This Kickstarter fixes everything missing from the new MacBook Pro

Alan Martin December 6, 2016

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Generally, we’re big fans of the MacBook Pro – even with the huge price hikes the line has seen recently, we still gave the 2016 range a five-star review. As David Court wrote, it is, after all, “a sizeable step in the right direction”.

But for now, that step feels a little uncomfortable, because in the race to make everything smaller, lighter and slimmer, the MacBook Pro has lost a lot of connectivity. The 13in model comes with just two USB Type-C ports. Use one of those for charging, and you’re cutting it fine – not to mention that almost nothing uses USB Type-C yet.[gallery:2]

Things will likely change, but to make this transitional step a touch easier, you might want to consider backing the HyperDrive on Kickstarter. It’s a $100 dongle that slips neatly into both USB Type-C slots to give you a whole lot more connectivity. Not only do you get your two USB Type-C ports back, but you gain a couple of USB 3.1 ports; a microSD and SD slot; and an HDMI video port. If I were to be hypercritical, I’d say an Ethernet port would be nice, but at that point the backers would be quite justified in shouting that I’m “never happy” and storming off.

It has already reached its funding target, and assuming things don’t go badly wrong (crowdfunding always comes with an element of risk, folks), the first HyperDrives will be shipping in February and March of 2017. At the time of writing, there are 35 “early bird” discounted $69 (~£54) models available. After that point, it will retail for $99 (~£78), available in space grey or silver.[gallery:3]

A bit annoying you have to pay extra for features that were already built into past MacBook Pros, but if you’ve already dropped at least £1,249 on the latest model, what’s an extra £54?