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

[robertcoogan]

Just post this under every news article until everyone gets it

Wow. How prophetic. Apple executives are tonerheads.

 

[sinfonye]

I am not sad to see MagSafe go. With longer battery life, we aren't plugging in our laptops as often as before and accidents should become less common. Same with USB C. I will give up 6-7 single-purpose ports for 4 multi-purpose ports any time of the day.

My machine can get 16+ hours (sometimes heavy) use per day, with irregular access to charging ports.
That means it will get plugged in, in airports, stations, trains, coffee shops etc. It's also plugged in at home when I'm not travelling, where it could also be a trip hazard, knocked by children, pets, partners etc.

I also use my laptop as a portable battery/charge station for my iphone, ipad etc. etc. Carrying 1-2 (preferably identical) cables for my devices is fine, but they have to have the same end connectors as in my car, hire car, hotel, wall plugs, aircraft, railway station, meeting rooms, computers, other people's laptops, etc., and the cables have to be universally available wherever I'm travelling. It's possible that everything will go from USB-A to USB-C in future, but I wouldn't count on it in less than 10-20 years, and meanwhile it will be a major pain for day-to-day use.

For me, Magsafe/USB-A is *much* more useful than USB-C, and it's useful today. By all means have 1-2 USB-Cs on a machine, but not all of them, and do make sure that every machine has a sensible number of ports (1-2 is simply not enough; 3-4 would be a minimum). Don't expose my power supply to hacking attempts in dubious hotels. I am currently eyeing up the old machines as the pick of the current Apple crop, and have also started looking at what's involved in setting up a Hackintosh, so that I can keep working without disruption.

 

[FreshBoy]

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 that's spot on...like a time warp!

 

[pee jay bee]

As a creative professional I'm absolutely happy with the new machines. I have a 2013 MBP retina - it's a 2.3i5 that I spec'd to 16 ram and 1tb flash HD. It performs almost exactly as when I bought it (apart from battery). I runs Adobe CC perfectly and also houses all my iMovie projects, iTunes and photo library. I don't need to replace this machine.

But my partner needs something similar. It doesn't really need to better. So she'll get a quad core 2.7 gig i7 with a way newer graphics card than mine. It's WAY better than she needs and could happily tackle more processor intensive tasks if required. The dongle non issue doesn't bother us, never plug anything in anyway, don't mind getting a SD card reader.

On top of that she get a touch bar that actually works with photoshop and can change brush size on the fly - looks like a useful innovation to me.

 

[newyorksole]

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.

I absolutely agree with you. It sucks that they're so secretive and that we don't know how many resources they actually dedicate to the Mac and why.

I also understand the frustration. Hoping things become more clear sooner rather than later...

 

[Gotfredsen]

If you need more than the new MBPro, PRICE is not the problem; it's lack of POWER.

I would gladly pay over $5,000 US for an updated Mac Pro or MBP with 32 GB RAM. If you are making a living off this machine, spending an extra $1,000-$2000 every 3 years for your main tool (compared to a laptop) should not be a problem. Yes, it's a niche within a niche, but if Apple is one of the world's largest companies, with many billions in Cash, they ought to be able to do ALL of these things at once.

I sometimes need to auto-process a folder containing 10+ GB of hi-res photos, opening each one in Photoshop, downsampling it, converting it to CMYK or RGB, and then re-importing it into InDesign; or creating multiple hi-res PDFs of large books full of hi res images. I have several of these types of processes that run via a script or plugin, and having a faster CPU would speed up these tasks. I'd pay extra to speed those things up - but Apple's current products are not upgradeable. The old MacPro big aluminum tower was great - I could open the side, add RAM, hard drives, video cards - all within 5 minutes.

Apple needs to offer a machine that isn't meant to be used at a coffee shop. Those of us who need the power will pay the higher price.

I am a pro . I agree that the Mac Pro needs a POWER update ... I do however think that the cMP is great as is and I dont miss the old box with mechanical drives ... for that there are RAIDS but even Raids are getting more and more SSD and the Speed of SSD is the future .. mechanical will become as common as tape and vinyl in the end .. shore it will exist for years to come but SSD will win .. I mean what in two years we have 6GB/s SSD with maybe 10TB storage ...

I do believe that the cMP is Apples form factor for the next 10 Years but I was not expecting to have +1000 days delay between updates .. but lets look at it Apple have now introduced the USB-C Thunderbolt 3 into the lineup .. and I think that is the main 1 thing Apple have been holding on to release the an Mac Pro update and other Macs aswell .

a cMP Late 2016 with

Xeon CPU with up to 22 Cores
64GB RAM or more
3 GB/s SSD with 2 TB or more
10 Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Types ports
Dual GPU with up to 3 - 5 K Displays


and stuff like that will make many many PRO users happy ..

Also remember Thunderbolt 2 was introduced first on the 2011 (Feb) MacBook Pro and then later all the rest of the Mac Lineup followed ..

 

[AcesHigh87]

You are seeing these people working from old computers and laptops they never intend on replacing, while rapidly transitioning to doing more of their work from phones and tablets.

