Yeah, I’m not going to throw out perfectly good hardware just to unify cables somewhat.
I was referring to the replacement of HDMI 2.0 stuff with 2.1 stuff - not seeing an advantage to choosing HDMI 2.1 over Thunderbolt. And then there’s the support hell of intermingled HDMI 2.0 and 2.1 stuff, including cables and ports and dongles and adapters.
Either way, I’m still stuck on the idea of direct HDMI use as being so ubiquitous that it warrants being built into a non-gaming laptop that already has Thunderbolt and DP (and USB-PD) support through the preexisting USB-C ports.
Thunderbolt only works for workstations if the monitor supports it
Even if driving multiple monitors over HDMI or DVI or DP or VGA or whatever, the dock that actually connects directly to the laptop is best served with Thunderbolt over USB-C, since we’d expect the monitors and docking station (and power cords and an external keyboard/mouse and maybe even ethernet) to all remain stationary. That particular link in the chain is better served as a single Thunderbolt connection, rather than hooking up multiple cables representing display signal data, other signal data, and power. And this tech is older than HDMI 2.1!
So I’m not seeing that type of HDMI use as a significant percentage of users, enough to justify including on literally every 14" or 16" Macbook Pro with their integrated GPUs. At least not in workplaces.
non-gaming laptop
It’s perhaps more important for non-gaming laptops, because if you’re buying a gaming laptop, you’re probably also buying a higher-end monitor (so USB-C/Thunderbolt). For a regular laptop, having HDMI means you can connect to a TV and play a video, share a screen, etc. You’re more likely to do that with a more portable laptop than a bulky gaming laptop.
The alternative is needing to bring a dongle everywhere. On a non-gaming laptop, I only really need like three ports: USB-A for older stuff, USB-C for dock and power, and HDMI for TVs and monitors. An extra USB-A would be nice, but hardly necessary (I’d prefer an ethernet port, but I think that ship has sailed).
Here are the things I use most frequently:
- power - USB-C
- display - USB-C at work, HDMI (through USB-C dock) at home, dongle when a conference room’s wifi sharing doesn’t work
- USB-A - older drives, headphone recharging, etc; annoyingly, this has to go through my dock because the laptop doesn’t have the port
So outside of charging and plugging into the dock at my desk, I have zero use for USB-C. So I only need one USB-C, because the only time I use it is when I can just use a dock at my desk. I have never used more than 2 USB-C ports at a single time (and that only happens at work, when I’m rechanging the laptop while plugging into the USB-C monitor), and that’s only because my work monitor doesn’t provide enough power to charge my laptop.
display - USB-C at work, HDMI (through USB-C dock) at home
Obviously you can’t use an HDMI port that you don’t have, but I gotta ask: if you had one of the newer MBPs with built-in HDMI, would you be using that HDMI port? Because it sounds like you wouldn’t, and that you’d still rely on the USB-C dock to do everything.
And that’s been my position this whole thread. I think that the MBP’s return of the HDMI port was greeted with lots of fanfare, but I don’t actually know anyone who switched back to HDMI.
would you be using that HDMI port?
Yes, absolutely. At work, we use MBPs, and I often ask someone with the port to connect to the TV so I don’t have to go find a dongle (and those dongles can be very finicky). I’ve had to work around the lack of an HDMI port, and it’s been incredibly annoying for the almost 4-years I’ve had my MBP.
My personal laptop has an HDMI port, and I also use it frequently to connect to our TV. It’s something I’d use weekly, if not more frequently. This laptop is older, yet I still prefer using it to the MBP, largely because of the HDMI port.
