I disagree with you on this point. I don't think the new Pros have that many short comings. The change to 'USB C only' was inevitable after what they did with the 12"MB. I criticise them for not including dongles to connect USB A/B to C. All of their other products still use USB A/B including the iPhone launched the week before. They removed the headphone jack for that AND provided a dongle. They should have provided dongles with the new MBPs.
I don't think the MBP has any other shortcomings. The screen is better, the processor is as good as those on competing laptops, and as others have pointed out to give a 32GB option would negatively impact battery life, which has dropped from 12 to 10 hours already. The battery drop is disappointing, but I wouldn't say it's a short coming. That is still a full day's charge.
I've seen a touch-bar-less model in store and they are very impressive. But the price. That's a real issue. This was an incremental increase in processing power and customer utility. It should have been an incremental price increase, not their usual hike.
Moving to USB-C was not a surprise to anyone - but USB-C ONLY seemed a step too far for many. Bear in mind these are supposed to be Pro machines, so they should be set apart from the consumer-oriented MacBook models.
If I compare it to my current 15-inch MacBook Pro, Late 2011 model for example. For starters, it has no less than 10 ports, not 4 like the 2016 MacBook Pro. (MagSafe, Ethernet, Firewire 800, Thunderbolt, 2 x USB, SD-Card slot, 3.5mm Audio In & Out including optical in/out, DVD/CD burner, Kensington lock, and Infrared). I consider the lack of ports on the 2016 model a serious downgrade. Even though I welcome the benefits of USB-C, they do not make up for lack of all these ports alone. Even as multi-use ports that can be adapted to individual requirements, the fact that I only have 4 to start with is problematic. - These ports are precious! - Why would I want to 'waste' one of these hi-speed ports to do something as mundane as charging, or as lowly as reading an SD card? Surely sticking a couple of regular USB ports on there wouldn't be too much to ask? It almost seems inevitable that this thing needs to be paired with a Thunderbolt dock of some description to bring back the connectivity that has been lost as a result.
My 2011 Macbook Pro allows me to upgrade both the Hard drive and the RAM. I consider that a major plus point. I originally bought the base model with 4GB RAM, and 500 GB drive. Since then I have upgraded the RAM to 16GB, and replaced the hard drive with a SSD after a hard drive failure. This brings me to my next point. - I refuse to pay Apple's over-inflated prices for RAM and storage. Deliberately making the base configuration so poorly spec'ed, then soldering these components into the machine and then charging the prices they do is nothing short of extortion. This has nothing to do with designing for user experience, not price. I can't think of one good reason to why Apple memory and storage is so highly priced, other than locking users in for pure profit. - What happens in case of data corruption or hard drive failure? - A whole logic board replacement becomes necessary! This is definitely a downgrade as far as the end user is concerned.
Losing innovative features like MagSafe are a big deal. I've owned Apple laptops before MagSafe was invented, that have been damaged due to someone tripping over the power chord. Since it's invention I've still had many close calls - but MagSafe has saved the day, and performed what it was designed to do.
Apple has been gradually removing ports, reducing functionality, and further locking users into their increasingly closed business model. Now the price has increased, the expandability has been diminished with no upgrade path whatsoever. Then now with the aggressive pushing of free system updates Apple can also plan for your machine's obsolescence too. These machines (although expensive) used to be a worthwhile investment, that with a bit of care would provide many years of useful service. Now these machines seem to be an expensive liability, that may sway the balance against purchasing these machines for many people. I know I haven't purchased another Apple machine past the 2012 models, due to the lack of upgradeability alone. Lack of ports and expandability options is just yet another reason to give these 2016 models a miss.
