Posted on 03/13/2015 1:00:55 AM PDT by Swordmaker
New_macbookTech journalists who lined up at Apple's special event to get their hands on Apple Watch walked away stunned by Apple's all-new MacBook. It is widely being hailed – or harped on – as Apple's new one-port wonder. The fact it has only one physical data port is apparently quite jarring to many tech journalists. Those stunned by Apple's move may also drive a Honda Prelude, think sushi is all the rage, and are still trading Pokemon cards. The verdict is in: This is not a computer for those still living in the '90s.
Giving benefit of the doubt, perhaps the media is simply not doing their job. Rather than talk to what one physical port represents; which is that a single USB port is fine for 95% of everyone's workflow, because we live in a wireless world. Instead, they've taken the easy road, simply mirroring thoughts they think the masses might make. It's a safe, lazy position, one that identifies with the reader in stead of talking to the bold realities of where technology is today.
It wasn't until recently that a majority of consumers realized they could actually live, and no longer needed, an optical drive. Consumers are often slow to catch on. But for tech journalists to blast away at the most amazing laptop to hit the market since the original MacBook Air, it was quite revealing. Their one-port worry commentators are showing everyone just how stuck they are in the past. The new MacBook was their wake up call, but apparently many slept right through it.
Ports are no longer physical things, they are mostly wireless technologies. 4G LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, deploying Airdrop, Handoff, iCloud and Airplay are all ports and types of communications that flow within them. A port and it's data is not about the physical, it's about every type of connection technology available, and Apple's new MacBook comes equipped with state-of-the-art port aplomb.
Evidently journalists, which roughly 95%+ of them use MacBook laptops, still communicate with USB thumb drives, hunt down the nearest Ethernet port, or look to deliver their latest column to their editor via a burned CD. For those still connecting with these methods, this is why Apple still has the legacy 13" MacBook with optical drive in the lineup. For those living in 2015, there is the all-new MacBook. Many of Apple's customers live and work in the now, so why did they leave the legacy MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in the lineup?
Apple CEO Tim Cook is a wicked smart guy. He's not merely a supply chain genius and operational guru, he understands how to maximize sales in a way his predecessor Steve Jobs just wasn't all that interested in. Jobs would have likely killed the MacBook Air, replacing it with only the new MacBook. Consumers would eventually catch onto the port thing and buy it, and most importantly the lineup would have stayed simplified.
Cook is more in touch with that fact that people are slow to catch onto new ideas, and he's left the multi-port MacBook Air's in place, providing a variety of price points and choice. As a result, Apple now plays the consumer bell curve to maximum effect. Early adopters will swarm the new MacBook, taking full advantage of the latest tech. The early majority will start to buy into the new MacBook in a year or so, and the laggards will get onboard this nearly launched MacBook once another all-new leap forward MacBook hits the shelves. Apple has more choices of laptops to choose from than at any point in its history, which will give rival PC makers fits while Apple maximizes MacBook sales.
The new MacBook may have only one physical port, but would it be too much in asking journalists to take the effort in mentioning that 95% (or more) of all our communications, file transfers and entertainment consumption are done via other ports, the wireless type, without need of physical connections? Is that too much to ask or expect? Evidently so. May they continue to enjoy their USB thumb drives and optical ports, because Apple – and more people than they think – are ready to move forward with the new MacBook. After all, it is 2015.
I agree. And I’ll add that the title needs to be changed to “Lack of ports on the new MacBook? No problem for those living in 2018”.
I think the fanbois would love this great apple product. NO KEYBOARD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
Sadly Apple is losing me.
My 2007 macbook started to lose its display. After a drawn out on again off again problem I decided to replace it.
New macbook, no optical drive. So what you say?
No way to burn a dvd w/ pics or anything else. Buy a drive?
OK. Now you have portable computer and have to carry another piece to use much of what you have stored or want to store.
It’ll be a cold day you know where when I use ‘the cloud’ for storage or info.
My cameras come w/ software cd not an invitation to ‘the cloud’.
My solution was to buy a used macbook, a 2012 that still had an optical drive.
Now Apple has dumped the ability to connect .
Not me. Never.
