows laptop with the same USB C charger.

> USB-C also brings back the problem of tripping over the power cord and sending your $3000 laptop careening towards a wall or the floor.

You can buy an adapter for this if it's really something you're worried about [1].

It should also be pretty clear by now that Apple expects most of their users to not be using their MacBook while it's plugged in. The majority of MacBook owners will rarely need to thanks to the improvements in battery life over the past five years or so.

> What if I want to charge my phone and listen to music and own really nice headphones that don't need to be upgraded every year?

You can't. Again, most people never use this functionality. It is unfortunate for those that do but that's why the adapters exist. Much like the lightning to USB 3 adapter I have for my iPad. It would be convenient for me if I didn't need that adapter to plug a midi keyboard in, but the amount of people actually plugging midi keyboards in doesn't merit including a USB port on the iPad.

All of your complaints about bluetooth headphones are perfectly valid. Some people like them, some people don't. Lucky for you, a $9 dollar adapter for your wired headphones will solve all of your problems. Hardly even worth complaining about, especially if you were willing to spend ~$100 on a set of bluetooth headphones.

[1] https://www.snapnator.com/

[ddingus]

Well, I will just not buy devices with no analog audio out.

Saved those adapter, charger, hassles and all my existing gear works great!

Same for ports. I will not purchase one of these all in one port devices.

Charge and listen happens all the time in cars, BTW.

MIDI is not comparable to the charge and listen case.

Besides, a whole lot of people hate dongles. I am one of them.

And yes, I stepped right off the Apple train the moment I heard these things were coming. Did not look back.

I have things from the freaking 80's, like great headphones, that work just fine. Got other things to spend my money on, and chasing adapters down really is not one of them.

[AlexandrB]

> You can't. Again, most people never use this functionality.

I don't think I'm THAT much of an exception. I sit at an open-ish desk all day and wear headphones to block out ambient noise. I also need to charge my phone at some point in the day if I want it to last through my commute in the evening. This means that I often need to charge while listening.

Given the popularity of open offices and limitations in phone battery life, I don't think this is so rare.