Apple cuts USB-C adapter prices in response to MacBook Pro complaints

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/4/13524272/apple-cutting-usb-c-adaptor-prices-macbook-pro

by uptown • 10 years ago

42 53 10 years ago

theverge.com

serge2k• 10 years ago

Through the end of the year

better than nothing I guess.

liquidise• 10 years ago

While saving $30 sounds nice, it is not the biggest issue here. Historically Mac users have sacrificed cost for usability and elegance. Apple seems to be suggesting the opposite is now a better idea?

Right now, my $1,000 2012 Air has a charger, usb keyboard, usb phone charger, and a usb conference mic plugged into it. I don't even want to imagine carrying around the number of dongles that would allow me to do the same on a 2017 Pro machine.

wvenable4• 10 years ago

Apple's idea of elegance has always been the same. Do you think it was always convenient to not have a floppy drive? It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when the floppy was as important as an SD drive or a USB port.

pak2• 10 years ago

The upgrade from floppy to optical only, or optical to bigger hard drives and SSDs and fast WiFi, are leaps in capability that don't even compare to the marginal gain of USB-C over USB3/Thunderbolt 2... especially when that "upgrade" is paired with the number of ports on an entry-level MBP dropping from 7 to 2 (not counting audio, which thankfully survived).

With only 2 ports, you need a ridiculous number of big dongles or hubs to get serious work done, and any pro user with >1 external HD, display, or gigabit wired is rightfully wondering what the hell Apple was thinking.

pier258• 10 years ago

Nobody used floppy drives or optical ones when Apple removed them.

Most people still use USB-A accessories.

See the difference?

athenot• 10 years ago

Right now I have a few DVI-thunderbolt dongles and they are ugly.

If the new ports are about elegance, I wish Apple made dongles with long cables, so as to hide the adapter part.

BHSPitMonkey• 10 years ago

Judging by the external keyboard, is it safe to say this is a desk setup where everything but the laptop usually stays there? In such cases it's smarter to just have those things (and displays too) plugged into a USB Type-C hub/dock which only requires you to plug in a single cable when you come and go. Your current setup already requires you do (dis)connect four different cables every time you move, so you can't exactly defend it as more elegant.

IBM3• 10 years ago

Is it elegant when your MBP that you'll keep for 4-6 years has USB-A ports you won't use anymore after two years? If Apple put in 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C, half the ports would probably be useless for the majority of the computer's lifespan.

pier258• 10 years ago

you won't use anymore after two years?

Probably more like 5 years at best.

Removing all USB-A ports would have been a bold move in 2018, but in 2016 it's delusional.

outworlder2• 10 years ago

Historically, Apple has always dropped declining tech, even if they were at their prime. See also Floppy Disks, dedicated keyboard/mouse ports, Firewire. This is not the issue.

Using dongles is also not the issue. Having a versatile port is a good thing.

The issue is that they seem to be neglecting common use cases in their own platform. As in, you cannot plug an iPhone to their own computer, not even to charge it. This is inexcusable. At the very least, they've lost control of timing (if the next iphone happens to have a USB-C port).

Right now, my $1,000 2012 Air has a charger, usb keyboard, usb phone charger, and a usb conference mic plugged into it. I don't even want to imagine carrying around the number of dongles that would allow me to do the same on a 2017 Pro machine.

A single USB-C port can replace all that and more, you can also carry power and video. There's no reason why those can't be provided by a single "dongle". Which would actually be more convenient to carry around.

Would it have killed Apple to include a USB-C to USB3 dongle? I can't believe their margins are that thin.

j2bax• 10 years ago

Maybe they have data to suggest that plugging an iPhone into your computer isn't a very common use case anymore. I personally haven't plugged my iPhone 6 into my computer more than once or twice since I got it two years ago. With iCloud backups I now just drop my phone on a dock or plug directly into the wall on a daily basis. Even at my desk at work I use a dock thats plugged into the wall vs. my computer. I don't want iTunes popping up, scanning my phone etc etc. every time I return to my desk and plug my phone in.

kenferry• 10 years ago

you cannot plug an iPhone to their own computer, not even to charge it

Am I just confused? A USB-C to lightning cable connects an iPhone to a new mac without a dongle, no? It's just a different cable than before.

nicky05• 10 years ago

You could probably do this with a single multi function adapter.

djyaz1200• 10 years ago

This move and Phil Schiller's justification of the compromises of the Macbook (https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/02/phil-schiller-justifies-th...) seem uncharacteristic of Apple. Perhaps they are realizing they have made mistakes?

orbitur• 10 years ago

What the hell is going on over there?

1. Did they honestly think no one would balk at the prices?

2. I feel like they're reacting to every single wave of criticism over these last couple years, and instead of making me feel good, it makes me feel like none of the execs have any idea what they're doing. Kinda would prefer they stuck to their guns about having 10000% margins on their accessories.

TheSpiceIsLife• 10 years ago

We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem.

So just build laptops with some USB-C ports, so we can buy new things with USB-C and keep using our old things.

Dongles. What a circus.

RKearney• 10 years ago

My problem is Apple doesn't even sell an iOS device that comes with a USB C to Lightning cable. How the hell am I supposed to use Safari's web inspector, or record the screen, or profile my app?

Sure, I can buy another cable, but I feel like Apple should be swapping out Lighting<->USB A cables with the USB C equivilient for free.

molecule• 10 years ago

Or shipping iOS devices w/ USB A-C adapter.

IBM3• 10 years ago

They probably won't do that for a couple of years until USB-C is firmly entrenched. Most iPhone customers aren't using Macbooks.

wlesieutre6• 10 years ago

If they released a computer with two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, every device manufacturer would continue to release all of their products for USB-A only and say "We've chosen to build our products to be compatible with all the old computers, you can use those USB-A ports for our products and the USB-C ports for somebody else's."

And then 5 years later, nobody's adopted USB-C yet because every computer still has USB-A ports and every accessory manufacturer wants to be as compatible as possible.

Apple is betting that the short-term inconvenience of a few dongles is worth it in order to force every accessory manufacturer to jump on the USB-C train immediately. I can't say I disagree with them.

giarc• 10 years ago

Would placing only 1 USB-A port help at all in your opinion? Make it a bit tougher to use older products?

pier258• 10 years ago

Quite the contrary. Apple has delusions of grandeur if it thinks it can change an entire industry with a less than 10% market share.

JBerlinsky• 10 years ago

Go figure that it's not retroactive. Gotta get that early adopter/purchaser tax somehow...

joshmn• 10 years ago

Can only imagine what the cost to make these is. $1? Can't imagine a lot of engineering went into them.

pier258• 10 years ago

Apple again missing the point. It's not about the money, but about having to deal with dongles and adapters.

Apple cuts USB-C adapter prices in response to MacBook Pro complaints

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