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

[theLedger]

Based on their headline, they could have had only 1 trade in before and now they get 5 so they preach it as a trend. By the time you equip a Surface Book decently, you're at the price of a 15" MacBook Pro. I don't know if the specs have changed much but I believe the Surface Book has only a dual core i7 option while the 15" MacBook Pro comes with a quad core processor. In previous comparison tests, that meant the MBP accomplished Photoshop and other intensive tasks in half the time.

 

[nutmac]

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

While I agree, Microsoft's Surface Book isn't available with RAM greater than 16GB either.

 

[AppleFan360]

As I sit here doing professional development work on my new 15" MBP+TB with 5h12m of battery life left having been working since around 10am (3pm now), and the fact that I choose to work on this machine when I have a 27" iMac 5K (4GHz/24GB/1TB) sitting upstairs, should speak volumes to anyone who doubts this machine is anything but great!

To anyone with an open mind reading this, don't take my word for it or anyone else's, go see a machine yourself and spend some time with it in the store. Do the same for competing products by all means but for heaven's sake make your choice based on your own, informed opinion.

I agree. Seems many of the "The light bar is a gimmick" opinions here are from people who have not actually spent any time with the new MacBook Pro. I have the 13" model with the light bar and the more I use it, the more I like it. It actually saves me time in portions of my workflow.

At this point in time I would never even consider a Surface Pro. The Windows 10 software is simply not as robust as OSX. I can't remember the last time OSX completely locked up on my iMac or my Macbooks. Plus, OSX is fast and efficient.

I admit the $1800 was a bit much to swallow on the MBP but it's really a nice laptop and a joy to use.

 

[neoelectronaut]

The big issue is that no matter how nice Microsoft's hardware is, it's still running Windows, and that's a huge sticking point for me and a lot of other long-time Apple customers.

 

[nt5672]

I would agree with you were it not for the incredible price of the Surface Studio. But all said, I nearly switched to the Surface Studio recently but decided to stick with getting a new iMac before Apple (potentially) cripples the I/O and the RAM in 2017. The only reason I didn't drop on the Surface Studio was because I'm integrated into Mac OS, iCloud, and IOS - it's just the wrong time for me.

I've started switching software and services now though. One Drive beats iCloud. Office 365 is a better tool for me now, especially considering I can expand data and share and collaborate more easily. I've started using Premier instead of FCP.

In a couple of years when the Surface Studio has matured and settled down in price, I'll probably switch, assuming the next generation of iMacs are as stripped back as a lot of pros are guessing they will be after witnessing the MBP disaster.

I think this statement perfectly sums up the current state of Apple and Microsoft. I desperately need new computers. Apple is declining, Microsoft is rising but MS have not eclipsed Apple today. Unfortunately, I cannot in all conscienceless invest in a declining brand, especially with no indication that anyone at Apple understands.

 

[Wowereit]

There's nothing substantive in this report. You can't tout an increase in product sales over the competition without including comparative market analysis/details.

Apple is bragging over Apple Watch sales and 2016 MBP sales without any hard numbers as well.

 

[MI MacGuy]

Good for Microsoft. Seriously. They've put in the work and it really shows. The entire Surface line is top tier and has a clear vision of what it is and where it's going. When I saw it in person, the Surface Studio was absolutely stunning and a very clear shot directly at Apple's client base. If the Studio and the other Surface products can steal those customers, then Apple really needs to focus up and take notice.

Microsoft's problem still continues to be the software development. Windows 10 is a nice OS but still seems rough around the edges, both in UX and in UI. I hope they can continue to refine it as time goes on but if the software development catches up with the hardware, you will see Apple users leave more and more.

 

[Smith288]

If Apple came out with a thicker, longer life macbook pro with a anti-glare matte display, legacy connectors and easily replaceable battery, I'd buy. Jon Ivey needs to get away from the pro products. Nobody buys pro for it's sexy design...or shouldnt.

 

[newyorkone]

Not that it would matter, but maybe we need to start a petition asking for Tim Cook to resign.

This is embarrassing. Microsoft is the new Apple? Ugh, I shudder at the thought, but innovation wise, Microsoft is currently besting Apple. Sad...

 

[steveand]

I too was completely disappointed with the new MBP. The only thing keeping me with the Mac system now is the OS. I started as a PC user and built a couple custom machines but always seemed to have OS problems after a year or 2. Running a small business the down time really hurt. I run my photography business from a MBP works fine but I will never purchase this new machine. I hate the keyboard for every day use and the new touch bar is a waste for high apps like LR or Photoshop. This makes me wonder how Mac will screw up the next IMAC. I wonder how the idea of creatives running away from Apple will hurt their brand? Microsoft should make a modern version of the old "I'm a Mac and I'm a Pc" commercial... how times have changed....

 

[macs4nw]

Which Microsoft Surface product has 32GB or 64GB of RAM?

While I agree, Microsoft's Surface Book isn't available with RAM greater than 16GB either.

Because the Surface Book is available with those configurations. Oh, wait a minute.

