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New MacBook Pro Has Better Keyboard Than 12-Inch MacBook, But It's Expensive and Lacking Ports
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A two pack of USB-C to USB 3.0 adapters and a USB-C to Lightning cable will set you back $20 in total. That solves pretty much all of your connection problems listed above.
If you don't have better headphones than the lightning headphones that came with your iPhone then you don't really care about listening to stuff.
It's also the context. Apple isn't the only premium game in town any more... and the "Mac quality equivalents" are now not only cheaper, but just as pretty, and far more capable.
USB-C is the norm now in terms of ports that Apple wants to give you. For practical purposes, devices do not exist in USB-C. A few token devices exist at 5-10 times the price as a USB-A version
USB-C, in 2016, serves no purpose other than creating demand for Apple adapters.
And outside the the Apple kool-aid-addict-club, computers sold in 2016 have a nice mix of USB-A and USB-C ports.
I said it before and I'll say it again:
Apple is moving towards converging their product line, not expanding it.
They'll keep removing and removing until someday you're left with a product they already offer: The iPad. Or at best, the MacBook. Make no mistake, that is where they're going. And it'll happen sooner than it needs to, which is the real issue here.
TC already expressed that you don't need anything other than an iPad. The CEO of Apple said that.
Thus, this is what I see as simply the next stage (the iPad Pro was Stage 1 and the MacBook was Stage 2) in a phased approach to kill the Mac entirely.
First they seal the box, then they remove all ports, all while they introduce pointless features that they call the "greatest thing they've ever done".
When was the last time Apple added something useful without taking something even more useful away?
Yes, the Touch Bar is cool. But I'd rather have MagSafe, upgradeable RAM and SSDs, and ports that are still in use to day, and will continue to be for the forseeable future.
Apple's omissions on the hardware side are really, really starting to piss me off.
And Apple keeps putting me in the position of choosing hardware over software.
I swear, I want to strangle TC, JI, and PS everytime they make a reference to "our customers". Apple doesn't LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. They dictate.
It's painful to lose all the great stuff in their machines. I'm using a 2011 17" laptop as my main machine, for f***'s sake. It has everything you need: Expandable RAM, expandable HD/SSD, Optical drive (although I use the bay as a second HD/SSD drive host), Gbit Ethernet, 3 USB 2 (expandable to USB 3), TB, FireWire 800 (still in use in music studios everywhere), MagSafe (the single most egregious loss in the new machines), and the too-flexible-to-give-up-allows-me-to-expand-the-machine-to-anything-a-pro-could-need-or-want ExpressCard slot.
Their BS that "this machine is the best" is a fresh, steaming pile.
When my 17 dies, Linux had better suck. Otherwise, I'm going the DIY route and finally building something.
Apple is moving towards converging their product line, not expanding it.
They'll keep removing and removing until someday you're left with a product they already offer: The iPad. Or at best, the MacBook. Make no mistake, that is where they're going. And it'll happen sooner than it needs to, which is the real issue here.
TC already expressed that you don't need anything other than an iPad. The CEO of Apple said that.
Thus, this is what I see as simply the next stage (the iPad Pro was Stage 1 and the MacBook was Stage 2) in a phased approach to kill the Mac entirely.
First they seal the box, then they remove all ports, all while they introduce pointless features that they call the "greatest thing they've ever done".
When was the last time Apple added something useful without taking something even more useful away?
Yes, the Touch Bar is cool. But I'd rather have MagSafe, upgradeable RAM and SSDs, and ports that are still in use to day, and will continue to be for the forseeable future.
Apple's omissions on the hardware side are really, really starting to piss me off.
And Apple keeps putting me in the position of choosing hardware over software.
I swear, I want to strangle TC, JI, and PS everytime they make a reference to "our customers". Apple doesn't LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. They dictate.
It's painful to lose all the great stuff in their machines. I'm using a 2011 17" laptop as my main machine, for f***'s sake. It has everything you need: Expandable RAM, expandable HD/SSD, Optical drive (although I use the bay as a second HD/SSD drive host), Gbit Ethernet, 3 USB 2 (expandable to USB 3), TB, FireWire 800 (still in use in music studios everywhere), MagSafe (the single most egregious loss in the new machines), and the too-flexible-to-give-up-allows-me-to-expand-the-machine-to-anything-a-pro-could-need-or-want ExpressCard slot.
