Microsoft Says 'Disappointment' of New MacBook Pro Has More People Switching to Surface Than Ever Before

[kuito]

Marketing is marketing so must be taken with a grain of salt.

As a working professional, the new mbp is just a no-go for me (still need ports not dongles, better battery, more memory, and the touch bar is DIA as far as interesting me at all). Luckily my current rmbp is working well so no _need_ to upgrade currently.

The thing is, I have advised many to buy the surface book (or surface pro) for their needs cuz it just fits better. I would not be surprised if Apple's ecosystem is gonna take a hit with professionals due to this "update". I only know one person that bought the new mbp and he is returning it due to GPU issues. Pretty sad to hear a custom built 3k+ laptop had such issues.

So it would not surprise me that MS is seeing an uptick of people legitimately switching to the surface line as opposed to staying with mbp. I know I have been really thinking about it myself - I guess I will see when I upgrade next year when I need to what is all out.

Come on Apple - wake up & make something worthy of the price that a lot of us are willing to pay!

 

[vpro]

I've been saying this for a while now about Apple. It's time for Tim to go and time to revamp Apple.

I agree. How long does a CEO stay in a company. Is anyone trying for that position?

As a girl I can no longer tell the difference between M.A.C. cosmetics giant and Apple's recent Mac line up. When I go to an Apple Store, the employees act in the same snobbish and unintelligent way. The whole thing has always been about status symbol and money grabbing, but now a days it's totally blown out of proportion ? The products suffer and simply become nothing more than shiny boutique show pieces with absolutely little to no functionality.

Clearly they are in need of fresh, new leadership in every single level of that company, a complete overhaul is needed to save it now.

I never thought I'd ever type this phrase but "Apple died with Jobs". It's the beautiful phenomenon where couples who've lived to be 100, who've been together, inseparable for 60+ years, like lovebirds, when one passes, the other slowly passes alongside.

Crunch for thought.

 

[Steve121178]

Now MS is using the same marketing tactics as Apple. "Our best ever" doesn't mean it is the best.

If MS sold 100 Surface and now it sold 150, they can use "impressive grow, best sales ever" and all marketing words Apple loves to use. "Magical" comes to my mind.

I'm not a huge fan of the Surface Pro, but the Surface Book is one revision away from being the perfect computer. Once they've tidied up some of the cosmetic annoyances and refined it a little more what is not to love about it?

 

[Spectrum]

It's not that bad how some people are picturing it. Nobody has still created a better laptop. I think 2nd gen of this laptops will be great and there will be no dongles problem.

There will always be a dongle problem. USB-A is not going to disappear for years because for many low IO devices there simply is no benefit to change to USB-C. And as an academic, I can tell you that I have NEVER been to a conference where the expected input for the projector system was not VGA. For the past 10 years, I've had to travel with a variety of different XXX > VGA adapters. USB-C on the MB and MBPro means I have to buy yet ANOTHER one, but also a dongle for an SD card reader (currently built in in all my other Apple devices), and a USBC > A adapter for a clicker. So, not exactly impossible, but annoying nonetheless.

I can't ever see projectors becoming USB-C as standard unless there is a way to upscale to USB-C from an inferior output source (e.g. DVI, miniDP or VGA).

 

[derekamoss]

What they won't tell you is how many people will realize what they're missing when they use a Windows machine everyday! No but for real Windows 10 is pretty manageable, the surface is cheaply made with a not so good stylus and trackpad. With a better external keyboard and mouse it is pretty nice.

Cheaply made? I don't know what you are smoking. Surfaces are not cheaply made at all. The design IMO is excellent.

 

[R.T.]

Really? Because I've been out and about and I've seen at least 5 2016 MBP's out there and exactly ZERO Surfaces.

 

[Taipan]

I agree with Apple, working on a notebook or Desktop with touch input is uncomfortable at best. And while better than 8, Windows 10 is still a mess.
Ars Technica reviewed the Surface Studio and came to the conclusion that it's great for graphics artists and nobody else.

Apple leaves much to be desired recently as well, though...

 

[ikir]

I have a new MacBook Pro 13" 2016 since few days and it is my dream machine.

 

[kuito]

Still, when it was time for my last work system refresh, I picked a 13" MBP. I'm just more comfortable with it, in the way that I earn my livelihood. But we now have three PCs in the family (XPS 13, SP4, and a workstation). Oddly enough, I now use my PC for personal stuff and my Mac for work.

