Apple's New MacBook Pro Requires a $25 Dongle To Charge Your iOS Device (networkworld.com) 347
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Network World: As Phil Schiller explained during today's event, Apple's new MacBook Pros feature four Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports, and conveniently, each of these can be used to charge the machine. Now, USB-C is incredibly versatile, and Apple will use the advanced port for power charging, HDMI and much more. However, with USB-C the only game in town, you might reasonably be wondering: How in the world do I connect my iPhone to my sleek new MacBook Pro? The frustrating answer is that you won't be able to do so out of the box. Instead, you'll have to buy a dongle. This is especially frustrating because many people use their notebooks for a) charging purposes when an outlet isn't necessarily handy and b) for transferring photos and other data. Now, you might reasonably state that you can just rely upon the cloud for items like data transfer, but there's no getting around the fact that Apple's efforts in the cloud still leave much to be desired. How much will it cost to connect your iPhone to your brand new MacBook Pro? Well, Apple sells a USB-C to Lightning cable on its website for $25. While this is undoubtedly frustrating, we can't say that it's entirely unexpected given Apple gave us a preview of its preference for USB-C when it released its 12-in. MacBook last year. Still, it's a funky design choice for a decidedly Pro-oriented device where the last thing a prospective consumer would want to do is spend some extra cash for a dongle after spending upwards of $2,399. Lastly, while we're on the topic of ports, it's worth noting that the new MacBook Pros also do away with the beloved MagSafe connector.
Apple: it just works (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Apple: it just works (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apple: it just works (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Apple: it just works (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't a cost thing, it is another fucking cable/dongle to lose/break/get stolen.
Re:Apple: it just works (Score:4, Funny)
You still needed the USB->lightening cable that came with your phone to charge the phone using the normal USB port. It's the same cable, just with USB-C instead of plain USB.
Re:Apple: it just works (Score:5, Funny)
It's the same cable... with USB-C instead of plain USB.
Not even I thought the Reality Distortion Field had such power as to superimpose two physically disparate cables upon each other.
Dear God... Apple has won. They have achieved the omnipotent powers of transfiguration. The war is lost! Open your wallets and pour out for penance!
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It's the same cable... with USB-C instead of plain USB.
Not even I thought the Reality Distortion Field had such power as to superimpose two physically disparate cables upon each other. Dear God... Apple has won. They have achieved the omnipotent powers of transfiguration. The war is lost! Open your wallets and pour out for penance!
Wait until you see the Apple certified Monster USB-C cables ...
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Or you could just replace your USB to Lightning cable with a Lightning to Lightning cable.
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Re:Apple: it just works (Score:5, Insightful)
Money isn't really the issue. But what do you do when you realize that you have lost or left your dongle behind? It's another device to carry, to lose, to break. It's the opposite of "just works".
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Money is an issue. One of the reason Apple does so well for itself is because it's constantly screwing its customers over and over again and they love it. Other companies would make their devices compatible as a selling point, Apple makes them incompatible to sell more cheap things at huge markups. And because their items are priced so high already, what's wrong with paying a little bit more? If the phone was a cheap $80 people would be screaming about needing to buy a $25 wire. But since you're alread
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After you spent $2,500 for a MBP, what's 1% more?
Just enough to cover a large bottle of lube?
It gets worse... (Score:5, Insightful)
People used to claim that Apple was a hardware company but given the current state of their hardware this is hard to believe. I think they are turning into a dongle company where they plan to make their money selling dongles to let you connect all their hardware together.
That's absurd. All Macs & iPhones have bluetoo (Score:4, Insightful)
what a weird thing to lie about.
Re:That's absurd. All Macs & iPhones have blue (Score:5, Informative)
Um, yes, they do have Bluetooth, as well as BLE. Works just fine with my BT headphones, which I can guarantee are older than BLE itself is.
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Wow, so I guess the Sennheiser bluetooth headphones that I am using with my iPhone 7+ right now isn't actually happening, because you say so.
Or, you're completely wrong. Perhaps lying for some purpose I can't undertstand.
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You said:
Hence there are no ear phones which will work with both your mac an your iPhone.
Bluetooth "ear phones" still exist. And they work with both MacBook Pro and iPhone 7.
You are wrong.
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and no special wireless chip.
Only the airpods and the new Beats wireless headphones have the chips. The Watches, iPhones, and various MacBooks don't, because they don't need them. Any machine running one of the supported OSes (iOS 10, watchOS 3, and macOS Sierra) will work, including things like the iPhone 5 and Macbooks from 2009 onward. Apple says so itself [apple.com] (under "system requirements" and "compatibility").
I mean, really.
Dongle company : Yes !!!! (Score:2)
I think they are turning into a dongle company where they plan to make their money selling dongles to let you connect all their hardware together.