No, admittedly it's not, but this is precisely where Apple could have set itself apart by at least offering Pro users the 32GB option and longer battery life.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Although I don't have any desire for a surface an knowing MS - I stay away. However, I do think that Apple has gone too far in too slim and too much external design vs. practical usage. Function is much more important than how slim a notebook is or how "advanced in some eyes" are vs. powerful and practical.
I don't think the time has come yet but Apple has to get back to function vs. slogans. A slim notebook that requires dongles and doesn't have enough memory etc. won't cut it.

 

[QquegChristian]

The Surface Pro 4 has been a lemon of a device in my household, and I've always been a Windows user. I'm with Apple for phone/watch/appleTV and iTunes.

As I am a filmmaker, I always intended to make the jump over to Mac like every other filmmaker I've ever met. But it's just too scary at this point. This year specifically, I've helped several other filmmakers move over to Windows (at their request). These filmmakers all switched to Adobe once Final Cut X was released and now they aren't locked to to Mac. I'm guessing that the seriously aged Mac Pro is really pushing people away now, especially as footage gets more and more demanding with more complicated compression, 4K, and even RAW.

But the Surface line is mimicking some of the worst aspects of Apple's designs too. Mainly, the soldered, glued, all-in-one, disposable design. The Surface Studio is the most impressive computer I've ever touched, but then you realize that the actual guts are far, far worse than my editing desktop. MS is very smart to target creatives as they get frustrated with Apple, but they aren't exactly giving us more power, just a more tailored design. If MS sold the Surface Studio as a pen enabled monitor, I'd absolutely pay the full price of the lowest end model, just to connect it to my existing desktop tower.

I had two Surface Pro 3s in my house, then two Surface Pro 4s. The Surface Pro 4s were absolutely riddled with driver and firmware issues for a full 6 months after purchasing. Daily crashes. Daily hard resets. Today, they finally work right, however MS has definitely gone off the deep end with automatic updates. These things are always updating.

Then 3 weeks ago, the SSD in my wife's Surface Pro 4 failed... 5 days out of warranty. She had one of the lowest end models and we still had to pay $450 and switch out the entire machine, just to replace a 128gb SSD.

I lost a lot of goodwill with Microsoft over this. I understand that drives fail and a warranty is a warranty... but I had two Surfaces constantly crashing for 6 full months of that warranty before MS finally patched them properly. 6 months of my warranty was spent waiting on an update to fix the software issues. Beyond that, you can't tell me that 6 months of hard resets due to faulty software was good for the health of the system drive.

The Surface Pro 3s were rock solid for us, but the 4 was a huge step back as far as reliability. The devices also took a very noticeable hit in battery life that, as someone else mentioned, is very unpredictable.

A lot of the issues reported about the new MacBook Pros sound exactly in line with my issues with this generation of Surface.

I can't help but wonder if there aren't some major issues with Intel right now that neither MS or Apple can speak about (to not hurt all PC sales). I'm seeing people getting half the battery life they're expecting on the MacBook Pro even though the processors are supposed to be more power efficient than ever. It's like both MS and Apple shrunk their batteries based on Intel's promises and Intel didn't deliver.

Other issues with Intel (like my 6 months of Surface crashes starting in Nov of last year) may explain just why it took Apple so long to update ANY of their Macs.

 

[codewrangler]

Both are nice machines and complement their native Operating Systems. Both are priced comparably, when configured comparably.

So, use what works for you. Since I do Mac, iOS and Android programming (and some windows), the MBP is a much better choice for me. However, if you are strictly a MS platform developer, the Surface book is an awesome choice. This is why MS, PC makers and Apple all make various form factors and featured devices.

Also, why choose? If you can afford it, get both. They are both excellent devices.

 

[yaxomoxay]

. They've put in the work and it really shows.

This x 1000.
I wonder sometimes what people at Apple do.
The MBP as we know is not really that revolutionary.
The Mac line is behind.
iPhone 6s and iphone 7 aren't really big changes.
iCloud is behind.
Siri is behind.
iWork is a joke
Airpods are not yet for sale.
iPad didn't really see any serious change, with the exception of the 12.9" iPP which is already 1 yr+ old.
macOS is just an incremental change, it's welcome but it's nothing insane.
Airport canceled.
Apple monitor canceled.
Apple store is behind.
AppleTV 4 is nice but not revolutionary and already 1 yr+ old.

Seriously, what do they do? The products don't show any real work. Have they grown complacent?

 

[Agmnu]

They are NOT configured the same. The new Macbooks have extremely fast SSDs. I am not sure why people keep forgetting that.
Apart from that, there is the user experience and customer service. The trackpads on the macbooks are unparalleled. There are some glitches right now with graphics and battery, but Apple will release software updates eventually. I guess everyone would have been happier if they had packaged a dongle for legacy like the Hyperdrive kickstarter.

 

[mi7chy]

Probably a lot of truth to it.

Base Surface Book was like $1099 at Micro Center recently.