My company would absolutely love to replace our 2010 Mac Pro's with new ones. Problem is that no other hardware is compatible with them and we can keep upgrading our old towers with new tech whereas the Mac pros are running 3 years old for $3000.

Some people may be doing their work on tablets but the film industry still needs workstations and that won't be changing any time soon; no matter how much apple thinks people would want to use this stupid touch bar in Final Cut

 

[pendragon1984]

I think it would have been good if the new macbook pros could be expanded to 32GB of ram. I do see that resulting in many professionals currently with 16GB not bothering to update, since the ram isn't user replaceable.

However, Apple isn't entirely stupid. They have a pretty good idea of who buys these machines and what most want. The reality is that for most people their macbook pros from 2-3 years ago are still plenty fast for their needs. Apple isn't going to get people to upgrade by focusing on speed when this is the case. So, they focus on battery life and portability. Those are things that far more of their customers want than 32GB of ram.

For those who want 32GB of ram, it's going to happen eventually. Probably within a year.

Re ports, apple knows that most people hardly ever use the ports on their macbook pros. I have a 15" rMBP. I have used the hdmi port like 3-4 times in 3 years. I use the USB port when I have to print (once every few months). I have never used the thunderbolt ports. Could I get by with a dongle or two? Sure, no problem.

I suspect I'm a pretty normal customer for apple.

Re prices, they've gone up! Guess what, demand for PCs is falling, interest rates are near zero and negative in a lot of places, and these are entirely redesigned notebooks. Prices are going to go up! Did you think PC demand could fall, the FED print trillions and keep rates at less than 1% for years and years and prices never go up?

LOLOLOLOL!!!!

 

[maflynn]

"Thinner and lighter" is not the innovation people are looking for.

I can see why they made the MacBook thinner, but for something designed for power users (why did they trot out a Photoshop demo if this isn't for power users), it makes less and less sense. Yes at one point, it was advantageous to make a thinner laptop, but we're at a point now that there are too many corners being cut in the name of thinness

 

[apolloa]

The market for computers has been shrinking for years, and it's falling off a cliff now. The evidence backs my opinion up. I absolutely understand and appreciate why some people want to fight against this trend kicking and screaming. I grew up with computers too, and will miss them when they are gone.

Oh please do post links to your 'evidence' highlighting how the entire global business PC market is declining...

 

[FasterQuieter]

16GB of RAM ought to be enough for the vast majority of users, especially given the much faster SSD. The lack of port options will be a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world. The thing that is stopping me from buying one is the $1,799 price tag on the base 13" with touchbar. That price is crazy.

 

[WilliamG]

I'm not surprised. When I look at Apple prices in the U.K. and how even 2 year old tech gets a price hike, it is making Apple less attractive. I know that the pound has taken a hammering, but in my view that doesn't justify increasing the price of, say, the 2 year old Mac Mini by almost £100.

No. It really does justify it.

 

[ChrisMoBro]

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.

We really don't live in a post-PC era world though, at least not for professionals. Just look at the decline in sales of tablets, it's 3 times the decline of PC's and laptops. iPads etc are great but they are incredibly limited and more of a tool for consumption, not creating things.

Creative industries around the world are being completely ignored by Apple even though they have been a constant for the company. Apple are more interested in the consumer market now, hence why there's such a huge shift to Windows 10 in the creative industry. It blows my mind that Apple have the audacity to sell Mac Pros when they are so dated.

It's such a shame because they could be creating awesome products for both consumers and professionals and not just sticking 'pro' on the end of products when it's anything but pro.

 

[AfroAbel]

I think it would have been good if the new macbook pros could be expanded to 32GB of ram. I do see that resulting in many professionals currently with 16GB not bothering to update, since the ram isn't user replaceable.

However, Apple isn't entirely stupid. They have a pretty good idea of who buys these machines and what most want. The reality is that for most people their macbook pros from 2-3 years ago are still plenty fast for their needs. Apple isn't going to get people to upgrade by focusing on speed when this is the case. So, they focus on battery life and portability. Those are things that far more of their customers want than 32GB of ram.

For those who want 32GB of ram, it's going to happen eventually. Probably within a year.

Re ports, apple knows that most people hardly ever use the ports on their macbook pros. I have a 15" rMBP. I have used the hdmi port like 3-4 times in 3 years. I use the USB port when I have to print (once every few months). I have never used the thunderbolt ports. Could I get by with a dongle or two? Sure, no problem.

I suspect I'm a pretty normal customer for apple.

Re prices, they've gone up! Guess what, demand for PCs is falling, interest rates are near zero and negative in a lot of places, and these are entirely redesigned notebooks. Prices are going to go up! Did you think PC demand could fall, the FED print trillions and keep rates at less than 1% for years and years and prices never go up?

LOLOLOLOL!!!!

but they couldn't have put 32gb of ram in there...

"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."

