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Fresh impressions of a 2017 Macbook Pro 15 TB from a PC user

Cristim74

Cristim74

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 27, 2016
429
612
Bucharest, Romania
Hi guys,

I just bought a few days ago a new 2017 Macbook Pro 15 with touchbar, 2.9GHz i7, Radeon 560, 16Gb RAM and 512Gb SSD. I’ve just switched over to Macs after almost 30 years of PC life. I started moving to the Apple ecosystem almost four years ago, first with an iPad, then with an iPhone and recently with the wireless iPods. This was the last piece of the puzzle.

I have an IT background, so switching over was not such a big issue. I’ve been also playing arround with my wife’s Macbook 12 that I bought her about two years ago.

Here are some of my very early impressions based on just a few days usage:

2nd gen butterfly keyboard: Being used to mechanical keyboards I can say it’s not as bad as I would have thought. I can actually type pretty fast on it with very few mistakes. It’s a lot better than the 1st gen that I have on my wife’s 2016 Macbook 12.

Touchbar: While I don’t find it particularity useful, I don’t mind it. I use it ocasionaly and I think it adds a nice look to the notebook. Touch ID is amazing and I don’t know how I’ve been living without it.

Trackpad: While I’ve seen many complaints about it’s size, it’s fine for me. It has not generaly interfiered with my typing experience and it’s nice for the gestures.

Thunderbolt 3 ports: Although I still have many USB-A peripherals, I have ordered a Caldigit TS3+ dock for when I’m docked in the office. When I’m mobile I’ll be using an Apple digital adapter that offers me a USB-A, HDMI and charge port in a single adapter. So I don’t actually mind moving to USB-C. It’s a compact and fast connector for the future

Battery: Battery life basn’t been excellent, but not crap either. After finnishing with all the installing, updating and syncing I’ve been getting 6-7 hours per charge with brightness set to about 40%. I’m still investingating this and it’s quite early to have a definitive verdict on the battery life.

Speakers: speakers are excelent; loud and clear; one of the best speakers I’ve had and heard in a notebook.

I’m a little bit concerned about the storage space as I’ve already filled up 350Gb of the 500Gb. But I have everything I need right now and the rest is work space. I can still ofload some of the data to external storage if needed, so I’m not in real danger. But next one will definitely be a 1Gb unit just to be on the safe side.

I’m currently rebuilding my office setup based on the Macbook. It will be used in clamshell mode in a Twelve South BookArc holder connected to a Caldigit TS3+ dock. It will be hooked to three external DELL displays (one 27” 4K in the middle with two 25” 2.5K on the sides), external LG bluray burner, Das Keyboard Professional 4 mechanical keyboard, Logitech MX Master mouse, LAN netwok and Canon multifunction printer. I’ll come back with info once the setup is complete.
 
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Thanks. Unfortunately it will be a while before I can get the Caldigit dock.
The EU webshop lists it as out of stock with estimated delivery time of 12-19th of April :(
 
I will say my battery life is much better - closer to 10 to 11 hours seemingly. That's with light usage, brightness around 40%. I would stay away from battery intensive apps such as Chrome and see if that makes a difference.

My biggest complaint with the keyboard is that fingertips almost get sore after typing on it for long periods of time...
 
I don't use Chrome, I use Safari.
As I said I only had it for 4 days so I can't form an opinion about battery life just yet.
Battery has just 10 charging cycles so battery life may improve.
 
Since you had it for four days, if you want to upgrade your storage your only option is to return it and purchase the 1tb option, since its non-upgradable. Also, if you haven't purchase applecare+. Congrats on the purchase
 
Natzoo said:
Since you had it for four days, if you want to upgrade your storage your only option is to return it and purchase the 1tb option, since its non-upgradable. Also, if you haven't purchase applecare+. Congrats on the purchase
Click to expand...

Well, I bought it from stock and did not want to wait for a BTO unit. I’ll be fine with the 512Gb for the next 3 years.
 
You have just migrated a lot of data to the mbp and it will spotlight index that over a couple of days this will lower your battery life so expect a little boost in battery life as you go along.
 
Definitely make sure you follow up a few months down the line.

