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

[rondo]

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.

You think all off the main stream music, movies Photo retouches animations CGI etc done on ipads or iphones? With your nonsense you are on top of the brainless fanboy chain.

And BTW I am sure Steve would be OK with the need of an adapter to connect their latest phone to their latest Notebook offering.

 

[Hank Carter]

Yeah people who haven't spent one second with these machines throwing a temper tantrum saying they're not going to buy. As far as I know Apple has never offered 32GB RAM option with the MBP before, when the machine was thicker and heavier than it is now. Why are we getting these temper tantrums now?

"When we set the upper limit of PC-DOS at 640K, we thought nobody would ever need that much memory." — William Gates, chairman of Microsoft

A few years later...

"I’ve said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time. The need for memory increases as computers get more potent and software gets more powerful. In fact, every couple of years the amount of memory address space needed to run whatever software is mainstream at the time just about doubles. This is well-known." — William Gates, chairman of Microsoft

Maybe good old Bill should be running Apple.

 

[canadianreader]

Not only is it significantly more expensive but it also has is gimped 128GB of storage and its massive. This is a desktop is laptops clothing...and even that is questionable with just 128GB storage. I'm not paying 2700 bucks for a device that has only 128GB of storage. Sorry.

You don't have to be sorry there are other laptop computers with 32gb of ram that are less hideous and have more storage around 2000usd

 

[Manatlt]

$2,782 for that hideous thing that runs Windows and only a 128 GB of slower SSD storage?!?!

That 32 RAM tho...

It's a gamer's laptop. It's not designed for casuals or for business people. (Yes gamers like these designs)

 

[Smeaton1724]

The design failure is in the lack of ports and the adapters everyone will need, it is as clear as that.

The new macbooks have:
x4 USB-C
x1 headphone

If they had released a Macbook Pro that had the following ports then they'd have had queues around the block:
x2 USB-A
x2 USB-C
x1 Lightning
x1 Magsafe

The above is still less area than the 'old' ports as it doesn't have HDMI or SDXC.

Reasoning:

1.
The SDXC port was an easy way of adding extra storage to a Macbook Pro or Air 13 via Transcend Jetdrives or a standard SDXC card. The trade off was a normal card sticks out but as a user you save hundreds of dollars/pounds/euros.... BUT I could make do without it, probably like many others.

2.
USB-A is the most ubiquitous port in history and at least 1 should have remained. Many reasons, can't connect an iPhone 7 without a new cable or adapter. Those really small USB sticks, again to add storage or tiny dongles that many useful devices need - none intrude on the old macbooks but they do when you need an adapter. I like the Logitech mouse I have, spent alot of money on it and now to use it I'll need an adapter jutting waaay out of the machine. It really isn't feasible to just replicate with dongles.

3.
Pricing vs Value. 32GB RAM isn't a deal breaker but I think many believe the price increases could be justified if the Pro started at 16GB and had a 32GB upgrade option. People just feel like they are getting the same or compromise, I don;t compromise for purchases that large.

4. Ports again. Why leave the headphone jack and if you were going to leave it for headphones why not take the chance to make it lightning instead?! Again backtracking on 'courage' by including it, Apple are sending mixed messages to customers.

5. Magsafe. When you use your laptop every single day then the frequency of risk increases, therefore having a charging mechanism that has a fail safe for wire trips is a really big thing. Apple made a mistake with this, no reasoning or doubt, I have used Macbooks enough to know this is the best non feature but very much needed of an Apple device.

 

[tennisproha]

Chuq Von Rospach

Is that a real name? Cuz it's kinda badass! Kudos to badass names.

 

[MacFan782040]

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.

Sounds to me like you never used Apple's pro hardware or software, at least not in a capacity that they're supposed to be for.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

...as long Microsoft and others holds on to USB-A, USB-C isn't going to catch on for at least another few years.

And what I'm saying is that Apple is inconsistent. Either you make all things USB-C or not. The iPhone 7+ is not compatible with the new MacBooks unless you buy a freaking unnecessary dongle.

