Went to a local Apple store yesterday to decide on a "size" and purchase a new laptop. Presently I use a 15" MacBook Pro 11,3 mid 2014 that was configured to order and fully maxed out when purchased. I use the machine daily and have really grown to rely on it and like it. Everything I do for business happens in the Window world so my office desktop and previous carry-arounds were from the other camp. So I use both products day to day interchangeably. I choose to originate and maintain my mission critical personal work on the Mac. Anyway, one of my kids needs to replace his 7-8 year old MBP and I was going to give this one to him after buying an updated device and porting all the data over. I went to the store for a hands on look and feel.
My initial intent was to size down to 13" for easier carry and give up half the power. Maybe even buy a 12" Macbook and give up 3/4s of the power in my current machine but with a huge gain in portability for traveling where I do not take on heavy-lifting business tasks. Oh, I don't play any games on it typically.
The short and long of it is ..... what a disappointment. Aside from the eye-poping price increase (which seems like paying more for less) , I could hardly tolerate the feel and action of any of the new keyboards (compared to my 2014 machine). The older machines are still on sale for a couple dollars less and I gave that some thought but passed on that idea right now. The kid will have to wait. So, I came home empty handed and sat down to think about the comparison and test my current machine. It clocks much faster in almost every respect (Geekbench 4) than any of the new machines in the store I could actually touch although they did not have one with the CPU options maxed to try out. From the online literature and bench marks published to date my experience holds true. I am still using 10.11.6 because if it's not broke I don't fix it just to create a bunch of unexpected incompatibility issues. My current mid 2014 MBP with the earlier OS on it performs better in most respects so why suffer the learning curve or "liking curve" on the new keyboard and track pad. Incidentally, same goes for the "gigantic" touch pad. I had to think and work hard to do anything with it although I usually prefer using an apple mouse. The strip at the top was no big deal and is just something else to get use to but in the store while trying out the key board with different applications the "strip" seemed to be balky and lag well behind what I was typing. Added to the fact that that great magnetic charging connector is gone along with every other useful connection or adapter on the machine; I'm out of the que.......for a replacement. I'll wait a year or a couple if necessary and fall back to that old "buy a good refurbed familiar one on eBay" before I'll spend that much to trade down.
I'm probably in the tiny minority of one who feels this way. They call it progress; not me. Apple has nothing to worry about I'm sure but I won't be paying an Apple tax again for a while (at least for a laptop) until I tryout a new MB, MBP that makes a far better initial impression. I am a engineer by trade so a techy by nature. What's the matter Apple? What do any other's out there think?
My initial intent was to size down to 13" for easier carry and give up half the power. Maybe even buy a 12" Macbook and give up 3/4s of the power in my current machine but with a huge gain in portability for traveling where I do not take on heavy-lifting business tasks. Oh, I don't play any games on it typically.
The short and long of it is ..... what a disappointment. Aside from the eye-poping price increase (which seems like paying more for less) , I could hardly tolerate the feel and action of any of the new keyboards (compared to my 2014 machine). The older machines are still on sale for a couple dollars less and I gave that some thought but passed on that idea right now. The kid will have to wait. So, I came home empty handed and sat down to think about the comparison and test my current machine. It clocks much faster in almost every respect (Geekbench 4) than any of the new machines in the store I could actually touch although they did not have one with the CPU options maxed to try out. From the online literature and bench marks published to date my experience holds true. I am still using 10.11.6 because if it's not broke I don't fix it just to create a bunch of unexpected incompatibility issues. My current mid 2014 MBP with the earlier OS on it performs better in most respects so why suffer the learning curve or "liking curve" on the new keyboard and track pad. Incidentally, same goes for the "gigantic" touch pad. I had to think and work hard to do anything with it although I usually prefer using an apple mouse. The strip at the top was no big deal and is just something else to get use to but in the store while trying out the key board with different applications the "strip" seemed to be balky and lag well behind what I was typing. Added to the fact that that great magnetic charging connector is gone along with every other useful connection or adapter on the machine; I'm out of the que.......for a replacement. I'll wait a year or a couple if necessary and fall back to that old "buy a good refurbed familiar one on eBay" before I'll spend that much to trade down.
I'm probably in the tiny minority of one who feels this way. They call it progress; not me. Apple has nothing to worry about I'm sure but I won't be paying an Apple tax again for a while (at least for a laptop) until I tryout a new MB, MBP that makes a far better initial impression. I am a engineer by trade so a techy by nature. What's the matter Apple? What do any other's out there think?
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