I've been the proud pwner of a MacBook Pro 13 inch Touch Bar model, released late 2016. Runs really well, looks great, super light, battery lasts a long time. As everyone knows, Apple always make reliable machines, and they have a good warranty to boot.
Before I post this, and before I get accused of trolling or being like the red queen shouting "off with their heads", I'm actually posting as I'm genuinely interested to know if anyone uses their Touch Bar on the newer MacBook Pro for their day to day workflow.
It's a nice idea, I really thought it would take off, but it hasn't. If you're thinking of buying a MacBook Pro just because of the Touch Bar, don't bother - in my opinion it's just a gimmick Apple added so they can charge more. At least it looks cool.
So yeah, I have to say I hardly look at the Touch Bar. I think I've pressed it maybe 20-30 times in the entire time I've had this machine, completely pointless in my setup (perhaps others use it?). I feel like the Touch Bar thing was sold as this groundbreaking feature that was going to be incorporated into tonnes of stuff, but over a year on...meh.
A bit like iPhone X facial recognition, in my setup (again, not everyone's situation) for me the Touch Bar is this useless expensive gimmick consuming extra battery power, a waste of programmers' resources, a waste of an OLED screen, and something that you had to endure in order to obtain the faster processor speed in this model.
I'm happy to defend this machine on the whole though as one of the best laptops I've ever owned. By a long way.
Granted, many people have complained in these forums that the MB Pro with TB is crap, but I don't think this is right. It is true that it's one of the most expensive machines Apple advertises (by a long, long way), but there are only a few persistently discussed flaws with the machine, so despite the high price, if you can live with the risk of some things going wrong, then it's worth it. Sure, there are some niggly problems, but what piece of tech these days doesn't have problems?
For example, in the model I bought, some people we complaining about problems and scratches right out of the box, and failing/clicking keyboards and graphics problems...all of which I've thankfully managed to avoid. (#firstworldproblems, who cares about a few scratches right out of the box? Honestly. It's going to get a few anyway. It's a computer, not a work of art. What matters is the processors/electronics.)
The one common flaw I didn't avoid was the loose USB-C ports, which on my MB Pro TB are loosening every month and now drop connections to peripherals such as my external storage drives, so I've sadly been through a few $100 drives that had the header corrupted by repeatedly dropped connections. To be honest, the ports on the MacBook Pro TB do not seem fit for purpose, I've taken it in to the Apple Store, had cables tested, the whole bit, it's the ports. Expensive problem to have, but I'm still willing to stick with Apple, and hey there's always great warranty coverage from Apple if I want to be without a machine for 2 weeks while they confirm if it's the ports and if they can fix them.
I've also found in the past that MacOS that runs on the machine has failed to maintain standardised clipboard protocols so that data within sentences of text is lost between the copy command and paste commands when pasting into Mail, so this requires careful proof reading. But that's something I can live with.
All in all, the MB Pro TB 2016 13 inch is a great machine - some might argue it has some pointless gimmicks for what is meant to be a serious professional's machine, but I'm guessing at least some people use things like Touch Bar somewhat in their work processes. Hopefully Apple don't continue adding experimental untested unsupported features to the top line devices at the expense of market needs, it could put people off the brand.
Before I post this, and before I get accused of trolling or being like the red queen shouting "off with their heads", I'm actually posting as I'm genuinely interested to know if anyone uses their Touch Bar on the newer MacBook Pro for their day to day workflow.
It's a nice idea, I really thought it would take off, but it hasn't. If you're thinking of buying a MacBook Pro just because of the Touch Bar, don't bother - in my opinion it's just a gimmick Apple added so they can charge more. At least it looks cool.
So yeah, I have to say I hardly look at the Touch Bar. I think I've pressed it maybe 20-30 times in the entire time I've had this machine, completely pointless in my setup (perhaps others use it?). I feel like the Touch Bar thing was sold as this groundbreaking feature that was going to be incorporated into tonnes of stuff, but over a year on...meh.
A bit like iPhone X facial recognition, in my setup (again, not everyone's situation) for me the Touch Bar is this useless expensive gimmick consuming extra battery power, a waste of programmers' resources, a waste of an OLED screen, and something that you had to endure in order to obtain the faster processor speed in this model.
I'm happy to defend this machine on the whole though as one of the best laptops I've ever owned. By a long way.
Granted, many people have complained in these forums that the MB Pro with TB is crap, but I don't think this is right. It is true that it's one of the most expensive machines Apple advertises (by a long, long way), but there are only a few persistently discussed flaws with the machine, so despite the high price, if you can live with the risk of some things going wrong, then it's worth it. Sure, there are some niggly problems, but what piece of tech these days doesn't have problems?
For example, in the model I bought, some people we complaining about problems and scratches right out of the box, and failing/clicking keyboards and graphics problems...all of which I've thankfully managed to avoid. (#firstworldproblems, who cares about a few scratches right out of the box? Honestly. It's going to get a few anyway. It's a computer, not a work of art. What matters is the processors/electronics.)
The one common flaw I didn't avoid was the loose USB-C ports, which on my MB Pro TB are loosening every month and now drop connections to peripherals such as my external storage drives, so I've sadly been through a few $100 drives that had the header corrupted by repeatedly dropped connections. To be honest, the ports on the MacBook Pro TB do not seem fit for purpose, I've taken it in to the Apple Store, had cables tested, the whole bit, it's the ports. Expensive problem to have, but I'm still willing to stick with Apple, and hey there's always great warranty coverage from Apple if I want to be without a machine for 2 weeks while they confirm if it's the ports and if they can fix them.
I've also found in the past that MacOS that runs on the machine has failed to maintain standardised clipboard protocols so that data within sentences of text is lost between the copy command and paste commands when pasting into Mail, so this requires careful proof reading. But that's something I can live with.
All in all, the MB Pro TB 2016 13 inch is a great machine - some might argue it has some pointless gimmicks for what is meant to be a serious professional's machine, but I'm guessing at least some people use things like Touch Bar somewhat in their work processes. Hopefully Apple don't continue adding experimental untested unsupported features to the top line devices at the expense of market needs, it could put people off the brand.
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