[jsmith0295]

Well the MacBook Pro's are ultra portable and super thin now. The laptop would probably have to be at least 20% thicker to make for enough room for an ethernet port. And since 90% of MBP Retina owners probably rarely if ever use ethernet, it's a good tradeoff to make. The Retina model is much lighter and easier to carry (especially with one hand) than it's predecessor.

[jsingleton]

I think Apple could have come up with a solution without compromising on this. What about a neat folding Ethernet port that flips out and is flush when not in use? I remember some old ThinkPads had something like that but it might have been a modem port (RJ11/RJ14 not RJ45).

The rare use is what makes it a problem. It's not worth the investment to buy and always carry an adaptor for that one time you really need it.

[astrodust]

These flip-out connectors were always the first thing to break on your notebook and would render your only useful connection (modem, ethernet) completely useless.

The Thunderbolt widget is less than ideal, but it fits. Hopefully USB-C will introduce more options with a lower price-point.

[dsfyu404ed]

Taking someone else's widget, tweaking it, rolling it out across their product line and claiming to have built it from scratch isn't exactly a foreign concept to them...

[astrodust]

Are you going to make baseless accusations or are you going to cite an example we can debate?

[Kequc]

Ethernet cables are huge.

I welcome not longer having a gaping hole in the side of my computer. Wifi has come a long way and if people want to use ethernet it can be run through a multi purpose more modern port with a smaller footprint.

[roflchoppa]

One con to doing that is how relatively large that would be inside the computer. Have you seen the inside of these computers? There is almost no space to spare.

although adding the 3.5mm headphone jack to an auxiliary board was super smart. people keep dropping them with headphones inside.

[s73v3r]

They did come up with a solution. Thunderbolt. As a bonus, it can be used for several other things when not being used for ethernet.