In January, Ming Chi Kuo excited fans of Apple’s professional laptops with the news that the MacBook Pro 2021 would feature a new design, Apple Silicon, and the return of MagSafe and more IO ports.
The analyst followed the report today to be a little more specific: he expects Apple’s MacBook Pro 2021 models to feature an HDMI port and an SD card slot. As a reminder, the current 16-inch MacBook Pro features only Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and a headset for connectivity.
When Apple launched the new MacBook Pro style with the 2016 revision, the idea was that offering four Thunderbolt USB-C ports would be enough for everyone. Thunderbolt 3 ports are high-bandwidth and multipurpose: they are high-bandwidth data transfer ports and can even transmit power and act as video outputs.
However, to connect to most peripherals, users would need dongles or adapters that convert USB-C to HDMI or even the traditional rectangular USB-A to support their existing peripherals. Even four years later, the dongle problem remains a problem for many MacBook Pro customers. Many users use multifunctional USB-C adapters and hang all accessories on them.
It seems that Apple is willing to admit that it has rushed slightly, as signaled by the restoration of dedicated HDMI ports and an SD card slot for transferring photos from cameras.
It is not yet clear what the full IO line will be in the new MacBook Pros. It doesn’t seem likely that Apple will add two ports in addition to the four USB-C ports, but Kuo does not detail the exact split. Also remember that these laptops must also have a MagSafe port for charging.
For comparison, the ‘old’ MacBook Pro 2015 boasted MagSafe, two Thunderbolt ports, USB-3 and a headphone connector on the left side and another USB-3 port, HDMI and SD card slot on the right side of the machine. This gave a total of 8 I / O on Apple’s professional workstation laptop. The 16-inch model currently has only 5 ports, 4 USB-C and a headset. Even though the four USB-C ports are more versatile and technically capable, many people crave the ability to simply connect a lot of things without having to worry about dongles.
The new MacBook Pro line is due to be launched in the fall. The machines are highly anticipated not only because of format changes, but customers will also be able to experience the performance of Apple’s silicon in cutting edge CPU and GPU products.
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