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

[8692574]

Isn't it ironic that Apple opened the stage with a video with people with handicap using and making great things on the Mac, and then release a touch bar enabled Mac that those same people would not be able to take full advantage of?

I mean what good does the touchbar to someone who cannot use the keyboard?

 

[magamo]

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

As if Apple had learned anything from the iwatch disaster.

On a more serious note, I tend to think that the new MBP sells all right. Its performance is much more than good enough for the average guy (who is not "pro" by any standards), and it looks gorgeous and glamorous. I need more than 16GB for my serious work. But I do want one, if only for my casual day-to-day use.

 

[ob81]

To be honest: I do hobby photography and have been using Macs and Apple products since around 2006. I remember my first iMac, and when they made the white version I was sold for life. I remember my 12" PowerBook. Friends and family call me when new Apple stuff comes out because they know I am more than likely aiming to get it.

This is the first time I have strongly considered that I may have already purchased my last Apple product. I skipped 2 phone upgrades because I saw the gimmick writing on the wall with force touch. People justify the iPhone 6s and the 7, but those phones aren't much better than the 6 and 6+. The 12" MacBook is extremely overpriced and you might as well have an iPad Pro; which is exactly what Apple wants you to buy. The fact that even Apples own devices don't have USB-C speaks volumes.

 

[Rogifan]

A simple BTO option would have squashed the noise. A person choosing that option would have obviously valued the power over longer battery life.

There is no simple BTO option. It would require a different machine that was thicker and heavier unless you want no battery life and the ability to fry an egg on your machine. I'm sure Apple has statistics on what percentage of the Mac install base needs desktop class specs in a portable machine. Obviously it's not big enough for them to design a separate machine around. I do wish people would at least wait for reviews before throwing these in the garbage as worthless.

 

[Moto6502]

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

WOW!

 

[apolloa]

When has Microsoft ever called the Surface Book a tablet? And just because something is convertible no longer makes it a pro level device?

Well the rope part is a tablet and the bottom part is the performance base. And it's also cheaper then the MacBook Pro, I think. So then you'd have to say why can I not get 32GB for the cost of 16GB when it costs more then the Surface Book.

 

[Neodym]

HA! With Steve Jobs, the philosophy was "You don't need this, but you really want it."
Now, it's "we've stopped updating desktops because we have courage"

A company has to decide where to invest the money to get the best ROI possible. Not only to please the stock markets, but to survive as company. Every dollar spent into R&D for a desktop computer is missing in other product categories - that explicitly includes the future categories which are not clear today, so you risk losing whatever you've spent on the wrong development. On the other hand, researching is not an option.

Desktop computers have become a niche market, that continues to shrink. It's a market of the past, even though some developers still struggle to accept that.

 

[newyorksole]

HA! With Steve Jobs, the philosophy was "You don't need this, but you really want it."
Now, it's "we've stopped updating desktops because we have courage"

The 21.5" & 27" iMacs were updated last year. Mac mini was updated 2 years ago. Mac Pro has been what, 3 years. That's definitely overdue.

People STILL feel "I don't need this, but really want it" when it comes to Apple products.

But again, I'm not sure why Apple can't update their products more quickly. I just wouldn't say they're doomed or that they're "SOO much different" under Cook.

 

[Mildredop]

Is the website on that Mac giving a clue to what we should actually be buying...?

 

[dallegre]

This all reminds me of when Canon introduced the 5D Mark II with the same outdated AF system that the original 5D had...oh, but it had video. Canon did just fine and sold a billion 5D Mark IIs, but the AF system in that camera was far behind the competition (Nikon D700).

 

[MrGimper]

I was just looking back to when exactly I bought my 2014 13" i5 2.8/16GB/1TB rMBP and found my invoices.

I originally ordered the i7 3.0/16GB/512GB for £1606 (that included a small EPP discount) mid December 2014. I then returned it as I saw and snapped up the i5 on the refurb store for £1649 (double the flash traded for a few geekbench points suited me).