Touch screen and pen are clearly better than emoji bar.

Battery life is easily double if not more.

No dongles required except for Ethernet.

Professional engineering software like OrCAD, CATiA, SolidWorks, ANSYS, etc. run on Windows and Linux.

Surface Book and Surface Studio are a great duo for creatives and they look cool too.

 

[5105973]

Imagine what people here would be saying if Phil Schiller wrote a similar blog post about Samsung or Microsoft or whomever. Such the double standard.

I'm sorry but I have a visceral dislike of Phil Schiller. I don't claim it to be fair. I don't know where it comes from exactly. I'm generally a reasonable and logical person who seeks to treat or react to people as I would like to be treated, so I completely dislike this aspect of myself and wish I could identify its source so I could expunge it and move on. But the man could wish me "Merry Christmas" and I could still feel he's being smarmy and disingenuous and want to smack him with a dead tuna.

 

[tod]

I bought a new MacBook and tried to adjust to the keyboard. I really, really wanted to like it. But it is hands down the worst keyboard I've ever used. I type for a living. I had no choice but to return the MacBook.

The touch bar is also nearly useless. Most things the touch bar can do, I do faster with keyboard shortcuts. There's also the onscreen menubar full of commands and often a toolbar in whatever window you're using with the same commands. So the touch bar is a FOURTH way of accessing the same old commands. And you have to look at it to be certain you're touching the correct virtual key. No touch typing on the touch bar.

And why the **** can't I get dedicated graphics in a smaller machine? Because Apple chooses screen sizes to differentiate price points? Stupid. I want a 21.5" iMac not because I can't afford a 27", but because I LIKE THAT SIZE. I don't want to move the mouse around a screen the size of Wyoming all day. There is no reason Apple can't put dedicated graphics in a 21.5" iMac. It can be a few millimeters thicker. It sits on a desk! Nobody gives a **** how anorexic it is! I just want the size iMac I like with fast, up to date internals.

The last time I saw Macs this crappy was in the mid 90s (when I stuck with Apple, by the way). The exuberance of the bulbous iMac DV is gone. Macs now are boring, underpowered, and sterile.

And then it dawned on me. Other PC manufacturers do offer such things as choices and options, and usually for less money. They don't look quite as **** as they used to either. If my income didn't depend on using Xcode, I would get a new PC just the way I want it and use Linux.

I stuck up for Tim Cook these last five years. And I still support his stance on clean energy and some other things. But it's starting to look like the John Sculley era redux. In both eras, Apple was more profitable than ever, but was slowly losing its soul. Apple today is far from dead and can run on fumes for decades. But if it keeps making underpowered, overpriced, hyped-up computers like the MacBook Pro, I'm not sure I want it to.

 

[leman]

Ahaha, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever in the context of a pro user. The Surface line is priced similarly and has significantly weaker CPUs (compared to the 15" models). If someone considers the new MBPs underpowered, then why would they swap to an even more underpowered Surface?

 

[timber]

I find the recent Apple products lacking in value for money.

But I wouldn't turn to the Surface range. They are also quite expensive, in value terms and in my opinion more expensive than the MBPs.

Other Windows products on the other hand are quite interesting.

 

[paulvee]

I guess that's why there's such a long wait still for the new MB Pros? People who listen to marketing pablum are just more low-information media consumers. I'm not doing a spec analysis - you all know what you need and what you want - although I'd venture to guess that most of the bashers here have not actually used a new MBP and are just repeating the same 5 variations of posts ad nauseam. I'm not doing that, though. I'd like 32GB, myself, but can live without it on this machine at the moment, even running video, audio and photo apps. What I'm talking about is Microsoft talking about all the "disappointment." Do you know the kinds of morons who write PR copy?

 

[blackcrayon]

Funny, as much as people like to complain the new MacBook Pro isn't "pro", you have the Surface Pro and Surface Book which are even less "pro" (they lack the high end CPU options, they don't even have Thunderbolt. Not even the super expensive Surface Studio bothers to have the expandability of an iMac.

I don't hate either Surface product. I just don't see how it's superior to a MacBook Pro as a laptop. Sure, you get tablet functionality that you don't get on a MBP which is nice, but they're nothing special in the laptop category even if you just stick to Windows laptops.

 

[555gallardo]

Bit petty really, Microsoft have some great products out at the moment, smacks of a lack of confidence that they need to refer to the competition. I've never liked this when either Apple or Microsoft indulge in this sort of nonsense. Does it really boost sales alienating prospective customers?

They compared it mainly because the trade-in programme is targeted at Mac users.

 

[avanpelt]

I think Apple could be in the process of losing its way. I don't think it has totally lost its way yet, but I think it's headed that way.

I never had an appreciation for how much Steve Jobs apparently kept Jony Ive's "genius" in check until the last year or two. It seems that Jony has a lot more leeway now (or perhaps people around him now are afraid to tell him "no" like Jobs probably did). The result is that the obsession with thinness has run amuck and function seems to have taken a backseat to form.