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So many "2016 MBP problem with X" threads everywhere? I'm not buying.

R

RoskO

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
74
32
I've owned just about every macbook pro since around 2008, but the 2016 I'm not buying. Just curious if anyone else has noticed (I guess how could you not) the amount of threads related to problems with things that Apple doesn't traditionally have issues with? I'm also wondering why they didn't just name it the Macbook Hip or something...would make for cool coffee shop commercials with the touchbar ;).

I remember Apple having some ghosting issues with the first rMBP, but that seems minor in comparison to all of the issues I'm reading about in these forums and on other sites with the 2016, from nearly DOA systems (Gizmodo), trackpads not working reliably, dGPU issues, blurry dGPU rendering, battery life issues.....crazy.

I'm also curious why so many people won't call a duck a duck, and why so many people try to justify the lack of ports as "Apple is moving the industry forward". That's just BS, Windows systems have been using USB C/Thunderbolt before the release of the 2016, Apple didn't "innovate" by using the port. Maybe if they had made the iphone 7 plug in with usbc that would have been something....but oh no....that would have made too much sense.

Hopefully the insanity will stop, or they won't sell as many as they hoped. The only way it will change is if people vote more with their wallets....like always.

I'm probably still just bitter that they took my favorite 17" laptop away a long time ago....but oh well, I need to just move on.
 
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RoskO said:
I'm also curious why so many people won't call a duck a duck, and why so many people try to justify the lack of ports as "Apple is moving the industry forward". That's just BS, Windows systems have been using USB C/Thunderbolt before the release of the 2016, Apple didn't "innovate" by using the port.
Click to expand...

Apple wasn't the first to use USB-A, but they were the first to drop everything else.

I see the same type of threads with every new Apple product. Don't buy it if you don't like it, you don't need to make excuses.
 
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It's simple. There are people who don't mind some changes. It's like losing 3.5mm on iPhone, and same goes for SD card, USB, display port and so on on Mac. If those are vital to you, having a SD card reader for example, then you should simply not buy it. It doesn't work for you. For those who can, along with those who want to give it a shot, they will buy the new Macs, simple as that.

Heck, when they dropped express card on MacBook Pro lines, I was seriously annoyed by it. But now if I say that as if it matters, everyone would look at me like I'm crazy or something.
 
I don't mind change, I love the change to USB-C and everything that goes with it. I embrace change quickly. However, I am one who has had quite a few issues. I've had many Macs over the years and never once changed my mind about a purchase until this one. Ever. All they way back to my original Apple IIe and then when I came back to Macs with the G5 iMac through today. I'm willing to give it another shot as always, but I'll be returning my 13" NT MBP.
 
You haven't been around the forums much, have you? This happens every time a mac is redesigned. Now, even more so, as the user counts are all times high.
 
We should also remember that most people who come onto forums are here for help with their MacBooks, iPads, iPhones, iMacs, mac pros, etc. By nature a forum usually contains more negative threads than positive.

i do acknowledge the fact that many people are having problems with the new MBPs, but its hard to tell if its the majority of people or just a vocal minority of the whole customer base.

Either way, only you can decide whats best for you.

P.S. My vote: id rather have one universal port and cord that i can use for anything, data, audio, video etc. The USB-C cable that comes with the MBP could one day be used to hook up your camera, and then when you're done you can use this same cord to connect your 4k Display. Instead of having to carry a cord for each device we can just carry one. It will take time for companies to catch on, this happens all the time when new port standards are adopted, part of the growing pains.
 
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I've been tempted to cancel my order because of a few threads. However, most are one software glitches and will be fixed with better drivers and updated software. This doesn't matter to me, the only thing that matters is having working hardware that will not transform into dGPU gate as with my early 2011's AMD 6750M. Such a nightmare, which got eventually (kind of) fixed...
 
RoskO said:
I've owned just about every macbook pro since around 2008, but the 2016 I'm not buying. Just curious if anyone else has noticed (I guess how could you not) the amount of threads related to problems with things that Apple doesn't traditionally have issues with? I'm also wondering why they didn't just name it the Macbook Hip or something...would make for cool coffee shop commercials with the touchbar ;).

I remember Apple having some ghosting issues with the first rMBP, but that seems minor in comparison to all of the issues I'm reading about in these forums and on other sites with the 2016, from nearly DOA systems (Gizmodo), trackpads not working reliably, dGPU issues, blurry dGPU rendering, battery life issues.....crazy.

