New 16-Inch MacBook Pro is Thicker and Heavier Than Previous Generation

[1madman1]

"Thicker and heavier" is fine by me if it improves functionality. I can only hope it's more serviceable as well.

I loved my pre-Retina unibody 15" w/antiglare.

 

[hybrid_x]

Shouldn't have been thicker. Shouldn't have had HDMI. 14 Inch is slightly thinner then the previous gen. Really not sure why the 16 inch needed to be thicker.

Thicker = more battery and more space for thermal management.

HDMI means anyone who has to teach or present their work, or hook up to a display in a flex workspace doesn't also have to carry around a dongle with them. The reality is that classrooms, boardrooms, and corporate offices are equipped with HDMI, almost exclusively. Thunderbolt displays and projectors are so rare, they're practically nonexistent.

 

[peterp1]

I bet there's still someone on the forum, somewhere, crying about USB-A ports.

It's 2021, and I've yet to buy even one device that came with a USB-C cable. Let's not try to pretend that USB-A devices don't exist when, even 5 years later, USB-A is still the norm by far for most devices. I've always been for adding USB-C, but making it the ONLY option was absolutely insane in 2016, and stupid not to include a USB-A port or 2 along with the other mea culpa mods on this version. Happy about all of the other reversals though.

 

[gaximus]

Some people prefer compactness over unnecessary ports. The new design looks like a throw back to me. Luckily Apple didn't add a CD-ROM drive. Maybe next time 😆

If the reason for the extra size is the ports, then sure. But having extra ports that don't contribute to thickness is always good. I could see a review saying "I wish it was an extra 'this port' or 'that port' instead, but just saying, "I wish it didn't have a port here, is not a review I've seen... yet. The Air and 13" Mac Pro are better suited for user that want compactness.

 

[jamesnajera]

I wonder if the ifixit tear down will show a USB-C hub hidden inside with a bunch adapters plugged in.

 

[Wildkraut]

Not just thicker and heavier... uglier, too.

 

[dysamoria]

And when these Macs throttle or get really hot (which they surely will)…

I'm very eager to find out what the thermal limits are, but I still don't think I'll be buying another laptop ever again, unless I get rich and can afford to own one casually. I've been burned before (literally death of a machine because of heat issues, blamed on Nvidia).

I still await an affordable prosumer desktop machine with matching affordable retina display, and I will probably replace my iPad Pro 12.9" original with some new variant in a few years as a portable machine with touch-screen capabilities.

 

[dannys1]

It's 2021, and I've yet to buy even one device that came with a USB-C cable. Let's not try to pretend that USB-A devices don't exist when, even 5 years later, USB-A is still the norm by far for most devices. I've always been for adding USB-C, but making it the ONLY option was absolutely insane in 2016, and stupid not to include a USB-A port or 2 along with the other mea culpa mods on this version. Happy about all of the other reversals though.

What the hell are you buying then? I've got more USB-C cables than i've got ports to plug them into - also ANY devices that supports USB-A can support USB-C on the other end so in terms of plugging them into a laptop there was NEVER any issue even 5 years ago, let alone now. Embrace the superior connector!

 

[Feyl]

Only remaining uncertainty is the usualyl buggy garbage that X.0 macOS releases are so that will be fixed overtime and of course herding all the develoeprs to make their workflows comply will take a few years

I bet they will not address one of the most important things that I hate about macOS and that's UI smoothness. I mean, up until this point my M1 Mac mini was the latest and greatest computer but it still can't handle some UI animations. And that have been the case since OS X Yosemite. They haven't made any progress in this field, even with a fully Metal UI rendering.

 

[dannys1]

It seems less obtrusive than on an iPhone, which has a notch interfering in the full screen landscape view. If the notch gets in the way of full-screen apps, though, that might be weird.

Full screen apps won't expand into the menu bar area, it'll just be black.

 

[T Coma]

Apple today announced completely redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models that in the case of the 16-inch model is unsurprisingly thicker and heavier than the previous generation.

​

 

[satchmo]

Btw, looks like the leakers were wrong with the whole boxier square edge direction.

 

[boak]

It's all about the contour. The previous gen starts the contour at a higher height on the base because USB-C is thinner than HDMI.

 

[dysamoria]

I think the tradeoffs are definitely worth the extra weight and thickness. These new MBP's look like beasts. I'm very excited. The notch doesn't bother me. The increased resolution seems worth it as well.

Does anyone else agree that the 16" MBP with 32GB ram and 1TB SSD at $3,099 might actually be priced more competitively than expected?

I thought the same. I would want to max it out, myself, but yes, that's a surprising... er... rather... less offensively expensive, and less "Apple tax-y" price than I anticipated.

 

[DenisK]

"unsurprisingly thicker and heavier"? I'd rather see unsurprisingly thinner and lighter. THAT
|when PR spiners trying to outmsart the rest|

 

[thinkthis]

Ive is having a stroke right now.

