Apple Unveils New 13-Inch Entry-Level MacBook Pro

[Adam-Jobs]

Hey guys. Some help here. I was one of the guys waiting to finally purchase a Mac and jump on board. But at these prices I can't afford to do so. Now referring back to the old model. I can see the on the old website it was 1199 for a 13" with 256GB. Now it's 128GB for £1249. Aside from HD space I'm guessing this is the same model? Will Apple honour the price in store of 1199 for 256gb model?

Attached are the prices and specs before and after keynote. Thank you for any help:

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

This is incredibly disappointing. As others have said, all we wanted was an MBA with a retina display at or about the current price point.

What we have is the option to purchase a new machine that is 50% more expensive, but has a shorter battery life, and doesn't have the new touchbar (if you want that the new machine with the toolbar it is 75% more expensive)

I do understand that the new Pro is v powerful. I do understand that it is the same approximate weight as the old Air. I do understand that this is smaller than the old Air.

But the price jump is appalling.

 

[cycomiko]

I'd debate calling a $1499 laptop "entry level." But the 13" Macbook Air is still shown on their website with decent specs / prices for what it is. That's their real entry level laptop.

Disappointed that there was no update to the Mac Mini...

decent?

Its sitting at the same price it has been for years, it was 'updated' in 2015 with a broadwell chip, almost two generations old.

Screen resolution of a 2000's netbook

Minuscule SSD

and the same amount of RAM as my 2010 macbook unibody

Real decent pricing.

/s

 

[fumi2014]

Price

This is incredibly disappointing. As others have said, all we wanted was an MBA with a retina display at or about the current price point.

What we have is the option to purchase a new machine that is 50% more expensive, but has a shorter battery life.

I do understand that the new Pro is v powerful. I do understand that it is the same approximate weight as the old Air. I do understand that is is smaller than the old Air.

But the price jump is appalling.

Yeah, price jump is sickening, especially if you live in the UK. It's pure greed.

I don't even want a machine with a magic bar. It's just a gimmick. Will have to look at other options.

 

[mig0]

I think this model should've been called just a macbook. Im assuming nothing is upgradeable but with 8gb of ram I think that would be sufficient for a long time. That SSD is small though but the thunderbolt ports should allow for bumping capacity for external drives (flash or otherwise).

I'm disappointed there's no mac mini updates but I probably wouldnt have like them anyway.

 

[entropys]

I have a late 2013 13' MBP and I was thinking of upgrading. Not anymore. Ugh they're messing with the MBP line up. Was it really necessary to remove all of these ports? What's so pro about this? And $1499 for the entry? Hahaha
Apple you never cease to disappoint me. I guess the only apple product I'll be using is the iPhone once my MBP dies.

Thing is, without all the continuity benefits of integrating my macs and iPhone, if I no longer have macs the preference for an iPhone is a bit diminished too.

Recent Mac releases have been an extended middle finger to Apple's most loyal customers.

 

[Shalev]

Today at its October 2016 Town Hall event, Apple announced an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro that it is positioning as an appealing alternative for potential buyers of the MacBook Air, the 13-inch version of which remains available to buy for now, with the 11-inch version being discontinued.

The new entry-level Pro takes on many of the design features of the rest of the range, except for Apple's new Touch Bar, which replaces the traditional function key strip in the rest of its new Pro MacBooks.

The new entry-level MacBook Pro is 12 percent thinner than the current MacBook Air. It's also 13 percent smaller in volume, while staying the same weight.

Apple's senior VP Phil Schiller says the new entry-level MacBook Pro is faster than the MacBook Air in "every way." It has a 2.0GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel Iris 540 Graphics, a larger Force Touch trackpad, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and a new second-generation butterfly mechanism keyboard.

The entry-level MacBook ships starting today and is available starting at $1,499. In contrast, the existing MacBook Air with 1.6GHz processor and 128GB storage and is still available at $999. The new entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro can be pre-ordered online now and will ship in 2-3 weeks.

Article Link: Apple Unveils New 13-Inch Entry-Level MacBook Pro

Apple has become so greedy that I'm starting to hate them,

Thay bragged and praised the new touch bar, talked about how old the technology is and that there teams found the new truly unique way of using it, for the entire announcement, and suddenly released a "entry level" machine for "just" 1499!! Telling it can replace a 999 MacBook air, what is the reason in that?? Trying to move the 13 MBA costumers to an upgrade?! What is the reasone to realese that 13 MBP entry level?? Why not give the latest technology in the same price as before? JUST Like the iOS Devices progresses? Discounting the old model and move foreard?? Whay always force upgrades on your users?? In iPhones with that 16 base model to 64, in iMacs with 5400rpm HD to 7200rpm, in iCloud drive from 200gb to 1 tb, NOTHING in the middle! in all of the products! On all lines by now! In the last 3-4 years it has become a thing by them, forcing you all the time to upgrade in order not to compromise, Stop force us on upgrades and make it FU*IKNG consistently!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Price


Yeah, price jump is sickening, especially if you live in the UK. It's pure greed.

I don't even want a machine with a magic bar. It's just a gimmick. Will have to look at other options.

the 50% price hike, is for the model WITHOUT the touchbar. If you want the touchbar, it's £1,749. or a 75% price hike.

 

[entropys]

Cost?

To be more than than 2 TB ports, the skylake motherboard requires an extra controller. This model doesn't get it.

 

[Mal67]

At least when Jb's get these in they will have their regular 10% off sales. Which will be much appreciated if I decide at some point to go for one of the new models.

 

[JosephAW]

I miss the educational models like the eMac. Powerful yet affordable and came with built in screen.

