You're less likely to run across a USB-C-to-HDMI dongle by sheer luck. In a pinch, I can probably dig up an HDMI cable from somewhere, or steal one from a game console. People have older or legacy devices, like printers, projectors and displays, and they want to be able to plug into those immediately, with a cable common enough that you might luck out and find one buried in the back of a desk drawer.

That's also why we had laptops with VGA ports for so many years after they should have vanished. It's great to be future-forward, but HDMI remains immensely useful, even if it's transitioning into being more of a legacy port. HDMI is something people have been asking to get back. The SD card slot similarly came and went over the years. But it disappeared a few years after that, when Apple moved toward USB-C starting with the 12-inch MacBook. It wasn't until the first Retina screen MacBook Pro, which I reviewed in 2012, that HDMI first made its way to a MacBook. The original Pro cost a similar $2,800 and included three USB 2.0 ports FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 ports an ExpressCard slot and a DVI port.

I recall the very first MacBook Pro from 2006, which I reviewed as well. It's as if Apple designers decided to go through all the feedback they've gotten for years and cherry pick everyone's top handful of wishlist requests (with apologies to whoever wanted mini-DisplayPort or DVI to return). (I mean, Apple would never take the headphone jack out of the iPhone, right?)

If you've followed Apple evolution as long as I have, you know nothing is permanent when it comes to ports. I'm as shocked as anyone by the return of not only these classic-but-useful ports, but also the long-dead MagSafe power connector. If everything comes back in style eventually, it must be time for HDMI ports and SD card slots to return. Thunderbolt USB-C x3, HDMI, SDXC card, MagSafe 3

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