People with the 2016/2017 MacBook Pro , what are your thoughts after this long time

[csurfr]

I had multiple problems with my launch 2016 MacBook Pro, and eventually replaced it with a 2017 at launch. Subsequently we have a couple of other 2017s for my business, and none of us have experienced any real problems with the machines. Overall, I’m pleased with the current MacBook Pro, and wouldn’t hesitate to buy again.

I’m very curious as to what will be coming next month at WWDC.

 

[Nugget]

2016 13” nTB purchased at launch. I’m really happy with it. I like the feel of the keyboard and I’ve been lucky to have experienced no problems with it. Just the occasional need to blow debris out to un-stick a key from time to time.

Display and track pad are best of class, imho. They make the machine. Battery life is still very good.

I’d be happy if I can stick with this machine until there’s one available that has 32GB of RAM (or more, I’ll take as much as Apple will sell me). I’m slightly envious of the models that have usb-c in both sides, but there’s no way in hell I will ever buy a laptop that doesn’t have an Esc key, so it wasn’t an option for me.

Don’t miss usb a or the other “missing” ports at all.

I empathize with anyone who has had keyboard problems. It’s an undeniable weakness of this generation of machines.

 

[Pangalactic]

Got my 13'' TB 2016.

Great:
- Keyboard, I personally loved it, I hate mushy keys and that was a perfect solution for me, very easy to type and and very fast
- Speakers, absolutely the best laptop speakers I've ever heard in my life
- Weight, extremely light
- Size, fits everywhere

Terrible:
- USB C hell, it is downright the worst decision by Apple. A lot of accessories I use like Cameras and Microphones still run on USB A and having dongles for everything is annoying as hell
- Touchbar. Extremely useless, drains the battery, useful maybe in 2% of all the use cases.
- Battery life is extremely average, 5-6 hours max
- dual core processors in 2017 is a complete disgrace

Overall, I am more unhappy than happy with the laptop. It's very polarizing - it does a lot of things great and a lot of things just outright terrible with almost nothing in between. Switched to Surface Book 2 and didn't regret it for a single second.

 

[ManuCH]

I've got a 15" TB 2016 the day it came out. And it died after only a few days, bad fan, I got a replacement unit. Also the keyboard was defective (some keys were repeating). The replacement MBP was fine.

Except after High Sierra got out: DisplayPort output doesn't work properly anymore since macOS 10.13. It worked fine on 10.12.x. It's probably some interop issue between the MBP, High Sierra and my Asus 4K display. As a workaround I use HDMI to connect to it, but I still feel it's bad. Apple has never fixed it despite me filing a bug in BugReporter several times, it was always closed as a duplicate.

The good:
- Keyboard, I personally love it and I type much faster on it than on the previous generation
- performance
- battery life
- speakers

The bad:
- USB-C only: I can only live with it because I bought a Thunderbolt dock (that's another $350)
- DisplayPort output not working as designed
- some instability during sleep/wake with external screen connected

All in all, I have mixed feelings and I'm on the edge of ditching it to get an iMac, as I'm never carrying it around anyway (for that I have my small, 3 year old MacBook 12" which always worked like a charm).

 

[leman]

Ive been using the 15" 2016 model basically since its release and for me, this is the best laptop ever made. The remarkable thing about this laptop is that it combines top-end performance with ultimate mobility, sacrificing on nothing. In particular:

- Top-class CPU (unrivalled by competitors offerings except for behemoth what use desktop-class CPUs)
- Good GPU considering its TDP, performance on par with mainstream gaming laptops from 2015-2016
- Full-day battery life if required (of course, if you need high performance, the battery life will diminish accordingly)
- Size and weight comparable to 13" light laptops of other manufacturers
- Comfortable and precise keyboard
- Very good display
- Excellent flexible connectivity with multiple TB3 ports, fastest WiFi among mainstream laptops

Overall: its as good as any other MBP Apple made, but significantly more mobile. This is great for a mobile professional who needs the ability to have both battery life and performance in one device, depending on the situation.

