Monday, May 23, 2022

Five Things You Still Can’t Do With a MacBook Pro

Tim Hardwick:

Unfortunately, the HDMI port that returned isn’t so top-of-the-line – it’s an HDMI 2.0 port instead of an HDMI 2.1 port.

[…]

The SD card slot on the new MacBook Pros supports UHS-II cards, but only up to 250MB/s of data transfer, not the 312MB/s speeds that the standard is theoretically capable of.

[…]

Ethernet Port

[…]

Lenovo, Samsung, Acer, Dell, and HP all offer laptops with 5G connectivity, yet no Mac in Apple’s notebook lineup currently supports the cellular standard.

My suggestions:

  1. Shrink the trackpad.
  2. Add an external power button so that I can turn on the Mac or enter Recovery while in clamshell mode.
  3. Add more USB ports. I have not had good experiences with hubs/docks, even Apple’s own Studio Display. Being able to directly connect more devices in a pinch, or at least not have to plug one hub into another, would help.
  4. Make a first-party Thunderbolt dock. The current ones are pricey, and people still report them being flakey. Maybe this is inherent to the technology, but maybe if Apple made all the pieces (computer, OS, and dock) it would be better able to ensure that they work together.

Previously:

5 Comments RSS · Twitter

What kind of data plans are available for PC laptops with built-in 5G? Data limits and pricing seem like a bigger deal than the actual 5G feature itself.

Personally I can’t see buying another line instead of tethering, which I do fairly often for work. (And the iPhone Mac integration makes tethering super easy.) But I understand that this is attractive for some, particularly if a company is footing the bill for a work laptop data connection.

I'm not sure if the M1 laptops do this, but the final gen Intel MBA, if it's powered off, it powers on when it's connected to power, which makes the Brydge vertical docks nicely usable. But, an external power button, with touchID would still be good.

@someone I think the M1 laptops do turn on when plugged into power or a display, but it doesn’t work for my main use case of the Studio Display because the Studio Display also has no power button and only turns on when plugged into a computer that’s on.

Replace the magsafe with a USB A port.

>> the HDMI port that returned isn’t so top-of-the-line – it’s an HDMI 2.0 port instead of an HDMI 2.1 port.
Are you going to connecting 8K computer monitor? Those who can afford it now has the TB4 ports.

Leave a Comment