I'm also curious why so many people won't call a duck a duck, and why so many people try to justify the lack of ports as "Apple is moving the industry forward". That's just BS, Windows systems have been using USB C/Thunderbolt before the release of the 2016, Apple didn't "innovate" by using the port. Maybe if they had made the iphone 7 plug in with usbc that would have been something....but oh no....that would have made too much sense.

Hopefully the insanity will stop, or they won't sell as many as they hoped. The only way it will change is if people vote more with their wallets....like always.

I'm probably still just bitter that they took my favorite 17" laptop away a long time ago....but oh well, I need to just move on.
Click to expand...

This cycle Apple has brought more to the table with the 2016 MBP, equally for some not enough, for others too much sacrificed for the aesthetic. Personally I have already replaced my 13" rMBP with a Surface Book, 15" MBP I will defer until 2017/2018. That said I will be keenly following the release of Surface Book 2 with Performance Base; I expected my i7 Surface Book to have a slight advantage computationally, however it has just crushed my 2.8GHz 13" rMBP in a comparison with Handbrake (1 hour, 40 minutes faster), as ever synthetic benchmarks are little more than a guide...

Q-6
 
leman said:
You haven't been around the forums much, have you? This happens every time a mac is redesigned. Now, even more so, as the user counts are all times high.
Click to expand...

I've been here since 2006-2007 and have to agree with leman, we see this nearly every product launch and it's down to the increase in users.

Also, the expectations of people have changed, the consumer in general expects more and higher standards than ever, that plus people now almost make it their goal to find possible problems, these combined mean we are going to see more complaints.
 
OP, you must be a rookie. In the forums, it always appears that there are serious problems when in fact the vast majority of units are just fine. Also, if you try to decide whether or not you'll like the product based solely off the opinions expressed in this forum, you'll go bat crazy. If the timing is right for you to purchase one, there's a high degree of probability that you'll really like it.
 
RoskO said:
I've owned just about every macbook pro since around 2008, but the 2016 I'm not buying. Just curious if anyone else has noticed (I guess how could you not) the amount of threads related to problems with things that Apple doesn't traditionally have issues with? I'm also wondering why they didn't just name it the Macbook Hip or something...would make for cool coffee shop commercials with the touchbar ;).
Click to expand...

OP, I don't know why you created a thread. And yes, first time visiting forums? Welcome :)
 
Nothing new here. Go back and look at the archives after any Apple release, ever. The same exact kind of comments.

What happens when those PC's include a single usb-c or Thunderbolt port alongside all the old ports is that no more than a tiny minority of users ever actually bothers to take advantage of that port, which means that adoption is glacial, if it ever happens at all. Apple rightly believes that usb-c is the future of connectivity, just like they were with usb-a on the original iMac. Giving their user base no option but to use the new port creates a large enough user base that there is now sufficient demand to drive the production of a wide array of products. This happened to some extent from the release of the rMB alone - which is a niche machine. Now that the entire Mac laptop lineup has standardized on that same point, a year from now the market will be flooded with all sorts of products using usb-c and TB3. If Apple had added just one of these ports and kept all the old ones, the market a year from now would be very similar to where it is today. No market force to advance.
 
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in all honesty, a lot of people think the new MBP suck especially when you consider the price, whats available in the market, and options like non-upgradable SSD and lack of ports.

but I still didn't hear a complaint that its not working or malfunctioning as advertised.
 
RoskO said:
I've owned just about every macbook pro since around 2008, but the 2016 I'm not buying. Just curious if anyone else has noticed (I guess how could you not) the amount of threads related to problems with things that Apple doesn't traditionally have issues with? I'm also wondering why they didn't just name it the Macbook Hip or something...would make for cool coffee shop commercials with the touchbar ;).

I remember Apple having some ghosting issues with the first rMBP, but that seems minor in comparison to all of the issues I'm reading about in these forums and on other sites with the 2016, from nearly DOA systems (Gizmodo), trackpads not working reliably, dGPU issues, blurry dGPU rendering, battery life issues.....crazy.

I'm also curious why so many people won't call a duck a duck, and why so many people try to justify the lack of ports as "Apple is moving the industry forward". That's just BS, Windows systems have been using USB C/Thunderbolt before the release of the 2016, Apple didn't "innovate" by using the port. Maybe if they had made the iphone 7 plug in with usbc that would have been something....but oh no....that would have made too much sense.

