Very frustrated with my MBP

[Nbd1790]

I don't know what forums or places you visited but most of the top Window machines don't have anywhere near the issues that the current Macs have. There are people on these very forums that are using Think pads, Surfaces, Dells, and HP's that are very happy. I think you are trying to hard to try and make Apple look better by implying others are the same... They are not.

From what I can tell, people who use Windows laptops have a MUCH better experience when they're extremely tech savvy. The only reason I say this is because I worked in a repair shop and ALL I saw were Windows users with software problems such as viruses and deleted OS files, bogus programs embedded into their boot up somehow (not necessarily Windows fault, but things THEY did to the computer and messed it up). Windows is more of an open system than Mac OS (which most people can agree on). The only time I saw people bring Apple products in was for failing pieces of hardware.

Considering myself as a tech junkie and knowing how to fix all of these issues, I still avoid Windows products to avoid the possibility of these headaches. If you don't have a bit of knowledge with computers and their OS's, Windows can be a real pain (and tech support / hardware repair can add up quickly if you can't do it yourself). I haven't used their newer products within the past few years so this may have changed.

 

[seeforyourself]

Hi all,

I've long been frustrated with my MBP and wanted to see if the community had any advice, as I am coming to consider a change in platform which would come at a terrible cost (i.e. loss of money reselling my mac).

I bought my first MBP about 12 years ago, at a time where they represented supreme build quality, and have found OSX (now MacOS) vastly superior for getting work done quickly. That first MBP was replaced in 2012 by the first-gen rMBP which I had until 2017, it was an excellent machine and kept me recommending Macbooks to family and friends.

I then made the mistake (in hindsight) of purchasing the 2017 15" MBP, here's what have been my main sources of frustration:

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).
Unfortunately the monitor connection isn't perfect even on the right hand side ports as sometimes a small desk movement will cause it to go into a disconnect/reconnect loop.
I have mainly used USB-C cables when at my desk, but at times had to use adapters in order to plug in HDMI cables (e.g. meeting rooms). I've now got to a point where I can barely connect to any monitor, even though the charger works on all ports.

2) The battery on this particular laptop lasts far less time than the 2012 15" rMBP it replaced, is this normal? I could do nearly a full day's work on battery power with the old one and am now running out by lunch time in similar situations. Again I don't use battery power too often, but it does let me down when I need it.

3) I swear that the keyboard often misses some letters, is this normal? Fortunately I use an external keyboard most of the time, but this always surprises me when I have to type at meetings. Also the keyboard is quite loud!

4) I have tried explaining to Apple tech staff that the laptop feels much more unresponsive than my old one, e.g. waking from sleep, restarting, connecting devices, unlocking, but their position has been that there is nothing wrong with the laptop. I can only assume they think it is normal?

To me it feels that what used to be *the* premium choice for laptops, i.e. high quality build and reliability, has been lost somewhat. Maybe I've got a bad egg?

My options as I see them:

a) Lose 1k selling the laptop and risk getting another MBP. My confidence in Apple has been dented somewhat, and colleagues are also unhappy with the newer (2016>) Macbooks. These issues can come back.

b) Lose 1k selling the laptop and move away from Apple. Would be a huge hassle, and I may end up with something less than perfect, but as a consumer I don't like feeling trapped into a brand.

I reckon this being an Apple community you may not recommend option b) but I'd be interested to know what you advise.

Many thanks for reading!

I’ve had the same issue with loose ports and keyboard issues with my 2017 15” as well.


I had 4 total repairs and the next one they will replace my MacBook Pro, or refund my original purchase. My laptop’s keyboard had issues again, but I’m waiting for the 19’s to come out to “try again”.

So basically my U is hit or miss (stops working sometimes), though Id rather deal with it until they make the keyboard more reliable.


How many repairs total did you have?

 

[shaunp]

Hi all,

I've long been frustrated with my MBP and wanted to see if the community had any advice, as I am coming to consider a change in platform which would come at a terrible cost (i.e. loss of money reselling my mac).

I bought my first MBP about 12 years ago, at a time where they represented supreme build quality, and have found OSX (now MacOS) vastly superior for getting work done quickly. That first MBP was replaced in 2012 by the first-gen rMBP which I had until 2017, it was an excellent machine and kept me recommending Macbooks to family and friends.

I then made the mistake (in hindsight) of purchasing the 2017 15" MBP, here's what have been my main sources of frustration:

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).
Unfortunately the monitor connection isn't perfect even on the right hand side ports as sometimes a small desk movement will cause it to go into a disconnect/reconnect loop.
I have mainly used USB-C cables when at my desk, but at times had to use adapters in order to plug in HDMI cables (e.g. meeting rooms). I've now got to a point where I can barely connect to any monitor, even though the charger works on all ports.

2) The battery on this particular laptop lasts far less time than the 2012 15" rMBP it replaced, is this normal? I could do nearly a full day's work on battery power with the old one and am now running out by lunch time in similar situations. Again I don't use battery power too often, but it does let me down when I need it.

3) I swear that the keyboard often misses some letters, is this normal? Fortunately I use an external keyboard most of the time, but this always surprises me when I have to type at meetings. Also the keyboard is quite loud!

4) I have tried explaining to Apple tech staff that the laptop feels much more unresponsive than my old one, e.g. waking from sleep, restarting, connecting devices, unlocking, but their position has been that there is nothing wrong with the laptop. I can only assume they think it is normal?

To me it feels that what used to be *the* premium choice for laptops, i.e. high quality build and reliability, has been lost somewhat. Maybe I've got a bad egg?

