2016 Macbook Pro Discussion Poll: Satisfaction or reaction

[lietsche]

Here is my opinion, from another thread:

All that whining here.

Most of you don’t even own the new MBP 2016 and repeat some things you have read somewhere…

Let me tell you this:
I must have been apparently incredibly lucky because my new laptop (TB 2.7, 1TB SSD, 460) has been rock solid to me these last two weeks. No, no battery issues. Been surfing for more than one hour now and battery tells me 7:22 hours left. That’s enough. The next electrical plug is 1 meter away in case. No graphic glitches, no funny noises from the speakers, no keys that don’t work. Yes, I had the copying crash, too, but I could pinpoint it to one large video-file, reported it in detail to Apple and it is fixed now. Dongles not an issue at all, small adapters for USB are available on Amazon and for Thunderbolt I use Apple’s adapter. But this is temporary anyway. Love being able to plug the things into the ports/sides where I want.

I am a professional editor on FCPX (oh yes, they do exist…), and am switching from a Mac Pro (late 2013), 6-core, 32GB, 1TB SSD and 2xD700’s.

Since then I finished one complete project on FCPX without any issues or cashes.

Working on it feels even snappier on this new machine because of its very fast SSD. FCPX is very well optimised for this computer. While color grading the finished film with plugins like Filmconvert, Color Finale, HyColor and so on, everything was realtime like on my MacPro.

I did not have to render at all during editing and grading. That’s fantastic news for me.

But here comes the best: As I do a lot of H264 exporting for client previews I can tell you that this changes everything now and is a real game changer to me compared to the Mac Pro:

Export of a 10 minute movie is done in only 2 minutes because of Intel’s Quicksync on the I7 which the MacPro’s 3,5 Intel Xeon E5 does not have on their chip. The same export took more than 9 (!) minutes on the Mac Pro in the same configuration (Harddrives and so on).
When you are working on a 90 min. feature, this is a HUGE difference.
So I win a lot of time in my daily work to spend more with my family.

Yes, this computer is expensive, I know. But it works well for me and fortunately I can amortise it fast due to my work projects.

Happy bird here.

 

[jeffg819]

"The Paradox of Choice"

It seems we have a bunch of satisfiers arguing with a group of maximizers. Makes for interesting reading in the comment section.

 

[jclardy]

I chose the second option. I own one and it is great. The footprint is the perfect size. The display is awesome, but I would prefer if they could extend it to the edges of the bezel and just get rid of the bezel (keeping the same case size. Should be around 14") Trackpad is awesome, keyboard is awesome. I like the touchbar, but it sorely needs some kind of touch feedback. Make the touchbar feel like the trackpad and it will be perfect. Battery seems decent enough, about 8 hours for my typical usage.

Losing magsafe sucks, but one thing I really want is them to bring back the external battery LED's, so you can know the charge without opening the laptop. Also annoying is with USB-C and the lid closed you don't know if it is charging or not. It does play a tone when you plug it in, but if you are just walking by your desk there is no visual indication of charging, unless you manually open the lid and wait for it to wake up. They should have at least added a single charging LED to the exterior to replace the little orange/green LED on the magsafe cord.

 

[cardfan]

I don't see the point in downgrading (worse battery, worse touchpad, unneeded touchbar, worse kb) to this at a higher cost. That's not a smart buy.

For those thinking mature market and whatever, Apple could have kept costs down by simply sticking with the same design and upgrading the important things. Apple made a worse laptop overall and is moving backwards in this area.

 

[lietsche]

I don't see the point in downgrading (worse battery, worse touchpad, unneeded touchbar, worse kb) to this at a higher cost. That's not a smart buy.

Did you already work on one for a couple of days to justify this? Don't you think that you could be eventually surprised, how well the kb and the trackpad works for you and got an idea how good or bad the battery life really is in your use?
Did you?

 

[therealseebs]

Did you already work on one for a couple of days to justify this? Don't you think that you could be eventually surprised, how well the kb and the trackpad works for you and got an idea how good or bad the battery life really is in your use?
Did you?

I used the keyboard until I had serious physical pain from old RSI injuries, which make me sensitive to keyboard problems. I used the trackpad long enough to be sure I hate it. I don't care about battery life past about an hour.

Please allow for the possibility that other people genuinely have different preferences from you, rather than relying so heavily on insultingly implying that they're not competent to evaluate their own preferences.