Their BS that "this machine is the best" is a fresh, steaming pile.
When my 17 dies, Linux had better suck. Otherwise, I'm going the DIY route and finally building something.
The iPhone 7 has driven up resale of iPhone 6s at least locally here because of the omission of a headphone port.
the Mac Mini got more expensive because Apple neutered the 2014 model.
I can see the newest MacBook pro do similar. For $500 more than the previous model, a refresh of CPU and a LED touch bar isn't enough for me to justify such a new markup. in reality, the CPU upgrade should be a wash from previous generations. you just. stop using an old one and use a new one.
the OLED bar itself isn't a feature worth $500. for that much, I expect a full touch screen, which would also accomplish jsut about everything in the touch bar.
Despite not having the deep pockets required to have the "latest" stuff all the time, I am a pretty big fan boy and have never said anything negative about the company, as I truly enjoy the ecosystem they have.
However, the common sense in play here is dismaying and not good. I don't care what ports they use. They can create some whizzbang thing and call it Firewire 2000 if they want to. Doesn't matter.
BUT... whatever you use for charging, video, and sound needs to be THE SAME across all the devices in that generation of the ecosystem. The fact that it is not the case now, is completely unacceptable and as I said above... dismaying.
Apple will not have any of my money for quite some time. Bummer.
However, the common sense in play here is dismaying and not good. I don't care what ports they use. They can create some whizzbang thing and call it Firewire 2000 if they want to. Doesn't matter.
BUT... whatever you use for charging, video, and sound needs to be THE SAME across all the devices in that generation of the ecosystem. The fact that it is not the case now, is completely unacceptable and as I said above... dismaying.
Apple will not have any of my money for quite some time. Bummer.
If that's their goal, they're going a very odd way about it with the iOS/OSX firewall.
Microsoft's brutal merging in Windows 8 is what converging looks like, and it's messy, and took years for Windows 10 to emerge out of the ashes.
They're walking up a cul-de-sac at Apple HQ.
I admit that much of the price shock in the UK is due to the £ tanking (#ThanksBrexit). However, I think what is happening here is that all the well paid engineers and employees of Apple are now so wealthy in comparison to the rest of us that they don't notice how ridiculous the new price points are. I was ready to upgrade my white plastic MacBook, but these prices are crazy – particularly the prices for increased SSD storage. And why is AppleCare the same for a purely solid-state MacBook as it was for MacBooks with essential moving parts prone to failure (HD)? Shouldn't the reliability of the technology have improved so the AppleCare costs have gone down?
Either Apple have decided to abandon the consumer market, focusing on luxury goods, or they have completely lost touch with middle-class people who want to benefit from new, better but less expensive technology. So much for Apple changing the world.
Either Apple have decided to abandon the consumer market, focusing on luxury goods, or they have completely lost touch with middle-class people who want to benefit from new, better but less expensive technology. So much for Apple changing the world.
But they did last year, and Apple not including them (or Kaby Lake) in this release is an atrocious miss!
Except you wouldn't get finger prints all over your screen and you wouldn't need to reach upwards to interact in things - come on man, an interactive touch bar is far better than a touch screen laptop which they've been trying and failing to push on the Windows side for over a decade now (even including completely re-writing Windows TWICE to try and turn it into a touch primarily OS!!)
It's not just a CPU upgrade and a touch strip though is it. It's a Skylake processor, its the best port ever seen on any computer ever a 40gbps Thunderbolt 3 port, not just one by 4 of them, enabling us to add external drives that can do 4000MB/s read and write! Its a wide colour gamut much brighter screen, its a double size track pad, its a better keyboard, its far far improved speakers, it's touch ID for logging in and buying things, its faster RAM, its a SSD unmatched in any other product currently, 3000MB/s read and write is utterly insane speeds! It's a new much thinner and much lighter shape and that is welcome over here (as is Space Grey!) Its FAR FAR better graphics from a new line Radeon just introduced yesterday after the MacBook Pro announcement, its also Bluetooth 4.2 which i'm sure will come in handy for me at some point.
But yeah ok - its just a pressor and some touch strip thingy.