Yes.
Best proof is when you compare the price of chinese knock of and Apple-certified dongles.
The only single difference between a plain simple adapter/cable that you can build yourself, and apple's over-priced stuff, are the special chips whose only puprose boils down to "So we can charge you for expensive Apple-certified dongles"
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Stuoooopid story (Score:2)
Connecting an ios device to a mac is a front pull-up panel button. the big one marked "AIRDROP". the devices find each other.
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Re:$25 is 1% of the purchase price. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Especially when you chain 37 adapters and hubs together to gain back the functionality you had just 3 years ago...
Ya, but the new iPhone is now water resistant -- so ... there.
So cutting edge. It wasn't a Kyocera Hydro VIBE -- which was certified water *proof* back in 2014 (with a headphone jack) -- that guy strapped to the handlebars of his bike to go riding in a thunderstorm in that Apple commercial -- “Practically Magic” -- which is ironic because it's neither practical or magic, just 2+ years late on a phone that costs 3 times what the VIBE did.
But I digress. The Apple stuff *is* very shiny and thi
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They don't bother to tell you the end of the story where that guy goes peddling off into the thunderstorm. He rides to the end of the drive way and gets hit by lightning.
Moral of the story. Your phone maybe waterproof, but riding a fucking thunderstorm with lightning is a stunningly stupid idea.
Dump lightning (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:$7 third party (Score:2)
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No no no. You missed the genius that happened behind the scenes at Apple.
A few years ago they managed to get everyone to buy all new cables because Lightning. That petered out and the clone cables are not of sufficient quality and lower price that people don't care.
Apple thought long and hard. Then realized using USB-C on their laptops means people have to buy new power adapters - genius! But that's not enough. They sell way more iPhones.
Instead of giving up on the massive profit center that is Lightni
Re:Dump lightning (Score:5, Insightful)
You're joking right?
Apple's phone device revenue is *twelve times* higher than its *entire* "other" category (61% vs 5% in the most recent quarter).
The amount of money (and profit) apple pulls in from iPhones utterly eclipses any money they pull in from cables.
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I think you're misinterpreting my statement, I'm referring to margins.
Re:Dump lightning (Score:4, Insightful)
The profit margin (as a percentage) doesn't matter.
They could make only 5% profit on phones (which they most assuredly do not) and still bank more than even the most profitable USB cables and dongles.
It's just not a factor, financially, for them.
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I've seen estimated profit margins for iPhones as high as 69%. Their last quarterly report that was just released has iPhone revenues at $28.2B and "Other products" revenue of $2.4B. Take away from that $2.4B revenue from Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products to leave just the revenue from iPod and Apple-branded and third-party accessories.
The profit margins may be ridiculously high on accessories, the gross profit is still dwarfed by even an extremely conservative estimate of margins on the iPhone.
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The "other" segment is so tiny and the cables are so tiny relative to the rest of "other" (Watches are currently part of "other") that it doesn't really matter what the profit margins are.
The phones are *vastly* more profitable than accessories.
Re:Dump lightning (Score:5, Funny)
No, you don't get it. Apple makes a greater percentage profit on their cables than on their laptops. For example, with the $25 dongle the article mentions, Apple makes 235% profit. That's right, Apple makes $58.75 in profit, and that's after deducting the $1.18 cost for material and labor.
In addition, you haven't heard about the mandatory Cable-a-Month club membership that comes with every new MacBook. Since Mac users aren't good at maths, they never realize the monthly charge on their credit card for a USB-C to Lightning cable. They just assume they are getting a new cable in the mail every month for free.
So, you see, it's very simple how Apple makes much more money off their $25 cables than they do on their $2500 laptops.
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it's not the revenue, but the profit. accessories have always been huge profit drivers. they might only be a few percent of total profits but for earnings it will be a few cents a share and the difference between a plunging stock or a soaring stock price
Silly word (Score:5, Funny)
Non-techies often giggle when I use the word "dongle". Can't we find a better word before HR hauls me in for alleged harassment?
Re:Perfect word (Score:5, Interesting)
You must keep calling it that until they no longer exist or are no longer needed. They are horrible, and the name for them should be just as horrible or embarrassing as possible.
Re:Silly word (Score:5, Informative)
Non-techies often giggle when I use the word "dongle". Can't we find a better word before HR hauls me in for alleged harassment?
Not as far fetched [arstechnica.com] as you think....
Re:Silly word (Score:5, Insightful)
If it's any consolation, Adria Richards still doesn't have a job since that incident. Now that's what I call social justice.
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Re:Silly word (Score:4, Interesting)
Back on the old Burroughs mainframes, the unexpected termination of a child process could terminate the parent process. The error message was "Program abort: death of a child".
I remember some gal totally freaking out over that. It may have hit a nerve.
