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talked with apple, they said the FireWire adapter will be available "in july"

I wonder why didn't they integrate these two into ONE single $50 adapter... If each one of them is intended to compensate for the loss of these connections vs. the MacBook Pro, making them separate adapters is just moronic - even when the Retina MBP sports two thunderbolt ports.

I wonder if the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet will handle jumbo frames.

The macbook pro with retina display has a spectacular loss of connection ports, with one extra thunderbolt port (you know, the thing we only need one port for on a laptop because all it's actually used for is external hard drives, and maybe a buyable bus for power users), and the loss of optical drive, firewire and ethernet. Why do you think I'm going to buy the regular macbook pro as an upgrade from my macbook, Apple? Because I like paying an extra $1000 for less functionality? I don't give a crap about retina on the iPad, I can barely tell the pixels on my macbook apart, and I have 20/10 vision.

I like where they're going with the whole retina display thing over the long term, but right now, it just doesn't make sense to pay a bunch more for just that display, the thinner chassis, and the loss of a bunch of other stuff. Like a lot of people who have been commenting on various forums, I don't care baout the loss of the optical drive, it's all about the ports, and also, for me, the internal storage. The pricing for the 768GB SSD is craaaaazeeeee. That part might not be wholly Apple's fault, as larger SSDs are just not priced in the consumer zone yet. I've been waiting for new MBP's because I'm the market for a new one, but with the new product announcements, for my needs the decision is easy, and I'll be getting one of the new non-retina-display MBPs, with the 7200rpm 750Gb drive option and the slightly higher res screen option.

Dumb. I hope they still sell the USB Ethernet adapter since the Air has only a single Thunderbolt port.

This would be very good news, already for my new MBA, if only there would also be a thunderbolt port.
The whole thing of only one tb-port, was that you can, in theory, chain the device. But everybody seems to think that his device will be the last in the chain. And thats quit a problem...

 diazj3, on 11 June 2012 - 04:16 PM, said:

Because most of the buyers wouldn't need both and would end up paying almost double for no practical benefit?

 chvon7thal, on 12 June 2012 - 02:21 AM, said:

In case you didn't notice, the MacBook Pro RD has two Thunderbolt ports, plus an HDMI port. I suspect the HDMI port is intended for use with projectors for school and business and monitors for videographers. It carries both audio and video and is thus a better choice in those circumstances. The new MacBook Pro has a dramatically different focus from the rest of the MBP line. At the same time, those other MBPs look like a real value compared to the RD. The MacBook Pro RD is a high-performance machine for people who need and/or can afford it, people who might also use a Thunderbolt RAID and an external TB monitor and HDMI monitor for video rendering. High-end kit, in other words. At the same time it's light and portable. It's definitely not the computer for the rest of us. More like a fleshed out MacBook Air for power users.

I guess what's shocking people is that it's so clearly differentiated from the rest of Apple's laptop line. Just when people thought Apple was making their lineup more homogeneous. Well, surprise! Apple reinvented the wheel once again. If they can do this with the MacBook Pro, what might they have in store for the other Macs?

This post has been edited by whitedog: 12 June 2012 - 11:03 AM

Why wouldn't the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adaptor work on ANY Mac that has a Thunderbolt port, like the newer iMacs, instead of just the ones that were mentioned?

 TigerMO, on 12 June 2012 - 12:46 PM, said:

I think there are excellent odds that it would, but given that those other machines have Gb Ethernet already, there's much less value for those users.

 bastion, on 12 June 2012 - 05:05 AM, said:

I agree. To my knowledge, I've never plugged my MacBook Pro to a ethernet connection (I have times forgotten that portable Macs come with that port) so don't see much use for that adapter. However, I did invest in Firewire 400 to 800 cables and drives to use with my MBP and, if I were to upgrade would need it since Firewire went away and my drives are not USB3. Also, Apple has always done this with their adapters; I remember video out on my old iBook had the options of VGA or analog/S-video out, not combined.

And, Apple makes money if you need both.

 bastion, on 12 June 2012 - 05:05 AM, said:

Then charge $60 for a combined adapter.. The point is having fewer things on your desk.. If you need both - bastion might have a point there. Although, I can see a serious "pro" user having a wired ethernet (is Gigabit ethernet faster/better latency than physically-neaby 802-N?), as well as a FW external hard drive or DVD/BT burner. There might be some technical reason why you can't run two high-speed interface adapters through one port (I assume the second TB port is actually a second bus, and not just daisy-chained to the first port?) Although, given that TB is meant to drive high speed things, I would somehow doubt it..

This post has been edited by Jim783416: 19 June 2012 - 08:31 AM