yes but they could have got to usb-c only in two or three years. at this point i just can't deal with having to use hubs, dongles, etc to do basic things that i used to do. it's clear that usb-c is the future, but not everyone can adapt overnight.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Marco Arment Argues the 2012—2015 MacBook Pro is 'Best Laptop That Has Ever Existed'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Dunno, I think the previous model is the best. It's a bit heavier, but it's fully-functional. My 2011 with the hi-res screen is still going strong. Wish I had the 2012 with USB3, but I can get that via Thunderbolt.
I agree with most of what Marco wrote, and I do wonder how much of Apple's revenue success with the Touch Bar MacBook Pro isn't due to pent-up demand and higher prices.
Our company didn't want to buy 2015 models when they were basically the "same" as the 2013 models we already had. So for the most part, we waited for the 2016 models with Touch Bar and bought lots of them.
The people who have them complain incessantly. I know, because it's my job to support them. We've spent a small fortune on dongles. The Touch Bar and keyboard are almost universally loathed. The machines have developed a reputation for being buggy. People tell me they just want their 2013 MBP and Thunderbolt Display back. Someone says Apple doesn't make them like they used to, and everyone just nods knowingly.
I'm about to start my own business and need to buy a laptop. For the first time since I started using Macs in 1988, I'm not excited about purchasing one. I might do what Marco did and buy the 2015 MBP. At best, I'll feel annoyed at spending so much money on three year-old tech. But a 2016 or 2017 is almost out of the question. The handful of 2015s we bought have been problem-free.
Our company didn't want to buy 2015 models when they were basically the "same" as the 2013 models we already had. So for the most part, we waited for the 2016 models with Touch Bar and bought lots of them.
The people who have them complain incessantly. I know, because it's my job to support them. We've spent a small fortune on dongles. The Touch Bar and keyboard are almost universally loathed. The machines have developed a reputation for being buggy. People tell me they just want their 2013 MBP and Thunderbolt Display back. Someone says Apple doesn't make them like they used to, and everyone just nods knowingly.
I'm about to start my own business and need to buy a laptop. For the first time since I started using Macs in 1988, I'm not excited about purchasing one. I might do what Marco did and buy the 2015 MBP. At best, I'll feel annoyed at spending so much money on three year-old tech. But a 2016 or 2017 is almost out of the question. The handful of 2015s we bought have been problem-free.
Last edited:
As long as Macs had USB-A ports there would be no incentive to make a USB-C device.
i think he's talking about the 15" model
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[doublepost=1510793850][/doublepost]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
i have this one:
it's the best laptop i've ever owned.. but then again, it's the newest one i've ever owned.. before this, it was a 2010 MBP and that was the best ever for me.. powerbook before that.. etc.
i'll probably be replacing it within the next year or so.. basically, waiting for the low power ram to happen..
looking forward to a speed bump on the processor and more VRam as i push up to the limits of these 2014 specs fairly often..
i've seen one of the newer models and used it just to see how it is.. personally, i like it better.. the trackpad on the newer ones is sweet.. the keys feel ok to me.. using ESC was totally fine (which i was worried about upon reading the forums around here).. i like the USB-C for charging.. a lot.
the day i get rid of magsafe will be a good day for me.
anyway, my point is.. yeah, the 2012 design is great.. but in no way will i get another one since the 2016 design is out there.. that one is better in my opinion.
Last edited:
I’m not sure what all the debate is about? Everyone has their own needs and preferences. I agree with the blogger for numerous reasons, but the ‘16-17 models are great as well.
And for what it’s worth, it go the hell knows what Steve Jobs would have liked? Not every idea he had was a success. I think even a few of the successes may have a reprised him.
Bottom line, both of the MBPs are really good machines.
And for what it’s worth, it go the hell knows what Steve Jobs would have liked? Not every idea he had was a success. I think even a few of the successes may have a reprised him.
Bottom line, both of the MBPs are really good machines.
The problem is implementation not the technology. Intel and Apple attempted to hijack the USB-C rollout first with Thunderbolt 3. The fundamental problem is that TB3 is NOT a USB specification, but “compatible” with one. Strike One.
Apple “bet the farm” on MacBooks with USB-C solely. Ok. Fair enough. But of course usual Apple secrecy meant they didn’t actually vet their MacBook design with any EXISTING devices. So Strike One. They posed off everyone for six months trying to catch up. And their first party dongles rate as junk.
Strike Three was deciding less than a year after USB-C only MacBooks to jump to TB3 SOLELY. (See strike one above). And yeah, half the USB-C devices everybody just ran out and designed and bought... well Apple didn’t test THOSE with TB3. (And remember it’s not really USB) Because Secrets and all...
