You didn't answer the question. It doesn't need to be so dysfunctionally thin and light to travel between work and home sometimes. Nobody is going to suffer from an extra pound of weight.
He did answer the question, only with reasons that you don't seem to agree with.
I also mostly use my MBP plugged in and yet still want my laptop to be as light and thin as possible for when I'm carrying it around during the day/commuting. An extra pound of weight makes a huge difference to me walking home.
> An extra pound of weight makes a huge difference to me walking home.
That's hard to believe. Are you walking 50 miles? How would you notice an extra pound? What about the rest of the stuff you carry, your clothes, your shoes? Is everything else already optimized?
Why does the (likely) most expensive full-size computing device need to lose weight vs everything else, especially when it's infringing on the actual user experience of working with it?
> That's hard to believe. Are you walking 50 miles? How would you notice an extra pound? What about the rest of the stuff you carry, your clothes, your shoes? Is everything else already optimized?
Not everyone is particularly fit. Some are old, some don't have time to exercise, some choose not to, some don't have the choice and some others are and just prefer the convenience.
> Why does the (likely) most expensive full-size computing device need to lose weight vs everything else, especially when it's infringing on the actual user experience of working with it?
I think is largely a generational issue. I bet there's a large swath of young professionals right now who grew up with ultraportables like the macbook air but are looking for just a bit more performance right now. These people are also likely to be more accustomed to typing on shallower and lighter keyboards (including virtual and mechanical) so the change won't be as big a change for them than people who grew up with typewriters and Model Ms.
There are multiple product lines. Those people who need extreme lightness should not choose the Macbook Pro line then, which should remain focused on functionality first.
I think most pros doing particularly heavy processing nowadays have a desktop or server to offload to in addition to their laptops and performance has improved enough for pros with light to moderate processing so that higher portability is better value for most people.
Nobody is saying Apple shouldn't have thin and light options.
Apple's prices and hardware designs made the 15" MacBook Pro a popular desktop replacement. For the same price as a 13" MBP and a 21.5" iMac, you could get a 15" MBP that would outperform the iMac in some cases.
Mobility is functionality, which is why things like battery life and working keys matter.
Is it really that hard to believe that some people prefer to have a lighter laptop. My daily driver is thinkpad but I really appreciate my mbp when traveling or for conferences because it's much more portable and I can carry it with ease
The point being is that should be a choice, and they have Macbook line for it if that matters more to you. It shouldnt be the priority for the Pro line when it hurts the UX, that's the issue.
My personal machine is a 12” MacBook and my work machine is a 13” Touchbar MBP. I use a very small messenger bag and so yes, I do notice the extra weight on my shoulders when I commute with the MBP.
I have optimised my bag heavily but already have a few non-negotiable medical items I must carry to stay alive and so I like to get that weight back from my laptop.
I understand that weight isn’t a big deal for everyone however it is for me. If my company offered smaller machines I would switch instantly.
In places other than the US, the majority of commuters are supporting the weight of their laptops on their backs (on public transit/walking/cycling), rather than having it sitting beside them (in a car.)
When I was in primary school we were taught that our backpacks shouldn't weigh more than 10% of our body weight. That's not much when you're in third grade, but I think most adults can comfortably carry laptops that are two millimeters thicker and weigh a pound more than the Macbook.
What do you need adapters and dongles for if your goal is to go out to a cafe or a park and work with the computer? Do you, like, need a 7tb media drive with you at all times or something? Are you constantly plugging it into different monitors? Not like you wouldn’t need adaptors for that unless you exclusively live around DisplayPort screens anyway. Do you carry around a wallet full of DVDs and an external drive for those?
Strawman - most people are not working in a cafe or park, but an office where you have to plug your laptop into actual things - projectors and so on. And almost all the projectors I use at my work, my customers' work, or the last few conferences I've been at, are HDMI - which is cool because I have an HDMI port right there on the side of my [2014, may-it-last-forever] macbook pro. It's next to the SD card slot where I can put in the SD cards from my rather nice digital camera, so I can edit photos when travelling. I earn money from photography, so as someone who is technically therefore pro, both of these connectors are useful for pro work, that isn't just typing things in cafés.
