"The new MacBook Pro has gone from a high-end notebook for working professionals to an overpriced family PC."
Ouch. It does sum up the situation though.
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notebook review up.."Apple MacBook Pro Review (2016): Touch of Class and Not Much Else"
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"The new MacBook Pro has gone from a high-end notebook for working professionals to an overpriced family PC."
Ouch. It does sum up the situation though.
Funny, I have never thought of Macs as a "high end notebook for working professionals". PC laptops have always been more higher end in terms of hardware and specs. For me personally, it fits my profile which is "notebook for developer productivity in unix based professional environments with some decent OS support". If PC laptops supported MacOS out of the gate without much work, I'd easily switch to an Asus/Acer/Razer/etc
"High end" for a certain type of professional, mainly creative industries, where entire pipelines have been built around Apple.
It's that they've suddenly lurched out of, especially a pipeline including the Adobe suite: the difference between AMD/Nvidia is now becoming so extreme, its becoming a large competitive disadvantage.
Agreed. Android phones have had USB-C for years. It is about time everything moves on from USB-A and having to try 3 time to get it plugged, proprietary charging connectors, and 3 or 4 cables to connect/disconnect at work because you want a a couple of external monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power.
IMHO, one of Apple's biggest screw ups of the year was not moving the iPhone 7 to USB-C.
Just a feeling here, but I suspect things like USB-C/TB ports would turn from a negative to a positive if... the laptop was $500-$1000 cheaper. I really feel like the price is what irritates people the most. And I don't blame them for that. I paid $500 more than "my limit" -- I decided it was worth it, but at some point, no matter how much value is potentially added, you simply can't pay $2500+ for something "on the go" that you can drop, lose, or have stolen easily.
I don't think price is an issue, it's value.
Macs have always been wildly expensive, but until 2013, you could also argue you got the best for that money.
I wonder why arstechnica is getting 13 hours battery with their 13" test... Or why the notebookreview fail to describe their methodology or battery test values for the competitor laptops? And the rest of their tests clearly show that the MBP is faster than the competition. All in all, hardly a professional review.
The funny thing is that in their review for Dell XPS 15, they get 3.5 hours, call it 'average' and then verdict that its one of the best laptops one can buy. Double standards much?
The funny thing is that in their review for Dell XPS 15, they get 3.5 hours, call it 'average' and then verdict that its one of the best laptops one can buy. Double standards much?
I think the XPS 15 gets 8 hours in the ars technica review for the 4k model?
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/dell-xps-15-review-a-bigger-version-of-the-best-pc-laptop/
When the 2012 rMBP 15 came out, there were hardly any PC laptops that had the combination of hi res/high quality screen, BEST KEYBOARD, SSD performance, 16gb of ram (the highest available in a laptop at the time), the best dGPU for the small form factor and the best in class battery life. Now that everyone else has caught up, Apple decides to do a bunt instead of hitting it out of the park.
When I went from a 2011 MBP 15 to the 2012 rMBP 15 the difference in everything was huge. I felt 'meh' the whole time I used the 2016. Apple spent all their R&D budget on making the darn thing thinner and a touchbar that I hardly found useful.
Yep, and the 2016 MBP gets 13 and 15 hours, for the 13 " and the 15" model respectively (funny, huh)? There is no doubt that the Ars Technica test is fairly light in comparison to what notebooksreviews uses. However, they don't specify what they use exactly. I just find it very weird when a reviewer criticises a laptop on the basis of having very bad battery life, without actual giving the details about the battery benchmark, while at the same time praising another laptop, which in their own test scored considerably worse.