And there’s no fallback to plain USB3 ports for anything. If they would have left one or two USB3 ports people with existing Macs wouldn’t be dead in the water. And a great many new MacBook Pro owners were flat out screwed for many months. There was really no reason to do that. USB ports are “free” in design because every chipset has them. You’d have thought Apple learned their lesson with the original Air when they backpedal day and tossed in an extra USB and card reader.
My opinion is that it was deliberate. By forcing ALL EXISTING devices to use dongles, then Apple supports NOTHING officially to be connected to their new lineup. If you have problems, it’s YOUR device that’s not intended to connect. That’s clever from an engineering view, but it’s a dick business move.
At my desk, I currently use every single port (including SD) on my rMBP except the HDMI. Takes 5 seconds to plug them in, not 5 minutes. And I can use those ports even when I'm not at my desk. You'd have to carry dongles, which especially sucks if you want an always-inserted SD card for extra storage; I put 128GiB in for at most 1/8 what it cost you just to get all your ports back.When I get home, I connect a single cable to my machine to have all those devices connected, along with power. Have fun taking 5 minutes each time you're coming or going plugging in a half dozen different cables.
If I really wanted to aggregate my cables into one or two, the Thunderbolt 2 would serve anything short of certain extremely high bandwidth peripherals, so I don't see what your point is. I don't do that cause 1. it costs more and 2. docks can be finicky => waste of time.
The only thing I don't get is power. But it's better to have MagSafe for that so I don't pull my laptop off the desk by accident. So the one possible disadvantage is that MagSafe is proprietary... but at least for now, you pretty much have to use Apple's USB-C cables anyway to get the full power and throughput, thanks to the cable-vs-protocol confusion.
Just because you disagree with someone doesn't make them an idiot. If you want others to respect your opinions, you'll have to cease the name-calling.
Last edited by a moderator:
No need. Android phones immediately adopted USB-C (while the iPhone ironically still hasn't). Android market >>> Mac market. USB-C is decoupled from the protocols, so what ends up being commonly supported is really up in the air and is more for the other manufacturers to decide.
All the current accessories are going to be garbage soon. All Apple had to do was wait. I mean, they even screwed up the 2016 model's TB3 compatibility. But thankfully, all I have to do is wait.
Last edited:
The answer would be "yes" regardless. My iPhone and MBP are constantly connected, without a cable or dongle in sight, simply by being logged into the same iCloud account. They use BlueTooth and WiFi to ID each other and communicate, and that, I believe, is the way Apple wants things to work. Most places I take my MPB to have WiFi, and in the few places that don't the Mac tethers through the phone via ad hoc WiFi.
I've just deleted overcast. I can't support this whingebag anymore.
The current MacBook Pros are the best MacBook Pros Apple has ever made.
The current MacBook Pros are the best MacBook Pros Apple has ever made.
I'm not a mouse user myself, but I agree. The Magic Mouse 2 should come bundled with a choice of cable, USB-A or USB-C. Heck, at the price they're asking (AU$129) it should come with both! My iPhone 7+ managed to include both a Lightning-3.5mm dongle and a set of Lightning earbuds. Ironically, I'm not using either of them
I know - I mean, it's not nearly as bad as the 2016 MPB, but it took me 6 months to adapt to the 2015's lack of ports, and I had to carry around a backpack full of dongles. At work, I'm an "anti-Apple" dream commercial, because every time I show up at a meaning, I yell "forgot my dongle!" and have to run back to my desk to grab my Ethernet dongle. I've finally adapted with a ton of adapters and a lot of external blu-ray drives in various places. Also, the 2015 isn't upgradable yet to a 2 TB hard drive, even though my 2010 already was. Nonetheless, I completely agree that the 2015 is super light, has the best keyboard Apple ever made, and has a nice, albeit smaller screen than my 2010 17" MBP. And it's still FAR more practical than the 2016 - while you just heard me complain, it's still an absolute JOY that I can plug in SDHC cards without an adapter, plug in my mouse and keyboard without an adapter, have a magsafe power chord - and - it has built in dual display port + full sized HDMI that is constantly useful! So for me, it's like a half step back and a half step forward. I'd love to see the 2015 with a 2 TB drive and at least an Ethernet port, maybe a 3rd USB 3.0 port for convenience. The 2016 is not even a possibility for me until OWC gets their DEC ready.
Now you're being ridiculous! We are still waiting for the best laptop ever to be released: the PowerBook G5
The second best was obviously the 12" PowerBook G4
[doublepost=1510798742][/doublepost]
Same here, nothing wrong wth it, except I'd love the solid-state trackpad that came out the following year.
