Apple's Macbook Event

StryderxX

StryderxX

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
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I've been waiting a long time to buy a new Macbook Pro. I'm hoping that Apple has some suprises for us with this event today.
 
"It has an all new design. It's made of aluminum."

I swear, Apple, nobody can spin BS like you folks. :D
 
Looks good but its nothing revolutionary folks. But as well know since Apple is bringing it out they are now "Changing the game."
 
What would have really been impressive to me personally would have been if they'd totally absolutely changed things like they always say they do and scrapped just using the touchpad itself and turned it into an actual secondary display that offered all those Touch Bar capabilities and so so much more.

Come on, Apple, what's holding you back?

And apparently still using Skylake as I predicted, now using AMD Radeon however, interesting.
 
Full mobile Kaby isn't available. They would never stick a Kaby U in there (way too underpowered). The 15" Macbook's have had AMD chips for a while now.
 
Did they really take away one of my favorite macbook features? God damnit apple how hard would it be to keep magsafe.
 
voklskier4452 said:
Did they really take away one of my favorite macbook features? God damnit apple how hard would it be to keep magsafe.
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I think USB C should have been like magsafe as a standard. Theres no reason to force cables in anymore like usb 2/3.
 
I personally feel that this is a good update for the Macbook Pro. I'm ordering the 13" model.
 
Pretty happy with it overall. Looks like it was a good refresh if nothing else. I like that its available in space grey too.
 
The best part of the whole show was that LG display. The worst part is that there is no new Mac Mini, no new Mac Pro, nothing...
 
I'm confuzzled.

The base 2016 13" doesn't have the touch strip? Or is that just a re-released previous gen?

And that's it? Nothing new with the other lines?
 
There are two 13 inch models, the lowest priced tier at $1499 has no Touch Bar, nope, and just two Thunderbolt ports, cough up another $300 for the $1799 model and get 2 more ports, slightly more GPU power (not all that much), and the Touchbar.
 
Tiberian said:
There are two 13 inch models, the lowest priced tier at $1499 has no Touch Bar, nope, and just two Thunderbolt ports, cough up another $300 for the $1799 model and get 2 more ports, slightly more GPU power (not all that much), and the Touchbar.
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That touch bar isn't worth 300 bucks.. I mean ouch apple!


Then again, a skylake isn't worth 1499 either.
 
This update is a disappointment.

400 Increase for base model is just insane. I honestly can't find the OLED can justify any of this.
The worst part is 4 USB-C ? Wha? And removal of MagSafe? And using a crappy GPU? No more SD slot?

Honestly, I think Apple really lost it on this one. I was looking forward to replace my 2014 rMBP. Everything on this one just make me feel glad that I haven't sold mine yet.
 
THINNER THINNER THINNER THINNER THINNER THINNER INSANITY

I've never picked up my 13" Retina while thinking, "I wish this were lighter." I like the improvements, sure, but dropping something like Magsafe is unreasonable.
 
The design looks like it will suction to my desk and never let go...

Those usb-c connectors better be pretty thin because it doesnt look like there's a lot of clearance (vertically).

Sadly this is yet another release where I won't be able to convince the missus to make the jump to apple...

macbook, 1.3k
macbook pro 1.5k... eek
 

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Good and bad. I'm upset that there wasn't essentially a hardware refresh across every one of their product lines. There should've been.

iMac is overdue. Mac Pro is really overdue. No changes to the Air.
 
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UnknownSouljer said:
Good and bad. I'm upset that there wasn't essentially a hardware refresh across everyone of their product lines. There should've been.

iMac is overdue. Mac Pro is really overdue. No changes to the Air.
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The Macbook Air is done. It's getting replaced my the 13" Macbook Pro without the Touch Bar.
 
So when you trip over the power cord, or the dog rips it out, or the college student isn't paying attention, you're supposed to just hope that the connector doesn't break? Magsafe was such a great thing, USB (even type C) for charging seems like a step backwards.
 
Butterfly switch keyboard? Paaasssss!

They are the most unsatisfying type of switches I've ever typed on. I'll stick with my 2015 Macbook Pro until its on it's last legs before I willfully move to a shitty butterfly switch keyboard.
 
Showbiz said:
So when you trip over the power cord, or the dog rips it out, or the college student isn't paying attention, you're supposed to just hope that the connector doesn't break? Magsafe was such a great thing, USB (even type C) for charging seems like a step backwards.
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You broke one, you still have three more :) (Apple logic).
 
What a waste.. No SD card slot, I don't know of any cameras with usb C yet. Most don't even have usb 3.0 yet. So you're gonna need a new cable. or dongle. Dropping MagSafe.... Just insane.
 
walwalka said:
What a waste.. No SD card slot, I don't know of any cameras with usb C yet. Most don't even have usb 3.0 yet. So you're gonna need a new cable. or dongle. Dropping MagSafe.... Just insane.
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As someone in the photography and videography profession I can tell you on a professional level the SD card slot mattered for only a small number of professionals. You'd have to be using either a Fuji or Olympus micro 4/3 system to gain benefit from it, or be using a higher-end (or even lower end) consumer grade camera such as the Canon 6D, 70D/80D, or the Nikon equivalents such as the D5300/D7200.

