You've picked the right word in your railroad of praise. YOU THINK. It also happens to be a heavily compromised, overpriced workstation that no Pro I know or heard of has enjoyed working with. I know developers fed up with the dongle labyrinth and to whom the TouchBar mishaps cause anxiety, designers whose frozen MBPs need be let to run out because the TouchID/Power button is unresponsive, and copywriters who can't get used to the keyboard after weeks of use.
The prevailing sentiment seems to be: "If i was spending my own money instead of my employers, i would look elsewhere"
PS. "The best laptop Apple has produced" is a moot, use-case specific point. For me, as a designer and video editor, it was the previous MBP retina gen. By a long shot.
I'm not sure why a "pro" would call it "heavily compromised", when last year's model throttles itself down as far as 50% speed due to insufficient cooling, whereas this model seems to chug right along at full speed all day long.
If someone feels they are caught in a labyrinth of "dongles" (adapters and docks), they simply haven't sat down and figured out what they want/need. If they take that "shopping list" and head on over to Amazon, Most people should be able to get want they want/need in only one or two multi port mini-docks. The problem is, people aren't used to this level of I/O freedom. And you know what they say: "With freedom, comes responsibility." I am reminded of the Lyrics to a Devo song:
Freedom Of Choice; that's what you've got.
Freedom From Choice; that's what you want.
Seriously, people, even some "pros", simply aren't used to being able to say "yeah, I need 2 or 3 USB 3 ports, and an Ethernet port would be nice", or "Ok, I think that one USB 3.0 port would do it, since I already have a Hub, but I'd kinda like to not use another USB-C port for HDMI, and I really miss that card reader", etc., and then take an hour or so pouring though the USB-C docks on Amazon. In fact, a lot of people would be satisfied with something like this, which has 3 USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet (which does not require a driver), 4K HDMI, SD and microSD slots, plus a pass-through USB-C port for charging without stealing another port on the MBP, for $80. It comes in Silver and Space Grey (ahem), and is small enough and Inexpensive enough that most people could just keep one hooked up to their stuff at home, meaning you only have to hook up ONE cable, and one to throw into their computer bag for on the go.
https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-Aluminum-Multi-Port-Adapter-Ethernet/dp/B01FWT7MEA
So you see? NOT a "dongle labyrinth". Just one simple "port expander". And after all that, you STILL have THREE MORE ports left! Seriously, what's not to like? BTW, there are MANY other choices, depending on what you need.
As far as the "Ignoring the Power Button" goes, do those people know about the "Long Press", which SHOULD make the MBP "suicide" (Power Down)? Press and Hold the "Button" for about 5 seconds, and the MBP SHOULD shut down immediately.
