I've said this in probably a dozen HN comments over the years, but my 2010 MBP is still my favorite computer of all time. It has a matte screen and 4TB of upgradable onboard storage. It was frustrating watching MBPs move progressively farther away from the features I really loved on that machine. Eventually, I jumped ship for the PC world again, where I found the hardware much more inspired.
The Airs are already quite powerful machines. Let them carry forward the legacy of the direction of the past several years, and make a truly differentiated offering for folks who do most of their work docked.
Also, a hill I will die on is that the Touchbar should have been a new UI paradigm at the bottom of a touchscreen. I'd also dig a Touchbar accessory for my keyboard tray. Just saying. But for the love of god, keep it off my F-key row.
The article's criticism of the 12-inch MacBook are preposterous. The 2 lb Macbook is the best laptop I've ever owned, by far. Maybe I'm too sensitive about weight, but I feel an incredible difference between 3 lb and 2 lb laptops, especially if its sitting on your lap for extended periods of time. The keyboard and charger have never once been a hindrance to my workflow, as the article makes it out be. I really wish Apple would come out with 2 lb laptops again. Latest line of Macbooks (the "Air") weigh in at 2.8 lb minimum.
I use two MacBooks for programming for several hours each every single day, my personal machine has a touchbar, my work machine does not. I realize this is blasphemous to say and I did think I would hate the touchbar for all the reasons, but I actually ended up liking it.
I had imagined myself tapping virtual function buttons and the whole thing seemed silly and useless and worse than having physical keys, but VS Code and other dev tools actually have good integration, and when I open an app like Adobe Illustrator which I don't use frequently enough to memorize all the hotkeys it's quite handy to have the commands listed.
My controversial hot take--
I have never needed an SD card, and have gone all-in on USB-C. I will be very disappointed if they add back in USB-A/HDMI/SD ports, or remove USB-C charging in favor of proprietary charge port. Sounds like unnecessary feature bloat. Please just do MagSage + USB-C, so I can maintain my one-cable-for-everything, making traveling lighter and simpler. Here's my counter argument to all those that love MagSafe: makes traveling a huge hassle, forcing me to carry a special charge brick that only works for ONE device. In 2021 going forward, I will flat refuse to spend money on anything that doesn't use USB-C or Qi charging. I can now travel with a single 2xUSB-C power brick, and charge all devices from the same cable. This is a huge step forward, please don't reverse this.
I am all for removing the TouchBar. The new MacBook Air with TouchID + physical function keys is a perfect combination of features. There are a few things about the TouchBar I do like -- eg, having a custom one-touch screen lock button that's always present. However vast majority of the time I use external keyboard+trackpad+monitor, so the touchbar can't be part of my usual workflow anyway. Removing this reduces cost and complexity.
Please. Just keep it simple.
All of these opinions (from this comment thread) perfectly sum up my view of the Touch Bar.
It's one of the reasons, aside from performance, that I believe that the M1 MacBook Air is currently the best laptop that Apple make.
> I am all for removing the TouchBar. The new MacBook Air with TouchID + physical function keys is a perfect combination of features. There are a few things about the TouchBar I do like -- eg, having a custom one-touch screen lock button that's always present. However vast majority of the time I use external keyboard+trackpad+monitor, so the touchbar can't be part of my usual workflow anyway. (BluSyn)
> while I believed in the initial promise of the touchbar (especially for specialty apps like DAWs, NLEs, etc), I welcome its removal now, and I think most do. (coldtea)
> I also can't wait for the removal of the Touchbar. This prevented me from buying previous Macbooks because it was just one compromise too far for such an expensive machine. (pharmakom)
> I like the touch bar but unless they find a way to make it feasible on a Bluetooth magic keyboard, I’d rather have no touch bar for consistency. If they are going to kill it they should have killed it with the first M1 MacBooks. (johnwalkr)
> The problem with the TouchBar is that it disrupt the flow of attention towards the keys. The cool thing about having just ONE screen is that you can forget about looking your fingers because the content is fixed (not dynamic) and therefore can be internalized. The TB doesn't solve any problem (ofou)
> the Touchbar should have been a new UI paradigm at the bottom of a touchscreen. I'd also dig a Touchbar accessory for my keyboard tray. Just saying. But for the love of god, keep it off my F-key row. (acjohnson55)
> No Touchbar. I love the idea, but it should be in addition to the Fn keys, on top of it, or in some other way. (maz1b)
> If they so wish their touchbars, why not to put them _above_ function keys ?! Make option to turn them off completely if required so they would not disturb at night or stand on the way. They never heard of people with muscle memory? (lovelyviking)
I bought a Microsoft Surface laptop 13” for work to test builds with. That laptop has a headphone port, USB-A, USB-C and a proprietary Microsoft port the power adapter plugs into. Don’t have that adapter handy while traveling? You can still charge it via the USB-C port with another charger. I can see Apple copying another facet of Microsoft’s Surface line. The other being the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro.
