Apple Has Received More Online Orders for New MacBook Pro Than Any Previous Generation

[Digital Skunk]

So when did the 3.5 mm headphone jack become a PROFESSIONAL port? I'm not entirely convinced that a 3.5 mm analog audio out port is HIGHEND and a basic SDXC card reader is not.

I'm not going to miss the SD reader, but that comment just stuck out and made me think Schiller really is just making things up.

All in all, the MBP is what it is, and given the last update it's going to be that for a VERY LONG TIME, so we'd better get used to it or get a move on.

..... I think I'll buy the high-end 15"

 

[Pootmatoot]

That's where I'm at. Heck, I really LIKE the machines but... the price is too high. If you're buying this machine to last a while, it needs 16GB of RAM, which should be standard on the top tier 13". It isn't, so the premium there is more like $700. Too rich for my blood on something that was in no way necessary given my current laptop.

I've no problem with high prices for a best-in-industry laptop.

This thing just isn't. It's not even best-in-class for 13inch ultrabooks, nevermind the current generation of ultra-thin desktop replacements. Add on that Apple is on a 2 year+ upgrade cycle, and it's just potty.

 

[544263]

Question to all:

PROfessional ... includes PROfessional facebookers, right ?

 

[idunn]

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller said the company has received more online orders for the new MacBook Pro so far than any previous-generation MacBook Pro.

Which is precisely why Apple continues to get away with this crap.

 

[peter2]

Just curious because I don't really know. Why can't pro photographers plug their camera in with a USB cable? Or hell. A new USB c cable with higher transfer speeds? Wouldn't that actually be better?

I imagine a pro photographer has something at the order of 10 SD cards per camera. Apart from that, even for a "normal" user, an SD card slot was a nice way to expand storage (e.g. in the MB Air, where the storage was / is ridiculously small / expensive).

 

[jmgregory1]

People will buy it, just not professionals that need a tool like drafting table, for music, for audio, photography, videography, etc. A headphone jack does not make it professional. Is he saying that the iPhone 7 is not for professionals? Ok, got it, i won't be buying the iPhone 7 because I am a professional. And what is more cumbersome, a slot on the side of the computer for my SD cards, or an adapter from a flimsy USB C to a gigantic hub that I need to carry on the plane with me? Oh did I mention that the adapter apple is selling only converts to USB 3, and that I cannot hook all my devices up at one time? Sure over time we will get a hub adapter that does all of this, but I am a professional that needs to work on a plane or in the back of a car. An adapter is way more cumbersome.

What the heck Apple?

I think that one thing Apple recognizes, even if they're acting slightly in haste, is that many of the connections and storage solutions, like SD cards, are getting (or are already) outdated and replaced by wireless and faster wired options. SD card readers, even the best of them, are just so slow, that they are (along with the SD cards themselves), the bottleneck in transferring files.

I get that the camera (assuming you're a photographer) or sound recorder you're using may well use SD cards for storage and they're cheap and easy to find and use, but like the floppy disks that came before them, they're not the panacea they're portrayed as [when all of a sudden you can't use them].

Change is always going to be hard for people and businesses alike, but once you move to the new faster / better / more modern tech, you'll look back and wonder how you did what you do now with the old tech - and then complain once again when a new faster / better tech replaces what you're using.

 

[544263]

Which is precisely why Apple continues to get away with this crap.

after all, time will show.

 

[extrachrispy]

I went to the Apple Store to try one for myself. There are none on display with the Touch Bar. There was a 13" non-Touch Bar version.

Impressions:

• The Big Damn Touchpad(™) didn't give me any haptic feedback, and attempts to do the peek/poke thing didn't do anything. Maybe the demo machine was misconfigured, or maybe app support hasn't caught up yet. Reserving judgement for later.
• I couldn't try the Touch Bar for myself. My demo was basically to open Terminal, open vim, and start typing song lyrics to check the keyboard action. I was particularly interested in how the soft escape key is going to work for programmers like me. I'll have to wait until those models reach the store. I did not like the keyboard--I'm used to the scissor-switch keyboard on my 2013, and when sitting down at a fixed work location (work office or home office), I have an external keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches, to give you an idea of my preference for action and feedback. I tried a Macbook as well, and man, that's the worst keyboard I've ever used on a laptop. Only membrane keyboards are worse.
• Couldn't give a rip that it's thinner, or that it comes in colors. Those are bonuses, if they don't impair function.
• I can live with USB-C, though I lament the passing of MagSafe. USB-C does not solve the problems that MagSafe elegantly solved. I ruined the motherboard of an HP laptop years ago by kicking the power cord and breaking the connector off inside the machine.