Now I look at the base 13" without the Courage Bar and it's over 2K.... wow. And it's gimped with only 2 ports.

 

[AcesHigh87]

I get Apple's perspective that catering to the pro market doesn't make money and it's niche, that definitely makes sense. However ignoring the entire market isn't the answer either. The MacBook Pro is "pro" by name only now, there's nothing special about it that I see a professional market wanting. The 16GB of RAM cap honestly is laughable in this day and age. My iMac from 2011 is running on 20GB and my Mac Pro tower at work from 2010 is running 40GB.

An even bigger issue, IMO, is ruining their pro class desktops to the same extend. The iMac's power has been dwindled in exchange for thinness (which matters a bit in laptops but not at all in desktops) and the Mac Pro which costs $3000+ hasn't been updated in 3 years.

I work in a film studio that has been hanging onto our 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro towers because they simply have more compatibility and the ability to be upgraded. Pro users don't want thinness and dongles, we want raw power. I love OS X (I'm still calling it that purely because I haven't tried MacOS) and despise Windows but may end up having to swap to Windows when my personal iMac kicks the bucket because it's starting to become challenging to justify Apple's prices while they continue to limit their connectivity and processing power.

 

[newyorksole]

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.

Apple has always charged high prices for computers and RAM...

 

[RedGala]

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

 

[apolloa]

A company has to decide where to invest the money to get the best ROI possible. Not only to please the stock markets, but to survive as company. Every dollar spent into R&D for a desktop computer is missing in other product categories - that explicitly includes the future categories which are not clear today, so you risk losing whatever you've spent on the wrong development. On the other hand, researching is not an option.

Desktop computers have become a niche market, that continues to shrink. It's a market of the past, even though some developers still struggle to accept that.

Wow!! You just made an excuse for Apple surviving by not spending R&D on new desktops!!!

You DO REALISE how much cash they have let alone their turnover right?

And please shut up with this niche market BS please, desktops are used in the billions most likely daily around the globe. Ever visited an office? And before you go down the business route, it was Tim Cook who signed a deal with IBM to sell Macs to the business market...

 

[Neodym]

Those complaining and hating on Apple and Time are mainly the people that create all the ****ing content people are consuming in this glorious post-PC era.

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!

 

[FreshBoy]

Not just Tim, but Phil, Joni and Eddy look like complete ignorant ghosts that live in another world.
They genuinely think that everything they create is great because it is Apple and they are great because they are Apple.
In fact they are a couple of misaligned borderliners (the above is close to the definition of borderline syndrome)
I felt so sad seeing grown up people self-fulfilled with something as archaic (and badly implemented) as TouchBar, completely disconnected from their customers that are eager for some serious stuff.
Just appalling.

Badly implemented? Have you used it? also archaic how?

 

[Stella]

We aren't living in a post PC era.

I don't see offices full of tablets. I see developers, project managers, analysts and more working from laptops.

Tablets are great for internet, email and point of sale systems and light work. Heavier work is out of the question - laptops or desktop machines are still required.

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.

 

[MrGimper]

Isn't it ironic that Apple opened the stage with a video with people with handicap using and making great things on the Mac, and then release a touch bar enabled Mac that those same people would not be able to take full advantage of?

I mean what good does the touchbar to someone who cannot use the keyboard?

What good is a Touch Bar if you use clamshell mode.....

 

[kk1ro]

Everyone keeps talking about these mythical "Pro" users who are disappointed in the new MacBook Pros. But let's break down who those people are:

1) People whose software development practices require "multiple virtual machines" and remote servers.

2) People who edit "intensive" 4K videos.

For the first group, I would say they should use a desktop. Seriously, a portable form factor is absolutely stupid for this type of work. They could use the Mac Pro, but that hasn't been updated in a while. Why? Because these people are such a small niche that it's not in Apple's best interests to update it.