 

[960design]

he 2016/2017 models have gotten some bad criticism in the press and from tech reviewers.Therefore, I would love to hear some thoughts on your experiences with it, now that it has been out for some time.

Thanks!

MBPr15 2016

Use it eight to sixteen hours a day to write software.
Reliable and stays out of my way to let me work without interruption.
Starts up in seconds ( from sleep, last time it was restarted was for an OS update ).

I also have an Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX550Ve which is an amazing computer for about $1000 less than the mac. Unfortunately it has Windows10 which always seems to get in the way of work. To be fair, Windows10 is by far the best Windows made and has done some serious work at improving pretty much everything.

If things keep going the way they are, I may be ready to switch back fulltime, around Windows 12.

Currently use MBPr 95% of the time and ZenBookPro 2%, others 3%.

 

[sunapple]

I bought the 2016 model when it came out but returned it due to the negative stories I read online. I know you shouldn’t care too much about that sort of thing, but at that price I couldn’t afford too lose more money in resale value if this machine would become less desirable in the future due to the problems (first gen product after all).

I’m not completely sure whether I made the right decision on that part, but I do know my 2015 15” serves me just fine still. The main attracting for a new machine for me would be the terrific looks, which ultimately isn’t a great reason to shell out that much money.

I’ll upgrade whenever my needs change or when MacBooks takes the next big step (whatever that may be).

 

[swerve147]

Briefly owned a 13 in. 2016 Touchbar model that I bought on the cheap. I liked it but wasn't able to work it into my workflow, already having a much more powerful notebook. Maybe if it were quad core and had a nicer keyboard.

Really interested in the 2018 though, let's see what happens.

 

[smirking]

Just from reading everyone’s thoughts it seems that if you get a a problem free one you’re really happy with it. If you were unlucky to get a lemon, you hate it.

I might be one of the few people who had a problem and still like it, but I was able to resolve the issues on my own and I went in expecting certain flaws. I expected to hate the feel of the keyboard and stocked up on the old style Apple Bluetooth Keyboards, but not because I expected keyboard issues. I did it because I expected to hate the feel so much that I wouldn't want to type on it regardless. I actually ended up being ok with the feel so I left the external keyboards behind and promptly ran into keyboard issues.

The funny thing is that my keyboard actually stopped sticking and repeating with more use. I don't recommend what everyone else is so quick to recommend for fixing the keyboard: an immediate trip to the Apple Store to demand a top case replacement. Well, that is assuming you're not about to run out of warranty. Some self fix-it tricks might just sort things out. You may have better luck this way because my keyboard's actually gotten better with age. It stuck and jammed several times in the first year I had it. It hasn't at all in the past 5 months.

I always have to add that even though I'm not disgruntled about this experience, it's still not a positive experience and I would really hesitate to recommend a new MBP to a first time Apple buyer right now. If you know what you're getting into, can deal with the potential consequences, and you prefer MacOS; it's a great laptop that has very significant flaws.

 

[profH]

Specced out 15". Spent a fortune, and not too happy with it. I bought as much horsepower as I could to serve as a desktop replacement for scientific computing that is mostly single and dual core. In clamshell mode the thermal management is too terrible to really push it as intended. In direct use I have to contend with the ****** UI (that is, ****** keyboard with some keys always a little wonky due to particles and that hurt fingers to use after a while, useless touchbar with no tactile feedback that I accidentally hit all the time, and oversized trackpad that forced me to turn of tap-to-click.

Nor do I think I will ever be able to resell it due to the keyboard issues, since my working area is far from immaculate and the **** that gets in there will be in there screwing up the keyboard forever.

Beautiful monitor though.

I now picked up a low end IMac Pro for my desktop; if I could go back I would have just held on longer with my 2015 MBA for a laptop (which I have brought back into rotation), or gotten a mid-range 13" TB (probably not nTB given the lower wattage CPU).

 

[eric.john]

started off with the base 13' touchbar (silver) and after year of realizing it was under-power for what i use it for, decided to upgraded to a 15' touchbar w/ 450 GPU (space gray). Haven't looked back since.