 

[ka-spot]

one day with my new non tb base 13" and it's friken awesome! coming from early 2013 13" MBPr the keyboard is what I like the most – simply awesome

 

[Pardus]

I chose the second option. I own one and it is great. The footprint is the perfect size. The display is awesome, but I would prefer if they could extend it to the edges of the bezel and just get rid of the bezel (keeping the same case size. Should be around 14") Trackpad is awesome, keyboard is awesome. I like the touchbar, but it sorely needs some kind of touch feedback. Make the touchbar feel like the trackpad and it will be perfect. Battery seems decent enough, about 8 hours for my typical usage.

Losing magsafe sucks, but one thing I really want is them to bring back the external battery LED's, so you can know the charge without opening the laptop. Also annoying is with USB-C and the lid closed you don't know if it is charging or not. It does play a tone when you plug it in, but if you are just walking by your desk there is no visual indication of charging, unless you manually open the lid and wait for it to wake up. They should have at least added a single charging LED to the exterior to replace the little orange/green LED on the magsafe cord.

Have you checked out the griffin adaptor? I know it's an extra cost but could save an expensive accident. I am sure some other options will come to the market soon that have an LED indicator. https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-power-cable

 

[t.portis]

My wife and I got 13" nTB for each other as an early Christmas present. She is coming from a 2013 MBA and I have an early 2015 MacBook Pro (employer provided along with a Dell Windows 10 laptop) and a 12 inch MB. No surprise that the screen difference is amazing to her. She did complain that she's only getting 7-8 hours of battery life instead of the 10+ hours she was getting with the MBA. We're both college employees so that work is the primary use for these machines. We each have a single adapter we use when we need to connect to HDMI/USB-A/power. Everything else is wireless.

We both love the new keyboard and the enlarged trackpad. I find there is less glare on the screen with the 2016 vs. the 2015 MB Pro. The 12 inch weight and portability is going to be missed, but as a middle-aged man I needed just a little more screen. The build quality of these 2016 MacBook Pros is evident. I just love the look and feel of them.

In the end, I am often on this laptop 8-10 hours per day. I want something aesthetically pleasing to me personally and that performs well. My whole family is also deeply ingrained in the Apple ecosystem from the Apple Music family plan to iMessage. Can't imagine what it would take to get us to switch us to Windows.

 

[lietsche]

I used the keyboard until I had serious physical pain from old RSI injuries, which make me sensitive to keyboard problems. I used the trackpad long enough to be sure I hate it. I don't care about battery life past about an hour.

Please allow for the possibility that other people genuinely have different preferences from you, rather than relying so heavily on insultingly implying that they're not competent to evaluate their own preferences.

no offence
I guess I should just keep away from this forum.
A lot of people here are bullying on sth they did not even test themselves.
You do not belong to those people then, you tested it, fine. Does not work for you. Sorry to hear.
Works for me. Happy me. Over and out.

 

[therealseebs]

no offence
I guess I should just keep away from this forum.
A lot of people here are bullying on sth they did not even test themselves.
You do not belong to those people then, you tested it, fine. Does not work for you. Sorry to hear.
Works for me. Happy me. Over and out.

Do you want a $300 laptop from Target to replace your MBP?

If you say "no", should I accuse you of "bullying on sth you did not even test yourself", or should I recognize that it's 100% possible to know how you will feel about a thing by having experience with similar things in the past?

 

[hollandog]

love mine over the 2011 13". no problem so far but do afraid the common issues hit my machine.
working well so far but battery life is not very consistent. some times i get 10 hours some times i get 6-8.

 

[Pardus]

have a 2015 mbp that I will be returning when the 2016 comes in. After using it the last 3 weeks, I have very wide discrepancy in battery life. Using capture one and nothing else open and shooting tethered, lucky to get 4 hours battery life, usually 3.5. screen brightness at 4 clicks from full, I only use live view like 5% of the time, otherwise just the C1 interface. Other times I will get more but doubt I have ever had over 6 hours

 

[jk76]

Only issue I had with it was the price. It wasn't really that I couldn't justify it to myself (well, obviously I was able, since I ordered one in minutes after Apple Store opening for orders), but rather that I would need to "justify" it on eyes of others in a country where showing off is not exactly a virtue. I wouldn't recommend getting one if you have 100 EUR/USD/GBP spare a month, but if you have thousands (as people doing fancy pro stuff many here claim), it's almost pocket change.

 

[bevsb2]

I have the 2016 15" base model. I'm very happy with the computer and have had no issues with it. I love the Touch Bar, large trackpad and new keyboard. I'm not a pro user so I have no issue with the lack of ports and only have occasional need for a USB dongle. No complaints here. I'm coming from a 2012 rMBP.