The touch bar era MBP's are so many kinds of awful for anyone that actually does real work on their computer, and especially if they are a remote user like myself. Someone that actually does things like type and have their average workday involve one or two destinations and setups to legacy devices, that I ask you please don't even get me started.
Last edited:
Exactly, but the issue is Apple will only be supporting some of those needs and preferences going forward. Nobody would mind if the 2012-2015 form factor were kept in a separate line, but ofc they wouldn't do that for various reasons.
I got the 2016 Macbook Pro 15" with Touch Bar (maxed out with upgraded graphics and the 1TB SSD) and it's my least favorite Mac I've ever owned.
It's super buggy, often crashing and with lots of graphical hiccups, especially when connecting to an external monitor.
The keyboard is far less satisfying to type on then the older models, and way louder.
The touch bar is super annoying and always gets in the way. As a developer, I've remapped by Escape key to Caps Lock and that works fine for me, but I hardly ever take advantage of the touch bar's "functionality." If anything, it makes it harder to do common tasks like change brightness and raise volume. (I do however use BetterTouchTool to display my currently playing songs, and that's pretty sweet, but that's it, and not even technically allowed by Apple's stupid guidelines). The only good part of the touch bar is the fingerprint reader but even that is only reliable half of the time. It often gets frozen and requires my password, or just doesn't recognize my fingerprint.
The battery life is atrocious. I get maybe 3 hours of screen time when disconnected. I can't believe they made the battery smaller with this generation!
It isn't any faster than any of my previous machines. In fact, it feels a lot slower. It always runs hot and feels slow (even with 16GB of RAM). Maybe I'm pushing it to the limit, but its the fastest (and most expensive) Macbook out there, it should feel like it and handle everything I throw at it...
The lack of ports doesn't bother me at all. And I do like the thinner profile and its lighter-weight. But that doesn't make up for the ****** battery life, buggy touch bar, awful keyboard and close to $4000 price tag. They even short-change you with a shorter power cord out of the box. Sigh.
In terms of "best laptop ever" I have a special place in my heart for the 2011 Macbook Air. Incredibly thin, light and still powerful enough for most of what I do. All the ports you need and the battery lasts ages!
It's super buggy, often crashing and with lots of graphical hiccups, especially when connecting to an external monitor.
The keyboard is far less satisfying to type on then the older models, and way louder.
The touch bar is super annoying and always gets in the way. As a developer, I've remapped by Escape key to Caps Lock and that works fine for me, but I hardly ever take advantage of the touch bar's "functionality." If anything, it makes it harder to do common tasks like change brightness and raise volume. (I do however use BetterTouchTool to display my currently playing songs, and that's pretty sweet, but that's it, and not even technically allowed by Apple's stupid guidelines). The only good part of the touch bar is the fingerprint reader but even that is only reliable half of the time. It often gets frozen and requires my password, or just doesn't recognize my fingerprint.
The battery life is atrocious. I get maybe 3 hours of screen time when disconnected. I can't believe they made the battery smaller with this generation!
It isn't any faster than any of my previous machines. In fact, it feels a lot slower. It always runs hot and feels slow (even with 16GB of RAM). Maybe I'm pushing it to the limit, but its the fastest (and most expensive) Macbook out there, it should feel like it and handle everything I throw at it...
The lack of ports doesn't bother me at all. And I do like the thinner profile and its lighter-weight. But that doesn't make up for the ****** battery life, buggy touch bar, awful keyboard and close to $4000 price tag. They even short-change you with a shorter power cord out of the box. Sigh.
In terms of "best laptop ever" I have a special place in my heart for the 2011 Macbook Air. Incredibly thin, light and still powerful enough for most of what I do. All the ports you need and the battery lasts ages!
I love my new MBP 15” except for when:
1. I accidentally touch something on the touchbar while editing in Premiere Pro.
2. Forget my dock at home and can’t connect a darn thing like the projector, drives, SD cards, etc.
That $50 OWC dock makes all the difference.
1. I accidentally touch something on the touchbar while editing in Premiere Pro.
2. Forget my dock at home and can’t connect a darn thing like the projector, drives, SD cards, etc.
That $50 OWC dock makes all the difference.
I like this one for my 12” MacBook. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M...+usb+c+hub&dpPl=1&dpID=413+O714seL&ref=plSrch
HDMI, 3 USB-A, Power, SD, and Ethernet
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Marco is spot on. It doesn’t matter how well the new models are selling. The 2015 edition retina MacBook Pro was truly the last great MacBook “Pro.“