Will the Apple 1-port strategy sink or swim

My 160 GB SATA drive (roughly 7.5 years old) has a maximum sequential read transfer rate of 48 MB/s .

I have two USB 3.0 ports. USB 3.0 adds the new transfer mode SuperSpeed (SS) that can transfer data at up to 625 MB/s, although they seldom approach that speed. At Best Buy a PNY - Turbo 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive is advertised at $90.99 and can transfer data at 210 MB/s.

USB 3.1, was released in July 2013 with the new transfer mode SuperSpeed+ that can transfer data at up to 1.25 GB/s. This seems to be the speed of the USB-C drives, although the new MAC will top out at half that speed.

I suppose I could live without a hard drive, but I just haven't made the jump to a Chromebook.

Quote: DRich

Yes, Microsoft Office can run completely web based now.

Not quite the same thing. Especially if you find yourself without Wi-Fi.

What is this guy really talking about? No way I can understand that.

I think this device will be very popular. When they came out with the orginal MacBook air lots of people said it was stupid there was no optical drive. It turned out nobody cared. This will be the same.

People are accustomed to using WiFi for everything now. They will love the super-thin appearance and feel with no ugly ports on the side. For those few that want to hook up to a larger monitor, Apple will sell a cable that lets you hook up to the monitor and charge the MacBook at the same time.

Quote: jml24

People are accustomed to using WiFi for everything now. They will love the super-thin appearance and feel with no ugly ports on the side. For those few that want to hook up to a larger monitor, Apple will sell a cable that lets you hook up to the monitor and charge the MacBook at the same time.

I realize some people are going to be very happy, but mostly they are people happy to pay $1200 for a computer, and then have to shell out lots of money for adapters. I sometimes think that there are too many useless ports on a machine, and I wih it was smaller, but reality is that the real estate needed to add ports is very little.



Bottom line is everything will work fine, then you will find yourself in a new place and someone will want to give you data or a hook up that you can't handle easily. You'll be in Mexico and they won't have wifi and the printer is not wireless and you new friend only has thumb drives. You'll be popping plugs in and out so often that you will bend something.

I could say I have a one-port computer, my Nexus 7 tablet. but I use it very little for actual work (mostly to look at emails and check some work-related websites).

Quote: Pacomartin

Bottom line is everything will work fine, then you will find yourself in a new place and someone will want to give you data or a hook up that you can't handle easily. You'll be in Mexico and they won't have wifi and the printer is not wireless and you new friend only has thumb drives. You'll be popping plugs in and out so often that you will bend something.

That's what I think will happen.

Of course, the next model will have a cell connection so you can access "the cloud" at all times. In time more people will use USB C accessories and cables, too. But given the large numbers of plain USB thumb drives out there, and the fact they rarely break down, people will be using them for decades.

A Type-C USB plug can work with devices that require five, 12 or 20 volts of electricity; it tops out at delivering 100 watts of power. They make low voltage televisions for hospitals, recreational vehicles, and boats. I think they are pretty expensive right now.

I do actually like the idea of televisions that are free of power cords and set top boxes. You can just fish a small wire through the wall, and you can control them with smart phones.

A lot of newer televisions don't use much power anymore. This 48" TV uses only 68 watts.

By now I'm 90% sure I'll get a Surface 3(*) next month when I'm in Vegas. It only has one USB (3.0) port.

But, crucially, it has a mini-port for a display and a micro-SD card slot.

Still, it means a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

The notion is to use it as a laptop replacement on the road, but also as a big tablet at home (I won't carry it around everywhere like I do the Nexus), and if it really behaves and plays nice with Win10, I might use it as a desktop PC at home as well. In that case I would need a wireless printer or a means to add more ports. However, as the USB 3 is not new, accessories for it are bound to be cheaper. Or I could get the MS docking station.

As full disclosure, I do not intend to buy a type cover (that's the cover/keyboard sold separately).

If I hit a big hand at VP, I may splurge and get a Surface 3 Pro. Though then I'd likely wait for Fall and see whether the Surface 4 Pro comes out.

I may also check out other 10"+ Windows tablets. I'm leaning towards the Surface because, like the Nexus, coming straight from the OS developer it will have less, if any, crapware preloaded.

(*) 4 GB RAM, 128 GB storage, no LTE, around $600

Quote: Nareed

(*) 4 GB RAM, 128 GB storage, no LTE, around $600

These are the USA duty-free exemptions.
$800 if visiting for 48 hours or more: Mexico exempt from 48 hour rule
$200 if not away for more than 48 hours
$1600 if you are returning from U.S. Virgin Islands or Guam
The next $1,000 worth of the goods above rate below that you purchase is subject to a flat rate of 3%

What are the limits in Mexico?

Quote: Pacomartin

What are they in Mexico?

$300 US, then you get taxed above that.