Is there anyone out there who actually prefers using their 15" MacBook Pro over the new 16" MacBook Pro?

[impulse462]

seems unlikely but you can definitely tell the difference. Thinks it’s the combo of weight and size that does it

i will say i can feel the difference between the 15 and 16 and i like the slightly heavier 16

 

[limo79]

Making MBP 16" heavier about 200g than 15,4" is step back even they fixed some issues of course generating new ones like coil whine, keyboard protocol, noise, reduced audio volume... Still waiting for 13.9" / 14" 3:2 machine which is something between but it seems that Phil Schiller with Tim Cook and marketing team see future differently than customers like me. Still do not understand why they plan to switch to low cost AMD Ryzen cheap solutions (sold in in Lenovo T495 or commercial version of Microsoft Surface 3 Laptop that receive mediocre press) when Intel finally made a reasonable integrated GPU. With ex AMD guys like Radja Koduri they will made so significant progress than switching to AMD does not make any sense for end customer. This works only for a whole company to generate more profit to reduce cost (in some mobile areas AMD is weak: GPU low power mode, WI-Fi 6 compatibility, integration (with wireless modules) to reduce PCB footprint).

 

[Dominus Mortem]

3/10th of a pound. That's what we're talking about here in weight difference. I think a single banana weighs about that much. So it's like tossing an extra fruit in your all-purpose bag alongside your laptop. It's a non-starter, it's nit-picky to the extreme, it's simply not important.

The 15" is more modern looking? At any kind of distance, in clamshell mode you couldn't tell them apart. When you open it up, the 16" screen with the thinner bezels looks far more contemporary. That Touch Bar is still useless though. Beyond that they don't look very different at all.

Now, the keyboard is interesting. I like both. I can type well on either. I like the butterfly about equal to the scissors, but I'll take the scissor keys every time due to their reliability. I had two butterfly laptops and had to carry around a can of compressed air in my bag everywhere I went. You'd see me sitting in Starbucks, holding my 2017 13" MBP upside down, blasting out micro-dust with that can. I looked like an idiot, but it had to be done so I could write. I get less wrist and hand fatigue on the scissor keys too. I think human hands/fingers need that extra "give" to cushion the constant pounding of hitting keys. The butterfly keyboard is like jogging on cement with no shoes. The scissor keyboard is like jogging on grass in a pair of Nikes.

Drops mic emphatically and walks away.

 

[limo79]

If you are want to have it on a desk you can buy an iMac or Mac Pro The competitor products like Lenovo X1 Xtreme Gen 2 are about 3.7 lbs/1.7 kg. Each 200 grams (add PSU module, additional dongles, cables etc.) are important these days because this is a MOBILE workstation and overall trend is to reduce weight, size, LCD panel frames etc. Apple wanted to fix performance problems and beat Dell in benchmarks but I expected that they will made something non-trivial than making it just larger and heavier (I have never told to Tim Cook and Phil Schiller that I want 9 core CPU in laptop even if I am using it sometimes to scientific / engineering work but I had a stationary Dell (Xeon) workstation for that). I am not sure if this 16" baby has ECC DDR4 BGA chips soldered on PCB (afraid not).
Regarding keyboard - change is nice but Apple should fix butterfly and increase key travel. They failed and in result we loose some benefits like single key LED backlit.

 

[iJustines]

Most people want MagSafe back!

 

[Donnation]

Its understandable that you feel upset that you purchased a 2019 15" late in the year and are stuck with it. Its also understandable that you want to make yourself feel better about the 15" purchase by hoping and praying that others like the 15" more than the 16".

You are also well aware that you have until Jan 8th to return the 16", as you've posted regarding that in other threads.

You also don't make mention of your supposed "Musty, yellow screen" that your 16" supposedly has that you posted in another thread that someone started about their screen being a little off in color. You claimed that you were immediately returning your 16" due to this issue. I would think you would mention that here as a downside to your 16", but you never mention it nor did you ever return it, because it never had that problem in the first place.

Either sell your 15" or return the 16". Either way no one in here can help you with your purchase decisions. You're either going to lose a pretty good chunk of money selling your 15" or you can return the 16" and stay with your "space age" (lol) 15" machine.

 

[baryon]

There are many reasons I prefer my old 15 inch Retina vs. my new 16 inch. Of course, I need the performance of the new machine, so I can't go back, but that's the only reason I upgraded. Everything else was perfect.