An article on a new product that tells me next to nothing about the product but just attacks and ridicules those who dare critize some of its features (or lack thereof) - rather pointless, really.
An article on a new product that tells me next to nothing about the product but just attacks and ridicules those who dare critize some of its features (or lack thereof) - rather pointless, really.
Kinda reminds me of obama just a little.
“...The Apple cult is an S&M cult with Yonny Ives the sadist they all obey.
The OCDness off all this is cool!!
I love it!...”
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Like moths drawn to the light, Apple haters are drawn irresistibly to threads involving Apple products. Unable to resist their strange impulses, these haters mindlessly are compelled to insult Apple products and, above all, Apple users. These weird creatures and their strange actions are more to be pitied than to disliked-—they just can’t help themselves as they are powerless before their irrational hatreds.
Ah, I see. ;-)
Try eBay. Get a Dell D series for short money. Wipe it clean if it has an OS. Load a really good Linux distro, add some memory and run WINE or similar to run Windows programs...if you have to have them.
All this for less than 1/4 of the cost of a MacBook.
I have 3 of them and they work wonderfully.
I find these Apple threads fascinating. I’m not a hater or lover of apple products. I have a friend who is a graphic designer. He uses both Apple and Windows computers. Both drive him crazy from time to time and he loves both for different reasons.
It’s a ford vs chevy sort of thing to me. But, truth be told, I see Apple as sort of the Bang & Olufsen of computers. You pay a lot for stuff only marginally related to why the product exists in the first place - looks.
It’s also sort of the BMW of computers. A friend of mine sold BMW’s for a LONG time. He said the lion’s share of his customers bought the cars due to the status they brought. He also said they did bring some great features and some parts were “overdesigned” but they were not particularly reliable compared to other brands and one could always find a competitor’s car that would equal it in real world performance for a lot less money. He also said you should NEVER buy one used out of warranty.
I’ve had friends with BMW’s who loved them and friends who hated them. In the end they are just cars.
In the end, the latest and greatest from Apple is just next years used stuff. Same is true of all brands. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.
So far, Apple has an excellent track record of figuring out what people want before they realize it themselves.
When it comes to tech stuff, you don’t generally know what you want because it you haven’t seen it yet.
The market will decide whether Apple is also right about their Watch, this AirBook, etc. If they make too many wrong assumptions about what people want, their company can go down just as quickly as it went up.
Free market and all that.
My MacBook Air, also 11”, has been carried to the Himalayas, in my pack on my back and performed flawlessly as long as I kept it in my sleeping bag at night. Otherwise, at sub-zero temperatures it would not boot up. I have dropped it on accident twice from four and five feet, onto granite, and nothing more than a scratched finish was the damage! The only regret I have is not getting the 13” version.
Also, the month after my purchase the next version was released, with the backlit keyboard.
When I bought it I installed Win7 on it because I was unfamiliar with OS X, and I was afraid to completely give up Windoze. After six months of learning the Apple way I deleted the windoze partition and will never touch a windoze box again.
I prefer a mouse (USB) that does not need batteries. So what if there are blue tooth mouses? I could give a crap. Go use your cutsie-pie, homocentric, overpriced Apple laptop with your Bluetooth mouse. Go ahead and be a clone in a cult. My laptop has 3 USB ports and I am glad of it!
Apple - catering to the OCDness of you since year 2000
http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite/C50/C55D-B5310
Here are 3USB ports and LAN port on a solid Toshiba laptop that I recommended to a friend. It was available at Best Buy for $300.
Perfectly fine for average uses
That was a funny video with slick production values. thanks!!
2000? Hah! I have been using Apples since 1982. Got my first mac laptop in ‘94. I have enough wires in my laptop bag without the mouse adding more.
First time I touched a computer keyboard was winter of 1996 at a friends place. So I salute you! And thanks for adeptly handling my anti-Apple sarcasm
Everything is “just a few hundred clicks away”. ;-)
I love that line.
I didn't notice in the article where all people would be required to buy one of these MacBook computers could you point me to the law or legislation that enforces such a requirement?
That being the case why do you care since you would never buy the MacBook?
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