I'm excited about everything mentioned in the rumors, except for the "flat edge design similar to the iPhone 12". One of my favorite parts of the MacBook design is how easy it is to pick up off of a flat surface with one hand. The tapers help me slide my fingers underneath the computer to hold on. I feel like if there is a flat edge, it'll be hard to grip on the side unless you're using 2 hands.
I think everybody is forgetting that apple repurposed the name “MagSafe”.
I think “MagSafe and new ports” translate to having a magnetic area where you can place a iPhone 12 MagSafe charger or charge your iPhone 12.
What new keyboard translate to, I have no good guesses, but I do have a feeling that if you think it’ll be 2015 keyboard you’re in for a disappointment.
It's kind of funny, because the last laptop I purchased (and the one I am still using) was Apple's first retina MacBook Pro as soon as it was released in 2012. I've refused to upgrade since then because I felt that all of the newer MacBook's were inferior in some way. Now I'm finally thinking of upgrading again once the 16" is released, and it's sounding like the new laptop will look exactly like mine from 10 years ago.
I'm not a fan of MagSafe though. It's always falling out whenever I slightly move my laptop around. And my thought with the touchbar is that they should replace it with physical keys, however, the keys should have tiny OLED displays beneath them. That way, if you want the function keys back, it will look at exactly like the rest of the keys on the keyboard, but if you want some other type of button, that's possible too.
Author seems to hang a lot of faith on rumor. Maybe some of those rumored things will happen, but it's pretty unlikely that all of them will happen. (I'd be OK if the touchbar vanished though!)
Apple just announced a magnetic feature for their phones called "MagSafe". What's the chance that the revived MacBook feature called "MagSafe" won't be something phone related? A charging region on the notebook seems hard to believe but stranger things have shipped.
The author is also quite dismissive of the 12" MacBook which for me was a breakthrough product. I traveled around the world with one in my bag, wrote a ton of code, and often had to check to see if it was in my bag, it was so light. I'd still be using it except it turned out one day not to be rainstorm-proof :-(.
As for the SD slot: I asked Jobs about this in the early 2000s (this was around when PCMCIA was phasing out) and he was dismissive for the same reason: "Oh, you have an SD card? Do you also use CF? And Memory Stick?" This was painful because indeed, I used all three.
The fact is the TB3 (USB4) ports are powerful enough that they can connect to almost anything a user has. I know everybody's milage varies, but for me that's more powerful than a dedicated port I only use occasionally (as FW400 was for me) or never (FW800 in my experience).
On one hand, this seems like welcome news for many of us. Who doesn't miss MagSafe?
A lot of the previous years was like someone at Apple read Calvino's Six Memos and took the notes on "lightness" a little bit too far.
On the other hand, one wonders if we'll have to replace all the sleeves and bags that have been made with the previous dimensions in mind. Hopefully not. Even the new 16-inch MacBook Pro fits in sleeves and bags designed for the previous 15-inch.
Weird. My 2016 12” MacBook is still almost my favourite machine. I say almost because the M1’s speed is _incredible_, but I do miss the smaller size and flatter keyboard.
Honestly I've never understood why laptops are so strongly associated with developer culture.
They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering.
More practically, many people find themselves completely dependent on Apple's design whims.
Mac Pros (or server racks in general) are closer to the kinds of machines that we deploy to (they use Xeons for one thing). They don't overheat so easily.
Their 'sea of cores' approach enables more productive workflows and tooling.
And one gets to use his favorite peripherals, in an ergonomic position (instead of slouching around a laptop).
Apple should bring back the 2015 MBP but with Apple Silicon and a USB-C port and call it the MBP Classic!
