Any 16" MBP owners who are happy?

[terminator-jq]

Do you mind telling me what apps you are using for 3D modelling and rendering? C4D? Cheers.
Reason I ask is I am leaving apple because of how poor the 16” is for 3D [in comparison to windows].

I mainly use Modo and Zbrush. Both of which work great on my 16" (other than the heat). The latest Blender (2.9) also works fantastic on the 16". I'd say the only real downside of using Mac for 3D is the limited options for GPU rendering since most GPU rendering engines (like Vray) use Nvidia CUDA. Luckily AMD and Metal solutions are I development.

I have not tested Maya or C4D on the 16" since I no longer use any software that is subscription only. Perpetual licensing is a lot more fair for small businesses and personal use.

My hope is that Affinity or even Apple themselves will develop a Mac focused 3D application. That would be the perfect addition to Apples pro tools software lineup and I think it would give Apple computers more respect in the 3D industry.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Mine has been good - no problems, works well.

 

[Dutchie91]

Best laptop I have ever owned (i9, 5600M)

 

[jaduffy007]

Worse purchase decision I've made in a VERY long time.

 

[venom600]

I love mine to death. I’ve had it since last November and it’s been flawless. I love it so much that I am considering buying an upgraded model with more ram and the 5600m to use for even longer as the last intel MacBook.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I had got 2 different 5500m models in the summer and returned both with heating issues. I had the second one as replacement and really tried to like it but for working from home, having multiple tabs and zoom open, video streaming, vmware running for windows..it was over heating a lot and decided to stick with my mac pro 5.1 and my dying 2012 13" laptop for now. I would have gone with the 5600m but will see what sales are there. I did like the laptop overall since i was coming from a 2012 and even got a case and screen cover etc for my 16" laptop. Crossing fingers for good 5600m sales.

 

[panzer06]

I had got 2 different 5500m models in the summer and returned both with heating issues. I had the second one as replacement and really tried to like it but for working from home, having multiple tabs and zoom open, video streaming, vmware running for windows..it was over heating a lot and decided to stick with my mac pro 5.1 and my dying 2012 13" laptop for now. I would have gone with the 5600m but will see what sales are there. I did like the laptop overall since i was coming from a 2012 and even got a case and screen cover etc for my 16" laptop. Crossing fingers for good 5600m sales.

I have the model with the 5500 and 1TB SSD and have no issue with overheating. I will say Parallels has been way better than VMware and has not given me any trouble.

 

[ckmaes]

I've had a bit of a journey with the 16" MacBook Pro. Typical use case is 3D visualisation with Maya and Vray, Photoshop and After Effects.

It began with a bit of luck when my 15" with Vega 20 finally had an issue with the keyboard just after the 16" was released. I dropped by an Apple Store expecting a like for like replacement or repair but I was surprised when I was given two options, either leave the 15" here for repair for up to five days or take a brand new 16" which was better in every way including 2TB storage over the 1TB I had... I walked away one very happy Apple user as I know that wouldn't happen with many other manufacturers, if any. The Apple support staff didn't even question things, he simply wanted me to have a positive experience and get back to running my business on my Mac.

The model I was using initially was the i9 / 32GB / 5500 8GB / 2TB and things seemed to be going well but after a month or so I was getting kernel panics whenever it would wake from deep sleep (>70 minutes I believe), every time. I raised a case with Apple Support and was told there would be a fix coming but there wasn't much they could do as a replacement would likely suffer the same issue. I wasn't happy with this response so I escalated the case to the Executive Relations Manager for the region and they happily organised a full refund, even after a few months of use.

