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MacBook Pro Touch reviews from actual users
- Thread starter MrRugged
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
First day of work so far on a maxed (except for SSD) 15". I'm coming from a mid-2014 MBP 15". I am a professional software developer and this is my primary work machine.
- I like the keyboard. I am a big fan of the short travel and the feel. It is louder, but I don't particularly care about that.
- I like the touchbar. It is easily an improvement over static function keys. I have found some places where it actually saves my time/effort. For instance, it is faster (fingers stay on keyboard) to show the notification side bar vs moving my hand to swipe the track pad.
- New trackpad rocks
- Display is beautiful
- Not sure on battery life, I'm plugged in right now because I have lots of stuff to copy over and set up.
- I can't plug in my external monitor. Apparently I need to find a mini display port to usb-c adapter. The thunderbolt 2 -> usb-c is not working.
- The machine is noticeably faster. Will need to see how it feels when running the windows VM that I use for development.
I would have preferred 32GB of ram, but I'm not too worried about it. 16GB is still adequate for what I do. I'll upgrade again when apple releases a revision that can handle 32GB. Not sure why all the other "pros" are so upset about that. I upgrade every year or two anyway.
Overall very happy. No way I would consider going back to my old machine after just spending a few hours on this one.
- I like the keyboard. I am a big fan of the short travel and the feel. It is louder, but I don't particularly care about that.
- I like the touchbar. It is easily an improvement over static function keys. I have found some places where it actually saves my time/effort. For instance, it is faster (fingers stay on keyboard) to show the notification side bar vs moving my hand to swipe the track pad.
- New trackpad rocks
- Display is beautiful
- Not sure on battery life, I'm plugged in right now because I have lots of stuff to copy over and set up.
- I can't plug in my external monitor. Apparently I need to find a mini display port to usb-c adapter. The thunderbolt 2 -> usb-c is not working.
- The machine is noticeably faster. Will need to see how it feels when running the windows VM that I use for development.
I would have preferred 32GB of ram, but I'm not too worried about it. 16GB is still adequate for what I do. I'll upgrade again when apple releases a revision that can handle 32GB. Not sure why all the other "pros" are so upset about that. I upgrade every year or two anyway.
Overall very happy. No way I would consider going back to my old machine after just spending a few hours on this one.
[doublepost=1479235997][/doublepost]To those using new MBP (with touchbar) in conjunction with an external monitor...any issues with height of external monitor required to not have any interference from the MBP's monitor?
I agree with you overall, but I had a couple questions for you. I have a Windows 7 VM that blazes now via Parallels. What VM program do you? If you use Parallels, what version and what hardware do you allocate to your VM?
I use Parallels 12 and run Win10. Currently I'm giving it 2 cores and 4GB of ram (on my old machine) and 512MB for video. I use the VM for Visual Studio 2015 and MSSQL server which is adequate. I might experiment with more ram/procs to see if I can get the compile time down a bit, though I suspect the SSD is the limiting factor there.
[doublepost=1479236465][/doublepost]
Do you mean to run it below the other monitor? I usually have mine side by side with the laptop on a stand.
Sorry - I wasn't clear. If you want to run the MacBook Pro open (so you can still use the touchbar)...AND use it with an external monitor...
Have you noticed any appreciable improvements between Parallels 11 & 12? I tired of the Parallels Tax of $50 to upgrade every year.
I see what you mean. Yeah, my Dell P2715Q does not extend high enough to clear the MBP display and will need to be stacked on top of something to make it work like you are thinking.
[doublepost=1479237694][/doublepost]
Nope, it basically seems identical to me. I was just complaining to my business partner about this. I actually thought that they required parallels 12 for Sierra support so I upgraded. I must be misremembering because I can't find any documentation about that.
Any battery reviews from 13" TB users? I've read anywhere from 5-6 hours (atrocious and a deal-breaker) to 10 hours (which would be fine).
Honestly, as soon as we can build our .Net stack on macOS/Linux (via .net core), I'm dumping parallels and windows for good.
I'm coming from the same machine to the same machine (but with the 2TB ssd). Mine arrives Thursday. My biggest concern is speed, since the geek bench numbers seem to be pretty much identical (a little worse on multi core, even). Glad you are seeing a real world speed improvement.
Could someone with the rMBP 15" comment on performance of graphics while using battery (the iGPU, the Intel 530)? Is everything smooth? Scrolling in Facebook?, Zooming?
How does the iGPU work with Parallels?
Also how is the battery life?
TIA
-- Current entry level 2015 rMBP 15" owner.
How does the iGPU work with Parallels?
Also how is the battery life?
TIA
-- Current entry level 2015 rMBP 15" owner.
So, after about half an hour of typing... this keyboard is really bugging me, so far. It's noticably stiffer than the others, or at least feels that way, so my hands hurt after half an hour. That's not good; I could use the old one for an hour or two before I needed to go back to fancy ergonomic keyboards.
Also I just got to the point where I discover that Mission Control still has F11 and F12 as default keybindings, so now you have to hold fn and hit things on the touch bar to get at those. Ugh.
Trackpad is super finicky about clicks, or seems to be to me so far. It makes a very distinct click when I press on the clicking area, but sometimes something happens. Sometimes. Not sure what the issue is; it might be it's picking up palm contact and thinking it's a two-finger interaction instead of a click. (This is why I sort of like distinct buttons in touchpads.)
EDIT: Update, yeah, that's it. Because the trackpad is huge, it's really easy to be even very slightly brushing against the right side, which makes the laptop think I'm right-clicking, even if the actual click event is very definitely over on the left.
Display is really bright, but still glossy, so I can see my reflection in it, which (1) turns me to stone (2) causes eyestrain and headaches.