This is me 100% -- surface pro for personal stuff and year old rmbp for work stuff (mainly cuz my love for Coda).

I am not impressed with my iPhone 7 (crashes, freezes, no headphone jack, etc) or the new mbp so I may be leaving the apple ecosystem completely next year - not cuz I want to just due to lack of anything worth (to me) buying.

 

[TMRJIJ]

There is a right way to introduce the technology and a wrong way to do it. Apple did it the wrong way. Just like the forgot to put a lighting port on the MacBook as well. They screwed up. If you can't see that, then your just following the Apple cult.

There is no right way to replace legacy ports. People will be pissed no matter what but what's needed is that they bite their lips and move forward. If the complainers are not moving forward and they will be in for a harsh wake-up call in the next few years.
As for the lightning port, I really think Apple needs to kill that for USB-C as well. Apple is so wrong with this proprietary port now and I hope Samsung doesn't do that same thing based on rumors.

 

[bladerunner2000]

If a marketing person at Microsoft says it, then it MUST be true.

Just like when Apple boasts about sales but doesn't release numbers, right?

 

[Gorms]

And Apple's "amazing" apple watch sales numbers are...??

Same applies both ways for me! Back it up or shut up! Also Amazon could do with doing the same.

 

[nfl46]

Well, this isn't surprising! We seriously need an innovated CEO, let Tim handle the COO duties. He seems better fit there.

 

[kuito]

I hope Apple takes note and listens to its customers.

We want ports, card slots, bigger batteries, faster/better graphics.

Not what Apple is offering with the current MacBook Pro's.

Apple needs to stop behaving arrogantly and listen carefully to its customers.

100%!

 

[ItsNotaTumor]

The last time I saw someone using a Surface in public was in a movie theater, on the screen...

 

[Defthand]

Take note Apple. It is a nice machine but for the money, it's lacking in legacy connectivity, graphics power and main memory. Also battery life sacrificed for thinness.

For a Pro laptop, thinness is not the first consideration. 32 or 64GB could have been available with a larger battery.

This is another example of Apple courting the preferences/needs of Joe The Plumber at the expense of power users and certain professional trades. Laptop thinness (weight actually) is a selling feature for most users. For the most part, Apple managed to preserve or boost performance while reducing the size of the tool. I used a 17 inch MacBook Pro that weighed almost 7 pounds. I longed for a lighter version because I was afraid I’d drop the laptop someday.

As a former professional user, I would not have sacrificed performance or connectivity for less weight. Imagine what today’s laptops could do if they maintained the same size casings as yesteryear’s laptops. Still, there are many kinds of professionals. I suspect the majority don’t require a cornucopia of ports to connect peripherals, or need to max out their RAM and graphics cards like the subgroup I belonged to.

If Apple sees a sizable defection of professional users, who are seeking maximum performance over aesthetic and portability, they may someday court those users again with hardware that satisfies. But don’t hold your breath. Apple is clearly tailoring its products for the masses that made Apple the powerhouse it is today. Even though Apple says it refuses to “make and sell commodity products”, it is doing so in spirit if not cost.

 

[jameslmoser]

I rather get a dell or Lenovo than a surface product.

Well, with Microsoft Windows you have those options... so there is that.

 

[5105973]

I played around with a Surface Studio a bit. Pretty cool in theory. I'm getting into photography, so I kinda like being able to use a stylus on screen for editing and creative work. Not sure what it's like in the long run. I have gotten Pixelmator for Mac which is kinda good, IMO. My main gripe against the Surface Studio at the moment is MS support. I tried going to MS support for help installing Windows on my MBP a few years ago. Not only would it be $49 and take 48 hours to install Windows, but the guy was rude. He actually told me that if he was anyone else, he'd puke on my laptop. Seriously? Is that how you treat your customers? Obviously, I didn't stay there. I eventually got it working myself for free & a lot quicker, too. Apple support, on the other hand, was always nice, quick & free 95% of the time. Only time it wasn't was motherboard replacement that took a few days.