As I was disappointed with the thought that there wasn't actually a reliable pro level Apple notebook available I decided to use the refund to buy a Dell Precision 5750 (pro level XPS 17 basically) (i9 / 64GB / Quadro RTX 3000 / 2TB) after being a dedicated Apple user for many years. The unboxing experience of the Dell was great at this level, very similar to Apple. I was excited to be able to crack open the bottom case to install the 64GB memory and 2TB SSD I purchased separately, then configure the BIOS to tweak everything I needed. Things were going well, although suffering through using Windows 10 for daily use... I knew it was all going a little too smoothly! A few days later I left the Dell sitting with Outlook open and a full battery, returned a short time later to a BSOD and absolutely no way to get the PC to boot again! WTF..? I called support, worked through a few ideas but no luck so they suggested a visit from a technician. I knew I had made a terrible mistake, so another call back to Dell support to arrange a refund as I was still within the return period. I was furious when they informed me there would be a 15% restocking fee subtracted from the refund. One more phone call sorted that out and the Dell went back for a full refund... hang in there.

After my short detour through hell I purchased a 16" MacBook Pro (i9 / 64GB / 5600 / 1TB) and couldn't be happier. Wow, what a difference the 5600 makes to this system, it's reliable, reasonably quiet and so fast. I've looked at so many options from other manufacturers and I feel there simply isn't a device as well rounded as the MacBook Pro. On paper the Dell 5750 ( XPS 17) matches up nicely if you can use Windows but in reality it falls short as the performance of the GPU (and CPU I believe) is severely restricted when running on battery. The MacBook Pro simply performs as expected whether it's on battery or power. The trackpad and keyboard are still miles ahead of anything else, including the new Dell, and moving back to macOS really is like that ice cold water a user of Windows needs.

I actually use both macOS and Windows 10 for personal use and 3D visualisation, the Mac is my go to for most things but my custom Windows 10 PC I built for the heavy lifting (rendering) works flawlessly, it's just a shame the PC manufacturers can't seem to build a reliable and fully powered notebook to compete with the MacBook Pro on all levels.

If you're looking to buy a MacBook Pro now then definitely try to upgrade to the 5600 or wait for a possible refresh soon (hopefully).

 

[flowsy]

Perfectly happy with my refurbished base model (5300M) - with or without external display.

 

[ght56]

I had got 2 different 5500m models in the summer and returned both with heating issues. I had the second one as replacement and really tried to like it but for working from home, having multiple tabs and zoom open, video streaming, vmware running for windows..it was over heating a lot and decided to stick with my mac pro 5.1 and my dying 2012 13" laptop for now. I would have gone with the 5600m but will see what sales are there. I did like the laptop overall since i was coming from a 2012 and even got a case and screen cover etc for my 16" laptop. Crossing fingers for good 5600m sales.

I am a Fusion user and I formally had a 5500M model...most of the work I do involves the dGPU being active. The good news is that if the dGPU is usually active during your workload, the 5600M will almost surely largely reduce/rectify the issue you experienced...obviously it doesn't reverse physics but it's pretty incredible how big the difference is, not just in how much cooler the system operates but also how rapidly it can shed heat and how much faster the CPU and system is overall. It just seems to work much better with the MacBook Pro 16's cooling system and I really love this computer now that I have a 5600M model. Obviously no laptop is perfect but they really nailed this. The 5600M refurbs just recently hit the Apple Store...

 

[chrono1081]

I'm perfectly happy with mine and my battery life is great. I don't put too much stock in these forums anymore.

 

[Fomalhaut]

I've only been seeing negative reports as of late, and am curious if there's anyone who is happy with their 16"?

I'm pretty happy with mine (i9, 32GB, 8GB 5500M, 1TB SSD).

I did have some weird issues with browser-tabs failing to open even though my networking was otherwise working. See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...se.2229675/page-2?post=28536529#post-28536529 for details.

This drove me mad for a while, and I think it was related to running out of file descriptors. There are various solutions out there for changing the system limits temporarily and permanently, which I tried, but the problem "went away" even without applying the permanent fix, so I really don't know if this was the root cause. I did a complete clean install a couple of times in an attempt to fix it, which was a time-consuming hassle that undermined my confidence in the machine for a while.

