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

[wheelhot]

Well, if Phil Schiller still doesn't understand why the reaction was so negative, then perhaps he needs to be shifted to a different position. I'm not into marketing, but I understand the reaction. I ordered a new MacBook Pro, so I have no particular agenda. As for the negative response by many, one only has to review the video from the event. First, there was no passion by any of the presenters on stage. Apart from the software engineer chief, the demeanor of the executives was a sense of; 'I'm bored and don't want to be here.' They all seemed highly scripted and poorly prepared. Tim especially relied on the teleprompter more than in any other event I’ve seen.

The worst part of the presentation was the examples they chose to showcase the ‘touch bar.' They were not relevant or encompassing of and average user in a day-to-day application. The DJ demo made the feature look like a gimmick, period! Then came the demo of how you can more quickly select an emoji. Really? Then, who could forget the camera panning of a group of people in the audience with expressions of boredom, discontentment, and preoccupation? The applause from the audience was like that of a golf event. Sounds of the typical woo, woo from someone in the background seemed fake. In fact, I've gone back and reviewed previous events where I could hear the same voice blaring out; woo, woo in the same pattern and cadence.

In my opinion, the lack of connectivity on the MBP, I believe Apple could have averted some of the vitriol by addressing the rationale behind the changes, or possibly have included a USB-C to Lightning cable.

Yeah, and that comparison to how fast the new MacBooks is to the early notebook is hilarious as well

 

[MallardDuck]

So-called computer "professionals," a term that's loaded with romanticized lofty use cases, actually run a wide gamut. Not everyone is running Maya, Solidworks, etc, looking for the next prime number, or trying to decrypt secret communications.

But for the ones that are, this is a huge miss. Photoshop falls in there too. Swap sucks even on an ssd.
[doublepost=1478182124][/doublepost]

Ahem, Steve launched the 2008 MacBook Air with one port 2GB RAM and $1800 starting price. Redesigned machine with additional port wasn't released until fall 2010.

Yep. That wasn't the only option though. We had the pro too. Now it's just a retina air.

 

[wheelhot]

"One thing is for sure, the specs are not the reason people buy these for."

That's for sure? And your speaking for everyone?

I'm going to purchase one early next year. And, as a photographer it will absolutely be about specs, starting with:

1) the high-performance color-accurate DCI-P3 wide gamut display
2) and then flexible high-performance I/0 (with charging)
3) the ability to drive external 5K displays over single cable (including display data, programming, sound, and laptop charging)
4) large trackpad
5) Bluetooth 4.2
6) long battery life
7) compact lightweight design
8) and macOS that works well on connectivity with my iOS devices and other computers.

For me, and likely many others, it's all about specs.

Yeah, if Apple allowed me to develop iOS app on a Windows machine without any workarounds, I would've ordered the new Razer Blade. At least I know it'll last well many years and I'll be able to do some 3D CAD with it, unlike the new MBPs 13" where I'm not sure how well will the 3D CAD software run at all. Apple is lucky that MacOS is keeping theirs users to stay with them.

 

[Uplift]

Well, if Phil Schiller still doesn't understand why the reaction was so negative, then perhaps he needs to be shifted to a different position. I'm not into marketing, but I understand the reaction. I ordered a new MacBook Pro, so I have no particular agenda. As for the negative response by many, one only has to review the video from the event. First, there was no passion by any of the presenters on stage. Apart from the software engineer chief, the demeanor of the executives was a sense of; 'I'm bored and don't want to be here.' They all seemed highly scripted and poorly prepared. Tim especially relied on the teleprompter more than in any other event I’ve seen.

The worst part of the presentation was the examples they chose to showcase the ‘touch bar.' They were not relevant or encompassing of an average user in a day-to-day application. The DJ demo made the feature look like a gimmick, period! Then came the demo of how you can more quickly select an emoji. Really? Then, who could forget the camera panning of a group of people in the audience with expressions of boredom, discontentment, and preoccupation? The applause from the audience was like that of a golf event. Sounds of the typical woo, woo from someone in the background seemed fake. In fact, I've gone back and reviewed previous events where I could hear the same voice blaring out; woo, woo in the same pattern and cadence.

In my opinion, the lack of connectivity on the MBP, I believe Apple could have averted some of the vitriol by addressing the rationale behind the changes, or possibly have included a USB-C to Lightning cable.

I must admit, I was sick in my mouth when they demo'd the emoji bar...

 

[melendezest]

I am in the minority within the vocal detractors, but, I agree with his assessment of a MBP not having a touch screen. Having to interact by reaching up isn't natural, nor ergonomically comfortable in practice.

I'm sorry, but the whole excuse both Apple and its more hardcore fans put up in regards to not doing a touchscreen MBP is BS.

Here's why:

Enough, please.