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As said about a hundred times to all the moaners, Kaby Lake isn't out until next year - and the difference it'll make isn't worth delaying the laptop for.
People need to get out of this mindset that Apple's computers will follow Intels release cycle, there about 7-8 features far more important in this laptop than whatever minor cycle name Intel is giving their chips.
No. The pricing fluctuates between $200 to $600 more (in the US, at least) depending on options.
Even PS said they design based on tech, not price. So that basically it "costs what it costs", or something like that.
I'm sorry, but a $200 to $500 jump is too much for me to just ignore. I'd have to truly consider what I'll be doing with the machine that warrants this.
If (according to Apple) people can use an iPad as a main machine, then where does this fit in, in Apple's mind?
Call it conspiracy theory, but it seems like they're purposefully trying to make sure sales go down so they can kill it altogether. Lord knows a machine like this is far, far more R&D than an iPad is. And we know what OS actually fuels Apple's revenue...
Yesterday I was really disappointed. Today I am a little less so. I think that Apple continue to move towards integrating iOS and macOS, but seems to moving at a glacial pace. The direction seem right the speed is off. The pricing also seems off.
For me the realization that my 4 year old imac and 5 year old Air can still handle my workload and that I am still running the same OS as these new guys means I can wait until the glacier finally meet the titanic (oh wait my analogy just fell apart).
Until then Tim, I sit here and wait. If you want my money, I suggest you get that pipeline churning faster.
For me the realization that my 4 year old imac and 5 year old Air can still handle my workload and that I am still running the same OS as these new guys means I can wait until the glacier finally meet the titanic (oh wait my analogy just fell apart).
Until then Tim, I sit here and wait. If you want my money, I suggest you get that pipeline churning faster.
I love my iPhone (6s) and iPad, but I continue to use Windows (desktop and laptop). Yes the first iteration of a merged (keyboard and touchscreen) Windows in Windows 8 was brutal, but I think Microsoft is on the right track that a keyboard centric operating system and a touch centric operating system can co-exist. Windows 10 is much better than Windows 8, I'm sure Windows 11 will be even better. Apple is wrong that the two types of operating systems can't coexist, Microsoft is proving them wrong.
I am surprised so few people in this thread mention RAM and the graphics card. 16GB is max on ANY MBP. Will actual pros be be able to use this as their primary computer?
I just find it ludicrous and slightly concerning that Apple's flagship phone - a month old - now cannot be connected to Apple's flagship laptop without an adapter.
No-one spending £3000 on a new phone and laptop is going to unable to afford £20 on the required dongle, but nor should they be required to buy one, have the inconvenience of remembering to pack it.
In terms of Apple's long term future, I worry that those in charge think that this is an acceptable situation. Apple technologies were famous for "just working." MacOS, the iPhone, the original iPod. All simple and intuitive. Now it's a pain in the backside to connect your phone to your laptop. Meanwhile Apple's flagship computer is three year old technology. That's a lifetime in computer terms! Moore's law has been enacted twice in that time.
I've always been a huge supporter of Apple but even I am now starting to ask whether the current crop of managers - Cook, Cue, etc are the right people to go forward.
No-one spending £3000 on a new phone and laptop is going to unable to afford £20 on the required dongle, but nor should they be required to buy one, have the inconvenience of remembering to pack it.
In terms of Apple's long term future, I worry that those in charge think that this is an acceptable situation. Apple technologies were famous for "just working." MacOS, the iPhone, the original iPod. All simple and intuitive. Now it's a pain in the backside to connect your phone to your laptop. Meanwhile Apple's flagship computer is three year old technology. That's a lifetime in computer terms! Moore's law has been enacted twice in that time.
I've always been a huge supporter of Apple but even I am now starting to ask whether the current crop of managers - Cook, Cue, etc are the right people to go forward.
No, for me the price is 480 euro more expensive.
For once, I'd like some tech journalist with some balls to call out Apple.
When they get one on one time with Craig, Tim or Phil, no one asks them about these nonsensical decisions.
They tip-toe so they'll get invited to the next event. Pathetic.
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I have no idea how a $500 price hike can seem "mostly in line with previous generations". What does that mean anyway, "mostly in line"? And it "seems". What? The prices are known. You have the old prices, you have the new prices. The difference is obvious to anyone that can read numbers. That's why people are complaining.