Professional Mac Users' Complaints List Grows After 'Disappointing' Apple Event

[pika2000]

You're missing the point. Of course those products had flaws that were overlooked. But they were overlooked because they traded those flaws for something no other product could offer on terms of user experience Apple's new products have new flaws that do not add anything new to the user experience. "Touch Bar" is not enough to overlook performance like we could with "total touch screen" offset by "no keyboard" on the first gen iPhone.

- Many people dissed the first gen iPhone during that time because it was 2G only, and the fact that it costs $500 WITH 2 year contract. How are those a trade off for "user experience"?
- 1st gen scratch-tastic nano, 3rd gen buttonless shuffle, how are those for "user experience"?
- No backlit keyboard on the first iteration of current Macbook Air. Clearly it was doable as Apple added it right away on the refresh. How's that a "trade off" for user experience when all previous Mac laptops have backlit keyboards?
Again, those are decisions made by everybody's favorite Steve Jobs.

Have you used the Touch Bar on a daily basis to make such simplistic conclusion?

 

[bruceosx]

For whom would all those glorious content creators produce if there wouldn't be a massive (=lucrative) product base available? For each leaving content creator there will be 2-3 others to enter because the sheer amount of potential customers is too tempting an opportunity to miss!

Too bad though that there are lucrative fields like 3D gaming, VR, beyond-4k video editing etc. that are either impossible or very difficult on the current hardware/software platform Apple offers. Even plain old Photoshop... I dare you to work with any large file on the iMac 5K display (or 3x 5K displays chained together as they showed in the latest keynote) with the weak (cpu/gpu) hardware and slow drivers they got.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Perhaps MacDoomers would be a better name for this site now.

It really has become a pathetic joke.

 

[pika2000]

They are overpriced, but to improve on virtually every aspect of the previous MacBook (display, speakers, weight, dimensions, SSD, trackpad, overall speed) is simply being overlooked by the 16 gig RAM complainers. Perhaps Apple should make a thicker and heavier machine that can support 32 gb, but perhaps not - it is an extremely small market. I'd guess that 90% of MacBook users would be more than satisfied with the entry level 13". The faster touchbar versions will satisfy almost all of the remaining notebook users...

Yeah, people glossed over the tech behind the Touch ID implementation completely, and only complain about max RAM that most complainers don't even know what to use for.

 

[Boatboy24]

...and concludes by suggesting that creative professionals need to realize the Mac line has become a "niche product" in a world driven by market forces where Apple technology has gone mainstream.

I'm not a creative professional. But it seems to me that the Mac is now a mainstream level product with 'niche' pricing.

 

[sarge]

Pretty much everything you see on the web - be it the written word, videos, photography. I know people who edit video on an iPad now and publish it. The workflows are still not as streamlined as doing it on the Mac, and there are obviously some more advanced techniques that you cannot do from an iOS device, but certainly a lot can be done today. And giant strides continue to be made towards eliminating the need for a Mac.

Yes, and there are restaurants in New York that serve fare made with toaster ovens and hot plates. The kitchen staff are no less professional than 3 star Michelin ones but do not tell me they are cooking the same dishes.

 

[diddl14]

As "Pro" app developer (whatever that means) I'm totally fine with the new 15".

• Don't need any of the dongles, just a few lighting to usb-c cables
• CPU speed is fine and won't increase a lot anyway with the upcoming intel chips
• RAM could be more but price/performance of 16Gb is ok
• Really key is SSD performance which is stellar. That alone will boost my (mobile) productively
• I expect the TouchBar to also contribute to productivity but that remains a wait and see

I can however see that people with other requirements/expectations are more than disappointed.

Think the main issue here is the Intel dependency. You just can't expect Apple to change their design philosophy and add power hungry desktop components into a laptop. That is a big understandable no-go. And I see that as positive!

 

[pmhparis]

I get that the real reason that Apple hasn't proposed a 32Gb rMBP is that they would have needed to create a different motherboard to do so.

Like many others I was hoping to replace my current 16 Gb machine. As the Intel chip Apple needs for 32 Gb isn't ready, I'll wait -- because I can.

Regarding the price, I find it 40% more expensive than I'd expected, but then I also only bought my rMBP when the "Apple Tax" was a thing of the past as the rMBP was the same price or even less expensive as an equivalently specced Dell/HP. This, in addition to the rMBP's quality build, robustness and OSX are the reason why I & so many others bought them.

If Intel delivers an update allowing Apple to bring out a 32Gb MBP before I NEED to move on AND the surcost does not go any further, I'll upgrade then. Here's hoping...

 

[dumastudetto]

Did I miss that memo? Wasn't aware I was supposed to be editing television shows with iMovie on an iPad. I'll just junk this $10 000 pile of useless hardware then.

No, I think you deliberately misinterpreted what I said to try and make a silly point.

Of course I am not saying everyone can do their jobs from an iPad. I am saying an ever increasing number of people can, and are doing so. And that's why the market for traditional computers is in steady decline.

I couldn't do my job from an iPad either, but that doesn't mean I can't recognise I fall into an ever declining camp of people who do still need "real computers".

 

[TurboPGT!]

- Many people dissed the first gen iPhone during that time because it was 2G only, and the fact that it costs $500 WITH 2 year contract. How are those a trade off for "user experience"?

What? Because it was a ****ing iPhone, thats why! I'm sick and tired of you people who allegedly want access to the best products on the planet and constantly moan about price. It is a parody of itself.

 

[Mr. Chewbacca]

Can't see any big improvements over my 17", quad i7, 16Gb, 2Tb Fusion-drive equipped MacBook Pro.

I replaced my 17" a year ago with the newest MBP at the time. I still kept the broken 17", for some reason in the back of my mind I always thought I might fix it up some day. That day could be sooner than I thought.

