That is an atypical scenario unless your job requires frequent presentation. Even then, you are used to having an adapter in your bag or pocket.

To me, this is a great tradeoff: I get a lighter and thinner laptop for 100% of my computing, the downside being an adapter when I return the the dark ages of VGA connectors.

In fact, for my MacBook Pro, I will have fewer connections. Instead of power and Thunderbolt, I will just get one of the connectors that bridges power, external monitor and USB peripherals and plug in a single thing when I "dock" my laptop.

I will take that any day over the awkward Dell and Thinkpad docking stations I see my coworkers use.

> That is an a typical scenario unless your job requires frequent presentation.

I completely agree with this assessment. Even here on HN the majority of users are not giving presentations or even screen sharing. When it does matter, there is often a third party device they have to present from anway.

I'll take the adapter not being in the box, as for most users they won't be using it enough to warrant the extra cost.

I agree completely. The top comment in this thread was about wireless connections making wired connections redundant. I want wired video output as I trust it more than wireless. VGA is an inelegant but working solution. Dongle is no problem.

True, but since Macs have lost the ports, better venues are finally starting to cater to modern standards.

Personally, I think VGA is an abomination and people should react a bit stronger to be invited to a venue and having to deal with standards from 1987.

Your right, we have much better standard in HDMI, because every laptop has that now. Oh wait, except the Macbook Air which has display port. So HDMI and displayport, oh wait, USB type C. So that's it just three connections to replace VGA.

Oh, forgot about iPads, 2 different ones for that, and android phones at least 2 MHL connectors and whatever google does in their phones. We haven't even got onto mini and micro HDMI.

At least 10 different connectors on recent devices then? Don't you just love standards?

I dunno. In my personal experience having worked with a lot of projectors, televisions, monitors I find HDMI to be an incredibly buggy experience. VGA always just works. The only problem of VGA (and other newer digital standards) when compared to HDMI is the lack of audio support, and also i guess VGA support is declining compared to HDMI.

I think guests should graciously work with whatever hosts provide, as long as it works.

The thing is, it doesn't. It requires the device to be able to do a Digital to Analog conversion. In modern graphics chipsets, that capability is only needed for legacy compatibility with CRTs and old projectors. If you speak VGA to a projector or any flat panel monitor, you're really just feeding an Analog to Digital converter. It's nuts.

VGA has lower quality at high resolutions than something like DVI, DisplayPort, or HDMI. Then again, if the place still has a VGA connector, it's unlikely the projector is high-resolution.

Yes. So as a guest do you make the best of it or whine that there are better things available?

Being a good host is also kind of a thing, FYI, and part of that is going to the effort of making life nice for your guest.

If you're going to harp on hospitality, please remember it cuts both ways.

This is the rudest politeness advice I've ever seen. Props!

That particular use case is apparently not expected by Apple to be a common use case for the target market of this particular device. Fortunately, other devices with different features focused on different usage patterns are available for purchase from Apple and other manufacturers. It's strange that this is at all controversial.

On the contrary, it is totally expected. They sell a dongle with VGA out.

If it was expected to be a common use case, it would be included as a core feature. Furthermore, the number of people for whom "show[ing] up to give a presentation anywhere in the world" is a common use case is likely very small. I would go so far as to speculate that people in that category are greatly outnumbered by people across all demographics who use their laptops for sending emails, browsing the web, using productivity software, organizing media, and doing other software-centric tasks.

Cars do not come with child seats included as a core feature. Would you say that transporting under-10s is not a common use case of a family car?

> Furthermore, the number of people for whom "show[ing] up to give a presentation anywhere in the world" is a common use case is likely very small.

College students? It's always a big hassle finding a dongle whenever a MacBook user has to give a presentation in class.

Not to nitpick, but for a long time, to use a Mac with VGA you had to buy an adapter. Same for HDMI. There is a case that can be made on including this accessory in the box, but VGA cannot be part of that argument. Not for a Mac user.

Instead of buying mini DVI to VGA or Lightening to HDMI adapter, just buy this?

You are not nitpicking something I am not arguing. I'm happy with a VGA dongle.

Bring a ChromeCast. Plug it in to an HDMI point, bring a VGA-HDMI adapter, and it'll work fine on your own ad-hoc network.

Idea. ChromeCast like device that can pump out HDMI, DVI, display port and VGA, attach to it over wifi, it has a fallback where it can run the presentation off an SD card while itself acts as a wifi base station. The ChromeCast of presentation hardware.

I almost thought this was an amazing idea. Except most places venues I'm in don't offer HDMI either.

So, er, carry a VGA dongle? I mean, most laptops don't have actual VGA ports these days.

Yep, happy with that. I was responding to the parent comment that said roughly "with wireless everything, who needs wired ports?".

Wireless is usually OK in my living room but I would not count on wireless video working reliably in a conference room with 500 people on their laptop/phone. Shudder.