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Apple's MacBook Pro Turns 20 Years Old
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Seeing Steve Jobs get so excited like this makes me realise just how much Apple has lost the plot under current management. Yes, the company is now worth trillions of dollars, but it's boring boring boring.
I had one of these and loved it. These things got toasty as heck, though. I used to use it a lot in a cold library, and was grateful that it would warm my hands if I held them over the back near the hinge.
Once it got older, I tried relegating it to a role as a desktop in clamshell mode, which was... inadvisable; over time, the bottom of the screen got messed up. The machine still works to this day, though!
Once it got older, I tried relegating it to a role as a desktop in clamshell mode, which was... inadvisable; over time, the bottom of the screen got messed up. The machine still works to this day, though!
I would toast the MBP, but you're not even old enough to drink yet.
My 2009 MBP lasted 12 years, when I upgraded to the M1 MBA. The beauty of the MBP was, as you said, the number of ports and the upgradability of it. What I wasn't fond of was the spinning beach ball. Within the first year, I replaced the HDD for an SSD, replaced the SuperDrive with an "external" HDD for storage and upgraded the RAM to 8GB (which I believe was max for that model). The only other component I had to replace was the battery, which was far easier than the newer MacBooks.
Considering the pricing is pretty much, at starting level, what it was 20 years ago, i'd suggest that it's not kept up with inflation. If it had, it'd be around $4000 today.
Ah the US, ahead in many areas, but sadly 3 years behind (5 in some countries) in the legal age for alcohol consumption.
It wasn’t the Touch Bar that was the problem and needs improvements - it was that software developers ignored it. You can’t blame the Touch Bar for that. Apple should bring it back and actually incentivize developers to utilize it more fully
Why would developers support something that was only on MacBook Pros? If Apple wanted it to be well supported, they would need to add it to all their laptops at the very least, and ideally to their desktop keyboard as well. Also Apple themselves would have to focus on software quality, since the touch bar itself being buggy was part of the problem with it.
Strange to think that we have had the MacBook branding longer than we had the PowerBook.
First, the touch bar needed to be a bar above the function keys, not as a replacement for them.
It also needed to be across the entire line if they wanted better developer support. I know lots of people with a MBA, but I'm the only one I know with a MBP.
And that fact that’s it’s now a company worth trillions of dollars will ensure it will never again be a risk-taker or be truly innovative. Once companies become “blue chip” stocks, institutional investors demand a certain kind of consistent return. Wall Street doesn’t like surprises. That’s why, despite all the hate he gets on these pages, Tim Cook was probably the right guy at the right time.
I think that the base memory on current models is fine, but the storage should be at least 512GB given how much storage the OS and System Data consume. I’m constantly having to free up space on my 256GB Mac Mini just to do OS updates. I thought I could save a few bucks and use an external drive for most things, but there are certain things that need to be on the internal drive (looking at you Xcode). Also, storage and memory upgrade pricing is definitely greedy on Apple’s part.
That was my very first Mac that I saved up for many months for - without it I won't be a designer which I still am as of today.
I miss old presentations … Corona time is over but they still doing this odd virtual style. It’s feels so cheaply and extremely AI style produced.
Guys, do you remember this little touch: breathing light in MacBooks on the right side. I remember interview with Steve Jobs where he said temp of blinking are calm breathing… it was a little meaningful touch to remember stay calm.
I remember working at an Apple Store when these launched (along with the other first Intel Macs). There was such a beautiful sense of wondrous excitement among all of us. As our Mac Geniuses booted up the first ones, we were all wowed by how fast they started up and the overall better performance. (And also of course, before Boot Camp was officially a sanctioned thing, all of us were wondering if it were possible to install Windows on it in some form or fashion.) These Intel Macs felt so fresh and new and everything else instantly felt so old.
Years later, I imagine all the retail folks felt the same with the switch to Apple Silicon. By that point, I was just the average consumer, but I definitely felt that same energy again, eagerly ready to jump in with a new M1 Mac.
There was something fun and magical about those days and those sorta "big shift" moments, both as an employee at Apple and as a fan/consumer as well. Yeah, I know it's a bit 'drink the kool-aid' but damn that kool-aid tasted delicious and was sure sweeter than the old kool-aid! haha
Years later, I imagine all the retail folks felt the same with the switch to Apple Silicon. By that point, I was just the average consumer, but I definitely felt that same energy again, eagerly ready to jump in with a new M1 Mac.
There was something fun and magical about those days and those sorta "big shift" moments, both as an employee at Apple and as a fan/consumer as well. Yeah, I know it's a bit 'drink the kool-aid' but damn that kool-aid tasted delicious and was sure sweeter than the old kool-aid! haha
Loved my trusty MacBook Pro 13” retina.
Bought it in April 2013 (having sold my 27” iMac) when I went to Bali for 3 months (which turned into a 2 year trip including Singapore, Vietnam, Nepal, and USA along the way!), during which time it faithfully served me very well.
Nowadays I have an M4 Pro Mac mini, but the MBP is still in regular use by my other half who dual boots macOS and windows on it.
Lovely little beast!
Always fancied the Touch Bar but never needed to upgrade at the time, now that’s gone (was hoping for a separate keyboard with TB but alas…)
Bought it in April 2013 (having sold my 27” iMac) when I went to Bali for 3 months (which turned into a 2 year trip including Singapore, Vietnam, Nepal, and USA along the way!), during which time it faithfully served me very well.
Nowadays I have an M4 Pro Mac mini, but the MBP is still in regular use by my other half who dual boots macOS and windows on it.
Lovely little beast!
Always fancied the Touch Bar but never needed to upgrade at the time, now that’s gone (was hoping for a separate keyboard with TB but alas…)
And nowadays we see only small steps, Wow effect was disappeared. Why? Cuz Marketing is the enemy of progress
I owned most of the 15" MBP 's (either work paid for them or I sniped used ones off of eBay) and purchased some of the 13" models for family members.
My all time fav: the ~2010 -2015 series that were easy to upgrade and incredibly durable. Second best was 2020 i5 2 GHz 13.3" touchbar MBP.
Also had great success with 12" MacBooks for me and my daughter (still have and use her 2015 M3 16/512 GB for some things).
My newest M3 Pro 14" performs well though with the all the at is stuffed in there, the fragility factor and component failure potential seems much higher than all past models.
My all time fav: the ~2010 -2015 series that were easy to upgrade and incredibly durable. Second best was 2020 i5 2 GHz 13.3" touchbar MBP.
Also had great success with 12" MacBooks for me and my daughter (still have and use her 2015 M3 16/512 GB for some things).
My newest M3 Pro 14" performs well though with the all the at is stuffed in there, the fragility factor and component failure potential seems much higher than all past models.
Dug out my early 2006 Core Duo MBP. It’s amazing how much of the original DNA is still there in the new machines. Such a timeless design.
Apple has made some bad decisions over the year, however they're also responsible for alot of positive innovation in the industry.
For instance, Apple Silicon is an amazing chip, especially considering it's very low power consumption as one example.
To this day, this is still one of the most favorite products I ever purchased from Apple.
I liked it at first and then kind of grew indifferent to it. Like newer cars, sometimes I missed the quick ability to adjust something without having to guess/look down at what was displayed and the exact location to toggle.