They could have left at best ONE USB-A port on these laptops.

By having USB-A they would have to make the MacBooks thicker, heavier and they'd be continuing to encourage accessory makers to manufacturer USB-A products. Ripping off the band-aid and going USB-C only is the only way to move the needle for both manufacturers and consumers.

The iPhone 7 is a product that sells all over the world and at the time of its release, only one Mac had USB-C. As iCloud continues to replace virtually every reason you'd ever have to connect an iPhone to a computer, this is becoming less and less of an issue, but I'd imagine future iPhones will ship with a USB-C cable. In the meantime, all of this angst over a nominal cost for an adapter or cable to bridge the gap during the standard transition is kind of laughable. Be annoyed...sure...but to be outraged is crazy.

 

[falainber]

you are making too much sense. I also find it funny that those with older Macbooks who complain that the new ones will not let them do their "pro" work will continue to do their "pro" work on a several year old machine. I ordered the 13 inch with touch bar and can't wait to get it.

Well, the same time of work used to be done on machines with 2GB RAM (and even smaller) but it's 2016 and people just want to use modern computers. Of course one can use virtual memory instead of a "real" one but why?

 

[dumastudetto]

You think all off the main stream music, movies Photo retouches animations CGI etc done on ipads or iphones? With your nonsense you are on top of the brainless fanboy chain.

And BTW I am sure Steve would be OK with the need of an adapter to connect their latest phone to their latest Notebook offering.

I'm proud to be an Apple fan, and I'm proud to have ordered one of the new MacBook Pros they have just announced. As Phil Schiller said in the Independent today, these new MacBook Pros are the best notebooks anyone has ever made.
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Sounds to me like you never used Apple's pro hardware or software, at least not in a capacity that they're supposed to be for.

I am professional who depends upon Macs to get my work done. I do some web development, I manage projects, teams and I do some video editing and production as a part-time hobby.

 

[Hank Carter]

Because we need to be on set/on location at times and bringing a fully fledged workstation everywhere just isn't always an option. The last thing you want is having to tell a Michael Bay or James Cameron, guys with no time and even less patience to be looking at a spinning beachball instead of your work. Believe me, this **** happens and it can be a bad experience to put it mildly.

The last thing you want to see is Jim's eyes go steely and then do what used to be your job for you.

 

[falainber]

Not only is it significantly more expensive but it also has is gimped 128GB of storage and its massive. This is a desktop is laptops clothing...and even that is questionable with just 128GB storage. I'm not paying 2700 bucks for a device that has only 128GB of storage. Sorry.

How about this one: https://www.amazon.com/HP-OMEN-15-U...id=1478107108&sr=8-5&keywords=laptop+32gb+ram

It has 512GB SSD, 2TB HDD, 32GB RAM, 3840x2160 screen resolution, GTX 965M and it's just $1650.

And BTW you can get a 4TB SSD on it.

 

[moonjelly]

Explain exactly why *you* need more than 16. Without bringing up Virtual Machines, which you have no business running on a mobile device.

What about an IT professional that travels and consults on large enterprise applications, software integration, etc? Someone who does need a complete virtual environment with database server, application servers, web client server, Active directory server, and user workstation with thin client, in order to reproduce issues, test failover scenarios, and generally troubleshoot without using or affecting customer resources [risk].

Why do you get to narrowly define professional needs?

 

[Hank Carter]

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.

 

[tennisproha]

Wow, that makes a whole lot of sense. But what's sad is Steve appointed Tim so that means Tim def knows this is not what Steve wanted and he's playing to the shareholders.

 

[Manatlt]

By having USB-A they would have to make the MacBooks thicker, heavier and they'd be continuing to encourage accessory makers to manufacturer USB-A products. Ripping off the band-aid and going USB-C only is the only way to move the needle for both manufacturers and consumers.

This is the MacBook Pro. Who gives a crap if the MacBook Pro is thinner if it has useless ports instead? And doesn't the Air have USB-A ports? I have a Spectre x360 laptop that has 3 ports and the laptop is thinner than the Pros.

