Latest apple laptop 2016 mac os x#
If you don't believe me, ask yourself if you ever had to pay to plug in a regular USB-A device into an Mac before 2016.The history of macOS, Apple's current Mac operating system formerly named Mac OS X until 2012 and then OS X until 2016, began with the company's project to replace its "classic" Mac OS. It's financially rewarding the company for doing a bad thing by removing the USB-A port altogether. It's like paying Apple for taking away connectivity, versatility, and functionality. I need an adapter, which Apple sells for a petty $19, and I have to remember to bring that adapter with me, and I have to not lose that adapter for fear of paying Apple another $19. Just think about this: you can't plug in an iPhone XS directly to a USB-C Mac laptop. In fact, Apple's own iPhones still comes with a USB-A Lightning cable. And I don't think I'm making things up when I say USB-A devices are still very much relevant. The problem here is that there's no regular USB-A port for your regular USB-A devices. There have been countless times when I need to plug in a regular non-C USB - also known as USB-A - device into a Mac laptop when I'm out and about, and the option just isn't there. The vision here is that you can have a USB-C dock on your desk that lets you plug in your monitor and various other regular USB accessories, and even power, all into one USB-C port on Apple's latest Mac laptops.īut I'm going to assume that not everyone is using their laptops at a desk at all times.
Faster transfer speeds, more power, more devices - the promise is real. This means that when (not if) those cables start to fail, the entire display unit needs to be replaced, as opposed to one or two little cables - effectively turning a $6 problem into a $600 disaster."ģ. IFixit tells it as well as I ever could: "Apple designed the cables as part of the display, so they cannot be replaced. The " compact design for the display's flex cables is prone to fatigue and failure, leading to a host of display problems that can't be easily (or cheaply) fixed," gadget repair site iFixit said in a post.
Then there's "flexgate," where vertical plumes of light and darkness start to show up around the bottom of a Mac laptop's display. Think about it: a single faulty key - a sliver of sub-$1 plastic - means replacing the entire keyboard surface and the battery. The top case is the whole surface where the keyboard lies, and Mac laptop batteries also happen to be attached to the top case. If a single faulty key can't be fixed with compressed air or other methods, the entire "top case" of the laptop needs to be replaced. One of the examples brings me back to the keyboard. Sometimes, the tiniest problem, like replacing a single inexpensive part, actually means replacing a huge part of the laptop. In Apple's apparent quest to make thin gadgets, it also made repairs a lot more difficult and costly. Funnily enough, even the latest 2019 laptops Apple released were prematurely included in the program before anyone had enough time to discover their keyboards were faulty.īut even then, even without keyboard issues, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Apple's recent thin laptops are more beautiful and better than any previous model. The company has set up a repair program specifically for faulty keyboards repairs. My colleague Ben Gilbert, who bought a 2018 MacBook Air when it was released in November, said he hasn't experienced any issues with his butterfly keyboard. To be fair, not every Mac owner with a butterfly keyboard has experienced issues. Imaine tryin to type "oole"with a defective "" key as a tech reporter. I even went to CES with the defective keyboard, which proved to be difficult. Here's an excerpt from my article with the affected words in bold:īut back in late 2017, I started ettin similar keyboard issues to those that others were reportin, including my colleaue Kif Leswin. I became so frustrated that I wrote an article without correcting typos from my phantom "G" key. When I experienced issues with a phantom "G" key on the butterfly keyboard on my 2016 MacBook Pro, it deeply affected my workflow.