For what it's worth, I have a fully specced out out 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro with 64gb of RAM and the 5600m upgrade, and I can frankly say that these rumored MacBooks are actually exciting compared to what I have.
What I feel strongly that Apple should do:
- Allow for USB-C AND MagSafe charging (MagSafe 2 would be ideal but I won't be upset if it's something else)
- Ensure that the 4 USB-C ports are all equally capable of bandwidth and don't suffer from any drawbacks in that regard.
- Great thermals / fan noise and still handle demanding workflows
- No Touchbar. I love the idea, but it should be in addition to the Fn keys, on top of it, or in some other way.
So cool. I probably am going to buy a MacBook if they bring everything back. Definitely buying something else if they don't. MacBooks look interesting but I'd rather buy something with an SD slot, physical F-keys, analog audio jack and at least 1 classic USB port to accompany Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports.
Anyone still remember Apple Remote?
It used to come free with your MacBook and is to this day one of my favorite features of my mid 2012 MBP that I will miss terribly once I have to upgrade (no Big Sur support...).
I’m happy to give up thinness for SD card and HDMI. I use my MBP with a bunch of hardware samplers old and new which use SD for sample import and storage. I never use the Touch Bar and miss F keys dearly(development duties). The next MacBook that reverts back to the above is an instabuy.
Apple's previous MacBook plan was stupid stupid. I just can't bring myself to view 'several different ports' as a stroke of genius.
I think Apple needs to rethink and design products that are built for serviceability. That means the end user should be able to service most parts of the laptop themselves. No plastic prying tools should ever be needed to service a laptop.
Battery -> User replaceable under a hatch. SSD -> User replaceable RAM -> User replaceable Screen -> User replaceable Motherboard -> User replaceable Keyboard -> User replaceable. Wifi Network card -> User replaceable.
And with that I mean you design to make the product easy to repair. Using standard Philips or torx screws whenever possible.
Current Apple products means using a lots of dongles for what should be built in.
Make repair videos on how to mend broken parts, put those on video sharing platforms like Youtube.
We are having global warming, that needs that all products needs to be easy to repair so that we have less waste on the planet.
Very excited. I got an Intel MBP in 2020, but these models have enough that I am willing to switch. The question is who will buy my maxed out Intel laptop when the M1 is faster and costs less? XD
Also wondering if this new version will have M1X or M2, just a M1 that supports more RAM or an M2 with updated architecture?
This is a really exciting development! Everything I miss from the 2013 MacBook Pro - no final word on what ports are being added or if they are bringing back the SD slot, but MagSafe, a working keyboard, and an escape key are themselves welcome.
The touch bar ended up being completely useless except for muting/unmuting zoom calls and smashing the left hand side seventeen times in a row until it finally registers as an escape key - I guess Apple devs don’t use vi. I was thrilled to have Touch ID at first but ultimately it only gets used in the control panel because apparently Apple doesn’t let anything else use it. I largely stopped using u2f keys because it was too much of a pain to dig up a usb-a dongle and I didn’t want to spend $50 on a usb-c form key that still doesn’t work on iOS.
>Schiller had squashed all hope of the SD card returning ...
>Schiller said “probably not” but added that “nothing about the future is in stone and things can always change.”
what?
The last paragraph mentioning touchscreens is weird. Please don't add a touchscreen to a device running a desktop OS. 99% of people won't be using it anyway, but it would lead to those atrocious spacious phone-style UIs I despise so much.
The only ports I want to see on a modern laptop is just a bunch of fully capable USB C ports. An SD card slot would be fine, and if there's something like MagSafe, I'd want USB C charging to still be possible so I can just travel with a single kind of charger and cable.
Lots of random USB-charging gadgets have switched to USB C. I like the idea of making USB A, one of the worst port designs of all time, die a slow painful death. I am very happy with my thumb drive-shaped portable card read that has USB C on one side and A on the other.
An SD card is useful things other than just cameras it also is a great thing for 3d printers. Yes some printers have usb and maybe I should spend a day or figuring out ocotoprint but I usually just use my SD card and get on with printing. My lap has a MacBook Pro 2015. It’s both sturdy and has all the nice features plenty of usb-b ports and sd card slot... newer PCBs are finally shipping with usb c support but I don’t see things like the teensy having usb c anytime soon...
