Pour one out for Dongletown

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… the new MacBook Pro doesn’t need to stop in your town anymore: now it can use any port.

(Worst Dad joke I’ve ever made. No apologies!)

Carry on :slight_smile:

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Ethernet, USB-A, VGA, DisplayPort…

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Excluding USB-A though… :wink:

Edit: @ChrisUpchurch beat me to it by two seconds… :cry:

Oh, and did I forget to mention that it doesn’t have a disc drive or even a floppy disk drive for that matter?

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Lack of Ethernet REALLY surprised me. Seeing ports coming back was like seeing old friends, but Ethernet not being there felt strange.

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Ethernet is much thicker though. It’s also kind of ugly… if you were to ask Apple.

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I can handle thick and ugly for functionality. Not everything has to look space age and sleek for me to be happy.

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Apple would probably tell you to buy a PC then.

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Yep.

HDMI: 4.45mm
RJ-45: 8mm

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Apple will sell me anything I’m willing to pay for, including more dongles

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Problem solved then! :smile:

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I was kind of expecting that they would at least include ethernet on the power brick the same way they did with the iMac.

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Yeah, I thought Ethernet on the power brick was going to be the new way of things for pros.

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But does that make sense for devices which are supposed to be mobile/portable? It seems to me Apple decided no ethernet jack on unit or PSU because a portable device is mostly connected wirelessly.

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It makes sense as a Pro device seeing that they added the highly requested ports from Pro users. Beneficial to have a faster connection when you are constantly in the move between shoots and production.

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Ironically, I just ordered a couple of dongles to go with my new 14" MBP (USB-C to USB-A and Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet). That said, my USB-C to HDMI and USB-C to SD Card dongles will get relegated to iPad use only. So net zero for Mac dongles, I guess.

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My post was definitely tongue in cheek, I’ve never had a problem using dongles with USB-C, just that I found it sort of unsightly as a solution compared to having on-board ports or using a multifunction dock. USB dongles can definitely be versatile.

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Question to the group re: dongles

One of the things I like about a dongle with multiple inputs is that I only need to plug one thing in when I get home. With the new Pros, there’ll be a lot of plugging/unplugging with the ports (which are a welcome return) but, to me, the one cable to plug in is a win?

So, what blindingly obvious thing am I missing? :man_shrugging:

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Having HDMI and MagSafe doesn’t preclude using a hub or dock where appropriate.

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You bring up a good point, as I have two set ups that I’m working from home with right now: a work laptop PC that features USB-C ports, and an M1 MBA. I have an Apple dongle featuring a USB-C port for power cable, HDMI for an external monitor, and a USB-A port. My current job uses Google Suite, but the PC they sent me is terribly slow, so I tend to use my MBA, using the external monitor via the HDMI connection. However, I occasionally have to use the PC to access certain files.

Using the dongle interchangeably between the two devices has been rather convenient in that aspect, but it’s really only 1 or 2 times a week that I have to do that.

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I think I’ve been able to rule out (so far) the need for any dongles on my MB Air M1 2020 (only two USB-C ports) by deciding:

  • Initial migration transfer will be via WiFi (really wasn’t an option any way)
  • Future camera imports will be done via WiFi vs. SD card
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