... Which is to say, this may work okay as a desktop once plugged into external keyboard, monitor, and mouse, but it feels like a downgrade as an actual laptop. Eww.
Also I just got to the point where I discover that Mission Control still has F11 and F12 as default keybindings, so now you have to hold fn and hit things on the touch bar to get at those. Ugh.
Trackpad is super finicky about clicks, or seems to be to me so far. It makes a very distinct click when I press on the clicking area, but sometimes something happens. Sometimes. Not sure what the issue is; it might be it's picking up palm contact and thinking it's a two-finger interaction instead of a click. (This is why I sort of like distinct buttons in touchpads.)
EDIT: Update, yeah, that's it. Because the trackpad is huge, it's really easy to be even very slightly brushing against the right side, which makes the laptop think I'm right-clicking, even if the actual click event is very definitely over on the left.
Display is really bright, but still glossy, so I can see my reflection in it, which (1) turns me to stone (2) causes eyestrain and headaches.
... Which is to say, this may work okay as a desktop once plugged into external keyboard, monitor, and mouse, but it feels like a downgrade as an actual laptop. Eww.
I felt the exact same way about the keyboard when trying the new laptops in the store…
I've been using the magic keyboard at home for quite a while and I really really like it after all this time and the new one just does not cut it in relation to the magic keyboard on the desktop
If you're not careful to not apply much pressure it actually ends up hurting your hands to type after not very long.
Apple has had some ergonomic nightmares before but this is a new level. This is truly form over function and on a keyboard that's a disaster.
I've been using the magic keyboard at home for quite a while and I really really like it after all this time and the new one just does not cut it in relation to the magic keyboard on the desktop
If you're not careful to not apply much pressure it actually ends up hurting your hands to type after not very long.
Apple has had some ergonomic nightmares before but this is a new level. This is truly form over function and on a keyboard that's a disaster.
downgrade from what? maybe its your first time with force trackpad, we use it for over 1 year and we love it. palm rejection on these things is very good, the display is very good...so again, downgrade from what?
From any previous Mac laptop I've ever owned. The keyboard is awful, and the trackpad was at best sorta-unreliable for me in clicking. The display is still glare-prone.
So, now that I've hooked it up to a little hub and I have external keyboard, mouse, and monitor, it's a tolerable substitute for a Mac Mini, and it's nice to have a thing I can take places... But I'm going to have to have an external keyboard and mouse to use it, which was not at all the case with any of my 2011-2015 machines. (Current primary is still the 13" rMBP from 2015, but I also had 2011 and 2012 MBPs.)
Some people seem fine with the keyboard, so it's not necessarily a deal-breaker, but don't just type on it for five minutes to decide. Do some actual writing on it, spend at least an hour or so typing, and see how you feel.
I'm actually enjoying the new keyboard, maybe it's the noise, not sure. The one thing I haven't gotten used to yet is finding the keys. The keys are all so flat and they changed the right & left arrow keys to full instead of half. For whatever reason my fingers have gotten lost a few times and I start typing away on the wrong keys.
The Touch bar is taking a little getting used to, but I can already tell it is more useful than the function keys were. I just need to get used looking at it instead of moving the trackpad all around to do the same things. I'm already wishing I could make the middle section smaller and the outside two sections larger. Maybe the middle and its context sensitive buttons will be more useful once developers take advantage of it, but for now I'd like to put my favorite buttons there.
The Touch bar is taking a little getting used to, but I can already tell it is more useful than the function keys were. I just need to get used looking at it instead of moving the trackpad all around to do the same things. I'm already wishing I could make the middle section smaller and the outside two sections larger. Maybe the middle and its context sensitive buttons will be more useful once developers take advantage of it, but for now I'd like to put my favorite buttons there.
Got my 13" TB this afternoon. My impressions:
- Keyboard will take some getting used to. I'm making a lot more mistakes than I usually do, but I can see that changing over time as I get accustomed to it. I can even see glimpses of liking it better than the Magic Keyboard that I use with my iMac.
- Mixed feelings about the trackpad. Love the button press sensation, way less travel than the old one. However, not sure about size. There have been a few times so far when I accidentally changed the cursor location on the screen when filling out a form just by my hand resting on it. Hopefully I can adjust.
- Screen is AMAZING. I'm coming from a 2013 MBA so the difference is dramatic.
- Love the speakers as others have mentioned. Also dramatic difference.
- I like the compact size (footprint smaller than 2013 MBA), and I love the space grey color.
- I haven't used the TB itself much at all yet, but I'm totally sold on TouchID. I'm a heavy 1Password user and being able to access the vault with a finger touch is huge. I've also enjoyed using it for App Store, etc.
- Re: TB, I'm at least open to the possibility that it could be pretty useful.
- Biggest concern is battery life. Immediately after unplugging from power it said 9:51 remaining, which seemed okay. But after less than an hour of doing nothing but light web browsing for 15-20 min, and the computer remaining idle while I ate dinner, it's down to 6:57 remaining. Screen brightness is at 50%. That is pretty much a deal-breaker.
Maybe it's just reindexing. Give it a couple of days and try again
It says "No apps using significant energy" under the battery indicator. Wouldn't it say Spotlight there if it was reindexing?
Great report. I've enjoyed reading everyone's opinion. In regards to returning it based on battery life, you need to slam on the brakes. Give your laptop 2-3 days and you should see a huge difference unless you have a defective unit.
Okay, that's good to know. I'll definitely try a few more cycles. I'm really loving it overall, feels like a significant upgrade from my 2013 MBA. I'm just accustomed to getting over ten hours of batter life with that. I could probably live with 8.5-9, but 5-7 as some sites have estimated would be too low.