 

[Smoak5]

And the BS about why they chose not to include touch surface in the MBP...the L shape, doesn't make sense....lol. What a bunch of bull. Have they forgotten about the ipad Pro with the keyboard? Seems to not be too much of an ergonomic problem and i have gotten used to it, as well as every child these days....when they come to a laptop, they insticitively try to swipe the screen....

 

[Thunderhawks]

"One thing is for sure, the specs are not the reason people buy these for."

That's for sure? And your speaking for everyone?

I'm going to purchase one early next year. And, as a photographer it will absolutely be about specs, starting with:

1) the high-performance color-accurate DCI-P3 wide gamut display
2) and then flexible high-performance I/0 (with charging)
3) the ability to drive external 5K displays over single cable (including display data, programming, sound, and laptop charging)
4) large trackpad
5) Bluetooth 4.2
6) long battery life
7) compact lightweight design
8) and macOS that works well on connectivity with my iOS devices and other computers.

For me, and likely many others, it's all about specs.

Glad we found at least one person who is happy with this overpriced machine

 

[b-dogg]

Let's see how long until they are available next day in the stores.... let's see when supplier start leaking demand reductions information.... this is positive spin at its best.

Yep. How many cancellations and returns will they see I wonder?

I ordered and returned the new MacBook and Apple Watch 2 within 7 days for a refund I was so underwhelmed. Thought they'd grow on me. But I couldn't justify their functionality and price. This is coming from a seasoned apple fan and money wasn't the key issue.

 

[obiwan]

Yup, my IPhone 7 is not "Pro", I must be an amateur.

Maybe Apple will release an iPhone 7 Pro with additional 3.5mm headphone port. They could even charge twice the price for it - there's a thought...!

 

[melendezest]

Yeah, if Apple allowed me to develop iOS app on a Windows machine without any workarounds, I would've ordered the new Razer Blade. At least I know it'll last well many years and I'll be able to do some 3D CAD with it, unlike the new MBPs 13" where I'm not sure how well will the 3D CAD software run at all. Apple is lucky that MacOS is keeping theirs users to stay with them.

Yep. I'm seriously looking at those machines, especially the Blade Pro 17":

Black unibody aluminium, .88" thick (thinner than my current 17" MBP)
2 PCIe SSDs (up to 2TB combined in RAID 0 !!!)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 discrete graphics (8GB!!)
Every port currently in wide use (ZERO dongles required, except maybe VGA)
-SDXC
-TB3/USB-c
-3 USB3
-Gbit Ethernet
-HDMI
-Headphone jack (bi-directional)
Oh, yeah, and a 17.3", 4K Touchscreen

It's the cMBP I wish Apple had built, but NEVER will.

It's expensive, but if I'm going to pay a lot, then I might as well get that beautiful beast. I think it's a better value than the seriously overpriced MBP15.

Thank God that the competition is thinking of me (and those like me).

 

[manu chao]

if you consider your laptop charger a dongle, that's good you can add it to long list of dongles we need these days!

The point is, we don't just need it these days, we have needed it since the beginning of time. In fact, by using USB-C, we now have a situation where for the first time in Mac laptop history, charging is not done with a proprietary connector.

 

[fynwine350z]

I'm sorry, but the whole excuse both Apple and its more hardcore fans put up in regards to not doing a touchscreen MBP is BS.

Here's why:

Enough, please.

Not a fair comparison at all. What you see here is adding functionality to a device and software completely around touch.

Taking a device and software that's designed completely around keyboard and mouse input and then adding touch to it is completely different.

It's also confusing from a UI design perspective. If you're on an iPad, I know your input is going to be your fat greasey fingers so I need to adapt the interface. If the input could be your fat greasey fingers OR your high precision mouse....what do I do? Probably design for your fingers and have others suffer a reduced experience.

 

[pier]

Having a powerful GPU (1060 isn't even powerful) in a notebook is just dumb.

1060 is pretty powerful, almost double the performance of the 460. Much more powerful than most desktops today with non Pascal GPUs.

What's really dumb is thinking that powerful GPUs are only for gaming.

 

[UTS]

Very sceptical that this is actually true and Apple wouldnt say otherwise or its shares and investors would start playing up. The fact remains Apple have had to increase the price of iphone and Macbooks to offset the drop in sales and keep profits to past levels. I expect to see even less macbooks sold in the next couple of quarters and we will see if the scenario of 'pricing up' will keep profits up next year.

 

[rGiskard]

No no, adapters are cumbersome, slots are convenient. Yet another example of Apple's failure to view a product from a user's perspective. It's all about what's easy to design and manufacture for thin products with fat margins.

 

[wheelhot]

Yep. I'm seriously looking at those machines, especially the Blade Pro 17":

Black unibody aluminium, .88" thick (thinner than my current 17" MBP)
2 PCIe SSDs (up to 2TB combined in RAID 0 !!!)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 discrete graphics (8GB!!)
Every port currently in wide use (ZERO dongles required, except maybe VGA)
-SDXC
-TB3/USB-c
-3 USB3
-Gbit Ethernet
-HDMI
-Headphone jack (bi-directional)
Oh, yeah, and a 17.3", 4K Touchscreen

It's the cMBP I wish Apple had built, but NEVER will.

