Macbook Pro 2016 - 2018 are anxiety inducing machines

[SDColorado]

So there's nothing stopping Apple from doing both technologically - but I don't know if they'll ever do Touch ID again. That's okay - I think that the iPhone 7 should be good for another three to four years.

No, definitely nothing stopping them from doing so as far as technology. But Apple has a tendency to decide this is how they want to do something and sticking with it. I do wonder if the 2018's may be the last MBP's we see with TouchID and if future models of these may also go to FaceID. I guess we are fixin' to find out

 

[BuCkDoG]

Ways the newer Macbook Pros induce anxiety for me:

• Palm detection is imperfect so when you type, the cursor might move ever so slightly, messing up everything.
• Much slower to change volume because you must now look at the touchbar to find the volume slider. It also takes two presses to change the volume. Volume slider is also not as intuitive as the old way. This gives me anxiety because when you use headphones, you sometimes accidentally unplug the headphone or forget to plug it in and need to turn your volume down quickly so you're not bothering the people around you. Also with the way MacOS handles volume, you're never quite sure what the volume level is at when you plug/unplug headphones so you need to be quick to change the volume.
• You need to look at the touchbar to change screen brightness
• You need to look at the touchbar to play, skip music
• Low key travel means it doesn't always feel like you've pressed the key enough
• Poor key reliability means individual keys break often. By my second day of ownership, I had to smash my space bar just to get the press to register.
• My finger rests just slightly below the touchbar ESC key and sometimes I trigger it by touching it accidentally. Imagine losing your work because you touched the ESC key accidentally.
• Always worrying about losing your dongle and cables
• Always worrying about not having the right cables when you need to go somewhere

All of these things make it stressful to use the new machines. It shouldn't be that way if I'm paying $2500. I went back to the 2015 Macbook Pro.

As a product designer in Silicon Valley, I feel like the new Macbook Pro was designed by a committee of "Yes man" engineers and marketing people. I didn't think it would happen at Apple. No one had the balls to say "no, this doesn't feel right".

Just what the hell was Apple thinking?

These issues cause serious anxiety for you? I think you have bigger problems to solve then.

 

[jerryk]

Never had an issue with a 13 model, so maybe it's a 15 thing, but haven't seen that many complaints.



I prefer the new way, because you can set the volume and brightness more precisely. But most importantly, you can just press on the volume, not release and instantly slide left or right. It doesn't take two presses.



How often do you change brightness?



I would need to look at the keyboard anyway when doing that on previous models. Touch bar gives additional options like scrolling through the song, picture in picture mode when it's hard to do manually on certain sites, etc. So I prefer it.



Old keyboards feel mushy after using the new one. They feel retro to me.



Yes. The number issue and a major concern is the keyboard reliability. And the new models' keyboard doesn't seem as reliable as previous.

Your responses match exactly with my observations. When I got the 2018 15" I kept my 2015 15" unit for a month or so. Only when I was comfortable with the new keyboard feel did I sell my 2015.

Trackpad is really big, comically so. But it works well. No jumping while typing.

Really like the touchbar for adjusting screen and volume. Never use the other function keys on the 2018 or 2015 for anything else.

Keyboard has been reliable for the last 8 months. No issues with stuck, repeating or non-registering keys

 

[chikorita157]

For me, I don't have any worries with my 2018 Macbook Pro. I lurk around and keep seeing threads complaining about these models (including the Macbook Fear thread and Jumping Ship) and I notice that it's always the vocal ones that voices the problems when others who are satisfied don't. Of course, it does not mean that everyone will experience issues since these threads are highly anecdotal and there aren't reliable statistics that prove that everyone will experience issues with the 2016-2018 models. I use mine heavily with virtualization, programming and other intensive tasks and haven't experience any problems.

As for the dongle thing, it's kind of hypocritical people are complaining about it. In 2012 when the Retina Macbook Pros first came out, people complained about the removal of the ethernet port, which is a port that is commonly used to access wired networks when wireless is not viable. Of course, there is the removal of Firewire too, but of course that is a legacy port. Not to mention, the Unibody Macbook Pros removed the DVI port of the first generation models (2006-2008), requiring a dongle. Regardless, USB-C is the future and newer devices are coming with USB-C and of course, a Thunderbolt dock solves the ports issues while making it more convenient to hookup your device when you are at your desk with only one cable. I use a Thunderbolt 1 dock with a 2012 Macbook Pro and a Thunderbolt 3 dock with my 2018 model and I only need to hook in one cable to access my devices.

For me, it's best not to worry as life is short and stop reading threads about complaining about issues and stress over it, unless you are experiencing them, then you can complain. And no, the 2012-2015 models aren't the best models in my opinion since they are less repairable, have glued in batteries and removed the ethernet port. I think the Unibody Macbook Pros, especially the 2012 15" non-retina Macbook Pro is the last best model Apple has made since they are very reliable, repairable and upgradable without the staingate and GPU issues. I still have the 2012 15" non-retina as a secondary laptop. Sure there is the extra weight, but I don't mind it. The only reason I got a 2018 since I want something as powerful as my 6-core X99 Hackintosh, without the hassle of maintaining it while being portable. At the end of the day, everyone has their own preferences.

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

owning a mac; your the point of office jokes. I don't have any connections to a third party don't work for apple, just saying what i see.

I guess you're saying that in the business world pc's rule? If so, yes, you're correct..same w/Govt. So far as being the joke? In my experience, not so much. Most of my clients go back to the office and try to pitch switching over but it never goes anywhere beyond convincing the powers that be to acquire a laptop or two for teleworking etc. Mac will never breech the business/Govt world, ever. Software limitations are still a problem for my profession but it's gotten better over the yrs and there are options for Mac..just not as many of them (primarily CAD & manufacturing software requirements).

I'm told Windows 10 is pretty good but, I wouldn't know and haven't any real desire to find out. Last time I tried to become familiar w/10, I got barraged with constant pop-ups saying to update this/update that..ugh. I'll stick with Mac OS.

 

[pshufd]

I'm told Windows 10 is pretty good but, I wouldn't know and haven't any real desire to find out. Last time I tried to become familiar w/10, I got barraged with constant pop-ups saying to update this/update that..ugh. I'll stick with Mac OS.

It's okay. They've copied enough macOS stuff to make it usable. I have two Windows 10 systems that I use on a regular basis and the thing that drives me nuts is Windows Update. It's gone crazy this past week so I've had to power slam two systems several times as they just hung on wakeup from sleep. I've considered going Hackintosh on those systems but I might just be too lazy to do the work.