I still use my 2015 MacBook Pro. Built in hdmi port, card reader, USB ports, MagSafe charging.
After years of fighting with the broken butterfly keyboard, the missing ESC key (Vim!) and Apple’s recent ambitions in censorship, I finally made the move, after 15 years with Macbooks, to switch to a free and more transparent platform, as in “a system that respects the user’s freedom”. Yes, moving to System76 and their Pop! OS will come with efforts of re-abituation but I appreciate the freedom that comes with it.
I agree about the return of function keys and preservation of Touch ID, but that's hardly a prediction; it's what they're already doing as they roll out new machines.
If you think Apple is returning the SD slot or adding a dongle to the power cord, you don't know Apple. But maybe they've found a way to magnetically connect USB-C while still maintaining compatibility and avoiding dongles.
Magsafe, was great unless you had a 5 year old laptop. After the 50th time you had a small magnetic rock get lodged into the plug and scrape the laptop's magsafe port enough, it stops being magnetic.
I can't agree more on replacing the touch bar.
All the recent buzz about Apple’s supposed MBP updates traces back to a single source, which also has promised Apple AR glasses in 2020 (I bet this is why Bloomberg didn’t feel comfortable putting the name on the rumour).
The idea of additional I/O ports seems questionable, given performance of Thunderbolt 2 and USB 4.0 in latest devices. (Support for SD cards, which has the author so excited, seems especially dubious to me. Sure, there are professionals using SD cards, but just as well there are professionals using CF cards or microSD cards; it’d seem quite un-Apple to try to satisfy everyone.)
Then there’s the obvious stuff (microLED).
I'm sure someone smart will design a way for USB-C to plug into your MacBook without the risk of ripping out your I/O board if you trip over the cable.
We don't need magsafe, we just need some sort of clever springy socket.
I never needed an SD card until suddenly I needed one. And then there I was with one permanantly lodged in my old Air's SD port, with my music collection on it, because I needed more room on the HD.
I have been enjoying being able to dock my current Pro to the desk setup with one cable that carries power/video/audio/USB but I keep on eyeing my slowly-filling hard drive and worrying about what I'll do when I need more space. I hate carrying external drives around.
A "magsafe USBc" connector would be super awesome, IMHO.
Bring back matte screens too.
Glossy screens have been a disaster, not only ergonomically but also in terms of the never-ending "staingate" scandal of antireflective coating peeling off the screen.
Apple hardware is really top notch. I am a Linux person but if I squint hard enough I can use the Mac OS (with some swearing weaved in). But I cannot use that terrible keyboard. Why do I need key combos for page up/down? Why are they useless buttons like that top squiggle on the top left but no page up/down buttons (there is space for them). Why some things are Cmd+ and some are Ctrl+? Why no key travel?
Of course Ive pushed the design this way. He also designed the Apple Watch to be a design centric device and didn’t want it to be about health.
I wonder if any of these design choices are what led to him leaving. I’m almost confident a consensus was around one of these major changes he bet on and leadership heard all the nasty feedback across the web. Maybe Ive took it personally and just decided his time was over.
> …universally hated butterfly keyboards.
Not true. I would choose butterfly over a wobbly one (e.g. 2019 Macbook Pro).
> Nobody wants a dongle.
Not true. I do agree that an SD card slot is convenient to have. But I have no significant problems using an adaptor. USB-A feels like a thing from the past to me. So I am not sure I would want it on the laptop.
The HDMI is the only thing I would not mind to retain (because of overscan issues, etc.)
Cool! On top of this if they would reintroduce the headphone jack on the iPhone, they would completely redeem themselves in my books.
I think it's a lot difficult for people NOT to change than to change. I do understand the reason: New employees seeking for ownership, teams need to grab for budget, etc. And I'd argue that keep changing is always better than NOT changing at all. The only thing is how to make more changes positive?
My guess is that the leads in the new MagSafe correspond to USB-C power rails, and if you plugged in a charger into the machine's USB-C port, it would charge just the same.
I mean, if I were Apple, I wouldn't settle for anything less.
Dongles are expensive and cumbersome. If Apple is adding back legacy ports, good on them.
I would like to pay more for a usb-c magsafe connector. Even 5x the cost of the current cheap cables would be worth it if it 1) actually worked 2) was standards compliant in all the ways that mattered. USB-C is a dice roll right now and the magnetic ones even moreso.
