Prices for most USB-C adapters Apple makes have been dropped, in some cases by as much as half. The company has also dropped the price of third-party peripherals by 25%, including the 4K and 5K LG screens the company demonstrated late last month, and a SanDisk SD card reader has received a special price cut of 40%.

The older Retina MacBook Pros contained USB type-A ports (the classic port shape for the standard), an SD card slot, an HDMI ports, and a number of Thunderbolt 2 ports using the miniDisplayPort standard. While all of that functionality can be replicated with external dongles, many users who were used to the built-in capabilities on the previous generation have complained about the need to carry more cables.

“Having four USB-C ports is awesome,” wrote Instapaper and Overcast founder Marco Arment. “Having only four USB-C ports is going to hurt the versatility requirement of pro gear, because there’s a very real chance that you won’t have the right dongle when you need it.”

In a statement, Apple said: “We recognise that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition. We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem. Through the end of the year, we are reducing prices on all USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals we sell, as well as the prices on Apple’s USB-C adapters and cables.”

The absence of conventional ports is only one half of the negative response to the new MacBook Pro. Many power users have also said the machines are underpowered: they can have no more than 16GB of RAM – the same as four-year-old Retina MacBook Pros – and the Intel processors they contain are reportedly only slightly faster than the models they replace.

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