MS Support is the absolute pits. My husband called as a business customer to clear up a licensing issue and the MS rep, a woman in this case, was unbelievably rude and unreasonable. But the man before her wasn't much better. It's not like it's a personal thing that they're so intractable and rude, it's almost like they are acting that way as a matter of policy! It took a LOT of valuable time to get the issue resolved. That being said, my husband has had to gradually switch some of the office over to Windows because Apple has had chronic supply issues. And now they're having these quality control issues or design issues with their new laptops as well, so that's a problem, too.

I'm really rooting for Apple to get their act together because they do have better customer service overall.

 

[Rogifan]

Same applies both ways for me! Back it up or shut up! Also Amazon could do with doing the same.

Why do you care? Unless companies are legally required to provide sales figures I couldn't care less if they do or not. The only thing I care about is hypocrisy e.g. Apple Watch is a failure otherwise Apple would release sales figures yet that same standard isn't applied to Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc.

 

[PhoneI]

I'm not a huge fan of the Surface Pro, but the Surface Book is one revision away from being the perfect computer. Once they've tidied up some of the cosmetic annoyances and refined it a little more what is not to love about it?

HA!!! How much time have you spent using a Surface Pro? "Cosmetic annoyances" is far from the reason preventing the SP from being a "perfect computer".

 

[prowlmedia]

There will always be a dongle problem. USB-A is not going to disappear for years because for many low IO devices there simply is no benefit to change to USB-C. And as an academic, I can tell you that I have NEVER been to a conference where the expected input for the projector system was not VGA. For the past 10 years, I've had to travel with a variety of different XXX > VGA adapters. USB-C on the MB and MBPro means I have to buy yet ANOTHER one, but also a dongle for an SD card reader (currently built in in all my other Apple devices), and a USBC > A adapter for a clicker. So, not exactly impossible, but annoying nonetheless.

I can't ever see projectors becoming USB-C as standard unless there is a way to upscale to USB-C from an inferior output source (e.g. DVI, miniDP or VGA).

What are these mythical i/O devices you speak of? I've not plugged anything into my laptop for years apart from a USB / Thunderbolt Hard drive and they certainly are not USB1! I have the new macbook pro and it's great.. I have a wacom / 3D controller / Jog controller and mouse all connected via Bluetooth. And just bought a new USB3.1-C > USB2 Cable for my hard drive.

Just buy the cable dongles are not needed. I agree with the SD card - but the specs on them change so fast the readers become obsolete - even on a computer - There is even another new protocal coming out right now ( I am working on a 3d presentation for them as we speak ) - Same form factor just 3x faster and they won't read even on the last macbook pros / Monitors or any dongle up till now... it's all a bit of minefield.

Look at this way we could have stuck with the old cables and you'd have no dongles .... also no bandwidth... USB-C is the connecter we should all be using - USB 3.1 - Thunderbolt 3 - Video - Ethernet - audio All on one cable. It's up to the peripherals to catch up

 

[Brooklynscholar]

ha! "Than ever before"

 

[whsbuss]

SO glad I didn't wait for the new MBP. Got last year's model at a great discount.

 

[leroypants]

Sounds like desperation from Microsoft to me.

Anytime you need to compare yourself to the competition you are already behind.

You're probably too young to have seen them but for years Apple produced Mac vs PC commercials doing exactly what you're bashing Microsoft for.

 

[Elijen]

You must mean no one has created a better MacBook. With Windows there are options and there are countless incredible machines that are more powerful, cost effective and multi-purpose. Apple must make perfect products to compete and their NOT doing that anymore!

Windows is almost always the biggest catch. It's a terrible OS to work on. More or less depending on what exactly you do. For web development it's near to useless.

I personally have researched 13" laptops more than 15" and was comparing XPS13 vs MBP13. The price difference is around $200 for comparable models. While MBP has better build, battery life, macOS, touch id, best touch pad ever created, extremely fast SSD and much higher resale value.

Basically in every comparison I do MBP wins - except it's more expensive. There are no BETTER laptops, only CHEAPER ones. HP Spectre might be the best laptop if you are looking for value/price ratio, but it's still not better than MBP.

Edit: Of course Apple was never a company focusing on the best value/price ratio. They want to create stuff that you will love (or hate) and can count on every day. They create premium products and sell it for premium price. No doubt that you pay decent part of the price just for the Apple logo but since I use my MBP to make living and it's still the best device I could find I am willing to pay the extra. After all the price difference is just few days of work.