MacBook Air: Mofo, no NIC! Help!

Wtf was Apple thinking putting only one usb c port on the MacBook Air which is used for charging? So anytime I want to use the f'ing computer for anything
other than watching Netflix I have to use a big dongle just to plug in a usb device while also charging the computer? I guess I can’t get a MacBook Air now. I have to pay an extra grand for 3 more usb c ports.

Almost everything Apple has done in the last decade just pisses me off. When they are pissing off people who grew up a few blocks from where the first pc was made and where Stevie lived and someone who used macs since elementary school thats a bad sign.

 

Oh cool I didn’t realize that. At least that makes it usable. Still, why not just put 3 or 4 on it? I’d take the minuscule size increase for it.

 

Extra ports are great, but I think I actually prefer a hub. Replugging 4 different ports every time instead of just one can get annoying.

The new M1 air has some crazy impressive benchmarks though. Also has a big passive heatsink so totally silent.

 

There are a few reasons. TB3 is fast. And by fast I mean the port's performance degrades measurably if it's on the other side of the laptop in relation to the controller. Higher end Macbook Pro's have two (https://evanmccann.net/macbook-pro-thunderbolt-3-port-technical-details) TB3 controllers (right under the speaker grills) because each controller (1) can only physically manage two ports and (2) they need to be right next to the ports otherwise if someone attaches an external GPU to the wrong side and it runs slow they'll complain. This isn't just a hypothetical, back in 2016 Apple used one controller for the cheaper Macbook Pro 13 inch, and people were up in arms about this very issue.

And while TB3 is backwards compatible with USB-C gen 3.2, USB-C isn't forward compatible with TB3 so if you put USB-C ports on the other side, a lot of docks/accessories on the market won't work. Hence, two TB3's on one side of a budget (in Apple world) laptop makes the most sense from a cost and performance standpoint.

But I think that there needs to be a bit of perspective on how powerful TB3 is. The port is capable of (1) being charged at up to 100w depending on the machine, 25w on the new Air (2) charging stuff at up to 100w (also 25w on the Air) (3) handling data transfer at 40 Gb/s which is fast enough for external GPUs and will saturate any hard drive's bandwidth (4) driving a 4k display at 120hz or a 5k display at 60hz (5) supports daisy chaining for up to 6 supported devices.