As Tim Cook and the team took the stage in October, I watched with a growing mix of excitement and disappointment. The rumours leading up to the event all pointed to a minor change in the MacBook Pro lineup.
25 minutes in, it starts.
The new MacBook Pro’s are stunning…but only offer a modest performance bump with a non-insignficant price increase. Disappointment sets in.
In December, frustrated with my 2013 model, I order a 2015 MacBook Pro 15" fully loaded. Weeks later, it arrives and sits by my desk unopened for days. I can’t bring myself to put it through it’s paces.
I break down and spin it up. After a couple days of use, I’m conflicted. Yes, it’s faster. But not shockingly so. And it’s a lot of money.
Carefully re-packed, the MacBook Pro heads back to the store. “Any particular reason for the return?”…”Yes, it’s just not fast enough compared to my 2013 given the cost”.
“Yup. Getting that a lot.”
Breaking Down, Again
Fast forward and after weeks of my 2013 — even after a fresh install of Sierra — stumbling along and I press “Buy”. That blue button shaming me as I make a purchase I’m frankly not happy about.
When my MacBook arrives, it hits me just how many changes the switch to USB-C will have on my workflow.
It starts with a simple set of USB-A > USB-C adapters and quickly spirals out of control from there.
The Cost
After another round of purchases at the Apple store, I realize just how much extra I’ve had to spend on making this MacBook work on the go. I travel a fair amount in order to give talks and meet with people around the world.
Over the years, I’ve gotten good a streamlining my travel kit. The 2016 MacBook Pro has set me back in that regard and with regards to my wallet.
Here’s what I ended up purchasing to get started (all prices Canadian);
- USB-C to Lightning Cable (1m) because I need to connect my iPad/iPhone to my MacBook at some point while on the go = $25
- Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter in order to connect my desktop dock = $35
- USB-C to USB Adapter for my presentation remote and any other “on the go” connection = $10
- USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter because not everyone has HDMI or DVI connections on their projector = $59
- USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter for most external display connections = $59
- HDMI to DVI Adapter because why wouldn’t you need a dongle for your dongle? Also for those cases when there’s only DVI connections available = $35*
- USB-C to USB 3.0 Mini Adapter by nonda because I know I’m going to loose a few with USB storage keys = 3x $12.99 for a total of
That’s $261.97 before taxes and shipping.
Dongle For The Dongle
*Funny tangent. The team at the Apple Store didn’t believe me that there was a dongle for the dongle. I felt like I was in a Monty Python sketch trying to explain that I needed to buy a dongle for my dongle in order to convert the universal connection to the specific one I needed which was sadly not universal.
As the laughter died down, I had to show them on the online store that the HDMI to DVI Adapter was a real, actual, tangible thing. After checking their inventory, they had to find where they stashed them in the back. A dongle for your dongle doesn’t merit shelf space.
Ridiculous Percentage
Let’s take a closer look at that $261.97 spent on dongles. I don’t think the set of dongles I bought was unreasonable for anyone travelling.What is unreasonable is that I spent $3,149.00 on the MacBook Pro itself. Add on another $269 for AppleCare and we get a total of $3418 before taxes and shipping.
Putting that together, I spent 6.63% of the total cost on dongles.
That’s absurd. 6% of the total cost is just to connect it to a standard set of external devices…and that doesn’t include my existing investment in a USB 3.0 hub and dock.
6% on AppleCare I can live with. That’s a good value for a machine that I’ll take around the world and that is a key part of my workday. I’ll make that 6% if anything goes wrong over the course of the MacBook’s lifetime.
But 6% on dongles? That’s nuts.
Kate Bevan summed it up best…
Am I being punk’d? Is that still a thing? I tried to connect the new MacBook Pro to my 4K display via “Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter” > “Thunderbolt 2 to DisplayPort Cable” with no luck. The system doesn’t even detect an external display. $38.95 and a USB-C to DisplayPort Adapter Cable is en route.
Then I test out just a simple HDMI connection (yes, I know I won’t get great resolution from it but I wanted to make sure it would work) and wow. Just wow.
What a monster!
But it worked. The secondary display was detected and came up as expected.
Then I got this — frankly astounding — notification.
Seriously, this is real.
I couldn’t have thought of this if I tried.
Wow.
Yes. You’re reading that right. The dongle needs a software update. Amazing…
