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

[tallscot]

If 16 GB of RAM is hurting your productivity, you're doing something wrong. It's not even debatable.

Why are there so many people who never use apps like After Effects telling us what we need? I posted a benchmark video showing how much faster 32 and 64 gigs of RAM is in After Effects and Premiere.

Then you have 3D apps like Cinema 4D and Maya, which are notorious for grabbing all the RAM you can give them.

This article is about how there is a large number of pros who are complaining about the new Macbook Pro.

 

[Illusionator]

I liked the article I read Titled, Why Tim Cook is Steve Ballimer

Yeah, just read that piece. Some rather compelling arguments made by the writer. I don't think Cook has it in him to satisfy the wants and desires of Mac users and the shear greed is really starting to rub even the die hard applephiles the wrong way. Some things can be over looked as long as they throw out the timely updates or a reassuring word about product lines but we don't get that anymore.

 

[lhammer610]

I have been waiting a while to upgrade my iMac. I am not crazy about the all-in-one design, especially since I can no longer even upgrade the RAM or replace the hard drive. But I would rather suffer that disappointment than struggle again with Windows.

With no iMac announcement, I am looking seriously at Hackintosh. I figure if I cannot get that to work, I can always install Windows and digress back to that. Better than holding onto my 7 year old iMac hoping for a good upgrade.

Dang it Apple!!

 

[MacLawyer]

I'm a pro user and to me the new macbook pro is rather disappointing.
Don't understand why apple charge €240 for 8GB of RAM when the actual cost is €40, same for che CPU and SSD upgrades.
The touchbar sounds like something that could be cool for 1 hour, and then become something completely useless to me.
Also the price is far too high, the entry macbook pro starting at €1799 and to get only 8GB of RAM and an i5 dual core?
I honestly can't justify that price tag for such an underpowered machine.

Might sound silly of me, but I really hope this Macbook Pro flops, it would be a great lesson for Apple.

I was ready to spring for a new MB Pro until I checked the price, features, ang Geekbench scores and realized it wasn't much of an improvement over my 2013 MacBook Pro.

 

[NT1440]

I have been waiting a while to upgrade my iMac. I am not crazy about the all-in-one design, especially since I can no longer even upgrade the RAM or replace the hard drive. But I would rather suffer that disappointment than struggle again with Windows.

With no iMac announcement, I am looking seriously at Hackintosh. I figure if I cannot get that to work, I can always install Windows and digress back to that. Better than holding onto my 7 year old iMac hoping for a good upgrade.

Dang it Apple!!

Curious, is there something about waiting 2 months until the January event that you can't do? I know that thing is long in the tooth but is the iMac in some state of failure at this point?

 

[needfx]

Why are there so many people who never use apps like After Effects telling us what we need? I posted a benchmark video showing how much faster 32 and 64 gigs of RAM is in After Effects and Premiere.

Then you have 3D apps like Cinema 4D and Maya, which are notorious for grabbing all the RAM you can give them.

This article is about how there is a large number of pros who are complaining about the new Macbook Pro.

Highly appreciated!!
but no, pros are niche & taboo...

 

[lhammer610]

Some of you guys need to start being more realistic. Apple focuses on their most POPULAR products first. Are you really surprised that the Mac mini and Mac Pro take longer to receive updates?

iPhones are their most popular iOS devices and MacBooks/MacBook Pros are their most popular computers...

It's unfortunate, but Apple is huge and their focus shifts over time. So is life...

My understanding is that Apple is sitting on 178 BILLION in cash, with no reasonable place to invest it to get a good return. How about earmarking oh, 0.1% of that, which would be 178 million, for a serious upgrade in the Mac line.

If they no longer think the Mac is a good investment, then spin off the software into a company that would license it, rather than letting the Mac die.

 

[stevet]

A vocal minority is whining on the internet like they do after every Apple release. Yawn.

You have lost touch with the real world if you think it's just forum posters that are disappointed.

I have been waiting a while to upgrade my iMac. I am not crazy about the all-in-one design, especially since I can no longer even upgrade the RAM or replace the hard drive. But I would rather suffer that disappointment than struggle again with Windows.

With no iMac announcement, I am looking seriously at Hackintosh. I figure if I cannot get that to work, I can always install Windows and digress back to that. Better than holding onto my 7 year old iMac hoping for a good upgrade.

Dang it Apple!!

You can upgrade ram in the iMac. I did that in my 2016 iMac 27" that I bought this year.

