The Verge: The MacBook Pro is a lie

[tubeexperience]

The MacBook Pro is a lie? Explain the Surface "Pro" 4 and its 15w Intel CPU. The device is surely not worthy of the "Pro" moniker, and its raw performance (or lack thereof) certainly is not sufficient for "intensive professional needs".

Well, I don't think many pros would have the Surface Pro as their primary computer.

Rather, it's a portable digital sketchpad / drafting pad that can be used as a computer if needed.

If they want to do heavy duty tasks, they have to bring their laptops.

I doubt that there are many pros buying Surface Pro with the intent of make the next Batman movie using Premiere Pro.

 

[dallas112678]

Yep. Because professionals hate machines that are light. They much prefer to carry around 7.5lb desktop replacements.

Personally, I think 15 mm thick *closed* with 4 TB3 ports, a high DPI screen and 10 hrs of battery life is pretty damn good for any professional machine. Professional meaning something that a business person, attorney, physician, professor, IT professional, architect or artist would want to use. I think it covers most of that.

I carry my machine often and heavy machines are aweful. Don't care how powerful. I'd happily give up a pound of weight for a 2 ounce dongle that I might not always need with me.

Why do you think everything is binary? Just because a machine doesn't have to be made as thin as possible, doesn't mean that it has to be a 8 lb desktop replacement.

Did you know the Razer one is even lighter than the previous MBP yet it still packs a GPU that is 2.5x more powerful than the 2016 MBP? Now you are probably thinking "but but the battery life isn't as good with a 1060." Here's the thing, Apple could have decided to keep the same enclosure and weight of the previous MBP with the opportunity to put in a bigger battery than the lighter Razer to help offset the power difference. Instead, they chose the to make the machine imperceptibly smaller and lighter at the expense of significant performance gain.

So again, Apple didn't have to turn the new MBP into a brick to give it significantly better performance. All they had to do was keep it about the same as the previous enclosure which was already very thin and light.

 

[MH01]

People need to stop defining what a Pro system is. According to people here, these have never been Pro machines. A Pro machine to people here are ones that either a) play the most recent games at max settings and have only 40 minutes of battery life like windows gaming laptops or b) have quadro graphics cards. Neither of these have ever been what the MacBook Pro has ever done.

Well is apple not 3/4 of the problem here, as "pro" has turned into a markerting term. No other manufacturers bother to stick Pro at the end, for me it's a laptop .

Heck, iPad Pro ??? It's just an updated iPad.

 

[Ethosik]

Well is apple not 3/4 of the problem here, as "pro" has turned into a markerting term. No other manufacturers bother to stick Pro at the end, for me it's a laptop .

Heck, iPad Pro ??? It's just an updated iPad.

Surface Pro? Can you run dozens of VMs and get 32GB or 64GB of RAM on a Surface Pro? Can you edit a MASSIVE 4K video on a Surface Pro?

Can you DRAW on both a Surface Pro and an iPad Pro? YES? Then they are pro devices for people who draw.

 

[MH01]

Surface Pro? Can you run dozens of VMs and get 32GB or 64GB of RAM on a Surface Pro? Can you edit a MASSIVE 4K video on a Surface Pro?

Can you DRAW on both a Surface Pro and an iPad Pro? YES? Then they are pro devices for people who draw.

Yet again markerting....

 

[apolloa]

Yet again markerting....

Well no actually it's not marketing, because Apple went to EXTREME LENGTHS to promote the 'professional' usage of the new laptops during its launch even. They stated he word 'professionals' several times during the keynote, so if it's merely a marketing term then they have used it exstensivley, at is target market.

And that makes it even funnier and worst because they have DIRECTLY AND DELIBERATELY targeted the professional market as the MAIN market for its laptop, and the new machine, reading comments on this site, fails what they want and need miserably.

 

[Exile714]

Apple could have decided to keep the same enclosure and weight of the previous MBP with the opportunity to put in a bigger battery than the lighter Razer to help offset the power difference.

The 15'' has a 76WH battery. Maximum allowed by the FAA is 100WH. I doubt the 33% increase in capacity would help as drastically as you imply.

 

[NT1440]

Why do you think everything is binary? Just because a machine doesn't have to be made as thin as possible, doesn't mean that it has to be a 8 lb desktop replacement.

Did you know the Razer one is even lighter than the previous MBP yet it still packs a GPU that is 2.5x more powerful than the 2016 MBP? Now you are probably thinking "but but the battery life isn't as good with a 1060." Here's the thing, Apple could have decided to keep the same enclosure and weight of the previous MBP with the opportunity to put in a bigger battery than the lighter Razer to help offset the power difference. Instead, they chose the to make the machine imperceptibly smaller and lighter at the expense of significant performance gain.

So again, Apple didn't have to turn the new MBP into a brick to give it significantly better performance. All they had to do was keep it about the same as the previous enclosure which was already very thin and light.

If you can't tell the difference in size (footprint) and it's "imperceptibly smaller" I strongly suggest you visit an eye doctor.

Also, that 2.5X more powerful GPU, what kind of cooling does that rig use to prevent it from throttling? Honest question, I'd imagine in something as thin as that it's either water cooled or it can only operate at peak performance for short spurts of time.

 

[jjjoseph]

If you can't tell the difference in size (footprint) and it's "imperceptibly smaller" I strongly suggest you visit an eye doctor.

