Not only that, for the first time in a while, the entry level is actually very well configured without any major crippling on features like they tend to.
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New MBP puts an end to the disastrous Jonny Ive era!
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I found it funny that they "added" new ports, when in fact they took them away in the first place. Yeah, good to see MagSafe and the SD card slot back.
Was just about to mention this. The disastrous butterfly keyboard mechanism and the terrible touchbar are things that condemned five years worth of MBPs to the trash.
I'm not agree with you , I bought the new MacBook Pro for performances not for the design ;( I'm agree with Jonny, less is better , slim is better (and I will use the sd card reader), but I'm not happy with the new design
I'd like to make a little correction to this and say that the new MBP puts an end (for the most part) to the disastrous post Steve Jobs Jony Ive era. That's more factually correct. Jony was great and made dozens of iconic products when he had his honest collaborator.
Why do we need an HDMI port, though? Don't we want the industry to move into a more universal USB-C/Thunderbolt direction?
Agree. Devices need to be made for usability. It was a horrible phase of Apple trying to make everything "simple" when in fact they were making it more complicated. It's similar to when Jobs removed the buttons off the iShuffle only to place them back on a year later because of the complaints (he even said this during the presentation). At least Jobs realized people WANT buttons.
Let's be honest, the Jobs / Ive honey moon wouldn't have lasted for long, Jobs was mainly a visionary, Ive is a minimalist freak, end of story.
My 2012 15" rMBP (Jonny Ive era) has HDMI and SD card slot, but a way better design 
for TVs and projectors. They don't have USB-C. 99.99% of them use HDMI.
For what it's worth, the latest 13" M1 MBP doesn't have the butterfly keyboard. It does have the Touch Bar, though.
But it lasted very long and was very successful, so I think Jony Ive would still be at Apple if Steve Jobs didn't die. And most importantly, Jony knew that Steve was his friend but mainly he was his boss. And a very tough and demanding one. When Steve died, Jony was basically the boss at the company. Everything revolved around this guy even when he chose to not do anything expect thinking about door handles at the Apple Park.
This is so ridiculous. One person (who is not the CEO) doesn’t make all the decisions. If every other senior executive at Apple was against removing ports, against the Touch Bar, against the butterfly keyboard they wouldn’t have happened regardless of what Jony Ive wanted.
It is the the ideal docking station for your personal station but travels a lot better.
Business people and teachers use HDMI port all of the time. Basically it is nearly always available in a conference room or classroom... but specialized and more expensive hardware is not.
I'm not really happy with this new design. It looks dated.. wait, it looks actually exactly like in 2005. Bring Jonny Ive back! 😪
MacBook Pro 2005
MacBook Pro 2021
MacBook Pro 2005
MacBook Pro 2021
I sort of agree, but thinking about it, the rest of the world is still HDMI and having to carry an extra dongle everywhere, or to find out that the dongle is broken, loaned out and never returned, or companies having to pay extra to put a dongle in every room likely wired in place... pain in the butt... so I agree the HDMI port was a great move for apple for business customers as well as general customers. We don't need another headphone jack saga right now.
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Ives was right... sort of...
Simpler is better for consumers, but not for professionals.
Although the most important fact is whether it works, and several of the design decisions failed because they did not work as well as advertised. That was not necessarily an Ives issue (design) but a manufacturing and implementation issue. TouchBar was not a bad idea, but it did not WORK as well as people expected... was confusing and did not have the 3rd party software support that Apple expected to embrace it.
"He gets the big picture as well as the most infinitesimal details about each product. And he understands that Apple is a product company. He’s not just a designer. That’s why he works directly for me. He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me. There’s no one who can tell him what to do, or to butt out. That’s the way I set it up."
- Steve Jobs
I use the HDMI port on my work laptop all the time, especially now that I work from home. Pretty much every monitor and TV uses it, so for most use cases you are immediately saving a USB-C port for something else. Also, you pay a significant price premium for good USB-C monitors versus the same monitor without it at least in part due to it needing to also function as a dock.
I have a 2005 Macbook Pro in front of me and it's honestly that design really holds up way better than later models.
This is definitely a post-Ive design and unlike some I don’t mean that as a compliment…
Ives made the previous beloved laptops, he just moved past them. He wanted to design for a post laptop world, and neither customers or Apple were ready for it. I think wireless everything, sealed glass jewel is the eventual future. But the notebook computer is an enduring and useful paradigm for the PC and it will endure for a while longer. I do see this redesign as an undoing of the "thin-edge" design that Ives promoted. It doesn't feel forward looking to me, but that is okay. I'm looking for more of a Honda than a BMW. I want a workhorse that I can kick around for years to come without worry. This could almost be seen as a re-alignment of the Pro values. If you want the sleekest and sexiest, get the consumer model, and let the Pro model be a tractor. The iPad Pro with all the wizbang accessories is the future-computer that Apple wants to sell you. The MacBook Pro is the polished classic, and it is still an essential tool.