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Non-techies often giggle when I use the word "dongle". Can't we find a better word before HR hauls me in for alleged harassment?
Most people have settled on: "adapter", "converter" or any number of other equally valid choices that work for both tech and non tech people (remember the goal of language is to convey meaning, and dongle offers nothing extra over these words - unless you are talking standalone dongles eg for licensing etc)
Just change the word "Dongle"... (Score:4, Funny)
...to "Throbbing Pleasure Shaft."
There! Problem solved!
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So if it doesn't work, I need to file a TPS report?
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It's not a dongle anyway, it's a cable.
Re:Silly word (Score:5, Insightful)
A dongle by its very nature sticks out. It is totally phallic.
You've never seen breasts, have you?
I've seen the future (Score:5, Funny)
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Ha, I can see someone doing that then scratching their head and wondering why it doesn't work.
Like it's always been? (Score:2)
but...it's always been that way, with all the previous Apple products too.
Their fucking phones are the old smart phones on the market that don't use a USB standard.
And a $39 adaptor to get magsafe back (Score:4, Interesting)
https://griffintechnology.com/... [griffintechnology.com]
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I've read only so-so things about that connector. Does anyone have a good experience?
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https://griffintechnology.com/... [griffintechnology.com]
Fantastic. Yet another dongle. Let's see. Magsafe dongle, dongle to charge iPhone, iPhone audiojack dongle. Ethernet dongle.
It's dongles all the way down.
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That adaptor is rated at 60W. 15" Macbook Pro charges at 85W.
Where's the courage now? (Score:5, Funny)
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But then there would be the danger that the laptop bends under its own weight.
Be patient (Score:5, Funny)
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Actually, I'm pretty sure that is where things are heading. Either the keyboard will become an extended touch bar or maybe each key will have a tiny display on it. I don't know how good the force feedback is, but if it can get to the point where you can type without looking at the keyboard, I'd definitely be for an extended touch bar.
Rumor about new super-dongle from Apple (Score:5, Funny)
Proof that Jobs is Gone. (Score:5, Insightful)
Something like this would have never happened under Jobs. He was meticulous that stuff worked together, easily, out of the box. Apple's lost its way with each product manager driving each product.
Re:Proof that Jobs is Gone. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. Jobs was meticulous regarding the Iphone 4 antenna, the round mouse, the fire starting magsafe connectors, the overheating laptops, the bending "unibody" chassis, etc. (the list goes on a lot longer than this).
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All of those examples bar one were a minor fault in an otherwise fantastic design. Only the round mouse which wasn't significant as there were easily available alternatives matches this defective and useless by design bullshit that is migrating to a standard no one is actively using.
I predicted something like this on /. last week (Score:2)
Cable != Dongle (Score:3, Insightful)
If it were and adapter and you'd still need a cable it might be called a dongle, but what Apple sells is a straight up cable. No Dongle in sight.
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But..but...dongles dangle and cables dangle, so this dangle is a dongle.
The Real Demographic (Score:2)
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> MAJORITY of Pro buyers ARE NOT engineers
I am.
Reasonable to use the Cloud? (Score:2)
So the solution to the syncing problem is to put your phone down five inches from your laptop, upload to your Cloud account (on a capped internet connection), then download it on the other device (on the same capped internet device) instead of creating a physical connection between the two? Or hell, just a local wireless connection if we're only talking about syncing and not even getting into questions about charging?
This. THIS is what causes all that bandwidth saturation the ISPs are so afraid of!
If you missed the hilarous fake interview (Score:2)
Fuck you compatibility (Score:2)
Flashback to the 90's. (Score:2)
When Lost the Dongle [wp.com] was a plus.
not to worry (Score:2)
And yet (Score:3)
...the Apple Fan-Zombies will praise them for being "innovative" and "amazing"!
Evil Apple, evil Microsoft, Trump vs. Clinton.....The fucking Asteroid can't hit the Earth soon enough...
MagSafe for all? (Score:3)
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Re:You connect your iPhone to the new Mac wireless (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, charging over wireless? I hadn't heard of that feature.
It requires a dongle -- that you plug into the wall.
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I wonder if it's really luck.
Friend of mine noticed a odd pattern at his business - the only MBPs that had regular issues with the magsafe cables were sitting on desks that got direct sunlight, plenty others were still on their original adapters after 3 years.
Makes me suspect that whatever polymer Apple is using for the insulation on those cables is not exactly UV stable...
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I've had the cords themselves go, but the connector itself has always been fine.
magsafe is, or should I say *was*, one of the big selling points for the macbook pros for me.
I can't really see buying another one though. The new one is not merely underwhelming, its a straight up downgrade.
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I had several of those and they always broke in the end. The modern mag safe adapter is the first Apple power cord I've owned that didn't eventually break.