Lenovo tried the touch bar approach with the X1 Carbon. But it didn't work out, users complained, and the next generation of the X1 removed it again. I wonder how many laptop manufacturers will try this again, only to need to revert it...
Touch Bar is interesting - it's really nifty, but I feel like touch typists hate it, and non touch typists love it.
My personal totally long shot wish is that Apple would switch to an ortholinear keyboard (because everyone else will do it too then).
I'm excited about this! Lotta different ways that could go but I'm hoping it's Magsafe-over-usbc so their whole lineup can be protected! (Well they need to ditch lightning on iPhones, but yeah).
Unrealistic though it may be, I'd rather they just stuffed a half dozen USB-C connectors on either side instead, and the world could stop making custom connectors for every different device.
Sounds too good to be true.
Related from 2 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25788129
Typing on our 2013 Mac Pro is downright luxurious and I wouldn’t trade it for any super thin anything. Would also pay thousands for an M2 motherboard upgrade. :D
Can't wait to see all the articles praising Apple for innovation next... We might even see a skeuomorphic UI again!
I want my glowing Apple logo back. The only thing good about the Touch Bar is fingerprint ID, but I can do without it
MacBook Pro wish 2021: rounded-edges end-to-end screen, that's the future, like the iPhone and iPad have.
I can't help but think this leak is bad for Apple's Mac business. It will be a while before these potentially superior Macs will be available, cannibalizing the sales of the existing line. I'm looking to replace my laptop soon and these potential features make me comfortable waiting and seeing.
I hope that they would make it chargeable from either the Magsafe or the USB-C, like the Surface.
Honestly, the thing that I like the most about this is the wonderful IBM 3278 terminal in the background. Those things were the best terminals I ever used (even though they couldn't scroll) and had the very best (although the loudest) keyboards ever built.
Which reminded me I released a new version of my 3270 font yesterday, so it's doubly fortunate.
Touch bar is great, but should be an ADD-ON above the function keys, not replacing them.
I am really happy that my macbook uses usb c. I'm sad to hear that it is going away.
Today, my Mac interoperates with all my other devices, I can keep one charger running to the edge of the couch.
It's not the end of the world to flip back to the magsafe, but it's definitely not ideal for me (and I suspect others.)
Yes to the physical keys instead of touch bar!
RAM is the feature I care about and Apple has always been stingy with RAM.
oh man... if they remove the touch bar I will be so happy. I have a macbook pro 2015 and I was planning to replace it next year with the M1 16 inches. That would be the perfect timing. Generation 2015 powa!
I hope...(some day) we can get sdcard slots on iphones too?
Since 2015 I cannot even choose Mac Book Pro that would just fit for work with all that idiocy with touch bars, malfunctioning keyboards, lack of SD card slot and idiotic dongles, instead of working horse that has everything you need and makes things simpler, not harder.
But even MBP 2015 had gracefully died just recently having the best user care from me you can possibly imagine. This really encourages to move away from Macs. I do not wish to pay premium money for shitty equipment.
This 2015 model have just fallen apart, starting with screws that by some unknown to me reason where unscrewing themselves and you cannot not tight them back because some idiot made them non standard to make sure you really cannot do it, not even with the knife.
Then I discovered that screen has traces of buttons after closing the lid. Then I discovered those small traces are unremovable. Nice design.
Then battery even with a proper care died anyway after third of a cycles it suppose to have.
Then SD Card slot was reading only some of the cards, while cheap neighbour’s laptop had no problem reading all of them.
Then I discovered that connecting MBP to external monitor gets it heated too much to the level that loud funs make it unusable.
Then internal screen stopped working completely.
Then after some time this shit failed to boot at all ( even with external display).
I should also mention power cord ( with cheap plastic) that became yellow and was not always connecting , while it was carefully kept from banding too much.
HDMI that in critical situation did not work, with the best cable you can get.
Mac OS that was constantly confusing where the main screen is, forgetting the ‘mirror’ option at will and so on....
Overall the experience is horrible.
I have other models from previous years and nothing like that had happened.
And I am told MBP 15inch mid2015 is considered to be one of the best models from recent years, as after mid 2015 models are even worse, not mentioning lack connectivity that renders them useless for mobility I need.