 

[dacalo]

As a recent MacOS convert (I have a 2015 MBPr model) the announcement was a downer. The highly publicized retina bar is only available on the higher-end models and the entry level model is priced at $1499? What are you smoking Apple? Higher price won't kick start your sluggish notebook sales.

 

[bpcookson]

Can't believe the prices on these things...

 

[ryannel2003]

Is the price high? Definitely. It will go down to $1299 next year when they drop the last remaining old rMBP. However, I didn't really care:



I'll have it Tuesday.

 

[BFG86]

I don't get this model at all. a pro without the touch bar that's being touted?

And they are still selling the MacBook air and old MacBook pros (maybe only until inventories run out)

They really should only have 3 models The MacBook and 2 pros

 

[anthony11]

It's not possible to buy now the old line of MBP, is it? My computer died and I was waiting to see what were the innovations and now definitely would buy a 13'' or a 15'' from the old ones.

Check Macmall and OWC.

 

[NaughtOne]

2 ports and a pocket full of dongles. I am the new Apple owner. SAD!

 

[Roadstar]

2 ports and a pocket full of dongles. I am the new Apple owner. SAD!

The latest in workplace fashion for new MBP owners:

If my current MBP at work was replaced with one of these, I'd need 3 different dongles in daily rotation and a couple of more semi-regularly.

 

[InuNacho]

Why? That's what the iBook cost in 2002. (compare those two entry levels, hmm?)

The iBook had a swappable battery and if you took it to any ole' computer shop they could dismantle the thing and put in more ram and a bigger hard drive for a fraction of Apple's pricing.

 

[consoleboi]

This is a good example of the Kool-Aid Apple has been forcing down people's throats.
Vote with your wallets and don't buy any of these new products!

 

[Hephaestus]

I was actually interested in upgrading to the 15" but an entry level price of £2350 is just laughable! So that's £2350 for 256GB of storage, no magsafe or HDMI and plenty of new adaptors to buy.. my my it seems Apple really loves adaptors these days.

But yeah, I may have pushed to £1800 but this is beyond absurd now. I finally switched from iPhone this summer, the S7 Edge is by far a superior phone to what Apple is offering. The only thing that kept me interested in Apple was the MBP, seems like their intention is to butcher that too with a dumbed down machine, but oh wait, it has a fancy "touch bar" which mostly just duplicates controls already on the screen. That really is great innovation.

Goodbye Apple. Tim Cook you have ruined the company I loved so very dearly, I've been buying Macs for over 20 years, far longer than most people on this board, but Apple doesn't care about me or other loyal Pro customers any more. We've been discarded, for the selfie generation of mindless imbeciles who would pay £2350 for this imbecilic machine.

 

[geta]

€1700 for 13” MBP base model with only 2 ports is too much, as well as they cut on the CPU, GPU and the new touch bar.

If only the MBA had Retina display… even though fully loaded 13” MBA is the best Mac laptop you can get for the money at the moment with dissent power and “many” ports compare to their new MBP’s, or a MBP from last year if you can find one.

PS, Maybe the second generation TouchBar MBP’s will bring back some of the missing ports…

 

[Roller]

I was actually interested in upgrading to the 15" but an entry level price of £2350 is just laughable! So that's £2350 for 256GB of storage, no magsafe or HDMI and plenty of new adaptors to buy.. my my it seems Apple really loves adaptors these days.

But yeah, I may have pushed to £1800 but this is beyond absurd now. I finally switched from iPhone this summer, the S7 Edge is by far a superior phone to what Apple is offering. The only thing that kept me interested in Apple was the MBP, seems like their intention is to butcher that too with a dumbed down machine, but oh wait, it has a fancy "touch bar" which mostly just duplicates controls already on the screen. That really is great innovation.

Goodbye Apple. Tim Cook you have ruined the company I loved so very dearly, I've been buying Macs for over 20 years, far longer than most people on this board, but Apple doesn't care about me or other loyal Pro customers any more. We've been discarded, for the selfie generation of mindless imbeciles who would pay £2350 for this imbecilic machine.

I get that you're unhappy with the upgrades and their prices, especially when you factor in the additional premium you have to pay in the U.K. But "selfie generation of mindless imbeciles." Really? Since you're so knowledgeable, tell me what to do about replacing my 2011 MBA that's running out of storage, doesn't hold a charge for long, lags, and is starting to fall apart. Switch to a Windows laptop and spend many hundreds on new software, convert all my Keynote presentations, and lose easy inter-operability with my iMacs? Much easier said than done.

The Touch Bar-less MacBook Pro is the closest thing to an updated MBA that I can get from Apple. Sure, the 13" MBA is still available, but I'm at the point where I need a Retina display. I may even consider a refurbished 13" MBP.

 

[Scellow]

They said a lot about the function keys, as if they were terrible and old, but a couple minutes later announced a MacBook which has them. What is happening to this company?

Nothing, entry level can't have every features of the high end model, it cost money

Why you rage? go buy a Windoze PC

 

[dhuff]

decent?

Its sitting at the same price it has been for years, it was 'updated' in 2015 with a broadwell chip, almost two generations old. Screen resolution of a 2000's netbook. Minuscule SSD and the same amount of RAM as my 2010 macbook unibody. Real decent pricing.

/s

Well, decent for a Mac laptop. I agree the screen resolution is somewhat disappointing. No reason it shouldn't be 1080p. The CPU, 8GB RAM, and SSD size are adequate for its intended audience. The MBA is a fine laptop for the majority of laptop users, and sites like The Wirecutter have agreed on that for some time. If you're truly a "pro" user and actually need (versus "want") the increased system resources of the MB Pro, then yeah - point taken.