On first glance, the mere existence of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro seems to reaffirm Apple’s 2016 belief that their highest end laptop should be limited to four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports (+ headphone jack), but if Apple is indeed confidant that all USB-C ports with dongles is a great user experience, it seems very out of character to downplay this belief.

Popular or not, it is unusual for Apple to downplay a major aspect of a product.

Apple does not shy away from standing up to criticism when it believes in a decision. Take for instance another often criticized feature; the TouchBar.

It appears that Apple is proud of the new TouchBar with escape key. They do not shy away from showing the TouchBar on the 16-inch MacBook Pro product page. The TouchBar is visible in 7 images on the product page and is even featured in a closeup.

Four years after their first USB-C only computer (the now discontinued MacBook), Apple is finally showing some external awareness that four USB-C ports (+ headphone jack) is indeed perhaps not the high-end experience they want customers to be thinking about.

Apple seems to prefer customers focus on the keyboard, bigger screen, TouchBar with escape key, improved thermals, faster GPU, faster CPU, increased storage, improved speakers, but please don’t think too much about the port situation.

Apple has changed their tune regarding many form over function decisions in the last few years, such as thicker devices to support larger batteries and modular Mac Pros. In an industry where production lead times can take years, it’s not impossible that Apple’s view on high-end I/O has shifted in the time since they locked in this 16-inch design.

The more recent Apple that designed this 16-inch MacBook Pro product page at least doesn’t seem as proud of the sides of the MacBook Pro anymore, and I don’t think Apple likes making computers they aren’t 100% proud of. This gives me hope that they just might be working on a MacBook Pro that they do want to show off, sides included.

The Good Side of Dongles. (Yes really)

I don’t believe Apple has ever considered adapters to be a good user experience, but that doesn’t mean adapters have never played an important role. Apple has historically used adapters as a stepping stone for customers to transition to a new technology.

The new technology doesn’t always need to be better in every single way, but the new solution does need to be demonstrably more convenient, advantageous, or better in some key aspects and good enough in the others.

USB Superdrive, Ethernet adapter, Rosetta, MagSafe 1 to MagSafe 2 adapter, and Lightning to 30-Pin adapter are all examples of successful stepping stones. None were ever sold as a method to create an “externally modular” permanent solution.

The purpose of the Lightning to 3.5mm dongle was to wean users off 3.5mm headphones and onto wireless audio. It was never intended for users to forever use 3.5mm headphones with a dongle. Wireless audio is not some idealistic pipe dream that hasn’t yet materialized.

Wireless audio is what a transition that Apple is proud of looks like, and the role adapters play in it.

Unfortunately, we are now a few years deep into USB-C only laptops and there is no amount of money you can spend to get a good user experience in Mac laptop I/O. Apple doesn’t have an AirPods type solution to the missing ports. It’s as if wireless headphones never landed and everybody continued walking around with Lightning to 3.5mm dongles like it were completely normal. The reality of dongles on the MacBook Pro is just as real now, only a few weeks away from 2020, as it was in 2016.

Apple obviously sees the benefit in additional ports enough to include a wide variety of ports in every single one of their desktop Macs, which makes the mobile lineup USB-C lock in seem like a space saving choice rather than a purely ideological one. It is exactly those type of space saving “form over function” type choices that Apple seems to be rethinking the last few years.

The Future of the MacBook Pro…

It might sound bad that Apple’s product page designers felt there are major aspects of their new flagship computer that aren’t strong enough to showcase on the product page, but I am glad this product page seems to be designed by people living in the same reality as customers.

Maybe that awareness will make its way into a future MacBook Pro. Maybe not. Who can know.

Anyway, enjoy the picture Apple doesn’t want you to see.