So looking at the way Mac is made these days finally I hear something sane as I am not at all convinced they would continue to sell ‘tons of Macs’ in the following years otherwise.
I think only inertia saves them in such situation but for how long? In my case I cannot move from the platform now because naively I’ve decided to write a ‘proper File Manager’ for Mac. I am using what I wrote and I simply cannot live without it. I also cannot leave it unfinished as this would be a huge waste of effort. So I’ll have to finish it, and only then think of porting it to other platforms.
Right now I do not know even what do. Buy another 2015 one ?which could fall apart just as this one did? Buy new model? But which new model? They do not even have a model I need and looking at the quality of the shit I was counting on ... well, I see really no good options. Those with Touch-bars are unacceptable, smaller screens then 15 inch too. I would actually wish 17 inch for work in case some one sane from apple is reading. I wish model that have _all_ possible connections including USB3 which are still around a lot so I would not have to think about those stupid issues and concentrate on my work. And I have a lot of work. This is the way and how it _should be_ with a ‘proper laptop’.
Concentrate all _necessary_ ports_ on one left side at least pwr and video ports so I would not have dongkes or “Y” shape wires when you hold machine whike connected to external screen. Put only redundancy ports on the other side, and yes we need redundancy ports.
Bring magsafe back, this was good as long as the cable is not cheap-made so it can band nicely if required.
Having IRreceiver never hurts anyone especially those who have bought apple IR remote. I was using it when teaching tango for controlling music remotely so I do not have to run to the machine each time I wish to say something. It was so convenient, now for the same thing I had to make custom dongle with arduino.
There is no need for huge trackpad, the previous size was good enough and calming because you do not worry about palm faulty touches.
Half sized left/right keys where better then full sized, so you would not confuse them with alt-key. Why there is no ctrl on the right side? It inconsistent with left side and inconsistent with full-sized keyboards for muscle memory. And do not dare to remove it from big ones, please.
Oh yes, and bring me back my line-in as separated socket! Big thanks to one ’smart genius’ who removed it in 2015 model, combining it with phones port. Also this ‘genius’ made sure to activate it _only_ automatically with Apple headphones to create as much troubles as possible to connect my guitar on the go.
More then that, when you connect phones to listen what you are recording, and already agree to stupidity of recording sketch through the mic instead of a proper line-in you cannot choose what mic to use. Thus you cannot choose one built-in , so you end up recording with mic on the phones wire near your neck hitting your shirt or guitar as you play. ‘thank you very very very much’ for that. It has spoiled many good moods.
I wander about those who design those Mac Book Pro’s ... did they ever tried their creations or thought forward about real life situations and applications ? Or after Jobs there is no one who can do it and see how laptop should function?
If they so wish their touchbars, why not to put them _above_ function keys ?! Make option to turn them off completely if required so they would not disturb at night or stand on the way. They never heard of people with muscle memory? It is that hard? Goodness, it’s so obvious. I can go on and on ...
I feel I was robbed really with this 2015 model, I wish I could use those money for something more useful ...
No mention of user swappable batteries or repairability. :(
I want the features of the 2012 MacBook Pro in the body of the latest model. Bring it all back and keep the slimmed down less useful model for ppl who don’t need functionality.
The keyboard! I have an M1 mac, I typing this from a 2012 macbook air. The new keyboards are utter crap! They are still crap. If I could have the M1 in an x220 shell, with the mac trackpad, I would be good.
I’m really hoping this rumor is false. I want the 13” M1 MBP scaled up to 16”. I don’t want an SD card, F keys, MagSafe, or any of the rest of that.
I'd love if it had an excellent webcam. I imagined the M1 would have a better webcam than the 2015 Retina MBP but instead the newest built-in webcams are significantly worse in quality.
I'd imagine including a camera system from an iPhone would make a huge difference for Apple's users given the popularity of remote meetings these days.
The nice thing about my 2015 Macbook Pro is that it's useful without any accessories. I can just throw it in a bag and walk out the door.
It's got enough battery life that I usually don't need to bring a charger. It has all the ports that I ever need. I can hook it up to a projector with the built in HDMI port, I can put in the SD card from my camera, or I can quickly copy files from someones thumb drive. I don't need to think about bringing the right kind of cables for what I'm planning to do.
Sure, the new Macs are a lot faster, but every Mac released after 2015 would be a downgrade for me.