Quote from: Zephxiii on February 28, 2022, 21:49:21
Lack of mechanical dock and ethernet is unacceptable for deployment.
They may get away with it
if (and only if) working from home becomes the
de facto standard.
Mechanical docks were a must "in the before times" because those blended the convenience of a single docking/eject motion with the best available physical security when the key was turned. That mattered when people worked in a shared workspace and the company had legal obligations to ensure data physical security (e.g., a contract that mandated compliance). However, if they work from home those requirements are now much more relaxed -- that physical security becomes the door locks of the home as it no longer is a shared workspace; drive encryption assures all other considerations.
Similarly, the ethernet connection was a must because of the scale and challenges of managing/"keep running" a computer fleet within a single building. However, if people work from home it makes virtually no difference if they connect via WiFi or ethernet -- the same remote admin tools that support the work from home usecase will work either way and, usually, the employee prefers the freedom that WiFi gives to move around the house.
Now, they would be screwed if we return to the "before times" and people start coming back to a shared workspace. I say would because their competitors are also going in a similar direction -- it's hard to lose costumers when there is no viable competition doing thing differently.