I think it is a great computer, Apple did a TON of things right, but it is
not perfect. This is just my personal opinion. At the end of the day, the nice thing with Apple is the two week return policy, so I don't want to discourage someone from trying one of these systems.
I was not completely satisfied with the 5500M version I initially had and the more I used the 5500M model, the more hesitant I was to recommend it to anyone using externals without them understanding the implications carried by that GPU...and even without externals, the GPU generated
quite a lot of heat, and more than I would prefer on something I hope to use for a 5-10 year run.
I read a lot of reviews before buying, but did not peruse forums...and looking back I feel like most reviews were not as comprehensive as I would have liked. If I could write a collective summary, I might highlight areas where it excels, such as:
- stellar form factor,
- fit and finish,
- keyboard...finally,
- speakers...WOW!,
- trackpad...10 cuts above the rest, palm rejection works flawlessly,
- display color reproduction and brightness,
- powerful processing,
- great battery, especially when compared to other laptops with these high-wattage CPUs,
- capable IO,
- ability to dissipate a ton of heat despite using such a tiny frame,
- great implementation of Bluetooth (even though Bluetooth kind of sucks but Apple makes the best of it),
- generally excellent support with individual issues,
- how incredibly awesome the 5600M GPU is and how the High Bandwidth Memory it uses absolutely rocks! No, like seriously, this is an absolutely amazing GPU - it's super powerful, and yet it is almost unbelievably efficient,
as well as its shortcomings, such as:
- occasional OS bugs (applies to any computer but Catalina seems to be more quirky than other macOS versions),
- 5300M/5500M GPU power draw and heat, which can become especially problematic with external displays (due to both increased fan noise as well as significant loss in both CPU and GPU performance),
- UI microstutter with the iGPU (which many don't notice),
- some reports of issues with screen refresh rate (not personally had an issue with this),
- webcam quality,
- the SSD can make audible noise (my 5500M version did not, my 5600M version does, it's not very loud but with the way the MBP is made, in a room with zero noise you may hear a soft high-pitched sound if you are young enough to still have the higher frequency hearing [the ability to hear this fades with age]...some call this sound "coil whine" and for most users, myself included, it's not an issue but it should be noted if if someone works in a 100% silent room with padded walls),
- USB-C's charge limit of 100W = battery discharge in Windows under extremely heavy loads when on AC power,
- reported ongoing compatibility issues with some professional/prosumer audio equipment,
- Apple's way of dealing with systematic issues is not always consistent or predictable, and they don't always do a great job communicating what they are doing to address systematic issues,
to try to give a comprehensive overview to a reader before their shelling out a substantial sum of money on a product likely to see
major revisions in the near future (at most a year or so). IMHO, this is a design that should have used a GPU with HBM from the very start...the system is absolutely brilliant with the 5600M.
Also, the proportion of individuals satisfied with the system is likely extremely high. Forums are where we are going to see discussion about issues and weaknesses rather than continued discussion of strengths. If everything is working perfectly, there likely isn't a lot to be said. All laptops are going to have their pros and cons. I like the MacBook Pro 16-inch a lot, but I do think individual usage scenario will strongly (more so than ever) determine how good of a match it is, or if a certain spec is a must-have.
edit - added a few things on 10/20. The more I use my 5600M model, the more I love it, and I really cannot say enough good things about it. A lot of reviewers have talked about how much power this GPU has, but they haven't focused as much on the efficiency aspect, which is what makes it so great IMHO. Its operating temps are low, battery runtimes on the 5600M are
spectacular, and when using multiple high resolution displays it has only a minor parasitic effect on CPU performance. When using my external displays, my 5600M MacBook Pro has idle temperatures that are about 30F cooler than my 5500M MacBook Pro was and my 5600M MacBook Pro is also somehow capable of bleeding heat off much, much, much faster. Other than the high cost, everything about it is great!
This shows the (minimal) parasitic loss with external displays on a 2.3 GHz 8-core i9 16-inch with 32GB of RAM and the 5600M GPU.
Here is a benchmark showing the system without any displays and the 5600M dGPU active:
Here is a benchmark showing the system with dual QHD displays (60Hz refresh rate) + the clamshell open (obviously dGPU is active):
(These are the middle numbers based on multiple runs in each situation.) As you can see, the loss in performance is absolutely minimal even with dual QHD displays (where the 5600M is drawing about 6-7 watts at idle). With my 5500M model this was a completely different story, with much more substantial losses in benchmark tests, but more problematically slower real-world performance.