I did not read the review. Actually I have no interest too either. I'm a working Pro Photographer for the last 40 years and been shooting digital since 1990. Yes very early adopter. Been using Macs a very long time and I had a high end 2013 15 maxed out and I really see no difference in speed per say. But I do actually like the new ports and sure I'm missing a SD slot but I bought very high speed SD cards that read and write 300 both ways and I'm not so sure a built in SD slot would go that fast anyway. Maybe it would anyway it's about the only loss that I can come up with. Otherwise all my externals are really perfect and I like the faster internal SSD , better gamut in the screen and the touchbar is actually useful. The function keys I can still acces wth the Fn button so no loss there and only used it in PS anyway for actions. Not a big deal. Anyway I'm happy and it works perfectly and I spent my money and gong to enjoy it. I review cameras a lot but not so much very public like these you tube guys and frankly they are all after click bait, so I ignore those types of reviewrs. This guy sounds like the same old BS anyway. Move on folks let's go play with our new MBPs and enjoy them. Happy Holidays
Oh wait. So the guy that argues with me about Windows in the other thread is wrong? Cool!
No, the equivalent 2016 MBP 15 battery score is 7.4 hours.
http://arstechnica.com/video/2016/11/the-2016-13-and-15-inch-touch-bar-macbook-pros-reviewed/
Am I misreading stuff? It says 2016 15" MBP — 933 minutes (15 hours 33 minutes) on the browser test.
Ah, I've been comparing dGPU numbers for both models. I think you're using the iGPU numbers?
I understand the changes is not as much as many would like, or expected, but the changes are subtly substantial. The screen is quite a bit better and now matches the tops standards used in digital work. The SSD is 6 times faster than the first rMBPs and uses less power. Even the touchbar may turn out to be transformative as developers start adding support for it into their application and start to use it to surface existing and add new functionality. As discussed above USB-C is a big win and will result in changes in the peripheral landscape like dropping the CD/DVD did.
Issues like battery performance will improve in time as more powerful, but less power hungry processors are added.
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Wouldn't help me much. Canon and Nikon still uses CF cards for their pro cameras.
We're going to be waiting a LONG time for battery life improvement as 10nm seems to be at least 2-3 years away as the first run is going to be for lower end CPU's for laptops like the rMB.
The battery life processing/editing RAW files wasn't much better than my 2012 rMBP when running LR/PS. Nor does it feel significantly faster. I was expecting more with the 4 year gap in development. It's a bit better when just surfing the web though.
Big problem with these type of test`s is for the most part they are conducted in the "blind" therefore for users & potential users it`s impossible to determine any real world relevancy. Best is try before you buy or take advantage of Apple`s return window. To me what the manufacture claims is academic, what more important does the notebook meet my needs.
Q-6
Very much agreed. But still, if one does benchmarks, one should at least try some objectiveness.
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Why would you look at the dGPU numbers? The MBP has automatic GPU switching and the dGPU will be off for most tasks. The same is true for the Dell. Because otherwise you are comparing the Dell on the iGPU to the MBP on the dGPU, which is hardly fair.
True, they should really detail the runtime test. Very much agree it`s pointless looking at aspects of the system that realistically are not within your means to control such as dGPU switching on macOS. Yes you can do this in Windows with Nvidia, equally if there no options it`s becomes a pointless metric, instantly moot.
I get it, I think the tests should be equalised, or they are simply not comparative, equally I also think Apple should introduce greater granularity to the control of the dGPU, as relying on Dev`s compliance can be a long wait for your customers at times. As ever a trade off, Apple`s focus is the user experience, which can and does sacrifice such fidelity, equally the complexity of Windows can and does challenge many.
Q-6
This line alone shows how ridiculous the review is. You can argue that new MBPs are not for pros - I would disagree with you, but you're entitled to your opinion. HOWEVER, claiming that previous MBPs were "high-end notebooks for working professionals" and saying that this one isn't - that is silly. Or, let me put it this way: if this MBP is not pro or high-end for you, neither were the previous ones. The only way you can justify that absurd statement is by claiming that replacing an SD card slot, HDMI and USB-A with Thunderbolt 3 makes a computer a "family PC". In which case, you might as well claim that it's not professional because it comes in space-gray color - it makes equal sense.
Of his cons, only the battery life can be accepted as true, everything else is just garbage.
It all comes down to perception. I bet if it was $500 cheaper, suddenly it would've been a laptop for professionals.
