Just get a new MacBook Pro? Now is the perfect time to move to Android

Apple's new MacBook Pro was met with the same controversy that many new products garner. You can't please everyone, and there will always be a change or an omission that gets some folks riled up. We all do it, all the time, and this time was no exception. We're not pointing any fingers.

Ignoring all the hubbub for a moment, the new MacBook Pro is probably a great computer for any professional on the go who doesn't need extreme 32-bit single-precision floating point format performance, which requires a very expensive and power hungry graphics system. And since most of us don't have a Quadro P6000 in the computer on our desks at work, this means us. (And if you have a Quadro P6000 installed inside your desktop computer, I am so jealous.) It also looks great for folks who just want a high-end laptop to work on Excel sheets or look at Facebook and want to use macOS instead of Windows or Chrome. Rene has a really well-written and rational review at iMore that you should read if you haven't.

More: MacBook Pro (2016) review

One of the most common complaints you'll hear about the new MacBook is that folks are upset that they need so many dongles. With no SD card slot and USB-C ports, all the things you already have can't plug in without some sort of adapter. Including your iPhone. We can't fix every issue, but we know how to alleviate the problem of having one piece of gear with a standard, albeit new, port and the other having a proprietary port that's not going away anytime soon. Make the switch to Android!

Pixel XL

The problem isn't with the MacBook Pro. Like the "regular" MacBook, it uses a standard USB Type-C port with USB 3.1 compliance and is specified for USB-PD (Power Delivery). You need to get used to that because that's where everything is going to be very shortly. And that's good. It's a better bus and interface that most things can benefit from when they use it. Even Apple, if they used it on the iPhone and iPad.

They would be able to transmit all the data they want to transfer through the external bus and would benefit from the engineering other companies have done on an open standard. But too much money has been sunk into the Lightning port already, and moving would cause a user revolt of epic proportions. You will need to use a special cable approved by Apple or a dongle of some sort to connect your iPhone to your MacBook Pro, and shortly the same thing will be said about every computer.

What to look for when buying a USB-C cable

The same can be said for Android phones. Last year when Microsoft, Google, OnePlus and others used a USB-C port on their phones it took courage was early in the life of the standard and the ports on the Nexus 6P or Lumia 950 or OnePlus 3 didn't support things like USB 3.1 speeds or Power Delivery, but since they used a recognized standard everything you buy today is 100% backwards compatible.

They were looking forward, and we complained about having to buy new cables the same way MacBook Pro buyers are complaining about dongles. But that's mostly done with, and USB-C to USB-C is simple and better than what we had before. Every "flagship" Android phone released from now until we get something "even better" will have a USB-C port with a bus specified for PD. Just like the MacBook Pro.

If you like the iPhone, but hate the dongles and having two expensive things that can't use the same stuff like a keyboard or webcam, know that phones like the Pixel and LG V20 are here for you. 2017's great Android phones will be, too.

And so will we.

Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Twitter.

26 Comments
  • It is odd that Apple didn't standardize the ports on their products considering they were releasing them in the same year. Seems very messy.
  • They did it so people would have to spend more money.
  • Shame on them. A business trying to make money. That's unheard of.
  • Yeah but that's a ****** way to make money.
  • It really is and they have no shame...
  • so a business creating a disease and spreading it then selling the cure is ok too? i'm not saying this is that but its not far off
  • I agree with this article completely. its better to move to android if u have the latest mac. this will fix half of all dongle(yeah i said that) problem with iOS devices.. I wish i had the type c port but i am not going to buy a new mac for that. i probably wont even buy a new mac if Chromebook become a viable replacement for me
  • I do find it really odd that the iPhone still uses lightning. I use my MacBook pro for production type stuff, video editing, recording audio, pretending to know Photoshop. I'm sure there's a dongle for my audio interface but really at that point I'm done. If I do buy another Mac it's not going to be a laptop. I'd rather have an iMac for less money with better hardware and just get a Chromebook 14 from Acer for my on the go needs (which are email, browsing and excel)
  • I agree with the article in terms of using Android phones, but in other ways I really think Apple has screwed up royally both port wise and innovation wise with the latest MacBook Pro. Specifically, it's OK to have the USB C ports, but they should at a minimum have kept the SD card slot that so many graphics and video professionals use, and the magsafe power adapter as an option. I was waiting for it to decide whether to switch to a Mac. It wasn't these slots that made me decide to rather get a 2nd hand Surface Book, it was just the overall lack of innovation and taking steps backwards on the keyboard. The touch bar is gimmicky. The pricing is insane, the keyboard is terrible (OK, that's subjective but one of the great things about MacBook pros has been their keyboards and track pads, and now the keyboard is a negative). I ended up deciding between the previous gen MacBook Pro and a 2nd hand i7 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Surface Book for $1800. The decision was way too easy.
  • You know, just the thought that the MacBook Pro works better with a Google Pixel/Nexus 6P/Nexus 5X than Apple's own iPhones makes me rather concerned over Apple's thought process. It's what I've mentioned before. Apple should have provided a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box at least.
  • they figure if you can afford their basic computer at over 1000 you can probably afford to spend 75 bucks on peripherals. and when you break it you have to pay them for another. so win win for them, lose lose for you.
  • I can't remember getting a USB C to micro USB adapter with my Nexus 5X either.
  • They should have provided one normal USB port on the damn computer.
  • I have an Acer Chromebook R13 with USB-C, USB-A and Micro SD. No connectivity issues here ;)
    I'm not saying it's on par with a Mac book, far from it. Although I have had some people confuse the Acer's aluminium chassis for one.
  • in actual usefulness, its above the new MacBook pro for the exact reason you just said, it has USB C, USB A a Micro Sd slot and more....Does not make sense does it.
  • I was pretty pumped when I picked up my 2016 Macbook Pro a few weeks ago - I wanted to run some commands in terminal on my Pixel, and I was able to just use the regular charging cable I have for my phone instead of having to track down a dongle or a special cable like my wife would have to if she tried to connect her iPhone. Also, I have a USB-C 64GB drive that I picked up back when I got my first USB-C phone - I was able to easily use that to transfer some files between my phone and laptop! (Although I suppose I could have done that with a regular USB-A port - this just feels like the future). I'd like to see Apple move their phones to USB-C in the future, but I don't think we'll ever see it. In the meantime, I'm happy to be able to easily connect all of my things.
  • I think the idea is that you don't connect your phone to the computer at all. We are moving to cloud based computing. I can't remember the last time I connected a phone to a computer.
  • Exactly, with wireless charging, I can't remember the last time I connected a cable to my phone at all.
  • You NEED to connect your phone to your computer if updates screw it up etc. IOS 10 first day update was a great example of that. It borked ALOT of devices. Connecting to ITunes via the computer fixed the problem. Now, ALOT of people who bought the new MBP will also need to buy extra connectors etc....
  • Thats the theory. Reality though is I need a cable. Mobile Networks just arent reliable enough or fast enough in general. I am on verizon in the US.
  • Mac Pro with 2015 internals and double the price? Wow
  • Implying that now is the perfect time time to buy an Android device because you just bought an Apple MacBook is somewhat of a stretch. IMO buying an Android device as a companion for an Apple product for said reasons may be a short term fix ending in buyers remorse.
  • Totally off topic: Jerry, it's been 3 weeks since your last android and chill column.
    I know you had some health issues. Is A & C coming back at some point?
  • IPhone 8 will have wireless charging, fast charging, and USB c.
  • It will be revolutionary... First of its kind...
  • They said that about the 7 too...