Hopefully the insanity will stop, or they won't sell as many as they hoped. The only way it will change is if people vote more with their wallets....like always.

I'm probably still just bitter that they took my favorite 17" laptop away a long time ago....but oh well, I need to just move on.
Click to expand...


There are valid concerns whether the hardware of the 2016 MBPs will prove problematic; it will take some time to fully sort this out. But even if perfect in this respect, the 2016 MBP represents a sea change for Apple and all Macintosh loyalists.

The 2016 MBP is more the heir and replacement of an Apple Air, despite various limitations such as excised ports. From this standpoint it might be seen in some respects as an improvement and one which perhaps even a majority of current Air and MBP owners might welcome overall and more or less live with and adapt to. But they may be in for a rude surprise, as Apple is surely not yet done with them.

What cannot be dismissed is that Thursday, October 27, 2016 marks the day that Apple abandoned the MacBook Pro and its many devoted customers, whatever the nomenclature it may still wish to apply to it. That is disingenuous; indeed the term used that seems most suitable is "personal betrayal." If in some respects the 2016 MBP is more capable than its predecessors, in whole it is not, and certainly not by the standards of what it might and should have been to meet professional needs going forward. Some professionals using a laptop will fall within its prevue and be able to adapt to it, some happily so—but those with more demanding needs are simply left out in the cold.

This goes doubly for those who would need to look to a desktop; Apple's omission in saying anything about the greater Macintosh line says it all. Loyal professionals who have remained with a once flagship in the Mac Pro now three years old—and which by all rights should have seen regular serious upgrades they could depend upon—have had insult added to injury in now rightly wondering if Apple will simply discontinue their desktop line with no more remorse or notice then they did their monitors. With in question as well the iMac—as is no serious substitute for a Mac Pro—and if it too may survive or if so as whittled down as the 2016 MBP.

Thus this runs beyond Apple's present notion of laptops to its future vision of all Macintosh. There is speculation that Apple will rightly focus on where most of the money is in mobile and all iOS; that the Macintosh is a dying business best addressed by milking its customers as long as possible before terminating the brand.

So not only professionals now abandoned, but all others presently thinking the 2016 MBP is swell, need ask themselves just how happy they'll be when it is not just high-end desktops but all laptops, all Macintosh jettisoned? For good. Will the iPad prove a suitable replacement?

There is reason to believe Tim Cook and his version of Apple think so. And why so many are upset, as of late reading the tea leaves.

For many have long valued Apple most for what it could allow them to do in free expression, and now feel constrained. Beyond this hoping that at least in future Apple will find a way to best suit they desires and needs again, if fearing this may never again be so.

The question if Apple can dismiss what by some lights is its soul and yet prosper, let alone in the end survive.
 
Last edited:
idunn said:
There are valid concerns whether the hardware of the 2016 MBPs will prove problematic; it will take some time to fully sort this out. But even if perfect in this respect, the 2016 MBP represents a sea change for Apple and all Macintosh loyalists.

The 2016 MBP is more the heir and replacement of an Apple Air, despite various limitations such as excised ports. From this standpoint it might be seen in some respects as an improvement and one which perhaps even a majority of current Air and MBP owners might welcome overall and more or less live with and adapt to. But they may be in for a rude surprise, as Apple is surely not yet done with them.

What cannot be dismissed is that Thursday, October 27, 2016 marks the day that Apple abandoned the MacBook Pro and its many devoted customers, whatever the nomenclature it may still wish to apply to it. That is disingenuous; indeed the term used that seems most suitable is "personal betrayal." If in some respects the 2016 MBP is more capable than its predecessors, in whole it is not, and certainly not by the standards of what it might and should have been to meet professional needs going forward. Some professionals using a laptop will fall within its prevue and be able to adapt to it, some happily so—but those with more demanding needs are simply left out in the cold.

This goes doubly for those who would need to look to a desktop; Apple's omission in saying anything about the greater Macintosh line says it all. Loyal professionals who have remained with a once flagship in the Mac Pro now three years old—and which by all rights should have seen regular serious upgrades they could depend upon—have had insult added to injury in now rightly wondering if Apple will simply discontinue their desktop line with no more remorse or notice then they did their monitors. With in question as well the iMac—as is no serious substitute for a Mac Pro—and if it too may survive or if so as whittled down as the 2016 MBP.

