Apple didn’t kill the 3.5mm headphone jack on its new lineup of MacBook Pros, but new design changes to Apple’s revamped notebook lineup will undoubtedly irk many customers.
Sure, the new Touch Bar looks amazing, and sure, the specs on the new MacBook Pro models certainly warrant getting excited about, but the port situation on the MacBook Pro is a mixed bag.
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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.