 

[SvenSvenson]

...living in a post-PC era where the market for high-end traditional computer products is a niche within an already tiny niche..

So what do us Apple developers use for serious development work on the move? Apple don't make such a machine.

 

[jekyll007]

I ordered the new MBP yesterday and it is my first Apple Computer. But with all the hate that is currently flowing through the internet, i don't know if buying now is the right decision. I really think about giving it back...

 

[mastermix]

Thin and light is not what it's all about... oh wait.

Currently on a Late 2011 15" 2.5 i7 MBP with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. Still working for me but I can see needing more down the road. I can just imagine what you could fit into that chassis using current tech...

 

[kcamfork]

The problem then comes when the lesson Apple learns is different from the lesson you want Apple to learn.

I can imagine Jony Ive beating an engineer over the head with a new MacBook Pro with Touchpad and Touch ID. "You didn't make it thin and light enough! That's why their not buying it!"

 

[lhammer610]

Curious, is there something about waiting 2 months until the January event that you can't do? I know that thing is long in the tooth but is the iMac in some state of failure at this point?

Given the disappointment with the Mac Pro; what makes you think that the rumor of an iMac upgrade in January will happen, and if it does, Apple will come out with anything that meets my needs at a reasonable price point?

 

[citysnaps]

Why are there so many people who never use apps like After Effects telling us what we need? I posted a benchmark video showing how much faster 32 and 64 gigs of RAM is in After Effects and Premiere.

Then you have 3D apps like Cinema 4D and Maya, which are notorious for grabbing all the RAM you can give them.

This article is about how there is a large number of pros who are complaining about the new Macbook Pro.

Yes. People who haven't USED one yet.

BTW, a "pro" is someone who uses their tools as part of their job. For computer laptops that's a huge range of people; teachers, small business owners, office workers, consultants, designers, architects, real estate agents, scientists, engineers, and on and on.

It's not just about the small percentage using Matlab with dozens of toolboxes and gigantic arrays, Maya, Solidworks, etc, with huge datasets. With the 2016 model having an SSD that's significantly faster than last years, with speeds commensurate with the laptop's RAM, I suspect even the top 1% of users will not be disappointed.

 

[StrawberryX]

A group is posting people should stop living in the past.
Another group with maxed out Mac Pro's etc ... wouldn't mind a new machine,
Apple just hasn't released something for this group to start living in the future ...
If you don't need thinner, It's the same laptop,
It will become more interesting when there are lots of TB3 devices.
TB3 makes it a lot more flexible ( ok you will need dongles, hubs, arrays and cages but the possibility's are there ),
the 16gb ram is not enough, but the next revision will probably support 32gb and everyone will be happy ...
It's mainly the event that sucked, not the macbook pro.

And It's still not clear if Apple is really dumping the pro market or just really slow,
both make sense in a way.
Apple was always slow, powerbook G4 was a slow premium laptop too.
There just happened to be a short window where the Mac's were wast, expandable and very capable.

 

[dmbmke]

I'm less concerned with out of the box specs and more concerned with the user-upgradeability. Soldering on drives and RAM is frustrating. I may find that a little extra RAM or storage would be helpful 6 months after I buy the machine but now I'm stuck with it, even as my workflow evolves.

As a musician, being able to swap out drives for more sample storage or a backup version of the system used to be fast and simple. Now its expensive or impossible.

For now, I'm sticking with older hardware because it still runs the software I need (MainStage and Logic) and I can upgrade it enough to get the performance I need. When Apple inevitably sunsets support for newer versions, I'll have to revaluate the environment.

 

[lhammer610]

You have lost touch with the real world if you think it's just forum posters that are disappointed.


You can upgrade ram in the iMac. I did that in my 2016 iMac 27" that I bought this year.

I don't want a 27" iMac. I want the 21.5". It has not been degradable since 2012.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191

 

[kcamfork]

It seems everyone is pretty much only complaining about the RAM capacity. I have a Mid 2015 15" MBP, and run multiple VMs at once which is quite memory intensive and the laptop is still snappy. Also, for you video and audiophiles, it's all about processing vs memory. I also heavily use Pro Tools and Final Cut Pro, so really what the hell are you people running that requires 32g of memory?

How's Safari in that setup of yours? Is it snappy?

