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As for the actual machine itself – it's the best computer ever made by an enormous margin. All the complaints are weird edge cases creating an availability heuristic bias. I.e. the whiners are loud but few. I've also noticed that if you directly confront the whiners, virtually none of them actually own the machine. They just hate the idea of it.

Uh, no. In your opinion it may be "the best computer ever made." As someone who has now owned no less than six of them, I would say your opinion is not well founded; or, to translate from lawyerese, wrong.
 
As for the actual machine itself – it's the best computer ever made by an enormous margin. All the complaints are weird edge cases creating an availability heuristic bias. I.e. the whiners are loud but few. I've also noticed that if you directly confront the whiners, virtually none of them actually own the machine. They just hate the idea of it.

I like the current MacBook Pro quite a lot...but I think your comment is a little dismissive of those who have had legitimate problems (and a little insulting, to be completely honest.) Indeed a forum often gives the impression that problems are more significant than they actually are, and relatively isolated issues with Apple products have a tendency to get blown into a something-something-gate. But in regards to the current machine, the similarities among different individuals experiencing problems shows there is indeed a systematic issue at hand - specifically, with the keyboard. If all of the complaints were weird edge cases, it would make more sense for them to have a wider spread regarding the nature of the issue. Indeed, some people whining do not even own the computer - but quite a few who do have experienced significant keyboard issues for no fault of their own (I've checked some of their computers in for service, personally.)

Quite a few people said something very similar to me when I had an issue with a 15-inch 2011 MacBook Pro...
 
Yeah I can't say anything more for the 2017 MacBook Pro (15-inch) other than it is a fantastic machine that is in my opinion the best MBP ever made.

The keyboard is my favorite keyboard on any MacBook Pro ever - including since the previous best, the pre-unibody silver-keyed keyboard. This keyboard feels soft and smooth and feels like butter beneath my fingers, flowing from key to key easier than any previous keyboard I've used and I have been a long time MacBook Pro user for more than ten years. My keyboard also has had no issues with it whatsoever; I'm not sure why we see so many complaints about failed keyboards here, but I think it's because a few people have had issues, and these have since been blown up into reasons to not buy the new computer, even though most of us use this new beast with no issues at all.

As for the Touch Bar - same exact thing. Sure, a few people don't like it, so many more who don't even own the machine start complaining that they "wouldn't" like it either because they "need" their function keys. It's really not that complicated - the function keys are still there at the click of a button, and in my opinion, the benefits of the Touch Bar and the fantastic features that it unlocks across a multitude of apps far outweigh having to push a single key to bring up the function keys.

I agree with the above poster - the whiners are loud but few, and many people that can't afford the 2017 MacBook Pro find reasons to hate on it as a result of the complaints of a few others legitimate complaints, simply because it may be out of price range.

It's the best MacBook Pro I've ever used in my more than ten years as a MacBook Pro user, and for one who needs power on the go, there is no better computer.

Cheers
 
I was editing feature films on Avid and creating dailies from 2k files in Resolve with my 2011 MBP up until last week, so I would imagine everything would work so much better on the 2017 model. I think I'm gonna go with the laptop (even though I want an iMac) simply because I am a freelancer and it would suck to be without that portability for the next couple of years.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should get the 1TB SSD and/or AppleCare.
 
I was editing feature films on Avid and creating dailies from 2k files in Resolve with my 2011 MBP up until last week, so I would imagine everything would work so much better on the 2017 model. I think I'm gonna go with the laptop (even though I want an iMac) simply because I am a freelancer and it would suck to be without that portability for the next couple of years.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should get the 1TB SSD and/or AppleCare.
Think carefully about what your storage requirements are going to be. While I back everything up, when I'm on the road I like to carry as few peripherals as possible with me which means I need a larger drive, thus I went with 2TB SSD. But there's no way in hell that 512GB would have been enough for me I know that much - minimum of 1TB was my benchmark but I decided to upgrade to ensure I had room for everything down the road.

In my opinion, being first gen of the new MacBook Pro design, AppleCare is a must, but I'll leave that up to you.

Cheers
 
I like the current MacBook Pro quite a lot...but I think your comment is a little dismissive of those who have had legitimate problems (and a little insulting, to be completely honest.)