For the second group, I don't know what to say. I don't get them, because people edit 4K videos just fine on far inferior laptops. Yeah, it's slower and a little laggy but, again, the MacBook Pro is a MOBILE solution. Here again the Mac Pro would suit this niche better, but it's too small a niche to justify that machine.

But let's be perfectly honest here, 99% of the complaints aren't coming from people in either category. Some just look for any excuse to put Apple down because it's fashionable these days, some can't afford Apple's prices and they're angry about that, others are just repeating things they know little about (like how Skylake is outdated, good lord people are ignorant sometimes), while tech pundits write and say these things because it gets clicks/views.

When the benchmarks and personal use stories come out, the narrative always changes to a more positive spin. Apple stocks go back up, people start impatiently waiting for the next product and bash Apple for not churning things out faster and eventually bash those products when they emerge again. It's a stupid cycle but hey, it gets the clicks, right?

I've been a Mac user since 2007. I've had two MBPs and a Mac Pro (along with a few iPhones and iPads) since then. However, I'm also one of the people seriously considering not buying a Mac any time soon.

I'm a full-time Game Designer at a Top-50 mobile game studio and a part-time game/app developer. I'm one of the people trying to make content for the "post-PC era" devices/people.

As mobile devices grow more and more powerful, the machines required for development must also become more powerful. If you want to develop and debug a game or graphics-heavy app that is supposed to run at 1080p-to-4K resolution on a variety of devices (from iPhone to iPad, Apple TV, Android, etc), you need a pretty beefy machine. You also need portability/mobility, in order to be able to adapt to the increasing demands of clients and companies, especially if you're doing freelance work.

Up until now, Apple made some of the best laptops for developers, because they allowed users to run multiple OSes and had a balanced set of hardware (even if they were a bit on the expensive side of the spectrum).

With the 2016 MBPs, though, I fear that's no longer the case. Not only are the machines almost prohibitively expensive, but they also lack modern (still on LPDDR3 RAM) and powerful (a GPU with only 1.86 TFLOPS of performance on the top-end model) hardware.

People like you can dismiss this as whining, but the reality is that it's becoming more and more difficult to justify buying a uber-expensive MBP when a much cheaper (and much more powerful) Windows laptop + a cheap Mac mini are capable of handling the same tasks (with a obvious hit to portability).

It's simple: "post-PC era" devices need content. That content is made on "PC era" devices. If Apple's "PC era" devices aren't powerful enough to create that content, content creators will move to other "PC era" devices that are capable of handling the tasks.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

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...

That's a fair observation for most companies and certainly applies to Apple. That said, I will equally argue that Apple is a big organization with more than enough employees to work on multiple priorities. I'm not in charge but if I were they would have multiple working team to keep each product line updated on a regular schedule.

Many of us who make negative observations are simply frustrated that the largest company to ever exist can't seem to do more than one thing at a time.

 

[Zillion]

Maybe the 32gb complainers should read up on why the MacBooks have no 32gb option:

"The quad-core Kaby Lake processor still having not seen the light of day has caused other problems that are being attributed to Apple, and not as having been foisted upon the company by Intel. For low power consumption, Skylake only supports LPDDR3, which is limited to 16 gigabytes.

LPDDR4 will not be supported in MacBook Pro-bound Kaby Lake quad-core processors until possibly the end of 2017, and perhaps later."

I agree. But Dell offers a 32GB with an Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ. I wonder what the battery life of this machine will be. That processor however only has 6MB cache. The high end Macbook Pro optional also offers 6820HQ and 6920HQ with 8MB cache.

 

[maflynn]

Its just not creatives that are upset/disappointed. I think many long standing mac fans who stuck by Apple for years are voicing their displeasure.

The new MBPs are not bad, per say, but the update is just rather mediocre, but the price is anything but mediocre

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Here's what the pros really think.

http://macdaddy.io/apples-new-macbook-pros/

 

[maflynn]

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

I may not like it, but it does make sense to drop the magsafe connector. The need still exists, to be sure, but why have two ports that can power the laptop