Stability of Catalina was initially unimpressive but seems to be much better now (after 7 point release )

Overall, the machine is pretty solid; performs well and is generally reliable. I'm glad I went with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD, because I frequently end up against memory limits (using a lot of swap space) and 16GB would have really slowed me down by having to "tidy up" my workspace more often.

The new keyboard is really nice to type on, although now that I'm working from home, I'm using an external Apple keyboard (old design). Trackpad is huge and great to use - Apple still leads in this area. Speakers and microphone are very good for a laptop. Web-cam a bit underwhelming with only 720p resolution.

I haven't used this computer extensively as a mobile device due to limited movement for work and travel this year, so I can't really to speak to the "laptop experience". It is quite heavy, but I had to weigh that against having sufficient power to replace a desktop computer and having enough screen real-estate for my uses (development, productivity apps, video-editing). Battery life is OK - but nowhere near the advertised 10 hours in real-world usage (for me). 5-6 hours is more common - still much better than most Windows laptops I've used recently for the same tasks.

It gets an 8/10 from me.

 

[Fomalhaut]

No. I bought mine and 3 weeks later (after the return period) opened it up to use it, regretted it instantly, went back to my imac, and the 16 has been sitting on my desk ever since, bc the resale value is crap as well, so I’ll have lost thousands of dollars on this thing that doesn’t work for me and I havent gotten any use out of. even sent it in to Apple to get it looked at regarding the external monitor throttling, and they tested it, replaced it with a new one, that’s exactly the same as the old one and does the exact same thing. Every time I think about it, I wish I made a jerk out of myself by demanding to return it the day I first opened it up. But I shouldn’t have to make myself a worse person in order to get Apple to stand behind their product & make it right. Sticking us with this problem is how you lose a lifelong customer.

By "external monitor throttling", so you mean that it runs more slowly with external monitors connected? Is this due to the thermals limits placed on the CPU caused by the dGPU using more of the total "TDP budget"? I use a DisplayPort dock so can use the iGPU, which doesn't cause any dGPU heating. It works well for me, so perhaps you try that?

 

[Fomalhaut]

Worse purchase decision I've made in a VERY long time.

Can you expand upon this? What failed to meet your expectations?

 

[robdrj45]

Base model, here. I think it's great. Coming from a 2012 Air, however, I guess that's to be expected. The biggest surprise was the speakers. Wow, they're fantastic...such a rich, full sound. The screen is great too, its color is amazing. The keyboard works well, though the larger keys took some getting used to. I don't push the 16 hard at all, so power wise it's more than enough. The only slight disappointment in performance is the battery life. While not bad, it's not great either. Also, the price is a bit high, though Apple does make a quality product. My 2012 Air (I5, 8GB RAM) has never missed a beat and is still going strong.

 

[Fthree]

just got mine today (coming from a 2015 15) and so far its pretty nice. I just cannot figure out how to move things around the screen by just having 3 fingers on the trackpad? Can we do this on the 16? what am I missing lol!

 

[Fomalhaut]

just got mine today (coming from a 2015 15) and so far its pretty nice. I just cannot figure out how to move things around the screen by just having 3 fingers on the trackpad? Can we do this on the 16? what am I missing lol!

3-finger drag is under: System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Pointer Control -> Enable Dragging -> 3-finger drag

 

[alexlc1]

Enjoy mine more than I dislike it(i9 16gb 5500m) . Battery life is mediocre and it gets warm at times in clamshell mode, but it's nothing too crazy. I'm coming from a 2015 MBA where battery life was top notch and never any heat issues. The screen, speakers, and keyboard are stellar, though.

 

[dinobear]

Have had mine for about a month now. Loving it. Although I have noticed Catalina isn't as stable as Mojave from which my last computer was on.