I can understand anything but the notch on a MacBook screen is too much. I will never buy a MacBook with it.
Luckily I bought the "old" 16inch and I think I'll keep it until they'll change idea on the notch.

What an objectively bad opinion. How is the notch bad? The screen is larger than it used to be. You could literally just create a screen hack that would delete the top part of the screen and you would be back where you were before. You're angry they gave you more screen real estate?

 

[valentinjesse]

Apple has been getting excoriated by Pro users for the last 5 years over the last-generation machines, which were driven by aesthetics, not functionality. They were the ultimate expression of Jony Ive’s design hubris.

All he was concerned about was making them thinner and lighter. RAM and SDD were soldered to the board. Batteries were glued inside. Their thermal management was not up to par during heavy processor and GPU use. Their keyboard was engineered to be ridiculously thin, but had uncomfortably short key travel, and was so fragile, it was subsequently broken by the slightest bit of dust or debris getting under the keys. They exclusively used a new I/O port (USB-C) that nobody had adopted yet, and had NONE of the ports people actually used (HDMI, Ethernet) and cared about (MagSafe). The Touch Bar introduced an answer to a question nobody asked, and in the process, moved the newly non-tactile [esc] key far enough to the right to force millions of developers and coders to re-train their muscle memory for an often-used key.

What Ive designed was a beautiful machine that utterly failed at its job for the Pro market it was intended for.

These new machines are like a big mea culpa for Apple, and a big SCREW YOU to Jony Ive and his studio of sycophants who were too spineless to stand up to him and champion the actual Pro users of their products.

Sadly, there’s still no USB-A or Ethernet ports, so many users will still have to keep a couple of dongles around, but these are a triumph for the users, and a throwback to the design of the Titanium G4 and first-generation Intel MacBook Pros that were still beautiful, but also incredibly powerful and useful tools for professionals.

"there’s still no USB-A or Ethernet ports"

They should have added an ethernet port into the charging brick like on the Imac

 

[DesignTime]

The new laptops look like they put a 2021 display on a 2008 base. I feel like we just went back in time to big, heavy laptops.

 

[dysamoria]

The design is less attractive looking that its predecessor, for sure. I think the inclusion of the "feet" are what make it look a lot worse than it probably is. You couldn't see them with the previous gen.

??? The only way you can see them is if your eyes are at table height! It needs more clearance for heat dissipation, as well.

 

[dannys1]

In this case though does MagSafe, HDMI, or an SD-Card slot actually impede something? It's not as visually clean but... I mean... is that even particularly important?

Ultimately no, it doesn't matter, though I did like the clean look - and give the choice and I wouldn't have ports i'll never use.

The biggest annoyance for me is the loss of two thunderbolt ports on each side - i'd have been a lot less annoyed had they put HDMI etc on as well as, not instead of, a 4th Thunderbolt port.

Ironically in my live setup, unless I use MagSafe to charge i'll actually have to use a dongle to get the amount of USB-C ports I now need

 

[velocityg4]

Still no ADB ports. 😢

 

[Sin_sniper468]

Anyone else annoyed the 14” Pro has less battery life vs the 13” Pro..

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I will not get the notchbook. Looks ugly.

 

[sirozha]

Apple has been getting excoriated by Pro users for the last 5 years over the last-generation machines, which were driven by aesthetics, not functionality. They were the ultimate expression of Jony Ive’s design hubris.

All he was concerned about was making them thinner and lighter. RAM and SDD were soldered to the board. Batteries were glued inside. Their thermal management was not up to par during heavy processor and GPU use. Their keyboard was engineered to be ridiculously thin, but had uncomfortably short key travel, and was so fragile, it was subsequently broken by the slightest bit of dust or debris getting under the keys. They exclusively used a new I/O port (USB-C) that nobody had adopted yet, and had NONE of the ports people actually used (HDMI, Ethernet) and cared about (MagSafe). The Touch Bar introduced an answer to a question nobody asked, and in the process, moved the newly non-tactile [esc] key far enough to the right to force millions of developers and coders to re-train their muscle memory for an often-used key.

What Ive designed was a beautiful machine that utterly failed at its job for the Pro market it was intended for.

These new machines are like a big mea culpa for Apple, and a big SCREW YOU to Jony Ive and his studio of sycophants who were too spineless to stand up to him and champion the actual Pro users of their products.

Sadly, there’s still no USB-A or Ethernet ports, so many users will still have to keep a couple of dongles around, but these are a triumph for the users, and a throwback to the design of the Titanium G4 and first-generation Intel MacBook Pros that were still beautiful, but also incredibly powerful and useful tools for professionals.

Isn’t the Ethernet port on the power brick?

 

[Adamantoise]

Am I the only one here that would have traded the HDMI port for literally anything else?

One more USB-C
A single USB-A
literally anything else...

HDMI just seems like a waste of space.