I was not in the market for a new laptop right now--I've had my 2013 15" for two years, and I expect to get at least another three years out of it. The thought of getting a new one and handing my old one to my girlfriend crossed my mind briefly, but no way, because:

• The butterfly-switch keyboard is awful. In a clear case of form over function, Ive decided to make the damned thing too thin to accommodate the travel for a scissors-switch keyboard. Give me an extra millimeter, and it would still be thinner than the previous model, but actually be usable.
• 16GB of DDR3 RAM is inexcusable in a "Pro" machine that costs this much. This is the same form-over-function BS that led to the awful keyboard. An extra mm would have provided enough battery capacity to offset the drain from 32GB of DDR4.
• Nickel-diming for the damned power brick extension cord? REALLY? In a machine that costs this much? Are you KIDDING me?!?!

I'll wait and see if they beat Ive about the head and shoulders with wet newspapers to make a real "Pro" machine and reconsider in a couple of years.

 

[544263]

Change is always going to be hard for people and businesses alike, but once you move to the new faster / better / more modern tech, you'll look back and wonder how you did what you do now with the old tech - and then complain once again when a new faster / better tech replaces what you're using.

There is just one catch: the new needs to actually be better, faster. i don't see that with the keyboard, for example.

 

[DataChris]

It's akin to not feeding a dog for 4 years and then throwing it an old shoe and then saying... "This is the most ravenous shoe eating we have ever seen in our dog before."

 

[vpro]

These units sold reflect the growing number of "self proclaimed" youtube tech-hipsters ordering them to review, to unbox, to destroy and to "give away" - the number does not reflect how many units will remain in use beyond the return date policy! Just as many will be refunded thus becoming available in the next few months before NYE as "refurbished". The early sales are no indication of anything but a "curious purchase turned refund".

 

[username:]

Of course they have. There are more Mac users now than ever. There are more people on the planet now than ever. That's why every iPhone and every new product breaks the sales records. Simple math, but definitely not a telling statistic.

Ridiculous. You might as well say

" sales are unrelated to quality of the products! Population is growing so sales will go up regardless!"

 

[incoherent_1]

I'm not entirely convinced that a 3.5 mm analog audio out port is HIGHEND and a basic SDXC card reader is not.

I won't speak for all photographers, but personally, I stopped using the SD slot awhile ago, as it's now just easier to plug my camera directly into USB and pull the photos that way, since my Canon DSLR has both CF and SD card (and even if it didn't, it's easier to attach one plug than fiddle with memory cards).

 

[amegicfox]

More hallucinations. Sir Jony Ive is an Apple icon and will stay with them until he's done with fight. And this is a fight. He will eventually leave and that will be a sad day for Apple fans.

you should be embarrassed to call that foul, 'sir'

without Steve Jobs, Ive has shown how easily replaceable he is

look at:

1. Apple mouse charging at the bottom
2. Apple pen with a male plug instead of female
3. Apple battery case bump also called hunchback
4. iPhone and iPad disgusting camera warts that keep getting bigger
5. Macbook with one port and when you are charging it, you have no port
6. Slippery material of the iPhone and iPad
7. Mirror like screens in every laptop
8. Horrifying white background with skinny fonts and transparency everywhere
9. Latest mac books without magsafe
10. Flat keyboards without travel
11. Mac pro trashcan that forced users to have a mess of cables and expansions around their desk
12. iMacs without the space for 7200rpm drives, no mic port, no target display
13. Neutered mac minis with soldered ram and neutered 2 cores update
14. Killed beautiful Skeuomorphism design and german design school Bauhaus
15. Jony should not have touched software and interface design. He has completely no clue

Jony is CLUELESS about design and needs a real visionary to tell him how to execute an idea

Jony will go down in history as the king of adapters, a guy who killed function over thinning!

SAD

 

[slimothy]

Hoping next year's are more worth it.

