Why the macbook pro 15 model has only 2 USB ports?

Hi, folks, I wonder why the macbook pro 15 model has only 2 USB ports? It is too few for the current need. Do you agree with me?

 

Yes, I agree. However, it does have a Firewire port, which is very nice.

 

I agree. But I think the Apple Philosophy has always been that USB is a second-rate interface. In some ways it is, I guess.

It does have both 1394A [firewire 400] and 1394B [firewire 800]

Firewire is designed to be daisychainable, so really you have plenty of ports if you find some firewire devices.

I still think it should have atleast 3 USB ports, though.

 

I don't mind at all. I have my external hdd on firewire, my bluetooth mouse, so I have both my USB free for the ocasional iPod sync or camera pictures download.

And of course you can get the smallest like matches pack 4x USB hub if you really need all these ports...

 

If you need, you can always get a USB hub (<$10) and get some more ports that way. The thing with Apple is Firewire, so to most Apple-only users 2 USB ports along with 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 is plenty.

 

the apple philosophy also includes the concept that only apple knows what you might or might not "need"

anything else is blasphemy, treason, hippocracy, slander, lies.

 

Don't step into the El Jobso Reality Distortion Field. You may not come out the same.

 

lol ...................

 

it has 2 firewire ports, most people that have Apple computers you firewire devices, end of story, that is it, it isn't going to change.

 

A mouse, a keyboard, a thumbdrive, a DVD burner, an external HD... 5 common USB devices...

2 ports is straight weakness.

 

Mouse and Keyboard = Bluetooth
Thumbdrive = augh got me their.
DVD Burner = Should come built in on all computers...
External HD = Those come in firewire too!


Come'on Count, you have to build your life around your computer... or your just not cool... like pc guy... lol.

 

Don't like wireless key/mouse yet. Especially mouse, I don't like me no heavy mouse with batteries in it.

Thumb, exactly.

I use external DVD burner to save wear on internal, and they are a lot faster. I burn a lot.

External HD do come in Firewire, but many do not.

 

Plus, if you really need more USB ports....check this out...it's really useful...

http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=3116-THSW

If you wanna buy it just type "t3hub" into google and you can buy it at alot of places.

It comes in silver to match a macbook pro or white to match a macbook.

 

I have a hub, it's just lame though.

It's a 4 USB port kinda world out there.

 

I have been disappointed a lot with the number of USB ports on the Macbook Pro, especially coming from my current laptops which has 6 USB ports and a Firewire port. But if I had a Bluetooth mouse, I wouldn't really care all that much. All I ever use USB for is my wireless mouse, USB flash drive, and the occasional DVD burner or printer. Of course, YMMV.

 

Is the wear rate of a notebook CD/DVD burner a lot higher / not made to endure as long as a normal 5.25" desktop drive?

 

You forgot to mention printer/scanner and iPod.

Guess why they make it in colors that match the macbooks....

Actually, if my laptop had only 2 USB ports, I wouldn't care much. ok maybe 3 would be nicer just in case. But that's enough for me when I'm on the go. At home I could just use a hub to connect to more stuff.

 

I didn't have any issues with the 2 usb ports until yesterday when I needed to plug in my 500GB external, my 120GB external, my old 256MB thumb drive(got it for free at CES), and my cell phone (to charge it and use it as a modem).

Thats when I remembered I had this cool little USB hub that twirls the ports around so the devices will plug in if their ports are different sizes. That worked fine until i moved my laptop to make room for my friends laptop and the hub popped out a little disconnecting my devices dropping my internet and stopping my file transfers. I then remembered I had this cool USB extender thing i got for $5 from wal-mart those retractable cables that have a usb cable on each end and in the one end you can plug in any usb device became a useful hub extender. It doesn't even look weird if anything it oddly enough looks cooler.

sorry for boring you on my discovery of my hub extension but i'm just saying be creative and stop expecting the companies you all hate to know how to cater to everyones individual tastes. Make your stuff different even if its just in little ways

 

An eSata port would be nice.

 

there actually isn't a whole lot of room to add any extra ports.

 

i agree - not enough. hubs work ok for keyboards and stuff, even though they are pretty much in direct contrast to the simple, tidy, minimalist design philosophy apple seems to follow. but the real problem is powering external devices.

bluetooth doesn't cut it for me - i want to leave the radio turned off for better battery life when i am on the move and i definitely don't want to pack around two mice just so i can free up a usb port when i decide to plug in my laptop and bus power an external esata drive and audio interface.

can i live with two ports? of course, wouldn't get a mbp otherwise. but it's still something that i, a customer, perceive as a weakness in their design and would be a more satisfied customer if they provided an additional usb port.

edit: in light of the above picture, i'll take the rest of the design benefits if the cost is only 2 usb ports.

 

Agreed.

I'd also like to see HDMI, though technically you can just get the DVI->HDMI cable for the same effect.

Possibly a 4-pin Firewire connector?

 

I think that it is not that convinent to carry around a usb hub. I do have one for me, but I do not want to travel around with it.
No offence, but I think that the design of hp is so nice. They have two usb ports on the left and one on the right. I do not remember the exact model #, but my friend has one.
I do not like the bluetooth mouse for several reasons. One of them will be that the battery used up quite quickly. I used to have a logitech wireless mouse but I gave it to my wife. I am tired of the time when the battery died. I got me a dell wired mouse. Never need to worry about the battery problem

 

When I'm at home I use a usb hub, when I'm on the move I don't use that many usb devices - no big deal for me. I wouldn't have minded more usb ports, but there are space limitations and it's part of the design concept - other manufacturers make their machines thicker and/or put ports at the back, which Apple has opted not to do in order to be extra slim. If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to buy it

If you really want more usb ports, you can get an ExpressCard with extra usb slots (for the MBP at least, the MB does not have that option).