UPDATE: The security lock on this device does not block the SuperDrive. See our review
Eagle-eyed reader Ronald Kang thinks the new 13-inch MacBook Pro may have some design problems.
Poring over pictures of the machine on Apple’s website, Kang is worried about two things: the Kensington Security Slot blocking the Superdrive; and the single audio I/O jack, which makes the machine unsuitable for “Pro” audio recording.
1. The Kensington Lock Slot is located next to the Superdrive slot — and will likely block it.
The Kensington security slot on the new MacBook 13-inch has been moved from the left-hand side next to the I/O ports, to the right side next to the Superdrive slot. Kang thinke the Kensington lock he uses every day to lock up his MacBook is going to get in the way of inserting and ejecting discs. “I tried estimating the position of the Kensington lock, and I am sure it is going to block the Superdrive” says Kang. “I also realize that the original unibody Macbook had the Kensington lock at the port side as well. Why did they move it?”
2. The Audio In/Out jacks had been integrated into ONE SINGLE JACK.
Instead of separate jacks for microphone and headphone, the new MacBook has integrated both into a single jack. This makes it harder to do audio recording with an external microphone and a pair of headphones, or even plug in a gaming headset. “How can this be called ‘Pro’?”says Kang. “Certainly this wouldn’t be the laptop for one who records audio at a studio or makes “Pro” stuff would it? I simply cannot believe Apple calls it a Macbook Pro, when it doesn’t even have something a Pro computer should have.”
Kang blames the changes on the new SD Card slot, which required Apple’s engineers to remap and consolidate slots. He also thinks the SD Card slot is pretty useless, because it reads ONLY SD cards.
“I’d rather have both my Audio In and Out Jacks than have a SD Card slot,” says Kang. “Apple said they ‘challenged’ their hardware engineering team to fit more memory, hard drive space, firewire 800 and SD card slot, and obviously in the process they screwed up on design and functionality, which Apple had always been focused on, just to squeeze out every single Pro-ness in a poor thirteen inch laptop, in the end making it less Pro, what logic is that?”
