At its ‘Hello Again’ event in California, Apple finally made the new Macbook Pro official. The laptop comes in 13-inch and 15-inch variants, and sports a Touch Bar and Touch ID on the keyboard. The laptop is touted to be lighter and thinner than the predecessor, not to mention much faster (up to 130 percent faster graphics). Furthermore, the Force Touch trackpad is significantly larger, and two speakers on the edges enable 58 percent more volume. While all of this sounds great, the MacBook Pro has no ports that enable seamless connectivity with its own products.
The MacBook Pro sports four Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports and one 3.5mm audio jack (phew), but no Lightning port to connect iPhone and iPad devices with the new MacBook Pro. This means that if iPhones and iPads need to be connected to the MacBook Pro, users will have to buy an additional adapter or cable for it. Same goes for SD cards as well.
This ‘adapter for connectivity’ school of thought that Apple has been adopting this year is quite strange, as one would think that Apple would at least consider the convenience factor for its own ecosystem of products and make it easy for them to interconnect. That clearly is not the case this time, and even the Lightning EarPods released with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have nowhere to connect on the MacBook Pro. Just to recall, Apple even bundled a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with every iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus this year, to fill the standard audio void.So now, to connect your iPhone or iPad to your MacBook, whether for charging, transfers, or updates, you’ll need a new cable or a new adapter. The USB Type-C to Lightning Cable costs an additional $25 (roughly Rs. 1,700) for 1 metre and $35 (roughly Rs. 2,400) for 2 metre. A USB Type-C to USB adapter costs $19 (roughly Rs. 1,300), and if you buy a MacBook Pro, these cables are an inevitable buy for all iPhone users, at least.
The MacBook Pro availability is not known yet in India, but the 13-inch MacBook Pro is priced starting at Rs. 1,29,900, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID will be priced starting at Rs. 1,55,900 while the 15-inch model will start at Rs. 2,05,900.
