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New MacBook Pro Reviews Mixed as Touch Bar Called Everything From 'Useful' to 'Gimmick'

niun said:
I don't think they needed to do anything!
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I think they needed to do something, we have Apple's competitors swinging for the fences, and if Apply only gave a spec bump yet again, it would have been really bad. I mean, people waited until the end of the Skylake lifecycle for just MBP with a spec bump?
 
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ipedro said:
It's a "gimmick" until the rest of the industry copies it next year
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I honestly don't think we're going to see this feature replicated on competitor systems. They already have full touch screens which are just much more useful and an operating system (Windows 10) that's already optimised to use touch.

Apple fell behind here with their laser focus on iOS which has left OS X without being touch optimised, they're at-least 3 years behind Microsoft in this regard. Their competitors don't have any need to add a touch bar as a result.
 
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Good to hear if you press virtual F7 a USB 3 port appears. Oh wait...

So much not to like with this release, but mostly the fact that Apple has officially divorced itself from producting "pro" level products for it's "pro" line of hardware. The era of the "Swiss-Army Knife Mac" are done. This MBP is really a MB on steriods -- 3 more USB-C ports, a better processor, and with the 15" discrete video. It's still more of a deluxe consumer subnotebook than even "prosumer" full featured laptop.

Some Mac Aficionado's have suggested OS X really does not have the underpinnings to be an effecient touch screen OS in the way Windows 10 was built with that in mind and Touch Bar is Apple's short term fix to a touch screen. But this MBP release certainly looks like Apple's opening gambit to blur the lines between Macs and iPads. Some day we will have a Mac Surface device and Macs and iPads will go away as will OS X and iOS. The big truck Apple MBP has left the highway with MacPro in the trailer. Sad day for some of us. Others will buy into anything with whatever company's logo they prefer and defend it to the death. They are the winners because they'll put up with anything.
 
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I imagine:

Useful: companies/reviewers who still want to attend Apple's keynotes
Gimmick: honest reviewers & pissed off (Pro)fessionals who're angry Apple focusses so much on this while happily removes ports we all use, making their newest iPhone incompatible with their laptop without a adapter (still lol) and making the laptops even more expensive.

My thoughts:

I obviously haven't tried it, but I guess the Touch Bar works well. It's probably really smooth and responsive. But I just don't think it's that necessary. While you're working, you'll constantly have to take your eyes of the screen (as the vid said) and this will not make you more productive. + If you're at home, you're probably using a external monitor with a keyboard and mouse. And then, it's suddenly an annoyance if you wanna reach it. Your laptop might be to your side on a stand (like my Air) or even in clamshell mode, meaning: bye bye Touch Bar.

It's strange they didn't think of this and released a new keyboard with the Touch Bar built in to promote it's usage.

In the end, I think Apple is kinda out of touch what people really want. They probably know it, but they just don't care anymore. A thinner laptop is all that matters.

I'm thinking about the poor employees at stores who will have to explain to everyone (not us nerds) that they will need various adapters to connect their 'old' devices because the MacBook 'Pro' is too futuristic.
 
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maflynn said:
I think they needed to do something, we have Apple's competitors swinging for the fences, and if Apply only gave a spec bump yet again, it would have been really bad. I mean, people waited until the end of the Skylake lifecycle for just MBP with a spec bump?
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While this touch bar is in new, gimmick territory they should have slapped it on the MacBook.. Low price testing ground.

You can't be sticking this on a supposed Pro machine whilst ripping out useful ports and upping the price. If it gets a negative press and negative feedback then the Pro's will be the most vocal about it and have longer memories than the Starbucks crowd.
 
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maflynn said:
I think everyone's expectation was sky high because it took apple so long to update the laptop, but I agree with you, what else could they have done?
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Just look at the GPU.Why did they opt for AMD power guzzlers over the clearly superior NVIDIA Pascal.Also the GPUs are too weak for the asking price especially when laptops like Razer Blade with gaming GPUs in a average chassis exist
 
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coolfactor said:
Wow, this guy sounds like a real whiner....

Nobody forced him to buy the Touch Bar version of the MacBook Pro... Apple still offers one with a standard Function Key row, and he can always use an external keyboard.
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the reviewer? well sorta yea he would be forced to use it. thats his job
and then apple forced him to change how he does stuff by taking out those function keys he likes
and now youre calling him a whiner and saying this is all his own fault

the poor guy just keeps getting pushed around!
 
It's a useful gimmick. That's obvious.

Is it useful--YES
Is it necessary--NO
Is it unique/fresh/novel--YES

The strip paves the way for a future of useful touchscreen devices or additions. It is innovative, just not highly innovative or grandly aspirational.
 
The word predictions on the Touch Bar are just a joke. Those need to be removed pronto. That's one carryover from iOS that makes zero sense when you're using a Mac with a physical keyboard.
 