Anyway, that's a digression. Most people had to use a card reader, including myself. Most professional cameras use Compact Flash. And will continue to do so with it's newer iteration CFast. If laptops are used on site for tethering, then then simply use a cable from camera to laptop to have all the images load up into Capture One. Any pro camera in the past 4 years is USB 3. I'm sure there will be USB 3 micro-A to USB-C cables, but even without that, I'm sure an adapter will exist.

Still, all that to say, losing SD is annoying. Not because pros use it, but because it eliminates an option and slows down workflow for those that did use it. I'm sure for the SD card slot users it was super convenient to not have to have a card reader. Only plug in your external hard-drive and your SD card directly in and you're good to go. Now there is an extra step.

===

Other thoughts: The loss of magsafe sucks. If for no other reason than it makes it that much more difficult to use lots of devices with your Macbook Pro. Right now when I setup remotely, my machine uses up to 4 external devices. Which was fine when I could combine USB and Thunderbolt etc. But with this setup, I'd have to either not use them all at the same time or go without power. And that seems like an absurd compromise.

I don't understand why they couldn't just have 6 USB-C ports on it. They're small and compact. From a physical space perspective it could've easily been done (especially since they have insisted on removing magsafe and the SD card slot). Or done 4 USB-C and 2 USB 3.1. Still, there is nothing we can do about it now. Obviously the hardware spec etc is all finished and is more than likely in production even as we speak.

Still, this machine is much faster and forward thinking that any previous generation. I think it will serve anyone well that gets it... and this is despite my bitching. Only a small number of people will be affected by any of these problems. Most of the time, for most people, the lack of connectivity will not be an issue. Just be glad they didn't also eliminate the headphone jack this time around. Which would be truly a pain on a laptop.
 
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exlink said:
Butterfly switch keyboard? Paaasssss!

They are the most unsatisfying type of switches I've ever typed on. I'll stick with my 2015 Macbook Pro until its on it's last legs before I willfully move to a shitty butterfly switch keyboard.
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If that's the same keyboard as the 2015 MacBook, forget it. Wretched typing experience.

I really was looking forward to the new MBP. My 2015 13" is fine, but work offers $2000 hardware reimbursement for contractors. Not gonna waste it on this year's unimpressive model.
 
Of course they couldn't be bothered to include any USB-C to USB-A adapters in the box while offering exclusively USB-C ports that most peripherals haven't moved to yet! They want you to fork over an extra $9 per adapter, or if you've got a Lightning-enabled iOS device, a whopping $25.

At least they're all Thunderbolt 3.0 this time, and there's four of them. That brings some interesting possibilities. Quintuple monitors (including the built-in display), anyone? Heck, maybe they can let you use PCIe expansion bays so you can hook up some real graphics cards and so forth. It's the least they could do after axing the old "cheese grater" Mac Pros.

Also, the Radeon Pro GPU options are long overdue, because the old MBP lineup being almost entirely based on Intel graphics with an ancient AMD GPU option at $2,000+ was a complete joke. Of course, the price tags are still just as astronomical here, and I'm sure one can find a GTX 1080-based laptop for that much which would still steamroll the new MBPs.

The Touch Bar sounds interesting enough, but I'm not sure I'd like the missing tactility as a result, especially when the Esc key is part of it. Then again, if the MacBook "butterfly switch" keyboard is any indication, Apple has no idea of how to make a decent laptop keyboard anymore, certainly not as good as the PowerBook G3 lineup was. Those things rivaled ThinkPads in feel, particularly the WallStreet/PDQ range, and I don't say that lightly. (Actually, I'll just go out and say that the PowerBook G3s were the best ever Apple laptop designs, from the dual modular bays to the ease of access for the CPU, RAM and HDD to the sleek, curvaceous design. It's very much what you wouldn't see from today's Apple.)

It's just too bad that, as mentioned earlier, only the MBPs got updated, nothing else. The trash can Mac Pro desperately needs an update to Thunderbolt 3 and modern GPUs, among other things. Maybe they can even rework the "thermal core" HSF so that it's not a complete joke at keeping everything from throttling hard under full load, but then I'd be expecting too much from a corporation that consistently pushes form over function.
 
The release was an overall letdown unfortunately. I too was contemplating getting a replacement machine this year (4 year old MBA here...) but not one good option right now with a reasonable price / hardware configuration.
 
I'll say this: having used the new MacBook Pro in store, I'm comfy with the new keyboard. I'd say I prefer the old one ever so slightly, but the tweaks Apple has made do have an appreciable effect versus the 12-inch MacBook.

Also: I don't think the thinness matters so much as the weight and overall smaller profile. The 13-inch model is XPS 13-like in terms of space efficiency, and I'd go so far as to say it's more alluring if you're sticking to stock configurations (more expensive, but better display and faster overall performance). The Dell's QHD+ touchscreen is a mixed blessing... it adds touch, but you also have to grapple with poor Windows app scaling and reduced battery life.
 
If you're looking at base configurations, the MBP is quite a bit more expensive, although definitely better hardware... I don't know about $700 better!
 
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