It's expensive, but if I'm going to pay a lot, then I might as well get that beautiful beast. I think it's a better value than the seriously overpriced MBP15.

Thank God that the competition is thinking of me (and those like me).

Yup, if it wasn't for iOS development I would've said Bon voyage to Apple portables

 

[ocnitsa]

I'm sorry, but the whole excuse both Apple and its more hardcore fans put up in regards to not doing a touchscreen MBP is BS.

Here's why:

Enough, please.

Yep...and they said they have no plan to integrate a mouse on the iPad....so a MBP with touch screen is not comfortable or natural, but an iPad being used in a laptop-like way, with a keyboard, requires the use of touch and Apple will not integrate mouse capabilities.

 

[wheelhot]

1060 is pretty powerful, almost double the performance of the 460. Much more powerful than most desktops today with non Pascal GPUs.

What's really dumb is thinking that powerful GPUs are only for gaming.

Yup! And Apple kept boxing themselves to using less powerful GPUs when they're already powerful options at reasonable power rate in the market, thank goodness for manufacturers like Razer showing what's possible to be done. Let's admit it, Apple is not courageous enough to build a powerful notebook (in relation to competition)

 

[ofarlig]

1060 is pretty powerful, almost double the performance of the 460. Much more powerful than most desktops today with non Pascal GPUs.

What's really dumb is thinking that powerful GPUs are only for gaming.

Yeah but do you really need the difference while on the go? I would rather have thin and light and use a 1080 with an eGPU using thunderbolt 3.

 

[ginkobiloba]

As if it wasn't enough bad news, the Ars Technica review reveals that the new MBP 13" has actually slower WiFI than last year's MB Air !
This is just totally inacceptable. It's getting really really hard to like Apple lately.

 

[wheelhot]

Yeah but do you really need the difference while on the go?

There's already the MacBook for people who doesn't need powerful GPU

 

[Elian_Gonzalez]

That's what happens when you don't friggin update them for ages and there's pent up demand. Duh...

But I thought creatives and developers were disgusted by these lame offerings.

 

[wheelhot]

But I thought creatives and developers were disgusted by these lame offerings.

Sometimes they have no choice, could be their software is OSX or plugins or for some, iOS development is strictly on Mac only. And with what the market is offering, you would hope a premium brand like Apple would at least keep up with the competition instead of putting themselves at the corner when it comes to performance.

The best part of it all is, Apple is in the position where people wants to literally throw money to them but with what they offered, many ppl is considering the alternatives

 

[rGiskard]

Most upsetting is Schiller's surprise at the backlash to these pro-priced consumer grade laptops.

Check out the Razer laptop. It is the modern version of my 17" MBP. 4K 17" display, nice and thick with lots of ports and the fastest mobile GPU on the market.

Apple's board need to wake the ef up and bring focus to Apple's management.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

The devil is in the details.

Orders≠Sales.

His statement also does not speak to 3rd party and institutional sales.

A prominent Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, is on record saying that Apple's new MacBook Pro sales are significantly lagging previous generations. He is forecasting a 20% decline in MacBook Pro shipments this year as a result of Apple's price increase and minimal increase in technical specs.

The fact that Schiller felt compelled to make this statement is an indication that Apple is playing defense.

The problem at Apple: Tim Cook. He offers no leadership, no direction, no vision for the company's products. He manages Apple like he did supply chains under Steve Jobs. He treats the various teams like business units and they pretty much do their own thing. Who is the gatekeeper? Who is doing what Steve Jobs used to do, i.e., determining whether something is good enough? How many product prototypes has Tim Cook rejected because they suck?

Let me remind everyone that every year, Cook says something like "we have a lot of great products in our pipeline." He's been saying this for years. Apparently what he means is new iterations of iOS devices. He is full of crap. He can't innovate his way out of preschool.

Tim, Microsoft is running circles around your ass with the Surface line of products. Those are amazing. When Surface Studio was launched, I would have thought it an Apple product if I didn't see the Microsoft logo. Apple has lost its mojo for several years now and the chickens are coming home to roost. Microsoft turned it all around once it cut Balmer out like the tumor that he is and found a great new CEO.

If you are a stockholder and you care about Apple, you need to push for a stockholder vote on getting rid of Tim Cook. Even if it doesn't pass, and it likely won't, it will send a decisive message to the rest of the Board, the media, and stock analysts. Tim's days are numbered or sure, the only question is whether Apple will cut its losses sooner rather than later.

Apple needs someone like Elon Musk at the helm, Tim Cook should go manage a company like Dunkin Donuts.