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...d-thunderbolt-3-ram-issues-in-new-macbook-pro

 

[vladi]

Hahahahahaha!!!! Who in their right mind will buy this considering adapter is a requirement for a simple thumb drive. This is beyond idiotic.

Don't even want to comment on mDP or HDMI adapters that carry extra electronics inside the case to make it usable. Their lifespan is about a year of daily usage at best.

 

[dl73]

Apple doesn't give **** for the Mac anymore... All this all-in-one-system crap is getting me to switch to Windows. Really. Okay, I have a new account here (couldn't access the old one) but I'm using Mac computers a hell of a long time already... So me saying I want to switch is really not build on one-day-of-ice...

See, I like the OS. That is not the issue here... but the hardware?? They keep pushing "us" into situations we do not like! I do NOT like to use a dongle for even the basic stuff!

I do not care about the RAM and processor upgrades. Most of the time these things will not get upgraded over the lifespan of the product... So that's kinda ok... But...

1. Removing the SD-card reader? Forcing me to use again another dongle and not having the convenience to keep the SD card plugged into the laptop...
2. Having us pay HUGE amounts to even get a fraction of the space available at the time of the HD area!?
3. Considering removing the headphone jack!? (Good thing they did a poll for this so we > as in: you guys, because I'm not buying this time, are safe for now...)

Switching to USB-C is a good thing for all I care. I don't mind buying a dongle for a older HD for witch I still had to use a cable anyhow...

But Apple should NOT have removed the basic feature of having a SD card reader build into a +3000 Euro machine! Period.

I assume most people agree with me...

Apple, get your **** together and listen to your users. And not only your iPhone/iPad users that is!

Dim

 

[somethingelsefl]

And this is not new. Many early iterations or revisions of Apple products come with questionable decisions.
- First iPad: 256MB RAM, making it useless fairly quick
- First Macbook Air: thermal issues, only one USB port
- First iteration of the current Macbook Air: No backlight keyboard (it was added on next revision), only Core 2 Duo
- First iPod nano: scratches like nobody's business
- 3rd gen iPod shuffle: no buttons at all
- First iPod: An MP3 player that only works on OS X, ignoring all Windows users
- First iPhone: 2G only, cost $500 WITH a 2 year contract
Oh for all Steve Jobs fans, ALL of those are under Steve Jobs.

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.

 

[chrono1081]

As much as I like Apple this is important for them to see. Mac OS is unparalleled as far as productivity (IMO). So many small enhancements in the OS (Quicklook for example) making getting work done a breeze.

That being said many of us do a LOT of heavy processing on our Macs and require much beefier specs than what is offered.

I was really hoping Apple was going to invest heavily in that after their presentation with The Foundry and Pixar a few years back before the announcement of the new Mac Pros. It seems that's all been forgotten.

 

[I7guy]

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.

You think they are only doing one thing at a time, but with lead time in years for these projects, it's obvious they have their 60,000 employees in multiple teams working on multiple technologies and multiple projects. Like every other company their r and d is under the covers, they(Apple) just doesn't deliver to your schedule or specifications.

 

[maflynn]

Just a sidenote: PRO does not necessarily mean video editing / DTP. There are software developers, scientists / students, medical, VR

Agreed, I may not be a professional designer, but I use my computers for work, and I've chosen Apple because they offered the best solution.

 

[dumastudetto]

The problem is that the people complaining are Apple's customers, I also don't think they're living in the past. Its apple that is living in the past, hence the navel gazing at the media event. Apple's competitors are rolling out bold designs, and features at a competitive price. Apple is giving us thinner designs with less battery for a higher price. I'm not sure how that could be considered absolutely right for the company.

I understand the upset and outcry. Apple's most loyal base of customers are Mac users who have lived through the bad times when the company flirted with going out of business. And Apple hasn't suddenly transitioned towards making thinner computers with less battery. They were doing it when Steve was still with us. It's what they do. Unfortunately what they are less interested in doing is building the monster trucks that an ever shrinking number of people still want.

 

[MacKbek]

Maybe complainers are right: Apple is "over" them. Maybe it's the time for those people to go elsewhere. Don't mean to be blunt here. As company, Apple is evolving. Personally, I like what I see, but it's natural that some people may be left behind. Maybe it's just time for those people to accept the fact to live outside the Apple world to be happy. In the end, it's all what matter.

 

[AcesHigh87]

News flash: content creators are creating content on iPads and iPhones.

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.

 

[sarge]

The market for computers has been shrinking for years, and it's falling off a cliff now. The evidence backs my opinion up. I absolutely understand and appreciate why some people want to fight against this trend kicking and screaming. I grew up with computers too, and will miss them when they are gone.

You should start missing the humans because they'll be gone long before the computer is ( machines on the other hand won't miss a thing, including this nihilistic post).

 

[pika2000]

"Thinner and lighter" is not the innovation people are looking for.

I don't know about you, but that would be my first criteria for my next laptop purchase.

LG makes a 15" laptop that is lighter than the 13" Macbook Air. It's called the LG Gram. They made a detailed mockup using paper, and the mockup is heavier than the laptop itself.