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Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed
by kunai 7mo ago
Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed it from the SP line)
- quentindanjou 7mo agoI don't think this is intentional to cut cost. I simply think that the chip was primarily made for devices with one port (iPhone, iPad) and this is a bit of an afterthought. I wouldn't be surprised to see a future product with 2x USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support on the next generation, A19 Pro or A20 Pro maybe, if the product has enough success.
- bombcar 7mo agoThis is going to be a primary complaint people have (even if it's not terribly important) - hopefully they have some circuitry that warns you if you're plugging something into the wrong port (e.g. a USB 3 device into USB 2 at slow speeds).
- happyopossum 7mo ago> This is going to be a primary complaint people have No. Most people never plug in anything to their USB ports where they'd notice a speed difference. Definitely not people picking up a $600 MacBook for school or casual web browsing. I'd bet 90% of folks never do anything other than charge through these ports...
- bombcar 7mo agoI don't think people will have many complaints about this thing, but I do think this will be one of the primary (even though it's basically a non-complaint). It will definitely be used to justify spending $300-1500 more for a better laptop.
- happyopossum 7mo agoWhat do you think Neo users are going to plug in where they’d actually notice the USB speed differences?
- bombcar 7mo agoMonitors, mainly (as if you plug it in the "wrong" one it doesn't work). Followed by the IT-nerd of the family always complaining to them. Again, I think it's a minor nit realistically, but people are going to harp on it.
- Qub3d 7mo agoFor monitors at least, if you plug in to the wrong port you will get a GUI prompt advising you to use the other one [1]: > while the ports aren’t labeled, if you plug an external display into the “wrong” port, you’ll get an on-screen notification suggesting you plug it into the other port. [1]: https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/599_not_a_piece_of_junk_macbook_neo https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/599_not_a_piece_of_junk_m...
- alpaca128 7mo agoI hope they added (or will add) that feature to other Macs too, on mine I had to try out different ports and check the settings to find the one which can go beyond 60Hz.
- fragmede 7mo agoThe same things Macbook pro users plug in where they'd see the USB speed differences. Just because someone isn't as privileged as to be able to afford a MacBook Pro instead of a Neo doesn't mean they don't have the same dreams and desires.
- et-al 7mo agoHey, it took courage to remove that headphone jack. https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/07/courage/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/07/courage/
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoThis is 2026. iPhones use standard USB C headphones, you can charge your phone at the same time while using your wired headphones using MagSafe and you can even by low end $59 Beats Flex headphones that have all of the Apple magic. I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s
- RhysU 7mo agoLow-end wired earbuds come in packages with dozens of units. I buy cheap earbuds because my kids love breaking them. Not everyone optimizes for the same thing. Analog remains the bees knees in certain settings.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoJust a quick search on Amazon shows a two pack of USB C headphones for $10
- RhysU 7mo agoOr 100 analog ones for $36.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoSo you are worried about saving money and consider $5 for a pair of headphones and you bought an iPhone????
- RhysU 7mo agoNo. Going back to what I initially responded to: > I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s I am saying that not all adoration of the analog headphone jack is baseless. And we shouldn't universally move on.
- f311a 7mo agoIt's a mobile CPU. They did not modify it. Mobile devices run with a single USB port.
- hbn 7mo agoIf they want to get these things into schools it would be insane to expect the schools to also supply everyone with AirPods or some other kind of wireless headphones.
- qingcharles 7mo agoThis is the answer.
- wmf 7mo agoI've heard wired EarPods are great or a USB DAC is under $10. It's still easier to have the headphone jack though.
- elondaits 7mo agoAirPods have too much latency for playing music. You want wired audio for running GarageBand or Logic Pro with a MIDI controller. They could have gone with a USB-C to audio adapter, but then you wouldn't be able to plug the MIDI controller and charge the computer. ... Only a few people make music with a Mac, but it's been an important part of its history, and Apple cares about it.
- kunai 7mo ago> ... Only a few people make music with a Mac, but it's been an important part of its history, and Apple cares about it. This seems to be a recent phenomenon. A lot of electronic music production uses the Macintosh and Logic/Ableton workflow, to say nothing about how many of the best DSPs were Apple-exclusive until about a decade ago. I don't really think music production, at least in the EDM and hip-hop world, got popular on the PC until the rise of Fruity Loops and FL Studio, but that's available on the Mac now too.
- andriy_koval 7mo ago> Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. its investment into next generation of loyal apple users, they more likely be selling it at loss.
- Tepix 7mo agoNope, not Apple