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WIRED was not cable magazine for a long time. But even so wereI would still have a job. I have a home recording studio and spend my days testing TVs, audio tapes and other audiovisual equipment for our Gear section. There are so many copper cables in my garage that the French government can smell a statue of Steve Jobs for me to build in San Francisco Bay.
From 2005 to 2015, you can purchase an Apple laptop with a great range of ports to fit all of these cables: HDMI, SD card slot, standard USB ports, Thunderbolt DisplayPort. If you can call it that, you could probably plug it into your MacBook without an adapter. I could take my little Apple laptop anywhere (originally a 2008 model, now still humming in 2013). I didn’t have to mess with wireless protocols or make sure I had an adapter that actually worked.
Since 2016, I’ve been looking frustrated as MacBooks have become thinner, faster, and better looking, slowly removing everything except a few USB-C ports. Their usefulness diminished with each disappearing port, a fact which may have been noticed by the famously pedantic Mr. Jobs.
During a global pandemic in which millions left their offices to work from home, the problem without a port became more pronounced than ever. I couldn’t quickly tear video from the camera’s SD card and connect my audio interface. Others – including my own frustrated colleagues – had more basic problems, such as how to turn on a keyboard, screen, and mouse. If an optional monitor does not work, is the monitor, cable, or switch a problem? How so it can’t even boot your computer with the microphone on?
I’m happy to hear that Apple’s latest MacBook is finally adding back ports. For the first time in a long time, I may be among the first buyers.
Stop the madness
Apple is known for shaping the future, but its visionaries sometimes jump over the present. When he boldly removed the headphone jack from the iPhone, there weren’t many great wireless headphones. This bet paid off. The market adjusted and Apple invented the most popular pair of wireless headphones in history. With the exception of a few audiophile models, wireless headphones are now the only headphones worth buying.
But displays, cameras, audio interfaces, keyboards, and mice aren’t all wireless, and they haven’t become wireless just to calm Apple’s hatred of cables. The same can’t be said for other accessories, such as SD cards. Apple should not expect every industry to abandon universal standards, as ports are ugly.
In an attempt to thin out and make MacBooks meaningless, Apple has created a horrible, annoying world in which everyone spends hundreds of dollars on multiple USB-Cs to any keys and troubleshoots between the Mac, cable, key, or any combination of the three. The setting even makes people who understand technology look stupid. Many of my friends own better, newer Macs, but my 2013 model is the only one that can plug directly into the TV’s HDMI port to stream Formula One.
Return to the form
Apple’s designers have clearly listened to the cries of tired tables. Today’s announcement brought a series of welcome reconstructions. Apple has abandoned the cumbersome Touch Bar and introduced a whole new series of ports for greater connectivity than ever, all without an adapter.
The most amazing development is that you can now turn on up to four displays in your MacBook –and charge it at the same time. It has one HDMI port for displays and a total of three Thunderbolt 4 ports. It has an SD card slot. Adding a better headphone jack that works with high-impedance headphones means that music producers can include more energy-intensive models without adding a headphone amplifier. Charging with MagSafe is back.
It all seems like a return to the MacBook, which people actually can useinstead of looking good in your hand or in an advertisement.
Apple needs to keep pushing the boundaries, but it needs to recognize when it has reached them. The function should not be overshadowed by the shape. By adding back ports that we can all use, the Cupertino giant acknowledges what we already knew: Sometimes the customer is right.
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