2015 Chromebook Pixel

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by moe on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @05:55PM (#9187668)

What happens if that port fails or beaks? Your laptop stops working...

I'm not a fan of their single-port decision either, but in fairness: Every laptop stops working when the charging port breaks. No matter how many other ports it may have.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by Alupis on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @06:09PM (#9187746)

> Every laptop stops working when the charging port breaks

That is true, however if you are using the same port for a multitude of things (plugging/unplugging USB sticks, monitors, etc...) it's going to get a lot more use, and therefore increases the likelihood of something breaking.

I've broken USB ports before on laptops, usually by crushing the floating center plastic thing (USB cable gets ripped out weirdly or something), but I have other USB ports so life goes on. USB-C has the same center floating plastic bit -- just waiting for it to get broken off.

DC ports tend to be pretty robust, but do break from time-to-time. Apple's solution to this was the Magsafe connector, which avoided the issue for the most part. Seems like a step backwards for laptops to now rely on a single, potentially fragile port for everything.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by riquito on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @06:39PM (#9187936)

> That is true, however if you are using the same port for a multitude of things (plugging/unplugging USB sticks, monitors, etc...) it's going to get a lot more use, and therefore increases the likelihood of something breaking.

By design it allows at least 10000 cycles of insertion/removal. Using it 8 times a day every single day you'd need about 3.5 years to end them. It's probably ok for most workloads.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by jeeva on Thursday March 12, 2015 @07:28AM (#9190086)

Speaking from a helpdesk perspective, user-caused breakages are rarely by design.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by bashinator on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @06:18PM (#9187804)

And Apple is replacing the nigh-indestructible magsafe with a traditional plug...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by semi-extrinsic on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @07:54PM (#9188296)

Of course this is purely anecdotal, but amongst my friends and coworkers I've seen magsafe connectors fail at about the same rate as normal power adapters. Usually at the end where the wire goes into the wall plug brick part.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by kalleboo on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @09:39PM (#9188739)

Yes the cheap to replace wire end breaks easily. But the expensive-to-repair computer side port is solid. You're going to see a lot more expensive computer repairs with the USB-C charging port.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by semi-extrinsic on Thursday March 12, 2015 @05:15AM (#9189713)

True. Although I think it would be much better for durability if Apple used the same wire/power brick layout as everyone else: have the power brick in the middle of the wire, accepting 120/240 V from a standard "figure-eight" cord. Then that cord would be the one that breaks, and they cost $1 to replace. Of course this conflicts with Apple's business model...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by iSnow on Thursday March 12, 2015 @08:25AM (#9190278)

At least over here in Europe, you can attach a bog-standard 240V cord to the Apple power brick so it sits in the middle of the cord. However, this does not help if the computer-side plug does not disengage if your lovely child barrels down your living room.

Magsafe has prevented a costly fall or other here.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by kalleboo on Thursday March 12, 2015 @09:54AM (#9190760)

All the Apple laptop and iPad adapters I've gotten accept a standard figure-8 cord if you just slide off the national plug. For my it's the slim cord between the charger and the machine that wears out.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by semi-extrinsic on Thursday March 12, 2015 @11:43AM (#9191459)

Interesting. I've never seen anyone using it with the figure-8 cord. My intuition was that having the adapter stuck to the wall tends to often bend the thin cord on the DC side. As you say, that's what usually fails.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by jsz0 on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @09:46PM (#9188766)

MagSafe was great when laptops got 3-4 hours (or less) of battery life which required re-charging in hostile conditions. MagSafe3 is 8-10 hours of battery life. No one can possibly trip over your charger if it's not plugged in.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by keeganpoppen on Thursday March 12, 2015 @04:26AM (#9189610)

that's an interesting point-- i was wondering why not having MagSafe anymore wasn't making me that upset (considering how magical and awesome i thought it was when it came out) and it definitely comes down to this. i guess we hit the point where the magnetic fanciness has become less useful than reducing cableage sometime in the past few years...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by phaemon on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @06:32PM (#9187886)

Not if you had 2 USB-C ports, and you could charge from either side. That would be pretty cool actually.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by moe on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @06:34PM (#9187906)

And even cooler if it could charge twice as fast when you plug both in.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by dijit on Thursday March 12, 2015 @07:01AM (#9190008)

but very bad for the battery if you do that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by lobster_johnson on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @08:02PM (#9188333)

What I hear people complaining about is that the product isn't complete out of the box: You immediately have to go out and buy a hub, or at least a charger that also acts like a hub, and/or an HDMI adapter. Some of these gadgets are, for now, a little expensive -- $40 for something that used to be built in is, for some people, an insult. (I don't mind myself; I take the long view about things like this.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by modfodder on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @09:31PM (#9188706)

The product is complete out of the box, just not complete for every use case. Even as a commercial editor my need for multiple ports decreases every year. Currently I work on broadcast spots with one client using one drive and dropbox. If I was on the print or web side I could get rid of that drive. I haven't used a thumbdrive in probably a year. Everything is dropbox or google drive if it's not large video files that require a raid. Two years ago I cut spots for Reebok on location using a 13" air, I have no doubt I could do the same with the new Macbook.

Now I wouldn't buy the new Macbook for my main editing rig, but I might buy it to use when traveling and consulting. I don't understand people complaining about a product that was obviously not designed for their use.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by lobster_johnson on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @09:34PM (#9188716)

It's complete, but most people will want and need to buy some kind of adapter for their external drives or whatever.

Some of the anger seems to stem from confusion about what the new MacBook is. It's clearly a smaller version of the Air, not a replacement for the Pro.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by chetanahuja on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @08:31PM (#9188457)

("it's just an 80 dollar adapter from the apple store" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFhjDX-DUew )

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by grecy on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @10:40PM (#9188952)

If you have devices that immediately require you to buy a hug for the new MacBook, it's obvious you're not the target market, and you need to buy one of the more "Pro" ones.

I.e. the one with "Pro" in the name.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by freehunter on Thursday March 12, 2015 @10:06AM (#9190846)

I see people complaining about the Macbook like Apple is forcing you to buy it. You're exactly right, for the people who are complaining, Apple makes a Macbook Pro with multiple ports on it. Or even a Macbook Air with a couple extra ports.

Just because Apple has an iPad doesn't mean you can't buy a Mac Pro, you know?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by hobarrera on Thursday March 12, 2015 @07:33AM (#9190111)

Also, only one device connected at a time, and not devices if you're charging.

Forget about using a mouse a these laptops.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by stephen_g on Thursday March 12, 2015 @11:13AM (#9191256)

It's intended to be used with a Bluetooth mouse (if the user wants to use something other than the trackpad).

Even now, this is sort of like saying 'Forget about watching a movie on these laptops' about it since it doesn't have a DVD drive! (I was going to say 'in a little while', but really, wireless mice are so common now)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:2015 Chromebook Pixel by hobarrera on Saturday March 14, 2015 @08:41AM (#9202413)

High end mice still don't come in plain-bluetooth version. I've a couple of Logitech Performance MX and there's still no succesor (either from Logitech or an alternative from another company) that's just plain bluetooth with no dongle.

> [...] wireless mice are so common now)

I never made any mention of a non-wireless mouse. All highend mice come with USB dongles, regrettably.

[ Parent | on HN ]