Apple Tested Larger Battery and Gold Color Option on MacBook Pro, Lightning Port on MacBook

[GtrDude]

So they admittedly made a product that even they themselves knew would be inferior ONLY so they could start selling it before the Christmas shopping rush.
Instead of having the team of engineers work on the new battery and come out a few months later.
Then they pride themselves on 17% thinner. Something NO MBP USER ever cared about or asked for. The "thinner is better" people simply went to MacBook Air.
Truly amazing.
There is no honor or integrity left at Apple. It's all money money money.
OUT WITH TIM COOK.........NOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MrGuder]

This is another reason I went with the 2015 MacBook Pro model, it has a larger battery. Apple must have known battery would be eaten up with dedicated graphics and why they wanted a larger battery but couldn't make it work in time for production. Why is everything blamed on not enough to time to production? They had years to work on this issue.

 

[Scary Spice]

Why does it seem an impossible task to bring a new laptop to market?

Apple spends literally BILLIONS on R&D. Much smaller companies (Dell, Lenovo, etc) have no troubles churning out dozens of models every year.

They probably have more engineers on the mbp charger than SJ had on the team that brought the original Mac to life.

 

[aristobrat]

I wonder how much power that new design would have had.

The batteries in the current 15" model are 76.0-watt-hour.

When it comes to flying, the FAA states "Lithium ion (rechargeable) batteries are limited to a rating of 100 watt hours (Wh) per battery.", so you'd guess the new design would be at or under that.

A bit disappointing that they raised the price even while knowing that they are screwing their customers a bit.

Wonder if the price increase would have been more than $400 if they were able to ship the battery they had planned on?

 

[v0lume4]

They probably have more engineers on the mbp charger than SJ had on the team that brought the original Mac to life.

Yet Magsafe has now been replaced with a standard USB charging port.

 

[amegicfox]

I can't believe Tim is so careless, incompetent and GREEDY !

 

[GtrDude]

"I find it increasingly hard on this forum to differentiate between any of it's threads from the standard "bash Tim", "apple doomed" and "its not like the old days" that every thread here seems to accumulate. Perhaps I am the last human here and its now chatbot nirvana ? That would make more sense frankly as I do belong to quite a few other brand forums (Porsche being one) and none serves up such a steady drip-drip of negativity....."​

Maybe there are fewer reasons to be disappointed in Porsche than Apple.
I do remember the outbursts a few years ago when they came out with the Panamera.
Many Porsche owners were quite negative then. Maybe you weren't on the forums back then.

You can not say there's negativity here and not on Porsche so therefor we're all just negative people.

Look at the new Mac's and compare them to the older ones and you can see there's a clear dip in what the company even cares to put out there.
It's all about the money now.
They even admit in the article that they put out this product knowing it was inferior just to catch the Christmas shoppers.

 

[Pentium]

Why would a battery design be the driving factor in price point? That doesn't make sense.

When you have plans for better product, then this product fails at some level of design and you have to sacrifice some features (battery life here) you may think to at least reduce your crazy pricing policy...

 

[truthertech]

Not speaking for everybody, but obviously there's a lot of stupid sheep that will buy anything as long as it has an Apple logo on it. And it speaks volumes--it's the reason why the new MBP is selling, despite it lacking the I/O and battery power necessary for it to be a "pro" laptop.

If only these real professional users would have listened to the trolls on the web:


http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/art...with-the-new-macbook-pros-and-final-cut-pro-x

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tho...essionals-look-at_b_12894856.html?1478795028&

http://www.zdnet.com/product/apple-macbook-pro-with-touch-bar-15-inch-2016/

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-macbook-pro-2016-review-from-a-video-editor-2016-11

 

[thedommer2000]

The batteries in the current 15" model are 76.0-watt-hour.

When it comes to flying, the FAA states "Lithium ion (rechargeable) batteries are limited to a rating of 100 watt hours (Wh) per battery.", so you'd guess the new design would be at or under that.


Wonder if the price increase would have been more than $400 if they were able to ship the battery they had planned on?

Interesting. If they had it at the 100 watt that would have been awesome. I guess next year will get that. An upto 12 hrs really would be perfect for most people. The up to 10 hrs is not amazing. I always bring my charger with me just in case. It's just a bit shy of what I need.

 

[villicodelirant]

What's really sad is that many professional companies like Black Magic or Autodesk
ported their flagship software to Mac. That took them a lot of time and effort.
And now there is basically no Macs to run it on...

This.

But that's not what's worrying me - it's other manufacturers making their laptops "more like current Macs", which means "more like iPhones".