The iPhone 7 is a product that sells all over the world and at the time of its release, only one Mac had USB-C. As iCloud continues to replace virtually every reason you'd ever have to connect an iPhone to a computer, this is becoming less and less of an issue, but I'd imagine future iPhones will ship with a USB-C cable. In the meantime, all of this angst over a nominal cost for an adapter or cable to bridge the gap during the standard transition is kind of laughable. Be annoyed...sure...but to be outraged is crazy.

This would have made sense if...7+ was released last year. But it was only released a couple of months ago. So Apple must have knew that these new Macs will sport the new USB-C ports when they were designing the 7.

And don't use iCloud as an alternative. That's stupid. Because:

1) I'm not forking more money to Apple per month for extra space/iTunes Match/Apple Music

2) If something goes wrong with my phone, I want to restore it through iTunes. FULL restore that is.

3) I want to sync my music that's ON my laptop.

Stop defending Apple on this stupid decision. Please. Or, they should have done it right.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Apple has tried to consolidate ports and introduce new standards in the past with limited longevity. 20 years for this port? I doubt it, but I hope its true. Here are some Apple ports that over the last 20 years that didn't last as long: ADC, Mini VGA, Mini DVI, 30 pin USB, Mini Display, Firewire 400, Firewire800, Thunderbolt, Lightning Bolt, Mag Safe 1, Mag Safe 2

I agree that many of Apple's ports have come and gone.

But Apple didn't create the USB-C port. It was created by the USB-IF

That reason alone leads me to believe that this port will last a long time (like USB-A did)

Another thing to remember is... this is the first time, since USB was invented, that the host end of the cable has changed. USB-A has always been on the computer end of the cable. And then there were a variety of plugs on the other end of the cable: USB-B, Mini-B, Micro-B, etc.

But now the the host end is changing to USB-C.

We've never been through this kind of transition before. So of course it will be messy.

But I still think it is necessary.

I completely understand the idea of "I don't have any USB-C devices or cables!"

But unless we go through these kinds of transitions... how do things ever change and evolve?

You and I both agree that USB-A has reached its limits. Sure it's everywhere right now... but it will never evolve.

That's why they created USB-C

 

[AdonisSMU]

How about this one: https://www.amazon.com/HP-OMEN-15-U...id=1478107108&sr=8-5&keywords=laptop+32gb+ram

It has 512GB SSD, 2TB HDD, 32GB RAM, 3840x2160 screen resolution, GTX 965M and it's just $1650.

And BTW you can get a 4TB SSD on it.

Fair enough. Those are great specs for the price. Hopefully the machine actually works for at least a couple of years. HP has a very spotty record based on the devices from them that I've owned previously.

 

[SimeoneSergio]

I am professional who depends upon Macs to get my work done. I do some web development, I manage projects, teams and I do some video editing and production as a part-time hobby.

This is why you should refrain from posting as "professional". You probably use your MBP at 50-55% of its potential. You could do that work in a MacBook Air, be honest.

On the other hand a lot of people here are "professionals" that have been using MBPs to the max, that in short words is heavy video editing and compositing, more than million-layers Ps & heavy filtering Lr.

And because of that 16Gb is not enough, not to mention the GPU (why no nVIDIA again?).

Some guy on Twitter wrote:
"I guess Apple thinks of the MBP15 as a mortifyingly-huge portable device, doesn’t realize its customers think of it as desktop that travels."

Sums up pretty much everything.

 

[TrueBlou]

I totally agree with you on this.

I'm a Design director/Art director. [A pro].
What I expect from Apple is to innovate, yes. I expect them to not only be cutting edge, but to be ground-breaking and better than the competition in my field – the creative industry. My industry always has been and I hope will continue to be one that relies on Apple to provide us with the tools we need.

However, as we all seemingly can attest to, rather depressingly, this is not the case anymore. PCs have gradually taken over from Apple with faster, better, more customisable and more powerful devices to do the job we sometimes require. The competition at least give the consumer to be just that - competitive. Options to customise their laptop in precisely they way they need. If not at least a wee more prescribed.

