I just 'borrowed' (okay so my cousin was out of town when his MBP came, and I brow-beat him into letting me use it until he came back).
This thing is sexy thin and the prettiest girl at the ball. But, she's not gonna be the one you leave with.
They nailed the aesthetics for sure. But, the function leaves a lot to be desired. Before I jump into the list of gripes I want to say I have one of these on order and won't be unboxing it until I can shop around. I've been a diehard mac guy since my first powerbook G3. But, this could be where I switch camps for my workhorse laptop. It very much disappoints me to say or even think that.
While dongle hell is real. The most missed thing is magsafe. I can say, my cousin (who hopefully won't read this) has a very durable laptop that, can fall with style. I was lucky that it fell onto a sofa and the port wasn't damaged, but it's only a matter of time before that changes.
Revisiting dongle hell; well, my cousin now has 3 dongles (USB A (2x) and and SD card reader. I can say that I talked myself into it not being a big deal. But, it makes a difference.
My 2015 MBP was just ready to go. I could be approached by a friend with a thumb drive (and a beer), to get going on their presentation. I'd send them out to get some pictures and they'd come back with and SD card full of 'content'. Now, if I don't have two dongles, I just get to stare at them with those hopeless eyes and say 'I can't help you until my dongles come in'. [Wait, this may get me out of some work, nevermind. jkjk] Removing the ability to use something ubiquitous as USB type A in the name of progress and being forward thinking is not as advantageous for this user. I'd give you a 16th of an inch for a few more ports. And, I'd give every engineer a hug if they could bring magsafe back. Seriously, free hugs.
The shift for a portable desktop, requiring a docking environment is annoying. I liked taking a functional office with me on the go. I now see this as a capable machine going from well equipped desk to well equipped desk. But, it is not the powerhouse mobile workstation its lineage was.
I just watched the presentation of the introduction of the MBP. The innovation of the intel chip to the first ever iSight camera, to magsafe was exciting to the teams involved. I hope Apple doesn't get too far into the apple exclusive ecosystem again. We really need these machines to work and play well with others (devices, platforms, and systems).
OHHHHH, I totally forgot about the touchbar. I really really wanted this hint at innovation to be a game changer. And, well, there are areas in which it is novel. Emojis are wonderful and way easy to find. But, some of the regular keyboard shortcuts are faster. Also, the predictive text is a bit slow and I never used it. Some of the contextual changes the bar has can be useful, but, I found that it was difficult for me to look from the monitor down to the touchbar and then back up to the monitor. I don't really know that it will be a timesaver but I can see where it may be helpful if I take time to learn it. Said differently, it's not as intuitive or natural as I would have hoped. But, It could be useful.
Just so this isn't a totally negative post; the speakers on this make me leave the mini soundlink at home more often. Further, the trackpad, while huge is really nice. Next would be to add the apple pencil so it can really shine. And, one more time, this thing is seeeeeexy thin and beautiful.
This thing is sexy thin and the prettiest girl at the ball. But, she's not gonna be the one you leave with.
They nailed the aesthetics for sure. But, the function leaves a lot to be desired. Before I jump into the list of gripes I want to say I have one of these on order and won't be unboxing it until I can shop around. I've been a diehard mac guy since my first powerbook G3. But, this could be where I switch camps for my workhorse laptop. It very much disappoints me to say or even think that.
While dongle hell is real. The most missed thing is magsafe. I can say, my cousin (who hopefully won't read this) has a very durable laptop that, can fall with style. I was lucky that it fell onto a sofa and the port wasn't damaged, but it's only a matter of time before that changes.
Revisiting dongle hell; well, my cousin now has 3 dongles (USB A (2x) and and SD card reader. I can say that I talked myself into it not being a big deal. But, it makes a difference.
My 2015 MBP was just ready to go. I could be approached by a friend with a thumb drive (and a beer), to get going on their presentation. I'd send them out to get some pictures and they'd come back with and SD card full of 'content'. Now, if I don't have two dongles, I just get to stare at them with those hopeless eyes and say 'I can't help you until my dongles come in'. [Wait, this may get me out of some work, nevermind. jkjk] Removing the ability to use something ubiquitous as USB type A in the name of progress and being forward thinking is not as advantageous for this user. I'd give you a 16th of an inch for a few more ports. And, I'd give every engineer a hug if they could bring magsafe back. Seriously, free hugs.
The shift for a portable desktop, requiring a docking environment is annoying. I liked taking a functional office with me on the go. I now see this as a capable machine going from well equipped desk to well equipped desk. But, it is not the powerhouse mobile workstation its lineage was.
I just watched the presentation of the introduction of the MBP. The innovation of the intel chip to the first ever iSight camera, to magsafe was exciting to the teams involved. I hope Apple doesn't get too far into the apple exclusive ecosystem again. We really need these machines to work and play well with others (devices, platforms, and systems).
OHHHHH, I totally forgot about the touchbar. I really really wanted this hint at innovation to be a game changer. And, well, there are areas in which it is novel. Emojis are wonderful and way easy to find. But, some of the regular keyboard shortcuts are faster. Also, the predictive text is a bit slow and I never used it. Some of the contextual changes the bar has can be useful, but, I found that it was difficult for me to look from the monitor down to the touchbar and then back up to the monitor. I don't really know that it will be a timesaver but I can see where it may be helpful if I take time to learn it. Said differently, it's not as intuitive or natural as I would have hoped. But, It could be useful.
Just so this isn't a totally negative post; the speakers on this make me leave the mini soundlink at home more often. Further, the trackpad, while huge is really nice. Next would be to add the apple pencil so it can really shine. And, one more time, this thing is seeeeeexy thin and beautiful.
