Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

dirteater666

Suspended
Original poster
May 1, 2020
32
26
now that little 13" bro has turned out to be a failure, is the 16" the last bastion of hope to achieve the glory of the 2015 MBPs?
 
If glory means slower processors, darker smaller screen with smaller color gamut, slower ports, and worse speakers, then no. It's much less glorious in all those ways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mr_jomo and Dannuts
I mean 16" is a hell of a machine besides it's ghosting on the panels.

I did get one of the launch units and mine needs to heat up so things start to not look blurry as hell if you game on it but so far so good in every single other aspect.
 
If glory means slower processors, darker smaller screen with smaller color gamut, slower ports, and worse speakers, then no. It's much less glorious in all those ways.
So in 5 years, Apple managed to make a laptop that has a faster processor, better display, faster ports, and better speakers, most of which they didn't invent themselves? Amazing. No one else can do that.

The 2015 Macbook Pro is STILL a better laptop than the 2019 16". There are physical keys instead of the touchbar. The trackpad is perfectly sized so that you don't have to rest your palm on an oversized touchpad. With the 2015, you can plug in any peripheral and hook up to any screen to present. Now that's progress!

Oh, you can get a 2015 for 1/3 the price of the 16".
 
Last edited:
I believe that the 16" was simply a stopgap, born out of the Butterfly Keyboard debacle. Due to the high rate of failure with the 15" hence Apple introduced the 16" into the Mac line up to mitigate the situation.

Apple will likely want to be focusing the bulk of it's resources allocated to the Mac for the next generation, hence the barebones updates to the 13" MBP. A Switch to ARM looks to be likely, nor does Apple have any qualms regarding such dramatic moves.

Some will likely drop platform due to such a transition, equally Apple likely has far more to gain as it's target audience will benefit from tighter integration with IOS and likely don't care what silicon drives the system as long as it does what they want.

Q-6
 
I believe that the 16" was simply a stopgap, born out of the Butterfly Keyboard debacle. Due to the high rate of failure with the 15" hence Apple introduced the 16" into the Mac line up to mitigate the situation.

Apple will likely want to be focusing the bulk of it's resources allocated to the Mac for the next generation, hence the barebones updates to the 13" MBP. A Switch to ARM looks to be likely, nor does Apple have any qualms regarding such dramatic moves.

Some will likely drop platform due to such a transition, equally Apple likely has far more to gain as it's target audience will benefit from tighter integration with IOS and likely don't care what silicon drives the system as long as it does what they want.

Q-6

2021 will be a decisive year for Apple and where we finally see what they are going to do in terms of roadmap..

Would be nice to see AMD Ryzen on the laptops & iMacs

And ARM starting on a "Macbook" at 999$ or something.
 
I mean 16" is a hell of a machine besides it's ghosting on the panels.
And kernel panics, and its heat/fan issues when using an external monitor.

Some will likely drop platform due to such a transition,
Some will leave the platform due to the unknown and not wanting to live through it, some will leave simply because they need an intel CPU. In many respects, I count myself in that camp, though I have already left the Mac camp.

Oh, you can get a 2015 for 1/3 the price of the 16".
Yes, but at this point you're buying a 5 year old computer. While I don't disagree with you in the details of how the 2015 model is better design wise, in actual usage its hard to recommend such an older computer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Queen6
Yes, but at this point you're buying a 5 year old computer. While I don't disagree with you in the details of how the 2015 model is better design wise, in actual usage its hard to recommend such an older computer.
It's not such a hard sell if you think about the "price to remaining usable life" ratio instead of how old the machine is.

For $400-800 bucks, if you get a machine that'll work for the next 3-5 years (perhaps more) for your performance requirements, then that ain't bad.

One could argue buying a new MBP will cost you the same factoring in resale value (That didn't go too well for Butterfly MBPs), but I'd suggest choose what you need right now and buy AAPL stock with the rest. :)
 
If they update the 16" with the following, then it'll achieve the glory of the 2015:

- AMD APUs
- Nvidia GPUs
- Remove touchbar
- Downsize the touchpad
- Add one USBA, one HDMI port, and SD card slot
- Drop starting price by $400

This.

And use a proprietary plug for power delivery (with magsafe would be optimal) instead of USB-C, at least 150W, or it will not have enough power to feed decent GPUs and CPUs when they are both under load...
 
If they update the 16" with the following, then it'll achieve the glory of the 2015:

- AMD APUs
- Nvidia GPUs
- Remove touchbar
- Downsize the touchpad
- Add one USBA, one HDMI port, and SD card slot
- Drop starting price by $400


Whats wrong with the touchbar, its kinda useful for some stuff tbh, but i do miss function buttons.
 
I mean i think what apple really should have done was keep the function keys and put the touchbar above it. Simple solution. Or if they really wanted to inovate, keep passive function keys with a tiny OLED screen inside each.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mr_jomo
People will never stop confusing their personal preferences with objective facts. Most people vastly prefer the 16" to the 2015, but that's a matter of personal preference. Most prefer more speed, more power, larger brighter screen, better color, better speakers and a larger trackpad to function keys, old slower ports and a small trackpad for those who type oddly. To each their own.
 
People will never stop confusing their personal preferences with objective facts. Most people vastly prefer the 16" to the 2015, but that's a matter of personal preference. Most prefer more speed, more power, larger brighter screen, better color, better speakers and a larger trackpad to function keys, old slower ports and a small trackpad for those who type oddly. To each their own.

that's not at all what this thread is about. The 2015 MBPs were touted as the best macbooks for years after their release. With such an uncertain horizon for the product line, the only thing we know today is that the 16" MBP delivered and I'm wondering if they'll achieve the same status.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tekguy0
anyone who says the 2015 15" (a 5 year old computer) is better than the 16" is clearly misinformed and/or hasn't used a 16inch and/or doesn't use the computer for actual work.

ill take my 8 core 16-thread cpu to run matlab, intellij, and jupyter notebooks simultaneously over continually staring at a usb-a port, or a vastly inferior hdmi port and complaining about it online. i can use multiple displays and power the computer with literally one cord.

only the touchbar is objectively worse because, as stated above, its a solution to a non-existent problem, and causes more problems thats its purported to solve.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mr_jomo
only the touchbar is objectively worse because, as stated above, its a solution to a non-existent problem, and causes more problems thats its purported to solve.

Your comment earned a few points in my book by keeping it honest about the TouchBar
 
now that little 13" bro has turned out to be a failure, is the 16" the last bastion of hope to achieve the glory of the 2015 MBPs?

Yeah I think so. I mean the 13" was gonna have a 14" from what I heard but Apple blew it. So I guess if you're in the market and can shell out the xtra money, the 16" remains king for now

Btw, what does chad mean? I see it on IG a lot and still haven't grasped the meaning yet
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.