Guaranteed you don't have this machine. The people trying to drum up doubt virtually never have the machine. There may be the odd outside case where a whiner is an owner, but I've pointedly confronted many whiners on this board and the overwhelming trend is people wording phrases in ambiguous ways that lead a casual reader to conclude they may own the machine, when in fact they're blowhards.

If you have a keyboard problem Apple jams a new keyboard on for free. No big deal at all. And by the way, for my money they're the best keyboard on the market right now. I'm a professional writer and have been for many many years, and have carpal tunnel problems, so I'm very picky about keyboards.

The whole trend of criticizing this machine has just turned out to be a big ol' nothingburger.

Normally I don't like arguing with people about minutiae on the internet, but in this case the naysayers are just so wildly overrepresented, I feel the need to occasionally pop in and remind forum readers that this is an astonishingly great machine. Undoubtedly the best laptop ever made.
 
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Guaranteed you don't have this machine. The people trying to drum up doubt virtually never have the machine. There may be the odd outside case where a whiner is an owner, but I've pointedly confronted many whiners on this board and the overwhelming trend is people wording phrases in ambiguous ways that lead a casual reader to conclude they may own the machine, when in fact they're blowhards.

If you have a keyboard problem Apple jams a new keyboard on for free. No big deal at all. And by the way, for my money they're the best keyboard on the market right now. I'm a professional writer and have been for many many years, and have carpal tunnel problems, so I'm very picky about keyboards.

I have now owned six (!) of them. Every single one has seen the keyboard fail. 2016, 2017, does not matter. And it is a big deal to have Apple "jam a new keyboard on for free," as it is out of your hands for anywhere from 3 days to a week.

As for "best [feeling] keyboard," that is entirely subjective, and the fact that parts of the military have ruled it out argues against that - in Army testing, it contributed to repetitive stress injuries and 75% of the tested keyboards failed.
 
Can the 2017 MBP run OS Yosemite off of a bootable external drive? I need to run my current version of Avid and don't want to spend more money on upgrading the app right now if I don't have to.
 
I don't care if you believe it or not. How many have you owned and had to return?

Of the current generation? 1 and 0.

But the thing is, because of that obvious BS, everything you say about your experience has no credibility. If I had to bet on the number of 2016/2017 MBPs you've really owned, it would be zero. If you make up one fact, why should we believe anything you say?
 
Of the current generation? 1 and 0.

But the thing is, because of that obvious BS, everything you say about your experience has no credibility. If I had to bet on the number of 2016/2017 MBPs you've really owned, it would be zero. If you make up one fact, why should we believe anything you say?

You're welcome to your own alternate reality.

If I cared if you believed anything, I'd post pictures of the receipt for each one, along with the Apple case numbers. But I don't.
 
You guys can continue to argue, but I'll just throw in that the 2017 MacBook Pro keyboard is hands down the best keyboard I've ever used. And the computer itself, along with the Touch Bar, is the best MacBook Pro made to date.

Talking 2017 here, not 2016. Touch Bar models were introduced in 2017.
 
You guys can continue to argue, but I'll just throw in that the 2017 MacBook Pro keyboard is hands down the best keyboard I've ever used. And the computer itself, along with the Touch Bar, is the best MacBook Pro made to date.

Talking 2017 here, not 2016. Touch Bar models were introduced in 2017.

Uh, no. Touch Bar was introduced on October 27, 2016, in the Late 2016 models.
 
Uh, no. Touch Bar was introduced on October 27, 2016, in the Late 2016 models.
Right, my mistake. I am referring to the 2017 MacBook Pro then, however. Maybe all the issues are coming from the late 2016 versions when it was first introduced in the new style, because my 2017 has had zero issues to date, so perhaps there were issues on 2016 and they were resolved for 2017 manufacturing and upgrades.
 
Right, my mistake. I am referring to the 2017 MacBook Pro then, however. Maybe all the issues are coming from the late 2016 versions when it was first introduced in the new style, because my 2017 has had zero issues to date, so perhaps there were issues on 2016 and they were resolved for 2017 manufacturing and upgrades.

I think there is something to that - the 2017 models I had, once exchanged, have been fine. Knock wood!