 

[Michael Scrip]

Does anyone actually own any USB-C hardware/peripherals (dongles and hubs aside)? Does Apple even make any USB-C hardware? As far as I know you have to adapt to charge your Apple phone, charge your apple mouse, plug in your apple screen..... What products are out there that even use USB-C?!

Hardly anyone has USB-C devices... but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have USB-C ports.

We've had USB-A for almost 20 years. Every device and cable you own, and have ever owned, has been able to plug into USB-A since it has always been the same shape.

But now the new USB-C port is a different shape. Whoops!

I actually support the change even though the transition will be messy with dongles and extra cables. This is clearly the direction it needed to go.

We maxed-out the capabilities of USB-A. It had four pins to start... then they were able to cram in five more pins. But it was still limited. And you still needed additional ports for other things.

Now USB-C has 24 pins and it's able to do much more than the old port... while also replacing other ports.

We will finally have one port to rule them all. USB-C will be THE port for the next 20 years.

Transitions suck... but I believe this is necessary.

 

[npmacuser5]

Consumers are lucky you're getting a computer at all. If I were apple I would have doubled the MacBook prices to increase their profits even more.

/s

In today's dollars the original Mac would come in around $6,000. The Pro model should ignore price and be configured with the most advanced hardware and software available today.

 

[Mac 128]

Back when Apple tried to make innovative products that were better than the competition, instead of just trying to convince us to have the courage to buy dated hardware at inflated prices.

Oh that must be why I paid a $200 premium to get a black one, the only other difference being it had an 80gb HD instead of a $60 GB one?

 

[kcamfork]

I think the new MacBook Pro is essentially what most people wanted. It's fast, good looking, and innovative. The price is high but if you go back four years and look at what the starting prices were on the Retina MacBook Pro, it's certainly not unprecedented.

People stuck on complaining about USB-C need to realize that the battle is not worth fighting. This is the future. You're just gonna have to deal with it.

What this boils down to is the Mac Pro and Mac mini people wanting updates. Which they deserve.

I'll fight the battle. I'm not buying one of these pieces of cow excrement. I'll go with a company that. I don't know. Creates things that are actually useful and comes with ports that I will use.

 

[rjohnstone]

You can upgrade ram in the iMac. I did that in my 2016 iMac 27" that I bought this year.

I have a 21" 4k iMac and the ram is soldered to the main board.
No upgrading option at all.

 

[gwest]

What does "Pro" mean to Apple? It's become a moniker for the most expensive product, regardless of the product's capabilities. The best example is the iPad "Pro"- what's pro about it? It does nothing that other iPads don't do- it's just bigger and more costly.
The iPad Pro should have run OS X, have USB connectivity, and be able to run true Pro apps like Photoshop- a device to be used by pros for the software that pros need, not watered down mini-apps.
Compare the iPad Pro to the MS Surface. Full OS, expandable memory, external connectivity, runs pro apps without a problem. That's a machine that pros can use.
I was waiting for a MBP to replace my current one, and as a professional photographer I need a machine with the power and memory that will let me work without delay. I'm now considering the MS Surface Studio. I've been using Macs since the '80's but Apple is trending toward the general consumer and away from pros. Is it economically smart for a business to trend toward the larger consumer base? Of course. But Apple can certainly afford to profitably support the very niche market that used to draw us to them. I hate the idea that Apple stops supporting pros, but the evidence is mounting that if you require power, Windows machines will be your only option.
Sad.

 

[Chopper9]

Why are there so many people who never use apps like After Effects telling us what we need? I posted a benchmark video showing how much faster 32 and 64 gigs of RAM is in After Effects and Premiere.

Then you have 3D apps like Cinema 4D and Maya, which are notorious for grabbing all the RAM you can give them.

This article is about how there is a large number of pros who are complaining about the new Macbook Pro.

Because everybody is a know-it-all these days. Bunch a punks shooting off their Internet mouths with cute little fly by comments. Fact is, the entire Mac line-up is a joke right now. Overpriced, underpowered, and zero innovation - no relief on the horizon.

As a loyal Mac buyer since 85, I used to fear the days of Apple innovation were over with Steve being gone. Now I know they are. Apple is too worried about keeping people in the food chain than actually innovating and changing the game. Too worried about canabalizing one of their own categories instead of merging technologies. Purposely holding back available technologies and features so they can set their plan of trickling out minimal features years in advance.

I never thought I would see the day where Microsoft would outclass Apple on hardware. Too bad they're clueless when it comes to operating systems or there would probably be a mass exodus heading over to the other side.