 

[moonjelly]

Fortunately, this is the land of free enterprise and while most didn't vote in the last election, consumers all still vote with their pocketbook. Bombarded with choices, they get to choose. Just because you get a steady diet of negativity on forums or Twitter, and that sours your mood and outlook on Apple, doesn't mean that the vast majority of people don't get the joy and delight you lack from Apple's products. The Airpods are a great example, I've watched and read multiple reviews. People love 'em. My neighbor just got a pair and he came over to show them off. Says they are the best wireless he's ever used.

Don't ever forget that you are in a bubble of negativity on these comment boards because they attract a disproportionate number of trollers and disaffected folks. Next time you are out, take a stop in an Apple store. You'll see that they are packed with folks who are willing to spend their hard earned money because Apple products bring them that delight.

Oh, and it's easy to take a shot at McDonalds, but is there anyone who won't secretly admit it that those fries are a delight and joy. Oh, and the Shamrock shakes. Oh baby!

^^^
So right. Except for the Shamrock Shakes. Those are disgusting.
Not just about the bubble of negativity. Especially right about the skewed perceptions.

All manufacturers are facing slowing improvement cycles in key technologies like integrated circuits and batteries. Apple isn't trying to sell you a new computer every 9 months because the value isn't there for you the consumer. But everyone is so used to it in computers, that it really hasn't sunk in yet. Does broccoli get 50% better every 9 months? Until nano-tech matures and we have quantum computers [Its not sic-fi. Its coming.] you should start buying computers on a 3+ year replacement cycle. A top spec rMBP realistically has a useful life well over 5 years. Laptops are far less disposable now than 10 years ago. And MACs are notoriously long lived with good resale. These calls for replaceable memory and solid state drives, I don't even... There are huge benefits in performance, reliability and cooling with soldered components. The drives are super fast and reliable. So they soldered them. It was a great decision. Its why everyone solders the CPU unlike the bad old days.

Many complaints apple is not innovating. Clearly they are, but they had a setback innovating batteries. You get the fastest SSD tech in the industry. They innovated in the display. Read up haters. Someone posted they gave us old batteries. No. They gave the best battery currently available. They didn't give you a sub-standard battery design like a recent infamous mistake by a competitor. Maybe they will succeed innovating the next battery. Don't act so entitled to innovation. So the battery isn't as huge as they had targeted. Plug in an external battery if you are a heavy user. Just put it in your bag. Don't act like you carry this thing around bare metal in your hand. Plenty of people are getting the advertised ~10 hours. Maybe next year you can send it in for a next-gen battery retrofit. Wouldn't surprise me.

Should they plan on current battery tech and leave room? Should they plan on the innovative battery tech that worked in the smaller devices like rMB and phones? If the haters want to criticize for an innovation setback, let them show their true colors. But get the facts right.

 

[amegicfox]

Tim has been abusing the heck out of Apple customers

 

[Scary Spice]

Lightning on the MB sounds good, but I think they made the right call. USB-C is the future, I wouldn't be surprised if iPhone use it soon.

I would bet that the iPhone 9 goes to ZERO connectors with wireless charging.

That would allow apple to drop lightening and put USB-C on the iPads.

 

[moonjelly]

Interesting. If they had it at the 100 watt that would have been awesome. I guess next year will get that. An upto 12 hrs really would be perfect for most people. The up to 10 hrs is not amazing. I always bring my charger with me just in case. It's just a bit shy of what I need.

Up to 10 hours is amazing. You are just jaded and nitpicking. If not for MAC we'd still be in the zillion TeraHz performance spec war race to the bottom quality PC world with up to 45 minutes battery.

What is chapping me is people criticizing them for not innovating. You want them to plan on current battery tech and leave room? Or you want them to plan on the innovative battery tech that worked in the smaller devices like rMB and phones? If the haters want to criticize for an innovation setback, let them show their true colors. But get the facts straight. Probably we can just retrofit the new battery once its ready. Although its probably not a job for an amateur.

Clearly they are innovating, but they had a setback innovating batteries. You still get the fastest SSD tech in the industry. They innovated in the display. Read up haters. Someone posted they gave us old batteries. No. They gave the best battery currently available. They didn't give you a sub-standard battery design like a recent infamous mistake in a phone by a competitor. Maybe they will succeed innovating the next battery. Don't act so entitled to innovation. So the battery isn't as huge as they had targeted. Plug in an external battery if you are a heavy user. Youknow those ubiquitous USBc Android battery packs. Just put it in your bag. Don't act like you carry this thing around bare metal in your hand. Plenty of people are getting the advertised ~10 hours.

 

[slimothy]

Tim Cook is not the leader that Apple needs.