Thus this runs beyond Apple's present notion of laptops to its future vision of all Macintosh. There is speculation that Apple will rightly focus on where most of the money is in mobile and all iOS; that the Macintosh is a dying business best addressed by milking its customers as long as possible before terminating the brand.

So not only professionals now abandoned, but all others presently thinking the 2016 MBP is swell, need ask themselves just how happy they'll be when it is not just high-end desktops but all laptops, all Macintosh jettisoned? For good. Will the iPad prove a suitable replacement?

There is reason to believe Tim Cook and his version of Apple thinks so. And why so many are upset, as of late reading the tea leaves.

For many have long valued Apple most for what it could allow them to do in free expression, and now feel constrained. Beyond this hoping that at least in future Apple will find a way to best suit they desires and needs again, if fearing this may never again be so.

The question if Apple can dismiss what by some lights is its soul and yet prosper, let alone in the end survive.
Click to expand...

This is ridiculous. The 2016 MBP's are demonstrably closer in power to a desktop than they have ever been in the past. They are closer in CPU performance, closer in SSD performance (faster than the vast majority of desktops), as close as ever in GPU performance, and have exceeded the vast majority of desktops in total connective bandwidth and their ability to drive a huge number of monitors or a couple of 5k monitors. All while also getting thinner and lighter. What more do you want as a 'Pro?'
 
It's because Apple gives what people don't want while taking away what people do want

Give:
Touch Bar
Higher price

Take away:
Ports
Comfortable Keyboard (the one on the 2016 model is atrocious)
Better battery life (2016 has smaller batteries)
 
Ignore the forums, they are flooded by people with issues after every new phone, iPad watch, Mac release.
 
I've seen a bunch of complaint threads before, but this is a lot more than I remember.

I actually got a 2016, and ended up deciding to return it because it's too many compromises for me to put up with. If they'd sell me a MacOS license for other hardware, I'd buy it, even if it were $1,500. But they won't, so... I'm gonna have to start moving away from MacOS for my laptops, because I just can't accept having a $3,500 machine that's arguably worse than a $1,700 machine, and definitely quite a bit worse than a $2k or so machine.

And of course, the macrumors forums are full of people who will still make excuses for it, but... I've been on Macs since the Mac SE, I've been using MacOS X since it was called NeXTStep 0.8, in late 1988, I've been super happy with MacOS X for years, I've evangelized for it, and... no, I just can't remotely justify this.

So now I've got a Dell, and I'm not super happy about Dell, but... Faster CPU, more memory, upgradeable to ludicrous memory (I have no expectation of ever actually using 64GB, but nice to have the option I guess?), PCIe and 2.5" drive bays, lots of ports. Heck, it even has a Thunderbolt3 port, which works with the Dell Thunderbolt 3 dock, if I don't want to use one of their more conventional docks. Nicer keyboard. Nicer (for me, anyway) display. SD slot. And $2,200. I can add a 1TB drive, giving me 1.5TB spread across two drives, and still be $1k cheaper than the Mac.

It really sucks. It's a fair bit like having to move out of a house you thought you'd be staying in. But Apple is just plain not interested in people who actually want that kind of hardware.

... and yes, the laptop is heavier. It's fine for me, though.
 
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"It has never been like this and now it is exactly the same again."

You chaps need to grow thicker skin. There are always lots of threads with complaints on issues when a new product is released. As far as I can tell judging by the amount of threads, the 2016 is virtually problem-free compared to the first Retina MBPs.
 
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iKrivetko said:
You chaps need to grow thicker skin. There are always lots of threads with complaints on issues when a new product is released. As far as I can tell judging by the amount of threads, the 2016 is virtually problem-free compared to the first Retina MBPs.
Click to expand...

Obviously I disagree, maybe I'm forgetting the transition but I don't recall so many issues with the first retina, the only one I recall was the ghosting in the screen.

So far there have been what seems to be widespread battery/speaker/trackpad/screen or GPU issues with the 2016. Who knows, maybe those all occur every time there's a flood of new sales, but I have my doubts.

I guess we'll see how it plays out over the next year or so, I'm sure the next refresh of the 2016 design will be solid.
 
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