 

[clangers23]

Not surprised, it's a great laptop (now I've seen one) and it hasn't had a complete redesign in four years. He could also just be reflecting the ever increasing migration from in-store to online purchases.

Many people are happy to pay extra for perceived quality too.

There's considerable unhappiness from a minority who no longer feel that Macbook Pro's address their needs but this will be a small percentage of the targeted market. Apple aren't interested in meeting those needs any longer and are aiming for a wider audience with laptops which are effective now ultraportable 13" and 15" model's.

Will be interesting to see how it's selling in six months time?

 

[DevNull0]

"We care about what they love and what they are worried about."

LOL.

Yea, please make the next MacBook Pro even thinner .... its just too ****ing thick. Jesus.

I'm worried the next MacBook pro won't be thin enough to slice food. I love computers that are thin enough to slice food.

 

[Juicy Box]

Sales numbers are released every quarter. AW is in the "other" category.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you are talking about total iPhone sales. Is there a break down of how many of each iPhone was sold? Because mention iP7 numbers. They may have sold 50 mil iPhones, but how many of them were iP7, and the launch weekend sales were never announced.

Apple will probably mention them at the next iPhone event, but nothing so far.

As for AW, that too is not broken down, but put into the whole "other" category. So, there is no way of telling how many were sold.

Am I wrong?

 

[gugy]

well, I hope all the criticism Apple is getting from the Pro community will open their eyes but I am not counting on it.
I just purchased AppleCare for my 2015 MBP. I'll keep that guy until maybe a future update for the MBP can have at least 32GB RAM. I am not expecting the end of the Dongle fest. I guess we will just need to accept it and move on.
In the meantime I still have some hope for a silent update for Mac Pro and Mac Mini.

 

[DevNull0]

please, let me finish this one for you:

no baby lake processors, no magsafe, no SD card slot, no touch screen, no matte screen, no wireless charging, no macbook.

It's actually pretty funny what your autocorrect did there. That shows us where Kaby Lake is on Apple's radar.

 

[Chones cajones]

I can't stand this suggestion, I would never want USB A and USB C on the same computer. Awful design choice. Also extremely obvious that Apple would never do that. Had a lengthy argument with someone thinking that they would do that prior to the release, and well, pretty obvious what turned out.

So if you've got half a dozen external drives, a card reader and various other things you need to plug in - none of which are USB-C - what's your plan?

 

[pbasmadj]

I personally am thrilled about the new line.
As an owner of the new 13" Pro, I really don't understand people's problem with it.

- Benchmarks great, much faster
- Better storage
- Better ram
- Sleek with the great universal USB C ports
- Better screen
- Better battery
- Definitely better design


It is my favorite laptop I have ever owned. Purchased a USB C lightning cable, some USB C sony flash drives, and a few other odds and ends, and my suite is done. I really want these people complaining to draft up the laptop they envision in CAD and show us exactly what they want, because I think they did a really outstanding job.

My only qualm is that I think they should have released a 15" without the touchbar. That is probably the only thing that irks me.

 

[btrach144]

People need to stop supporting Apple's latest business practices. Vote with your wallet!

 

[jmgregory1]

That's where I'm at. Heck, I really LIKE the machines but... the price is too high. If you're buying this machine to last a while, it needs 16GB of RAM, which should be standard on the top tier 13". It isn't, so the premium there is more like $700. Too rich for my blood on something that was in no way necessary given my current laptop.

Isn't that the great thing about Apple's computers? That you can actually just keep using them for years, only needing to upgrade when something breaks or doesn't do what you need anymore?

I wouldn't complain about getting a new 15" rMBP, if just for the better screen and battery life, even with the price bump, but right now I don't need a new one as my current early 2013 does the job for me - and it is a couple of iterations behind on SSD speed, the GPU pales in comparison to what you can get today AND battery life is about half what they are now.

But none of that has stopped me from working 10-12 hours a day on it. This isn't just Apple, many people live with even cheap PC's, which is at least one reason sales are not growing like they used to. We've definitely hit a plateau with computers, be they handheld, laptop or desktop, where yearly advances are incremental, instead of being transformative. There will certainly come a time when we take the next big leap, but it's likely years, maybe even decades, away.

 

[Freeks]

Well, if you start selling Macbook under Macbook Pro name, then no **** it's gonna sell. But that don't mean that they sell PRO computers more.