 

[Fthree]

3-finger drag is under: System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Pointer Control -> Enable Dragging -> 3-finger drag

I can’t thank you enough! Been using it on my 2015 MacBook and am so used to it that it was super frustrating not remembering how I set it!

 

[januarydrive7]

I've had the i9, 32gb, 1tb, 5500M since February. Coming from a 15" 2012 MBP unibody with 16gb, 1tb ssd, there are certainly things to like -- display is a major improvement, larger trackpad, sturdier keys, overall better performance under heavy loads (I research in several areas, some of which are computationally intensive).

That said, there are things that have irritated me. While presenting at CGO in late February, my screen would go black after hooking to the HDMI projector; I had to cut my presentation short, ask the next presenter go ahead of me, and transfer my presentation to another attendee's laptop before I could continue. This has happened on several different displays, but my home setup works fine, so it's hard to diagnose the problem.

Even though my memory capacity has doubled with the upgrade, I still find it insufficient at times, but this isn't necessarily the fault of the machine.

The Touch Bar is a new experience for me, and it can be annoying at times. I have bettertouchtool installed with the hope that functionality would increase --- the aqua touch interface has nice features -- but there ought to be a way to turn down the too-high sensitivity. I'll often be touch-typing a symbol on the number row, and the tip of my finger will graze the Touch Bar, causing whatever action is there to execute. This has caused innocuous issues such as refreshing a page in safari (or moving to another tab), but has also been destructive. While debugging an ILP model being run through the Gurobi optimizer (about 3 hours into execution), an accidental graze of the Touch Bar restarted the session! Since then, I've stopped touch-typing numbers or symbols on the number row -- I even look down to go for the dedicated esc key, just in case; all of this adds to less time looking at my work and more time dedicated to looking at the keyboard.

 

[DHagan4755]

I've had the 2.6 i7/5300/512 since it came out about a year ago. I'm typing my reply on it right now. I haven't stressed it out as much as I thought I would, but it's been great. I'm happy with my purchase.

 

[coach_ditka]

I just got the base i7/5300/512 on Wednesday. So far its great! I do have a bit of coil whine or buzzing from the speakers on limited occasions. Also, my second monitor connection is a bit janky when waking from sleep, but I think it's because I am using a very old HDMI cable. I've ordered a newer cable. Those are the only two nits. Everything else is great!

 

[simonmet]

Mine is reliable and gets the job done. At the end of the day they’re the most important things I guess, especially for a “Pro” laptop.

Do I wish it was better? Of course. We all want more for our money. Well, when it’s a massively rich multinational with huge margins we should!

I wanted a better screen with less ghosting and 120 Hz. Potentially OLED. Also, a bump up to 4K resolution. Many competitors offer screens which handily outperform the Mac’s display; and this is disappointing. MiniLED or equivalent can’t come soon enough.

Battery life is an issue when you push it. In part I blame the i9 as it’s a power hungry and hot chip. This will hopefully improve when Apple switches to ARM, but as someone who games in Boot Camp I’m also nervous about the switch.

The trackpad is excellent as usual and I got used to its comically large size fairly quickly. The keyboard is great again. The Touch Bar is fine; I neither love it or hate it. The overall size and weight is also great. I don’t mind taking it anywhere.

It’s a nice laptop. I still trust Apple more than other brands. I’ve heard bad things about Razer’s reliability for instance.

 

[theSeb]

There are thousands of happy owners out there. The number of people complaining is basically a rounding error when taken as a percentage of the total sales. it’s easy to get caught up in the ‘hype’ since it seems that everybody has issues, but think about it for a minute. Do people register on forums to post, ‘everything is fine’? Do you ever see the news report that ‘ today in the suburb of xyz there was no crime at all’?

To put it another way, it is best to think of forums like these as a hospital. When you go to a hospital you should never be surprised to see sick people.

You‘ll find forums just like these for practically everything from other computer manufacturers to car brand specific forums; everybody has issues with something and they must tell the world about it