Apple Tells Suppliers to Expect Strong MacBook Pro Shipments Going into 2017

[Analog Kid]

I love how much of this discussion revolves around:

"I'm the one true Pro, so Apple should design a machine just for me. Everyone else are obviously rich posers because they don't even know which graphics chip does best on gaming benchmarks..."

 

[benjitek]

...you could try a small profile USB stick (of the USB-C kind obviously).

Nah... using a microSD card the way I do for supplemental storage, without ever removing it, I don't want anything sticking out the side. If I regularly swapped it out, like for transferring photos between a camera and my MBP, it would be less of a consideration. Thanks though for stopping by...

 

[alias99]

Someone at the store on Saturday said they would be but I don't think he knew what he was talking about. Still, it would be nice!

My local store had them on display on glass tubes so you couldn't get hands on with them.

Looked great, can definitely see the increased screen quality.

 

[Beer Wig]

All this noise about Apple not being for Pros is pure noise.

Yeah that - OR... your "it works for me so it's fine" argument is crap.

 

[tampageek]

Time will tell, but I don't think they'll sell in the long run.

They'll stop selling when people realize that these machines will be long-outdated and in need of replacement by the time USB-C is as widely used as USB-A /SD Card slots /HDMI. Look at the original 12'' MacBook. The only rush was to make dongles, not fundamental changes to all sorts of hardware. I think Apple misjudged the power over the market they have and the fact that they can't force the industry like they used to.

 

[Johnny907]

Even if the wise move is to wait for the kaby lake processors in the spring, these MBPs will easily shatter sales records.

They are simply stunning.

No, they really aren't. I've been using one for the last 10 days and it's going back as soon as the max spec'd 2015 MBP I ordered off eBay for the same price as this entry level stock 2016 MBP. It's well made but nowhere near stunning or worth the $1,500-1,800 starting price Apple expects you to pay.

 

[cult hero]

Agreed - USB-C is amazing, and the future. It'd be nice, once I'm done with dongles, to have a single set of cables and devices for everything.

Unfortunately... USB-C cables themselves are... a big of a mess. Some can charge, some can't. Some are USB 2, some USB 3, some Thunderbolt... It's still gonna be a bit of a mess.

 

[shk718]

Yep, I, and other family members are, all the time. We can only afford a single machine, and have to have portability (for example, to go print on a high-end UV printer).

At work, I have tech reps who regularly blow past even 32 GB of ram when running virtual machines for demos.

and you need more that 32g of RAM for your photo editing at home? on a mac? A friend of mine who does magazine work is able to do it on 8g.

 

[Johnny907]

I love how much of this discussion revolves around:

"I'm the one true Pro, so Apple should design a machine just for me. Everyone else are obviously rich posers because they don't even know which graphics chip does best on gaming benchmarks..."

You should probably put away your bias then, because the majority of the discussion is actually revolving around the inflated price, abandonment of commonly used ports in a professional environment and the general nerfing of useful features for the sake of this odd and frankly detrimental fixation Jony Ive has with thinner and lighter. Performance wise the thing runs just fine, but it is nowhere near worth what Apple is asking, especially when you factor in all of the things it no longer does compared to its predecessor.

 

[bluespark]

I have a 2013 MacBook Pro that I use for work. I need ethernet, more USB ports than what comes with my laptop and the ability to connect, via TB2, to two monitors. I use a dock. It's really simple and while it is more of an expense, it's an easily justifiable one when you factor in how much easier it makes my life and how that helps me do my work better. In other words....it pays for itself.

I have a 2016 MacBook Pro on order and have two TB2 > TB3 dongles sitting here in my desk drawer. Should be a pretty seamless transition. Would I prefer a world with no dongles? Sure and I feel like Apple making this move pushes the market closer and closer to a world where that is the case with as versatile as TB3 can be. Some of the hand wringing over this has been a bit much. I'm not going to switch to Windows to bridge the gap. I'm definitely not going to spend marginally less to buy a 2015 MacBook Pro with 2 year old tech in it. So I buy my dongles, keep using my dock and carry on about my business.

I think that view makes perfect sense and I don't disagree with anything you said, which amounts to your (valid) personal preference and your tolerance for Apple's forward-looking approach when it comes to device compatibility. The post to which you replied was directed at someone (probably not you) who dismissed the many professional users who have a need for other connections as "trolls." I was attacking that blanket characterization, not those who might find this to be a good product for their needs.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

You can just switch the Touch bar to always show the function keys. You might have problems to touch type them but my guess would be that most touch typists cannot touch type the function keys (to rarely used to bother learning).

Aah, good.
Do you know if this is a global feature or if this can be configured depending on the application in use?

 

[Johnny907]

My local store had them on display on glass tubes so you couldn't get hands on with them.

Looked great, can definitely see the increased screen quality.

It's the same screen tech as in the new MacBook. It's noticeable but not night and day like the jump to Retina was.

 

[Kameha]

"MAKE GREAT AGAIN" lol

"

"

 

[NT1440]

As for the red-herring of what I do (as if you care) let's say I'm a creative with two degrees on my wall that doesn't need to appeal to status to make a solid argument.

The irony....

 

[alias99]

It's the same screen tech as in the new MacBook. It's noticeable but not night and day like the jump to Retina was.

True. But it did stand out immediately when i looked at it. Currently using a RMBP.