I've noticed a trend of people loving them early on..

and then some niggles creep in

the TouchBar turns out to not do too much for them after all

then they realize they're moving the cursor while typing every so often due to the large trackpad

suddenly a strange issue with an external screen

and we find they're at the Apple store for a keyboard issue

etc
(all just examples of course)
 
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Finally, an undramatic opinion. You're either going to have a ton of "yea, it's a great machine", replies, or "well wait a second this and that is terrible and my mom's cousin's best friend's dog's owner has a blank issue" response, as we are already beginning to see.

Still, I recommend you get the extended warranty. Something will either not go wrong, or something will go terribly wrong, in my experience.

Enjoy your Mac.
 
Well, although I have read a lot of negative reviews about it, for some reason I'm pretty optimistic about my journey into the Mac world :)

Touch bar doesn't help much but doesn't bother me either. It looks high tech and it's ok for me.

Keyboard is good so far and I hope I won't have the already well known problems. Most of the time I will spend in the office with the Mac docked using an external mechanical keyboard.

Trackpad doesn't get in the way so far, and I won't get in the way anyway while in the office.

Battery life will hopefuly improve, but it's not a tragedy even as it is right now.

I'm still investigating wether to get extended warranty or not. So far I've been pretty lucky with the tech I've owned and hopefuly that won't change (although my wife's 2016 MacBook 12 is starting to get some spacebar issues - not registering all the presses if they are not on the middle of the key).
 
Cristim74 said:
Well, although I have read a lot of negative reviews about it, for some reason I'm pretty optimistic about my journey into the Mac world :)

Touch bar doesn't help much but doesn't bother me either. It looks high tech and it's ok for me.

Keyboard is good so far and I hope I won't have the already well known problems. Most of the time I will spend in the office with the Mac docked using an external mechanical keyboard.

Trackpad doesn't get in the way so far, and I won't get in the way anyway while in the office.

Battery life will hopefuly improve, but it's not a tragedy even as it is right now.

I'm still investigating wether to get extended warranty or not. So far I've been pretty lucky with the tech I've owned and hopefuly that won't change (although my wife's 2016 MacBook 12 is starting to get some spacebar issues - not registering all the presses if they are not on the middle of the key).
Click to expand...

I've always only ever needed the warranty, at year 2-3, so for me, not having a warranty is not an option anymore. With the older Macs, I never used em and fixed things myself, if I had to.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Stop investigating and do it immediately.
One single keyboard issue will make it pay for itself twice over.
Click to expand...

I second this.

Also remember that AppleCare+ (the only option available online or in store from Apple in the US now), has accident coverage and the 2 year warranty extension. But, must be purchased within 60 day after the system was purchased. So the window closes quickly.
 
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I use the 13 inch in clamshell mode with the same BookArc, two basic 21.5" monitors, magic keyboard with number pad and a magic mouse 2. Worked out perfectly for what I do and allows that grab and go ability.

Definitely, go for the Apple Care, it's a service from Apple that is actually valuable. Although no rush as long as you do it in the first year.

The only element that has really surprised me since upgrading last year is the touch bar, I actually use it quite a bit!
 
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jerryk said:
I second this.

Also remember that AppleCare+ (the only option available online or in store from Apple in the US now), has accident coverage and the 2 year warranty extension. But, must be purchased within 60 day after the system was purchased. So the window closes quickly.
Click to expand...

After 60 days but within a year you can still purchase AppleCare. You just won’t get the accidental coverage.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Do you find yourself missing the TouchBar when in clamshell mode?
How do you account for the things you do with it specifically when in CM?
Click to expand...

I do miss it, I write a lot and find basic things like bold and italic being on the touch bar quite useful without having to reach for the mouse and click.

Not much I can do about it in CM although I still reach for it like it's there. Just need to use the mouse.
 
LeeW said:
I do miss it, I write a lot and find basic things like bold and italic being on the touch bar quite useful without having to reach for the mouse and click.

Not much I can do about it in CM although I still reach for it like it's there. Just need to use the mouse.
Click to expand...

Do you know about command+b and command+i?
 
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LeeW said:
Of course, they were simply two examples.
Click to expand...

Do you have a few more?
I'm honestly asking.

I am always trying to figure out what compelling things some are doing with the TB.

(Man am I struggling on this site with the iPad)
 
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