Case in point: I was directing an animator the other week using Cinema 4D. The company we were both freelancing for provided him with a fully specced up Mac Pro, albeit 3-4 years old, it was maxed out. (I had an iMac – again a sign of the times!) It was absolutely no competition for the animators own PC laptop. He had to bring that in as it was so much faster. We ran comparative tests, rendering the same number of frames. 78 hours on the Mac Pro. Less than 12 hours on the PC laptop. I was pretty shocked and honestly embarrassed as a staunch Apple fan and user since 1988. Without Rebus (render farm), we would have been screwed. It was a very obvious and sad reflection of how Apple has forgotten about the creative pro users. Undeniably.

The MacBook Pro should be just that. For professional users. An agile, portable, powerful, laptop that is comparable with the competition at worst and innovative, awe-inspiring and ground-breaking at best.

I have a mid-2011 rMBP. [16GB RAM]. Yes, it still works OK. I don't really need much more from it.
Yes, it's true I've ordered the new one. Maxed out. But, 32GB RAM would have been a pro option. The fastest processors money could buy/now available would be a pro option. The fastest memory chips available would be a pro option. A Radeon Pro 4XX graphics chip for better rendering (gaming) could be a pro option. An OLED main display would have been nice! Instead we have a Touch Bar and USB-C ports galore. And all for a pretty penny.
I hope I will use the Touch Bar. It looks pretty cool. The whole Mac does look good.

This MacBook Pro is no longer a laptop for pro users. It's for those who can afford the highest spec, overpriced, top of the range Apple product, whilst maybe aspiring to be a pro and looking cool in Starbucks, checking their Facebook page.

Maybe Apple does have plans for 2017... Hello again, again?

Totally spot on. I've been an Apple supporter and customer for over 15 years now. I switched to Apple because at the time they offered the best you could possibly get (and I'd grown weary of the constant need to upgrade, maintain and deal with viruses and spyware on Windows.)

The switch to Apple was a complete revelation, I realised almost instantly what I'd been missing out on and how wrong I'd been all those years when I'd scoffed at Apple users because obviously Windows was the superior option, yeah completely wrong, Apple was an amazing option that changed my workflow for the better overnight.

Now I'm facing a dilemma. I love my Apple products, I love how secure they are, how seamlessly they interoperate, how everything just works, how little I have to do to maintain the systems (basically nothing,) there's actually very, very little I don't like about the Apple way of life. I'll take the numpties calling me an isheep, because the reality is I've used all available options for operating systems for computer platforms and mobile, from Windows to Linux to Android to macOS and iOS (and many others over the past 30 odd years) and I've made a reasoned decision based on my experiences with them. If people want to disagree with that, I couldn't care less, I know I've made the right choice for me.

Unfortunately, as I said, the dilemma now is that some of the options available from other manufacturers are quite simply outclassing Apple on the hardware front. When it comes to software I stil prefer the macOS, iOS way of life. But for power and flexibility, it's becoming increasingly tempting to look over the fence. I really like the idea of the Surface Book, had that been a marriage of a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro I'd be throwing money at it like there was no tomorrow.

I'll probably stay with Apple, for now at least. But if they don't up their game I may be one of those switching sides. I've been buying Apple for the past 15 years or so because when I did, I was happy in the knowledge that I was getting the best the industry has to offer. But that's just not the case anymore and that, as an Apple devotee, troubles me.

 

[brucewayne]

I agree with the pricing and the lack of 32gb. Not that I need 32gb now, but Apple's reason doesn't make sense. Does a customer that upgrades from 8gb to 16gb (for $200 in 2016??? ) take a hit in battery life and if so why isn't that stated? Also, the newer operating systems are hampered on my older Macs that I bought maxed out (at the time) 4gb. Maybe Sierra doesn't have a use for more than 16GB, but what about whatever macOS is released 2 or 3 years from now?