Still not for me though, happy with my current machine. If they didn't increase the price that much i may have considered it.

 

[Beer Wig]

The irony....

What's the irony? My argument came before the answer to his condescending question which I tried to take the high road on by not being specific.

 

[michaelsviews]

"MAKE GREAT AGAIN" lol

View attachment 671084

Forward this to everyone at Apple and media outlets after Trump wins

 

[sofila]

I love how much of this discussion revolves around:

"I'm the one true Pro, so Apple should design a machine just for me. Everyone else are obviously rich posers because they don't even know which graphics chip does best on gaming benchmarks..."

I was reading something like "I'm the one true Pro, because I love this machine that Apple named for me and everybody else are obviously poor tramps because they don't even know which ports are needing today, just figure out tomorrow"

 

[NT1440]

What's the irony? My argument came before the answer to his condescending question which I tried to take the high road on by not being specific.

Yea, but you came off sounding pretentious as all get out while doing the exact same thing as him with or without realizing it.

What exactly do your degrees have to do with Macs?

 

[Beer Wig]

"MAKE GREAT AGAIN" lol

Careful one of the mods might censor you. They hate humor at Apple's expense you know.
[doublepost=1478635099][/doublepost]

Yea, but you came off sounding pretentious as all get out while doing the exact same thing as him with or without realizing it.

What exactly do your degrees have to do with Macs?

Yeah the first part was condescending but that's just a bonus to the argument I laid out. I felt it was worth returning the same attitude.

An appeal to status is a red herring that's why I pointed out it has nothing to do with the argument at the end.

 

[MallardDuck]

Unfortunately... USB-C cables themselves are... a big of a mess. Some can charge, some can't. Some are USB 2, some USB 3, some Thunderbolt... It's still gonna be a bit of a mess.

and some fry your machine!
[doublepost=1478635204][/doublepost]

and you need more that 32g of RAM for your photo editing at home? on a mac? A friend of mine who does magazine work is able to do it on 8g.

Yep, when you're doing fine art, with multiple layers in photoshop for large installations, you do. Magazine's are tiny by comparison.

 

[jkichline]

I'm a professional. I do the marketing and programming for my small company. That means I'm commonly compiling a large Xcode project or two along with Photoshop and video editing of tutorial videos. I'm in the market for a new MacBook Pro since my 2013 MBP is slower and I'd love to encode video and compile a bit faster.

Everyone is complaining about this MacBook Pro. I'm not sure why. It seems to be the following issues:

MOHR MEMORY!!!
I can understand and appreciate people who want more memory. But I think this is a) a technical limitation with the Intel mobile chipsets that limits the memory of these chips to 16 GB unless another memory controller is somehow introduced. However, that extra memory would mean slower speeds. For context, take a look at the specs from the 2015 MacBook Pro: http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-2015/

You'll notice that there's a different in RAM speed because of differences in chipset. You'll also notice the speed of the RAM if 1866 Mhz and 1600 Mhz speed. The new MacBook Pro operates at 2166 Mhz which is faster than the MacPro. Sure you could add more RAM or faster RAM, but it would not be low power and would require much more power fans and heat dissipation than most people prefer.

MOHR MONEY!!!
I'm not seeing this one. Every MacBook Pro that has been released has been in the same price range. It looks like Apple has maintained that price range while adding faster processors, memory and improvements all around. The same specs are available for the same price that they've always been at. So I'm not understanding this claim. I guess people just want something less expensive. I think Apple has done a decent job at making laptops in a range of prices for everyone.

NAW PORTZ!!!
There are only 4 USB-C ports on the MacBook Pro and that's irking a lot of people. It's probably the one reason that I didn't buy one off the bat (well that and my MBP is still going strong). Here's the thing though... the market will catch up to this. USB-C is the way things are going and I suspect that Apple will go "all-in" with this. Yes, if you want the latest and greatest right now, you'll need to buy dongles. But soon everything will head to this new form factor. Why in 2016 are we still pulling SD cards out of cameras and sticking them in our computers? Wireless tech should take over and handle this, or we could just plug in the camera or create USB-C style "cards" instead.

The speed of these ports is crazy and one of them can handle the needs of most people. Really all I need is to replace my current Thunderbolt dock with a new one and I'm ready to go. I still think Apple should ship a Lightning cable in the box and give users another free dongle of their choice. That would be a very considerate thing to do (and would probably sway me enough)

TOUCHBAR DUMB!!!
This is another minor claim. My question is... who cares? Its there if you want to use it. If not, don't. I'm not seeing a big reason to not expect Apple has thought this one out and it will be great moving forward as more developers implement it in their apps. Don't mock it until you've tried it.

 

[citysnaps]

It's the same screen tech as in the new MacBook. It's noticeable but not night and day like the jump to Retina was.

No it's not. The 2016 MacBook Pro is a much better display using the much wider DCI-P3 color gamut. The retina MacBook and older MBPs display the sRGB gamut.

If you're a photographer or graphic artist professional that's huge.

 

[Uplift]

I've seen a much better demo of the touch bar and it actually looks great... admittedly it wasn't showing anything groundbreaking but the display on the bar is great and it's really smooth and fluid, It didn't look gimmicky at all and seemed a well integrated part of the OS... Providing developers make use of this they could be on to a winner. we'll see.

 

[Kameha]

"MAKE APPLE GREAT AGAIN"

"

"