Also, that 2.5X more powerful GPU, what kind of cooling does that rig use to prevent it from throttling? Honest question, I'd imagine in something as thin as that it's either water cooled or it can only operate at peak performance for short spurts of time.

Wound't the extreme thinness of the new MacBook Pro throttle the 460? I guess we'll wait and see, I imagine Apple would have to underclock it to keep it cool.

 

[NT1440]

Wound't the extreme thinness of the new MacBook Pro throttle the 460? I guess we'll wait and see, I imagine Apple would have to underclock it to keep it cool.

I think they went with the 460 precisely because it hit the sweet spot in power and thermal limits so they can run it for longer without throttling.

That said, it all comes down to what it's being used for.

 

[myscrnnm]

The major criticism this article places upon the 2016 MacBook Pro is that they are not machines designed for "professionals," calling them a lie simply on the basis that the author believes "Pro" means it's intended for a "professional." So why is he/she not ragging on Microsoft for its use of the word "Pro" in the latest Surface Pro 4? That computer is less suited for professional work in almost every way compared to the 2016 MBPs.

It's only available with 15W CPUs, even on the maxed out i7 configuration. Not to mention the are Skylake, which is apparently every detractor's complaint about the 2016 MBPs. There is no option for a dedicated GPU, which is standard on all 15" models this year. Don't get me wrong, I love the direction Microsoft is going with its hardware, but the SP4 is even less of a professional device than the 2016 MBPs, and I don't see them coming under any scrutiny.

 

[jjjoseph]

The major criticism this article places upon the 2016 MacBook Pro is that they are not machines designed for "professionals," calling them a lie simply on the basis that the author believes "Pro" means it's intended for a "professional." So why is he/she not ragging on Microsoft for its use of the word "Pro" in the latest Surface Pro 4? That computer is less suited for professional work in almost every way compared to the 2016 MBPs.

It's only available with 15W CPUs, even on the maxed out i7 configuration. Not to mention the are Skylake, which is apparently every detractor's complaint about the 2016 MBPs. There is no option for a dedicated GPU, which is standard on all 15" models this year. Don't get me wrong, I love the direction Microsoft is going with its hardware, but the SP4 is even less of a professional device than the 2016 MBPs, and I don't see them coming under any scrutiny.

Because the Surface is a new product line, the MacBook Pro already had an established professional user base, for much longer, and more intensely than Microsoft, and that user base feels abused and abandoned.

 

[Exile714]

Because the Surface is a new product line, the MacBook Pro already had an established professional user base, for much longer, and more intensely than Microsoft, and that user base feels abused and abandoned.

Surface Pro is 4 years old now... just half a year younger than the retina MBP design.

 

[jjjoseph]

Surface Pro is 4 years old now... just half a year younger than the retina MBP design.

Yeah, the user base Im talking about where the adapters of the first gen MacBookPro line..

 

[MH01]

Well no actually it's not marketing, because Apple went to EXTREME LENGTHS to promote the 'professional' usage of the new laptops during its launch even. They stated he word 'professionals' several times during the keynote, so if it's merely a marketing term then they have used it exstensivley, at is target market.

And that makes it even funnier and worst because they have DIRECTLY AND DELIBERATELY targeted the professional market as the MAIN market for its laptop, and the new machine, reading comments on this site, fails what they want and need miserably.

I must admit , I only saw the end of the keynote.....actually I tuned out....I think I started watching it when they showed the laptops... yeah I was bored, did not listen to the BS and just hit the preorder so I can judged for myself.

 

[aoaaron]

lol well balanced review comes to conclusion apple has made a few mistakes

cue apple fanboys do go into manic.

funniest response is "they haven't even reviewed the touchbar MBP".. lmao.

 

[dallas112678]

The 15'' has a 76WH battery. Maximum allowed by the FAA is 100WH. I doubt the 33% increase in capacity would help as drastically as you imply.

Well, seeing as there are actual reviews of the Razer Blade why don't we look at it?

http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10704-razer-blade-14-2016-review/

Lets look at the battery life, it gets 6 hours watching Youtube at 1440p. It also uses a 70WH battery.

If Apple, kept the 99.5WH battery from last year, we'd be looking at 8.5 Hours of 1440p youtube viewing.

As for heat, the only time it really starts to heat up is when it's gaming and under full load, but being realistic, you're not going to be gaming on your lap. You are also assuming that Apple can't do better as far as cooling compared to Razer. Oh, and do you really think the Radeon 460 won't heat up quite a bit while under full load? That's funny.

As far as throttling, the Razer was throttled slightly after a while of gaming, however they said the throttling had a very small impact on performance. With that being said, that slightly throttled 1060 will still blow the Radeon 460 out of the water performance wise. For all we know, apple might also throttle the 460 under extreme load.

At the end of the day, from actual reviews of the Razer, and then keeping in mind that it has a much smaller battery compared to the previous MBP, it is not nearly as impossible as some of you like to think it is to stick it in the previous MBP enclosure and get still great battery life while significantly upgrading the performance.

I guess that shaving that tenth of an inch off was worth giving up that performance in Apple's eyes.

 

[thedeske]

So, when these finally get into hands and into use, all current opinions will still be the same?

Gotta admit, I always thought the top end iMac should have been a few notches up from where it is. If it's so close to a pro machine, why not make it one. Sound familiar?