With the 2016 models, heat seems to be a culprit - I had a 2.6/460 from 2016 and every one of them had the "b" key fail (along with assorted others; the "b" was consistent). The 3.1/560 and 2.9/560 both had to be exchanged once, but have shown no signs of trouble so far. I think the change from Skylake to Kaby Lake allows the MBPs to run just enough cooler that the butterfly mechanism doesn't heat up and warp.
 
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I brought back to life my 2011 MBP and I'm even running Avid right now. I was so close to getting the new machine. Damn thing just won't give up!

UPDATE: Avid was taking 15 hours to export a video. I gave up and went ahead and purchased a 2017 MBP 15", 3.1 GHz, 1TB SSD.
 
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Guaranteed you don't have this machine.

As I've noted in previous threads, I had a nTB, I own a rMB, several MBPs, and work part time at an AASP. As I've also noted, I did not personally have keyboard issues with either of my machines.


The people trying to drum up doubt virtually never have the machine.

This is simply as ridiculous as the fake news craze - it's dismissing something someone does not like regardless of other factors.


Undoubtedly the best laptop ever made.

It's a very nice laptop. I've said many positive things about it, but I've also had some criticism regarding it. I've consistently said on this forum and encouraged customers at the store to purchase one, use it some, come to their own decision, and return it if they are unhappy.
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Can the 2017 MBP run OS Yosemite off of a bootable external drive? I need to run my current version of Avid and don't want to spend more money on upgrading the app right now if I don't have to.

No. It can run down to Sierra (the newest versions may not even allow this). To run Yosemite, you could use a free program like Virtualbox - all model MBPs can virtualize quite well.
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I brought back to life my 2011 MBP and I'm even running Avid right now. I was so close to getting the new machine. Damn thing just won't give up!

It is probably going to - progressive failures with these are extremely common. I am going to take the wild guess that it is currently running on the iGPU. If so, it is possible that as soon as you open an App that activates the dGPU, attempt to restart the system, or attempt to bring the system out of a state of sleep that the issue will present itself again. Alternatively, it might function correctly for a little while longer, but I wouldn't expect it to last IMHO.

If the Apps you need the most can run on the iGPU (some automatically activate the dGPU), you can use a program like GFXcardStatus to disable the dGPU (IIRC the App works correctly on Yosemite, for the most part - although I might be off by one revision and Mavericks may be the last OS it functioned correctly on), and then just never shut the computer down or put it to sleep (so that it always remains on the iGPU - as on boot and wake it temporarily activates the dGPU before switching back to the iGPU). Alternatively, there is a thread here about using isoLinux to permanently disable the iGPU. Obviously, with the 15-inch dual GPU models, you cannot use an external display with the iGPU, and having only the iGPU means significantly reduced graphics performance over the already very obsolete dGPU.
 
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UPDATE: Avid was taking 15 hours to export a video. I gave up and went ahead and purchased a 2017 MBP 15", 3.1 GHz, 1TB SSD.

Yes buddy great choice. Did you get the one with the Radeon Pro 555 (2GB) or Radeon Pro 560 (4GB)? Just curious. Both are great machines with the only difference being the dGPU.

Cheers.
 
Yes buddy great choice. Did you get the one with the Radeon Pro 555 (2GB) or Radeon Pro 560 (4GB)? Just curious. Both are great machines with the only difference being the dGPU.

Cheers.
Got the 560. So far really liking this machine. Can't wait to do some heavy lifting with it.
 
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You're welcome to your own alternate reality.

If I cared if you believed anything, I'd post pictures of the receipt for each one, along with the Apple case numbers. But I don't.

You do seem, in some threads, to imply you never owned one. Now you own several?
 
If you have a keyboard problem Apple jams a new keyboard on for free. No big deal at all.
Yep no problem at all. Except that you have to be without your machine while they do it. Which actually can be quite inconvenient for anyone trying to make a living with these computers. Certainly more inconvenient than having a keyboard that has a tendency of not failing and needing to be taken in for service. Honestly what sort of testing did they do with this new design, finish it behind schedule and get all the executives to do 10 minutes of typing on it because they damn well needed to get it out in time for that lucrative Christmas shopping season? Something that basic should not be failing in any significant volume. Somethig that basic should not be a controversial design choice. These are machines people use to get work done, not look good doing it.
 
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