Neither photographers nor film editors are likely to mind using an adapter for ethernet, since the processes described, unloading content back to their central servers, is probably going to be done from their workstation - where they can easily dock their machines. And where they can leave the adapters eternally plugged in.

Not to mention that many of these folks will not use ethernet at all and will instead use directly-connected Thunderbolt arrays.

I think this is pretty much a non-issue. If you want to bring up issues with the new machine then let's talk about the inability to update the internal storage or memory. For that matter the battery and LCD are also glued in place making repair/replacement a tough proposition. I've never minded the lack of hot-swapable batteries in recent MBP models and iPhones. Their cases have been trivial to open and battery replacement a simple plug and play operation.

IMO, some of these moves on Apple's part were not critical to achieving the design goals of the finished product.

I have wanted and still want, my next MBP to be a 17" model without an optical drive, but with two 2.5" drive capacity, outfitted from Apple with either 1 or 2 drives (some combination of SSD and HDD). I want replaceable memory modules, 2 is enough and I want a retina-level display with the ability to drive at least 2 external displays of the same, but preferably greater, resolution. The battery life should be longer than the previous generation of 17" MBP, due to process and potential for larger battery by component size reduction and elimination. All USB ports USB3. I don't care whether the machine is super-thin. The above are the priorities. I'd probably use the Thunderbolt ports for Ethernet making it a simpler docking affair.