What I don't like:

• I prefer the real buttons over the touchbar. The touchbar is laggy, buggy, and overcluttered, so I use the expanded control strip which is just exactly the same as the real buttons, except more annoying to use.
• The lack of power button is annoying, I always used it to put the machine to sleep. Now the Touch ID button doesn't do that.
• The user interface is more laggy and jittery than on the 15 inch. Things get stuck and lag a lot more (scrolling, clicking, changing desktops, etc)
• The new keyboard is a bit more annoying to type on. The key travel is smaller, the keys are bigger, it's easier to make mistakes.
• The huge trackpad is too big. I keep accidentally clicking on things when typing. Palm rejection isn't working right.
• The force touch trackpad is pretty much like using a non-force touch trackpad, just with a more complex mechanism.
• The new speakers are great but they make a popping sound when seeking in videos or adjusting the volume.
• The new screen is almost identical to the old screen.
• Catalina is absolutely full of bugs and you can't downgrade to Mojave which was great. Even the latest 2020 Adobe releases won't run properly.
• The USB-C ports are super annoying. They aren't compatible with anything whatsoever. Adapters for everything, adding bulk, slowing things down, etc
• The removal of MagSafe is sad, the mere act of plugging and unplugging the charger was so easy and satisfying, I miss it.
• For some reason the screen seems to be giving me serious eye strain, while my old Retina doesn't. I have no clue what's going on with this (same brightness, same apps, same viewing distance, same everything, just different machines).
• It literally cost twice what I paid for my Retina 6 years ago. That's way more than when you account for inflation.

What I like:

• It's a lot faster (I'm talking 5 times faster render times, smooth playback of graded RAW footage, which was previously impossible).
• It's Space Grey
• Battery life is a lot better

So yeah. It's definitely a step back in many regards. Hopefully whatever can be fixed in software will get fixed (TouchBar issues, laggy interface, popping speakers). The rest I will just get used to just like you get used to a car that doesn't always start and doesn't always run smoothly and just live with it.

 

[mightyjabba]

You have some good points, but the OP was specifically comparing the most recent 15" to the 16" and it's hard to say that the 15" comes out ahead in any way in that comparison.

 

[cmhsam]

You can't use 2 x 4K?
This is a supported configuration, allegedly.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT210754

Correct. There is another thread about this where if you connect 2 4k monitors to it and put it clamshell mode only monitor works. I am using the Caldigit Ts3+ dock.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-mbp-caldigit-ts3-clamshell-not-working.2212730/
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I've run 2x 4K 60hz monitors since the Late 2013 15" model. You can certainly do it on the 16", you just may have an incompatible dock or using the wrong cables.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-mbp-caldigit-ts3-clamshell-not-working.2212730/

 

[maflynn]

There's personal preference, and then there are objective metrics.
Personal preference wise, I can see people selecting the 15" MBP over the 16, but objectively the 16" is a superior computer:

• The keyboard is not flawed
• Cooling is improved
• Computing performance is improved (thanks in part to the cooling)
• Battery life is improved
• A superior GPU is used
• Better stock options, i.e., larger SSDs
• Larger display

 

[cardfan]

There's personal preference, and then there are objective metrics.
Personal preference wise, I can see people selecting the 15" MBP over the 16, but objectively the 16" is a superior computer:

• The keyboard is not flawed
• Cooling is improved
• Computing performance is improved (thanks in part to the cooling)
• Battery life is improved
• A superior GPU is used
• Better stock options, i.e., larger SSDs
• Larger display

Can’t argue much there. Except for the dealbreaker. Catalina. If it came with Mojave I’d probably have one by now. But may as well wait for an update since it’ll awhile before I’m ready.

 

[maflynn]

If it came with Mojave I’d probably have one by now. But may as well wait for an update since it’ll awhile before I’m ready.

I thought you could put Mojave on the 16" I haven't been paying too much attention, but I thought people were successful in loading Mojave.

 

[Donnation]

I thought you could put Mojave on the 16" I haven't been paying too much attention, but I thought people were successful in loading Mojave.

Nah you can’t do it.

 

[Starfyre]

Thanks everyone, now I will wait!

 

[Hieveryone]

Can’t argue much there. Except for the dealbreaker. Catalina. If it came with Mojave I’d probably have one by now. But may as well wait for an update since it’ll awhile before I’m ready.

wait what’s wrong with Catalina???

 

[Super Spartan]

Making MBP 16" heavier about 200g than 15,4" is step back even they fixed some issues of course generating new ones like coil whine, keyboard protocol, noise, reduced audio volume... Still waiting for 13.9" / 14" 3:2 machine which is something between but it seems that Phil Schiller with Tim Cook and marketing team see future differently than customers like me. Still do not understand why they plan to switch to low cost AMD Ryzen cheap solutions (sold in in Lenovo T495 or commercial version of Microsoft Surface 3 Laptop that receive mediocre press) when Intel finally made a reasonable integrated GPU. With ex AMD guys like Radja Koduri they will made so significant progress than switching to AMD does not make any sense for end customer. This works only for a whole company to generate more profit to reduce cost (in some mobile areas AMD is weak: GPU low power mode, WI-Fi 6 compatibility, integration (with wireless modules) to reduce PCB footprint).

If you think that making a laptop 200g heavier is a big deal, maybe you need to start hitting the gym brah.