“Back around 1993, I had the exciting combination of a PowerBook 210 with a Duo MiniDock,” Glenn Fleishman writes for Macworld. “It only had one port—not even a headphone jack—but an innovative docking connector meant I could hook it into a full-fledged desktop setup with an external monitor, hard drives, and network.”
“I flashed back to this experience when I unpacked and started to test the new USB-C Dock from OWC, designed to work with the 12-inch Apple MacBook introduced almost a year ago,” Fleishman writes. “It’s true, compared tot he PowerBook 210, networking speeds are more than 4,000 times faster (gigabit ethernet versus AppleTalk), the MacBook has 2,000 times more RAM, and the hard drive I picked (512GB SSD) has over 6,000 times the capacity. But it’s remarkable how much the purpose and even the rough size has remained the same.”
Fleishman writes, “If you’re ready now or the feature set meets or exceeds your needs, there’s no reason to wait: The USB-C Dock neatly extends a MacBook to act like a desktop.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: Kind of reminds us of our BookEnz Docking Stations for our PowerBooks in the late 90s/early 00s.
I really dont get it.
Shave a millimetre or two from a laptop and then be forced to carry around a bunch of crap to make it properly flexible.
Exactly. That’s why Best Buy is struggling to sell 2015 MacBooks with a $300 discount. Ive’s stupidity strikes again.
Apple: when are you going to learn that NOBODY LIKES ADAPTERS AND DONGLES AND PORT EXPANSION BOXES.
As a MacBook owner and OWC USB-C Dock owner, I disagree. I had a MacBook Pro and rarely if ever used the now “missing” ports. I carry around a very light laptop and two dongles (USB 3.0 to USB-C; and USB-C to HDMI. They weigh about the same as the old power brick that came with the MacBook Pro in my briefcase. However, the computer weighs what seems like half.
I have the dock on my desk with a big monitor and a backup drive attached.
If a full-size laptop is for you that fine, but yelling about no one likes adapters, dongles, or docks is wrong. I love them.
Well that makes one of you. Are there any MacBook Air owners who can’t stand carrying around all those integrated ports?
Poll time:
Those of you who prefer the thickness of a 2015 MacBook plus dongles versus just having a MacBook Air with integrated ports, please speak up now.
You’re a troll
no
If you need to “carry around a bunch of crap”, then this is NOT the laptop you need.
You don’t get it because you don’t know what you are talking about.
What possibilities?
It’s an overpriced, portless, netbook, with microprocessor that runs slower than an iPhone 5!
Yup. There may well be a decent niche for this cheaper, less functional net, ahem, MacBook. Cost cost cost, apparently.
Kudos to OWC for finding a vacuum to fill, but $160 is a pretty steep price to overcome the MacBook’s shortcoming.
I’m a long time fan and customer of OWC. I may well have learned about them from Glenn. It’s great to see the company pushing down the costs of USB-C accessories.
However, I still question the wisdom of Apple forcing customers to buy a docking device in order to perform functions that were formally built into Apple MacBooks. Yes, this situation is very much like the old PowerBook 210. Yes, it is remarkable what can be done with a single USB-C port. But the hidden costs of USB-C…
To be fair, Apple isn’t forcing anyone to buy anything. Besides the diehards, no one complains anymore about iPads not having ports, people realize the device was designed a certain way to fill particular needs and if it doesn’t work for them they get something else or use it as an auxiliary device. I’d be tempted to buy a new MacBook with a single or dual USB-C port once they have ones with a larger screen. Fingers crossed for Monday.
The iPad is a consumption device primarily. It absolutely sucks for work collaboration or processor-intensive tasks. Now that the tablet market is more or less saturated, iPad sales have been flat for a long time now. MacBook sales have not stagnated.
I don’t recall anyone complaining that the MacBook Air lineup was too heavy, too bulky, or anything of that nature Yet Ive decided that all things must be paper thin, so Apple shat out a Mac netbook. Many here claimed that Apple is a premium company and does not make netbooks. Well, this is the new Apple. Fashion over substance.
Meanwhile, the Mac pros have been hollering for performance and usability improvements across the board for several years. Apple turns its back on them. Sickening. Thanks for nothing, Cook.
I find I rarely need accessories and just carry the “extras” when I know I’ll need them.
The intended purpose of the MacBooks was for travel — not connecting a bunch of devices to it.
However, it would be in the industry’s best interest to start chugging out devices that are compatible with USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.0.
The problem is that a lot of people stagnate when it comes to computers.