I HATE APPLE

in fairness, how often are people still using flash cards and usb drives these days?

anyone with a camera uses an SD card

yeah. it's just annoying and kind of signals a shift away from a certain crowd. i wish they'd make an extension of their products that just put all the ports that everyone wants on the side.

I fucking hate Apple for so many reasons tonight piece of shit new M1 Mac and Adobe and bullshit reading of how full the disk is and USB dongles and disks telling me off for not ejecting them properly because presumably the dongle moved a millimetre and I can't log out because I have to wait for thousands of things to empty from the trash so I end up aborting that process like so many other things and all I want to fucking do is get the photos off my wife's full iPhone but the worst of it all was when her stupid 5kg old MacBook slid off the bed and on to my bare toes and Jesus it hurts.

i can see the argument for dropping ports from a mac mini of all their machines. it's supposed to be small, and if you need the ports then connecting a dongle is less hassle on a non-portable.

my port complaint right now is that they put the two usb-c ports on the m1 macbook air on the same side. two is fine! but put them on either side! i assume this means they only need one usb controller, so it saves space/money etc. but the old macbook air managed usb-a ports on both sides.

Is now the right time for somebody (the lovely Emma B) to upgrade to an M1 laptop? Just basic officey stuff, no real heavy lifting.

The new Hello screensaver is a thing of beauty - but only available if you have latest Big Sur update, I think.

(that's a standalone observation, not offered as a reason to upgrade)

I wish Apple would pay some consideration to how these things look IRL and not just in the sterile confines on an Apple Store table.

https://i.imgur.com/N68S1SQ.jpg

The alternative there is …?

I have all my cords cleanly running underneath an ancient hairy rug, like a civilized fellow

The front would be better, for a start!

You know, I guess I could just turn this thing around 180º.

lol

pplains I’ve tried that and the exhaust is too hot, kinda sucks.

Maybe stand it on its face with its bottom flush against the partition?

Is now the right time for somebody (the lovely Emma B) to upgrade to an M1 laptop? Just basic officey stuff, no real heavy lifting.

I don't know if we've got a lemon or just a very bad install of Adobe CC, but our M1 MacBook Pro has been beachballtastic. If it doesn't improve when all the Silicon-native versions of Adobe software are out, I'm going to take it into an Apple Store.

would a Macbook Air be a better bet than the Pro? Given the aforementioned lack of need for the serious horsepower etc. One thing I can already tell will drive her insane is the ports though.

Wait til later in the year

How come? Sorry, I’m behind on all the goss

The MacBook Air is definitely better value than the Pro, and doesn't have the silly touchbar. I only got a Pro cause it was $100 off so thought the better screen and sound was worth it, even if the better performance is only slightly better.

Too many betters.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/22/2021-macbook-pro-sd-hdmi-port-kuo/

Last month, Kuo said Apple is planning all-new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with several changes, including the return of the classic MagSafe charging connector with a breakaway power cable, the removal of the Touch Bar, a new flat-edged design, and the return of more ports built into the notebooks for expanded connectivity.

so everyone was right to complain about all that. going back 6 years in time to get it right lol

i reckon the touchbar all usbc macbook pros will go down as the worst iteration of all time.

I'm pretty happy with my 2019 MBP16, but I sure wish I wasn't so reliant on dongles and hubs.

cool got it guys. Will wait for more ports.

macbook air is better than the current macbook pro. not just cheaper. it's better. it's lighter (and more ergonomic imo). it has no moving parts so it will last longer. it is 5% slower under sustained loads a casual user will literally never reach. there is no reason to buy a macbook pro.

i see no reason for a casual user to wait.

(unless you want a massive laptop)

admittedly i've not been on the road since i got this, but two usb-c ports is enough for me. like i say, my only complaint is that they're on the same side of the laptop.

i'm not sure about the return of magsafe. it's a great design but everything goes into this m1 laptop (video, power, all accessories) goes in through a single cable. i don't want more cables.

a new flat-edged design

reserving judgment but this sounds bad.

i reckon the touchbar all usbc macbook pros will go down as the worst iteration of all time.

not even close. the keyboard worked on that one.

thats part of the ones im talking about

ah you're right, the introduction of all usb-c was good, but it happened at the same time as the bad keyboard and the touchbar.

I am waiting for a smaller MacBook Air, ideally in the new iMac flavors

*licks*

"the introduction of all usb-c was good"

i have to strongly disagree. dongle hell was just so backwards.

if you're at a desk then using a dongle rather than lots of direct connections (i.e. one cable not lots) is *better*! the dongle is essentially a dock. it lives at the desk. you plug in one cable and you havepower, network, display, storage, audio I/O, etc. this wasn't possible until thunderbolt 3/usb-c (no power or display over usb-a). so it's still a newish way of working, and i feel like people haven't really got it yet.

if you're not at a desk then, well, what are you using that you can't connect to one of the four usb-c ports on a macbook pro? if it's old hard drives (or anything with a removable cable) then usb-a to usb-c cables are a few dollars.

the only port i object to them dropping is SD, and even then the set of people who need *mobile* access to SD is pretty small (but admittedly important). i'd like to see SD back more than magsafe.

"so it's still a newish way of working, and i feel like people haven't really got it yet."

guess thats me. i have like 7 dongles, not just one. got a link to the one you're talking about?

i have this one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QQ11BP6/

my one complaint is that the fixed cable that goes from this device to the macbook is too short (it's like 9") so i got one of these to make it a bit longer (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074K318JK/).

and i got a couple of these to replace the cables on a couple of old devices that shipped with removable usb-a cables (old hard drives mostly) so they could make a direct connection to the laptop.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012V56992/

if you need more ports then you might want a bigger dongle (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Docking-MCY-Displayport-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B08L4RK1M7/).

if you need more power (as in literal watts of power, because you've got a lot of devices that draw power over USB) then you might need a dock (which has a power brick instead of using your laptop's power adapter, and costs a lot more, e.g. https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks/owc-thunderbolt-3-dock).

btw did everyone know they make portable displays that with a direct usb-c connection that don't need a separate power brick?! https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-MB169B-1920x1080-Portable-Monitor/dp/B013XFJKGI/

i knew that possible in theory, didn't realize they were now available

At the genius bar

not cheap but I use this to dock my work macbook pro. 1 cable goes to it, and I'm connected to 2 monitors, an audio interface, a few USB cables plus SD reader and few other ports.

thanks caek

dongles are just little docks. and docks are great except when you're travelling. so dongles are fine! good even! that's how i break it down.

I’ve been using one of these for the past year (literally grabbed it the day the office closed) and it’s been solid. Every once in a while it decides it doesn’t like the NIC, but a reboot fixes it. I haven’t tried it with dual 4K displays.

https://i.imgur.com/7hjXhFi.png

Okay, I've posted in this thread before and received great advice...here's hoping for another round.

I need a new phone. I've never had an iPhone, mostly because of price considerations that are no longer as much of an issue.

I want an iPhone, but don't really know which one to go with.

I mostly use my phone for chatting on Discord, texting, shitposting on IG, and taking photos. No intense recording or editing, nothing fancy. I actively kind of hate phones, tbh, but know I need one.

I'd like to have space to store some music so I don't have to keep carrying around my old iPod with me, as I don't use streaming services and don't trust the cloud.

What might my best options be? I'm totally overwhelmed by choices.