 

[Hectx]

Yes, you can be sure that it has nothing to do with "several years of built up demand" since the Macbook Pro had been updated May 2015. Oops. That's what happens when you are so intent on trolling Apple that you have to try and attack every bit of good news. I know it's what you do, but if you concentrate on feeding on the rare bad news, you won't end up making silly comments.

Your response is just dripping of elitism.

It doesn't take a market expert to see there was most definitely was a pent up demand for a major refresh of almost all the mac lines. Throwing in a new intel chip and calling it a day isn't enough to get someone to upgrade a 1-3 year old computer. The last major refresh was in 2012. People who've been holding onto MBP models from 2010-2012 have been waiting for a major redesign and a reason to upgrade. Many people are making the leap to the 2016 MBP, but some are opting out and just going with the 2015 MBP.

 

[moonjelly]

Steve Jobs died at just the right time. Tim Cook doesn't have that "out".

What I mean is this: Desktop and Laptop CPU (and to some extent, GPU) performance had just started to seriously Plateau right about the time Jobs Left The Building(tm). This means he was able to march out, year-after-year, and crow about how much faster/better this year's PCs (lap and desk) were than the last go-around. Then, to help him (and the rest of the industry), Apple was able to divert attention away from the fact that desk and laptop PCs were stagnating by wowing the crowds with an impressive array of very innovative (and actually game-changing) mobile products.

Those days are largely at an end. For everybody, not just Apple.

So, although there are still plenty of innovative people at Apple, it is getting harder and harder to provide that "wow!" factor. So, poor Tim gets labeled "dull" and "a bean counter". And I don't for one minute disregard Jobs' salesmanship, which is something that, sadly, not too many people have in the abundance that St. Jobs had. For example, the Touch Bar is actually pretty damned neat. The people I know that have tried one and/or already bought one think that it is quite an innovation. But it was presented so poorly that many people think of it as a gimmick (which it is not). By comparison, Jobs would have had people drooling to get that feature.

Well said MRODrool.
Many complaints apple is not innovating. Clearly they are, but they had a setback innovating batteries. You still get the fastest SSD tech in the industry. They innovated in the display. Read up haters. Someone posted they gave us old batteries. No. They gave the best battery currently available. They didn't give a sub-standard battery design like a recent infamous mistake by a competitor. Maybe they will succeed innovating the next battery. So the battery isn't as huge as they had targeted. Plug in an external battery if you are a heavy user. Just put it in your bag. Don't act like you carry this thing around bare metal in your hand. Plenty of people are getting the advertised ~10 hours. Maybe next year you can send it in for a next-gen battery retrofit. Wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Ries]

Is it me or does Apple release a bunch of BETA's each time an article like this comes along?

 

[msh]

I wonder what name they could use for a proper Macbook Pro now.

- Macbook Pro Pro
- Macbook Pro^2
- Macbook Really Pro

How about MacBook Pro really?

 

[moonjelly]

Except Apple does not have a monopoly. They have massive market share because the "open architecture" world abused customers so bad the pendulum has swung way way over to Mac "managed architecture" model. Where all the default applications are not spywar... uhh... paid for by advertising.

 

[kazmac]

I'd be curious to know what was the test that the larger batteries failed. It is so apparent there is a huge disconnect with software and hardware.

I hope all the negativity uttered by consumers, pros and press sort of kicks Apple into getting their stuff together. I doubt it, but it would be nice.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

People have been complaining and whining since the very beginning. Who knows when they have a legitimate beef with Apple and when they are just complaining for the sake of it.

Even when Jobs was still on this plane of existence, every single time there was a Keynote and new products were announced, without fail, Apple's Stock Price would fall, simply because they "only" released a "marginally better" product, and hadn't released a cold-fusion-powered MacBook, or an iMac with a holographic display.

So, the whining is pretty much expected at this point...

 

[Foremastjack]

This reminds me a bit of American auto manufacturers in the 80s- people still "bought American" because they were "the best", but eventually, people woke up to the essential cheapening and crap product they were being shoveled, and now Toyota is the best selling brand. Apple is beinning to sound like Ford and GM, and the public's still buying...for now.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I'm one of the angry Mac users to be honest. I'm a Mac Pro user and fcpx user. If fcpx is what makes me money and performance and time is critical, it would be essential to get new Mac Pro out. I have z series as my secondary but my primary work is from fcpx. I don't believe lot of people are angry for no apparent reason. Heck, we have some sort of reasons to state our opinions.

What, pray tell, is so "out of date", performance-wise, with the 2012 Mac Pro? It could use the USB-C/TB3 treatment, and perhaps the latest SSDs (which are bloody fast!; but those CPUs and GPUs are still plenty competitive, performance-wise.