 

[Mal67]

If only they could stop production and switch USB-C ports to useful ports and return the magsafe connector.

I would have liked to see some of the usual ports alongside the usb-c/Thunderbolt connectors. I guess the priority is thinness which doesn't leave the room I suppose. HP went with two usb-c and 1 usb 3. Which I think is preferable but still not perfect.

 

[MacKbek]

If I could build a stable computer that would run MacOS I would be more than willing to. As it stands hackintosh isn't stable and I hate Windows so I have to choose between the power I need and the Software I enjoy. That was never a choice I had to make with apple before.

"Think different"

But two things to keep in mind:

1- The price will drop

2- No review has been made about the power of those new MacBook Pro. People react only on technical specifications. But for Apple, a hardware is a 'whole", not a sum of technical stuff. So, wait and see, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[OllyW]

We are where Steve Jobs predicted we'd be, living in a post-PC era where the market for high-end traditional computer products is a niche within an already tiny niche.

Apple aren't doing a very good job then. Apple had sold 3.5 million Macs in the quarter he made that quote. They sold nearly 5 million Macs last quarter and don't you always say that Apple's products are high-end when compared to the rest of the market?

 

[pika2000]

The issue I have is they said it too 3 years to produce the touch bar - ok, there's lot that went into it no argument, but I would qualify that feature as a minor improvement, and they did nothing else to the MBP other then making it thinner.

Nothing else? Try coming up with a secure enclave for the Touch ID, and integrate its functionality into a standard desktop OS.
I am no engineer, but I can see what Apple did to the new Macbook Pro are not just "nothing else."

 

[dumastudetto]

Yes, and there are restaurants in New York that serve fare made with toaster ovens and hot plates. The kitchen staff are no less professional than 3 star Michelin ones but do not tell me they are cooking the same dishes.

Did I claim they were?

Some of the biggest sites on the internet though are being produced by staff using iPhones and iPads.

Do they churn out the best content? No, not always. There is better produced stuff available that is made with higher end equipment. But the majority of people are consuming from the more popular establishments obviously.

 

[_manoloruiz_]

You couldn't be more wrong.

Sitting in my home office right now is a desktop machine running Ubuntu Linux, an iMac, a MacBook Pro, a Dell XPS 15 and a Mac Mini as my home server.

I definitely do a hell of a lot more than check email all day. In fact, neglecting email is a more apt description of what I do because I have bigger and more important things to do.

Good for you. But then I honestly don't understand your original post.
For me is not a niche product. It is the main tool I use to make a living and if it underperforms, then so my productivity suffers for it.

 

[IndigoDesign]

A lot of these people are living in the past. We are where Steve Jobs predicted we'd be, living in a post-PC era where the market for high-end traditional computer products is a niche within an already tiny niche.

What Tim and Apple are doing is absolutely right for the company. Those complaining and hating on Apple and Tim are broadly speaking living in the dark ages.

LOL
Those that complain are professionals that built their whole workflow and professional life around Apple products and are now expected to shell out MORE for LESS. A PRO machine is all about being productive and versatile. The new machines are neither. Touchbar is a toy, 16GB Ram is a Joke.

Just go and look up the new Alienware 13".
It's a GAMING laptop sure, but it has so much more power.
If Apple wouldn't restrict macOS to their own hardware, mac sales would drop like a stone.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

It's pretty clear Apple has been iOS-centric under Cook.

Cook is a businessman, he's not passionate about these products. He's passionate about bottom lines, marketing, and his bonuses tied to stock performance.

Apple culture died with Steve Jobs. We need a creative visionary at the helm, not someone who is more interested in influencing politics and culture.

I could not agree more with this post. So true. We need a "Steve Jobs 2.0".

 

[JGRE]

A lot of these people are living in the past. We are where Steve Jobs predicted we'd be, living in a post-PC era where the market for high-end traditional computer products is a niche within an already tiny niche.

What Tim and Apple are doing is absolutely right for the company. Those complaining and hating on Apple and Tim are broadly speaking living in the dark ages.

So you are saying "forget about Apple and move to a Windows computer, because Apple does give a **ck"

 

[maflynn]

1- The price will drop

I hope, in all honesty

2- No review has been made about the power of those new MacBook Pro. People react only on technical specifications. But for Apple, a hardware is a 'whole", not a sum of technical stuff. So, wait and see, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Yes, I've been wanting to see actual reviews

 

[pika2000]

What? Because it was a ****ing iPhone, thats why! I'm sick and tired of you people who allegedly want access to the best products on the planet and constantly moan about price. It is a parody of itself.

You quoted my response to another person without the context of my original post.

 

[Nozuka]

People should read through the comments when Apple announced the unibody MBPs in 2008. Not much different than what we see today.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-announces-new-aluminum-macbooks.580479/

haha, it's alot of fun!

for example:

Absolute crap. No firewire on the MB means it's dead to me. No change of heart possible at all. And reducing the processor and increasing the price? Masters of the absurd. I feel like strangling Jobs. FFS!

But today it's Tims fault

 

[Gudi]

I won't be buying one. How can you sell a "pro" that you can not plug the wire that comes with iPhone especially the 7 without buying another damn dongle.

This is a joke, right? Of course the iPhone comes with the cable most useful to most people for now. Ship it with a USB-C to Lightning cable and even more people would need dongles. Insane!

MK0X2ZM/A​

 

[dumastudetto]

Apple aren't doing a very good job then. Apple had sold 3.5 million Macs in the quarter he made that quote. They sold nearly 5 million Macs last quarter and don't you always say that Apple's products are high-end when compared to the rest of the market?

Most of the 5 million won't have been the monster trucks. They'll have been laptops (many of which at the lower end) and some iMacs.