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Quu said:
I honestly don't think we're going to see this feature replicated on competitor systems. They already have full touch screens which are just much more useful and an operating system (Windows 10) that's already optimised to use touch.

Apple fell behind here with their laser focus on iOS which has left OS X without being touch optimised, they're at-least 3 years behind Microsoft in this regard. Their competitors don't have any need to add a touch bar as a result.
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We have Microsoft trying to shoehorn Windows into Mobile.Now we have Apple trying to shoehorn iOS features into laptops
 
Radon87000 said:
Just look at the GPU.Why did they opt for AMD power guzzlers over the clearly superior NVIDIA Pascal.Also the GPUs are too weak for the asking price especially when laptops like Razer Blade with gaming GPUs in a average chassis
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Apple wanted P3 colour on these systems. NVIDIA only allows 10-bit colour on their Quadro line. There are no mobile quadro 10 series cards from NVIDIA and they have shown in the past to be unwilling to negotiate on pro features for their consumer GPU's. Apple would have had to negotiate hard or paid NVIDIA a lot of money. AMD by comparison is happy to take their existing products and modify them for specific customers which is why you find them in the Wii U, XBOX ONE and PS4.

AMD did the same for Apple with the Mac Pro you may remember they got the D300, D500 and D700 "Pro" GPU's which were actually rebranded HD 7xxx series (D700 = HD 7970). This gave Apple a cheap consumer GPU that was trumped up to be used as a pro GPU.

Personally I would have preferred a GTX 1060 in these laptops but I don't think Apple is willing to pay NVIDIA the kinds of money required to get the P3 colour gamut supported on that GPU or have NVIDIA create a new "prosumer" range of cards just for Apple like AMD is prepared to do.
 
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At the end of the day, the biggest problem with this MacBook is the price.

Apple has priced it out too high. Period.

Everything else is debatable at this point.
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
Nobody really seems to be mentioning the MacBook keyboard on the MacBook Pro. I can't imagine they have anything good to say about it, but it's curious that it's so blatantly ignored.

edit: and when it is mentioned, the reviews are all over the place.
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I liked it. It's the MacBook keyboard but with just enough extra travel that I could type on it with very little adjustment (unlike the MacBook).

The reviews are rightly going to be all over the place because opinions on keyboards vary. I've seen plenty of people around here talk about the chicklet design this new one replaces like it's the greatest keyboard ever. I've never thought of it as anything but mediocre and preferred the keyboards on the older aluminum PowerBooks.

The Magic Keyboard, with butterfly switches and actual travel would have been ideal. That's a very solid feeling keyboard.

---

Ars is one of my favorite tech sites, so this sounds mostly good to me. As I suspected, support would be lacking out of the gate but it's a typical chicken and egg issue. My laptop almost always operates as a second monitor and I use external inputs so I was never super excited anyway. I wonder how long until we see one on an external keyboard.

Touch screens are equally useless to me.
 
Good thing I just spent $200 to have my MBPr 2014's keyboard replaced. The touchbar just doesn't seem like something that would benefit me and my workflow, as I rarely use Apple's apps (but rather IntelliJ, Vivaldi, iTerm2 and such).

But I'll surely monitor the changelogs of "my" applications over the next months, maybe they come up with something that makes my life easier...
 
swester said:
Heck, they should've made a 15" without the Touch Bar and started it at $1999. Those would have actually been a fairly good deal for those of us who don't need this yet.
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This was all I wanted, but I'm having a hard time swallowing a $500 bump for something I don't seem myself using. My expectations were pretty low, all I really wanted was refreshed processor and graphics and maybe 512GB standard. Really want to see specs. Not interested in the touch bar and while the ports are annoying, in a couple years everything will be USB-C and I'm not one to buy a new machine every year (replacing a 2011).
 
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Mythos99 said:
15 Verison without the Touchbar would really have been nice, and like 300$ cheaper, cause let be honest, half of us will find it gimmicky, and the other half useful.
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It wouldn't have shaved off that much. Look at the price different between the bottom 13" and the entry Touch Bar model. There's also a 900MHz processor difference and more Thunderbolt ports. If they had a 15" without the Touch Bar it would have been further crippled.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Nobody really seems to be mentioning the MacBook keyboard on the MacBook Pro. I can't imagine they have anything good to say about it, but it's curious that it's so blatantly ignored.

edit: and when it is mentioned, the reviews are all over the place.
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Went to the Apple store yesterday, on the non-touch bar rMBP 13, compared to my wife's 2015 rMB 12, the keys are slightly firmer, but that's it. Still no key travel and not much better for me. Still feels like I'm typing on a cheap ipad/keyboard cover. OTOH, the magic keyboard with the same mechanism, but better key travel feels like a good compromise. Of course, Apple didn't bring it over as 'thinness is king' in a 'pro' laptop.
 
that toolbar would be great on a standalone keyboard. i wonder if we'll see one of those when the Mac Pro gets refreshed three years from now
 
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