I worked on this review (and other stories) from an AirBnb in the middle of upstate New York.

To prove this point, I put the MacBook Pro through an unplanned stress test. In my opinion, it’s better to have ports you don’t use regularly (if at all) than running the risk of forgetting an adapter you left at home. In reality, the only ones who benefitted from this decision were accessory makers who’ve created a cottage industry creating dongles. The thinking went that not everyone needs a specific port, so it’s better to let the user buy adapters to add back the functionality specific to their workflow. Apple ditched these single-use ports in 2016, opting instead to design that generation of MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, which required adapters (generally called dongles) to replace the functionality.

If I had to choose my favorite update to the MacBook Pro it’d be the return of MagSafe, an HDMI port, and an SD Card slot on the left side of the machine.

The Touch Bar was an interesting idea, but it never evolved after being introduced in 2016, so it’s nice to see it gone. The function row allows you to change settings like your screen’s brightness, volume, and media controls with just a tap. Apple replaced the Touch Bar, a long touchscreen set above the number row designed to replace traditional function keys with … traditional function keys.