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Re:hello? dock? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:hello? dock? (Score:5, Insightful)
Get a dock if you want to use lots of (legacy) ports on a compact laptop!
Uh... if I wanted a 'compact laptop' I'd buy a macbook air.
I wanted a pro laptop; I want a gigabit ethernet port. That is not a "legacy" port. I want regular USB. I want HDMI. These are not legacy ports either. These are what the other devices you will encounter on the road have. From the TV in the hotel to the flash drive a coworker will hand you. I don't want to have reach into a bag of dongles to find an adapter for every goddamned thing.
I'm fine with it being a bit heavier, and a bit thicker if it gives me more ports and more battery. Again, I wanted a pro laptop ... if I wanted a compact laptop that focused on minimalism... I'd have bought a macbook air.
I want more RAM, I want more SSD. This laptop might be a fine device... but its just a fancy macbook air. I'm in the market for a pro laptop.
Anyone that's somehow finding it possible to be hurting for an additional $25 after buying a $2,000+ computer can just get on ali or amazon or ebay and pick up two cables for $6 shipped or something like that.
Its not the money for the cables, its having to buy them at all. Its that I spent $2000+ for a computer with all the functionality I wanted built in. I wasn't trying to save money; I was trying to buy a pro laptop. Charge me another $200 and build-in the fucking ports. Not having to carry around a bag of shit is worth it to me.
Get a dock! Problem solved, and solved well.
A dock is something you leave on your desk. I need the ports to follow me around so I can use them where I go.
So your solution is Buy a laptop for $2000+ Then buy another slightly smaller laptop sized dongle to fix all the shortcomings of the first laptop.
FFS that is not a problem solved well. You know what a problem solved well would be... build the fucking dock INTO the goddamned laptop, and call that a "pro" laptop.
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So. Do you think this MacBook Pro is a pro laptop?
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I want a gigabit ethernet port. That is not a "legacy" port.
Depends on how you look at it. It's a very old connector that is simply too thick for a modern laptop. We should have standardized on a smaller interconnect cable a long time ago, but haven't. Either it's an RJ-45 adapter to some proprietary connector (since there's no standardized option) or you just externalize the interface entirely, since the bus is fast enough. Either way, you need an adapter.
I'm not a huge fan of this laptop, but that's one thing I totally understand.
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Won't there be two kinds of such cables?
USB-C can provide either Displayport, or HDMI. So if your computer provides Displayport (like this mac) then the cable will need a Displayport to HDMI converter built-in. But if your computer (let's say a phone) provides HDMI then you need not that converter (will the converter's presence make it fail or will it have some smarts to let the HDMI through? I don't know but hopefully the latter)
If your USB-C provides no video signal at all, then you can do it but with a U
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Get a dock if you want to use lots of (legacy) ports on a compact laptop!
Get a desktop if you want to connect a computer to something.
Get a mainframe if you need the processing power.
Portability? No one buys a laptop for portability! /retarded translation.
Re: MIKE PENCE IN PLANE CRASH (Score:2)
No, stop lying. Hillary was about to fire a stinger missile, but she froze up and couldn't pull the trigger.
Later Michael Bloomberg claimed that if it wasn't for Hillary's Parkinsons, he'd have taken his anti-gun money back.
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And who here is going to stand up for how much they want to use iTunes?
Man there are rhetorical questions and then there are rhetorical questions.
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Maybe, just maybe, I want to transfer some files between my computer and my phone, and I don't especially want them going over the air, particularly via wireless networks and/or third-party storage that I neither control nor know with certainty to be secure?
And I'm not necessarily talking about porn, either. I sometimes handle data that is confidential and/or proprietary, and which I'm obligated by company rules and/or by law to safeguard. If I'm careless with it, it could mean losing my job. Or going to pr
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I just took a look at the usual suspects (dell, asus, acer, hp etc) for a MBP replacement to run Linux as my main laptop. They are all spec limited in ways the MBP is not. 256G storage, 8G ram. No option to upgrade. The machine I would be replacing has 1TB storage and 16G ram. 'Power' machines are huge and ugly.
I was not impressed. I thing the MBP I have may be peak laptop. They're all downhill from here.
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I didn't really believe you. This is good- you are wrong. But I have an idea as to *WHY* you are wrong.
I went to Dell's website. I selected 15-16 inch laptops (you mentioned that the bigger machines are huge and ugly- since the MBP is 13 and 15 inch, you must mean larger than 15 inch is huge and ugly). I then selected the core i7 6th gen (skylake), and filtered by RAM ("12gb and up"). The results included a Dell XPS 15 for about 2600 bucks. This had: 1 TB Solid State, 32 Gigs of RAM.
http://www.dell.co [dell.com]