> which is cool because I have an HDMI port right there on the side of my [2014, may-it-last-forever] macbook pro
I would point out that modern non-Apple PCs don't tend to have HDMI ports, either. They either have mini-HDMI ports, or OTG ports. The dongle requirement is nearly-universal for connecting modern devices to projectors, to the point that you may as well just buy a set of dongles for each projector, rather than for each laptop.
> It's next to the SD card slot where I can put in the SD cards from my rather nice digital camera
Is there a reason you can't plug the camera into the computer (using a USB cable) to transfer the photos instead? That's what I see the photographers at my own office doing.
(I asked one just now, and they said: if you're trying to transfer photos outdoors, moving an SD card also has the chance of pushing dust into the SD card slot on the camera. They say they've had SD card slots wear out/break before. And for cameras that take micro-SD, when moving the card they're always a little paranoid they might drop the thing on the floor and lose it. All in all, cables are just easier if it's your own camera and your own computer. SD cards are just for passing off to other people.)
Easy - half the conference venues don't come with dongles, or if they do the AV guy is dealing with a crisis in one of the other 17 conference rooms and won't be able to get to your one within your 20 min slot (this happens A Lot. I do have my own HDMI-VGA though, but the VGAs seem to by dying out thankfully).
SD cards - I've never had an SLR or a high end mirrorless camera (but i haven't bought either for maybe 18 months) that's been able to transfer through itself at anything like the speed of a fast SD card in the slot. Makes a big difference when you want to dump 64GB of pics. As for dust, my favourite camera has been to Syria, the desert southwest of the USA several times, morocco, antarctica on a sailing ship (so being sprayed a lot), and not to mention my local beach. Aswell as just being the camera i throw into my shoulder bag when going out. Unless the photographers in your own office are war photographers or dirt-bike specialists, I've probably given my kit a harder life than they have. I've never had an issue with pushing dust into the SD slot of my camera or laptop. I did however dent the ISO knob on my camera when trying to tether it to my laptop when sailing across drake's passage, and a wave tipped the boat and I instinctively grabbed the macbook and let the camera hit the deck. I learnt my lesson. Fair point on micro SD though, but I have never used them for photography. I would probably be concerned too about fumbling, especially if wearing gloves.
True - but I doubt that's really a significant factor in the MacbookPro target market.
(They're much more likely to optimise them for being carried in artisan faux-vintage messenger bags by people riding share-scooters between home and the FAANG shuttlebus...)
> Nobody is going to suffer from an extra pound of weight.
I would and did for a long time, and I am very glad for the lightening trend. Try considering for just a moment that there are many people in the world who aren't as ablebodied as you. Small changes can make big differences.
I know a lot of people with physical disabilities. I've been one myself; I'm married to one.
Nobody's asking Apple to make all of their laptops heavier. And I don't think anybody's asking for 9lb / 4kg monstrosities from Apple, either.
What I see is a lot of people wishing for pro laptops from Apple that eschew their "lightness at all costs" philosophy in favor of a more balanced approach that offers some extra functionality in exchange for, say, an extra pound of weight or something.
That wouldn't preclude Apple from selling smaller, easier-to-carry models.
You can have light without being anorexic thin. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has a 14" screen and weighs half a pound less than the MacBook Pro, and it has the missing ports.
> Nobody is going to suffer from an extra pound of weight.
For many things in life, it’s not about whether or not you suffer, it’s about what’s more or less pleasant. And for many, that even trumps an occasional inconvenience.
An external HD or removable SSD drive would be a much better system for moving between home and work. It doesn't matter how heavy the base system is if you're just moving a tiny disk, but there's no money in that for Apple.
