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A tweet posted shortly after Apple's recent Macbook launch event underlined the absurdity: Apple now sells 17 different types of dongle.
In its ever-escalating war against connectivity ports, Apple's latest computers do away with the SD card port, a full-size USB port, and the HDMI port.
Instead, you'll need a dongle to convert those "legacy" connectors, as Apple put it on Friday, into the new, smaller USB-C port.
"We recognize that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition," the company said in a statement, without acknowledging that Apple's newest iPhone, released just last month, is one such "legacy" device - without a dongle (or a different cable, sold separately), you can't connect Apple's new smartphone to Apple's new laptop.
"We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem."
That help will be a decent discount on the price of the dongles - it calls them adapters - until the end of this year.
How long before they release new dongles that must be individually charged?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by theluggage on Tuesday November 08 2016, @04:39PM
How long before they release new dongles that must be individually charged?
[link to Apple's wireless 'Airpod' headphones]
Yes, how dare Apple produce wireless headphones that need to be charged? Why can't they make them run off cold fusion, zero-point energy or by tapping into the user's aura? Name one other manufacturer making Bluetooth headphones that need batteries! I mean, did you ever see Lt Uhura charge her earpiece? Ridiculous!
As for TFA, yeah, there's a point there: Apple dived headlong into USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 without going through any intermediate state. Once you've replaced all of your USB-A-to-X or MiniDisplayPort-to-X cables with the USB-C-to-X equivalents and maybe invested in a dock to hook up everything on your desktop - including power - with a single wire, you're actually going to be in a much better place than before - and the amount of kit/bandwidth you can hook up to a laptop with 4 Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports is huge. Since USB-C/TB3 isn't exclusive to Apple, there's a good chance that it will be the new standard in a couple of years' time - and its easier to hook up current kit to a USB-C port now than it will be to hook up new USB-C kit to USB-A ports down the line. You're also free to try your luck with bargain basement USB-C kit from third parties...
However, the reality is that many users are going to have to shell out a couple of hundred bucks for new cables (Apple's original $25-$70-a-pop would soon add up) on top of computers that have also risen significantly in price (esp. if you live in a country that has experienced an exchange rate adjustment at the same time). Apple fluffed this by not including any kind of deal-sweetener from day one - or even chucking a couple of USB-C-to-A adapters in the box for free. The discount helps, but not having such greedy cable/adapter prices in the first case would have helped more, and they're still with the gouging (e.g. the replacement charger now only contains the charger - no USB-C charge cable or extension cord - ker-ching!)
(Score: 4, Informative) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 08 2016, @06:49PM
Yes, how dare Apple produce wireless headphones that need to be charged? Why can't they make them run off cold fusion, zero-point energy or by tapping into the user's aura? Name one other manufacturer making Bluetooth headphones that need batteries! I mean, did you ever see Lt Uhura charge her earpiece? Ridiculous!
The issue isn't that they're making wireless headphones that need to be charged, it's that they're making wireless headphones only. And no wired jack.
-1 Disingenuous
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday November 08 2016, @08:31PM
The issue isn't that they're making wireless headphones that need to be charged, it's that they're making wireless headphones only.
If only that was true, then you might have had a point. It's not. You don't. [apple.com]
Now, if the editor wanted to re-open last summer's debate about Apple's decision to drop the 3.5mm jack from the iPhone (and no, I'm not going to defend Apple on that one - heck its the one thing they didn't drop from the MacBook) then maybe... no, sorry, the AirPods are still a complete red herring.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 08 2016, @08:46PM
Because making wired headphones you have to buy from them because nobody else makes Lightning headphones is so much better.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Tuesday November 08 2016, @10:01PM
I vehemently disagreed with Apple's removal of the headphone jack. That said...
-1 moving the goalposts
You: "it's that they're making wireless headphones only"
theluggage: (links to a wired headphone that Apple's making)
You: "Because making wired headphones you have to buy from them because nobody else makes Lightning headphones is so much better"
Not only did you move the goalpost, even your revised rebuttal isn't true, because a basic Google search shows several third parties already selling Lightning earphones, with more on the way.
Hell, this sucker [amazon.com] was first listed on Amazon November of last year.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 08 2016, @10:26PM
Hey, the OP started the argument with a purposely obtuse, sarcastic post. Doesn't that give me a Get Out Of Fallacy Free card? :)
And yeah, after I did that last post I googled a bit. D'oh. Note the one you linked is 50 bucks; are they actually competitive on price point by now? Compared to a cheapo standard 3.5mm $10 pair for when your sexy Lightning-only headphones included from Apple wear out.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Wednesday November 09 2016, @10:25PM
You can use the cheap $10 3.5mm pair with the Lightning adapter that ships with every iPhone 7 and 7 Plus :)
I'll give props to Apple for at least including an adapter dongle, I can't remember the last time they actually included one in the box instead of fleecing buyers for one (e.g. 30-pin to Lightning transition).
(Score: 1) by pipedwho on Tuesday November 08 2016, @10:08PM
The iPhone 7 comes with a 3mm headphone to Lightning adapter. Mine permanently lives on my earphones. I gave the lightning earphones to my wife to use on her iPhone 6. No idea why people complain about this.
The only drawback is if you listen to music while the phone is charging, then you need an adapter/splitter that lets you do that. Or get some bluetooth headphones/earphones - doesn't have to be from Apple - my Bose wireless ear phones work perfectly - except my son has co-opted them for himself and his iPhone 5.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 08 2016, @10:22PM
It just seems rather stupid and inconvenient to get rid of the jack in the first place. If you're just going to offer an adapter for the same thing...
I don't really understand the whole obsession with making devices thinner either. Given the choice between having an mp3 player 1 mm thinner, or one that works with standardized accessories, that's a no-brainer. And I actually like full-depth keyboards, which are surprisingly hard to find even for PC desktops these days :P
But I'm obviously not Apple's target demographic. I'm supposed to think "OOH SHINY MUST HAVE", not "well that seems rather dumb from an engineering standpoint, and also needlessly expensive."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 08 2016, @11:56PM
Winner winner organic free range worm fed chicken dinner!
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Tuesday November 08 2016, @10:44PM
"with a single wire, you're actually going to be in a much better place than before"
No, I'll be in *exactly the same place I am now*, except I'll have had to spend several hundred pounds on adapters, docks and other junk, just to use all my existing gear like I do today.
This is not benefitting me in the slightest. I'm not going to throw away and re-buy all my stuff just because Apple deemed the entire world's worth of peripherals to be "legacy". And I'm not interested in buying shedloads of adapters to continue to use it. I'll just get a laptop that permits that due to not making the monumentally stupid decision to drop all the ports that the whole world uses, day in, day out, to get their stuff done.
USB-C definitely has potential, but it's not yet the be-all end-all of connectors. Most of us will need USB-A for many years to come, and Apple just chose to ignore that basic fact.
I really like the idea behind the Razer Core (http://www.razerzone.com/gb-en/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth#ultrabook-desktop). That's taking USB-C and actually adding a feature of value (for some). Being able to hook up arbitrary PCI-E boards and higher end storage to a laptop is pretty neat if you want that. Where's Apple here. They could have developed something along those lines for the new macbook pro and existing thunderbolt-enabled systems. But they didn't. Why are they not pushing the envelope even a little?