I think the discussion over the ports is kind of ridiculous. Instead of a bunch of proprietary ports, for almost the first time Apple has gone all out with the latest fastest universal standard that is backwards compatible with almost anything and people still complain. If there are going to be 4 ports on your laptop, why would you want to limit any of them to a legacy USB port? Yu still have to carry whatever cable it is you want to connect, slap a dongle on that B.

You realize that no mac has ever been 'compatible' with any iPhone lightning port right? You need to use a lightning to something cable. If you just bought a $700+ iPhone and a $1500+ laptop, is it really that bad to buy a $25 cable (or $10 dongle for the cable that came with the phone)? And for those who complain about no headphone port on the iPhone, but then complain about the 3.5mm port and no lightning port on your MacBook Pro (which would have exactly one use, lightning headphones), what are you thinking? Is it that hard to use the $9 lightning to 3.5mm dongle and remove it when plugging your headphones into your laptop?

 

[sarge]

The MacBook Pro is still a professional machine. The specs are on the high-end, 16GB of RAM is plenty for most people, 512GB SSD is a lot (and you can buy more if you need it), GPU not the best but Apple has never put the best dGPU's in their laptops or iMacs. It's a highly capable machine for professional work.

Many photo and video editors are very happy with them. I was listening to a podcast last night with a photographer who shoots professionally for a living, and another who does a lot of video editing for iMore, and both have jumped in and ordered the new MacBook Pros because they are very happy with them.

Many photo and video editors are very happy with the thing they don't even have yet -that's one heck of an endorsement.

 

[TurboPGT!]

What about an IT professional that travels and consults on large enterprise applications, software integration, etc? Someone who does need a complete virtual environment with database server, application servers, web client server, Active directory server, and user workstation with thin client, in order to reproduce issues, test failover scenarios, and generally troubleshoot without using or affecting customer resources [risk].

Why do you get to narrowly define professional needs?

Not narrowly defining professional needs. Defining notebook roles. Roles that can expand as the products expand, and they have, but the goal posts keep moving. This product has a lot of "firsts" in its bag, its the first Pro Mac laptop with that be used all day while away from power, but its not the first Pro Mac laptop with 32 GB of RAM. It will eventually, but it couldn't be both this time around, so Apple naturally chose the one that benefits everyone, instead of the tiniest % of users.

 

[dumastudetto]

This is why you should refrain from posting as "professional". You probably use your MBP at 50-55% of its potential. You could do that work in a MacBook Air, be honest.

On the other hand a lot of people here are "professionals" that have been using MBPs to the max, that in short words is heavy video editing and compositing.

And because of that 16Gb is not enough, not to mention the GPU (why no nVIDIA again?).

I could do web development on a MacBook Air with its tiny display and non-retina screen? Really? Yeah Photoshop really works beautifully on a MacBook Air.

The people who use MBP's to the max as you put it, are not a majority of MBP users. Go read John Gruber's piece on this:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/11/01/bjarnason-macbook-pros

I'm sorry but Apple is more interested in serving people like me with a machine, because I'm in the majority of users group. You are not if you need 32GB RAM in a laptop to do your job. Sorry!
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Many photo and video editors are very happy with the thing they don't even have yet -that's one heck of an endorsement.

It's a faster MacBook Pro with better graphics, a more color accurate display, and a faster SSD. I don't think it's difficult for them to conclude they will be very happy with this upgrade.

 

[needfx]

I could do web development on a MacBook Air with its tiny display and non-retina screen? Really? Yeah Photoshop really works beautifully on a MacBook Air.

The people who use MBP's to the max as you put it, are not a majority of MBP users. Go read John Gruber's piece on this:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/11/01/bjarnason-macbook-pros

I'm sorry but Apple is more interested in serving people like me with a machine, because I'm in the majority of users group. You are not if you need 32GB RAM in a laptop to do your job. Sorry!
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It's a faster MacBook Pro with better graphics, a more color accurate display, and a faster SSD. I don't think it's difficult for them to conclude they will be very happy with this upgrade.

you're quickly evolving to a majority that forks in anything it's served, and meanwhile, as it always happens in democracies, if my needs are met and covered, who cares about yours

ps I am politically agnostic, but no anarchist