My options as I see them:

a) Lose 1k selling the laptop and risk getting another MBP. My confidence in Apple has been dented somewhat, and colleagues are also unhappy with the newer (2016>) Macbooks. These issues can come back.

b) Lose 1k selling the laptop and move away from Apple. Would be a huge hassle, and I may end up with something less than perfect, but as a consumer I don't like feeling trapped into a brand.

I reckon this being an Apple community you may not recommend option b) but I'd be interested to know what you advise.

Many thanks for reading!

After having two MBP's fail with similar GPU related issues (2011 MBP and 2012 rMBP) and the attitude of Apple that it must be my fault I bought a second-hand Thinkpad for around £200 while I considered my options. It was good enough as a machine for email, web, word, etc. I was hoping the 2016 MBP would have a better design and at least 32GB RAM, but it shipped with a maximum of 16GB, a terrible keyboard and even less ports than the last one.

Looking at the number of issues people were having and the lack of RAM I opted to get a bigger ThinkPad as the temporary one had been great. I got a P51 as I needed RAM for VMs and a decent screen for photo work. It's a bit on the heavy side and given the same situation today I'd get an X1 extreme, but overall I'm still very happy with it - loads of ports, 4K matte screen (with a colour calibrator built in) 64GB RAM (I run lots of VMs), space for 3 SSDs and a really nice keyboard. Other than the weight I cannot fault the machine. VMware Workstation runs fine, as do all the Adobe apps I use too. The only issue I had with it was it shipped with the wrong battery. A quick email to Lenovo and they refunded me the price of a new larger capacity battery so I could just go buy another one - no questions asked, they just did it. I now have two batteries, something you can't do with a MacBook Pro.

Moving to Windows isn't the pain that it used to be unless of course you rely on apps that are only available on the Mac. Adobe products work the same on both platforms and migrating from one to the other is easy.

All manufacturers produce the odd duff product, none are perfect, but there are plenty of excellent PC laptops around these days and Apple are definitely playing second fiddle to them not the other way around. I will eventually replace the P51 with something lighter now that lighter machines can have the same amount of RAM as my P51 and I'm fairly sure I'd get another ThinkPad.

 

[pshufd]

After having two MBP's fail with similar GPU related issues (2011 MBP and 2012 rMBP) and the attitude of Apple that it must be my fault I bought a second-hand Thinkpad for around £200 while I considered my options. It was good enough as a machine for email, web, word, etc. I was hoping the 2016 MBP would have a better design and at least 32GB RAM, but it shipped with a maximum of 16GB, a terrible keyboard and even less ports than the last one.

Looking at the number of issues people were having and the lack of RAM I opted to get a bigger ThinkPad as the temporary one had been great. I got a P51 as I needed RAM for VMs and a decent screen for photo work. It's a bit on the heavy side and given the same situation today I'd get an X1 extreme, but overall I'm still very happy with it - loads of ports, 4K matte screen (with a colour calibrator built in) 64GB RAM (I run lots of VMs), space for 3 SSDs and a really nice keyboard. Other than the weight I cannot fault the machine. VMware Workstation runs fine, as do all the Adobe apps I use too. The only issue I had with it was it shipped with the wrong battery. A quick email to Lenovo and they refunded me the price of a new larger capacity battery so I could just go buy another one - no questions asked, they just did it. I now have two batteries, something you can't do with a MacBook Pro.

Moving to Windows isn't the pain that it used to be unless of course you rely on apps that are only available on the Mac. Adobe products work the same on both platforms and migrating from one to the other is easy.

All manufacturers produce the odd duff product, none are perfect, but there are plenty of excellent PC laptops around these days and Apple are definitely playing second fiddle to them not the other way around. I will eventually replace the P51 with something lighter now that lighter machines can have the same amount of RAM as my P51 and I'm fairly sure I'd get another ThinkPad.

I used Windows for a few days and Windows Update does seem to take far less time than it used to. I can't really live without a bunch of iCloud stuff though. But it does mean that a Windows laptop + MacBook Pro (2014 or 2015) would work. Right now I'm using a 2014+2015 and it works really well. I would have liked 32 GB of RAM but I've made some modifications to Firefox settings and it's using far less RAM than before and I don't really notice a drop in performance.

At the moment, the Mac Mini and iMac are their only good (as in reliable) systems. Everything else is unreliable or out of date.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think you are trying to hard to try and make Apple look better by implying others are the same... They are not.

It is sort of a contagious disease that exists here in parts of the forum and on many Apple centric podcasts as well.

 

[jeyf]

apple is beyond mid life, they are a 40year old company.
most of their products,,, if this or that but for what you get just not worth the price and personal time

 

[david_ap]

Hi all,

I've long been frustrated with my MBP and wanted to see if the community had any advice, as I am coming to consider a change in platform which would come at a terrible cost (i.e. loss of money reselling my mac).

I bought my first MBP about 12 years ago, at a time where they represented supreme build quality, and have found OSX (now MacOS) vastly superior for getting work done quickly. That first MBP was replaced in 2012 by the first-gen rMBP which I had until 2017, it was an excellent machine and kept me recommending Macbooks to family and friends.

I then made the mistake (in hindsight) of purchasing the 2017 15" MBP, here's what have been my main sources of frustration:

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).
Unfortunately the monitor connection isn't perfect even on the right hand side ports as sometimes a small desk movement will cause it to go into a disconnect/reconnect loop.
I have mainly used USB-C cables when at my desk, but at times had to use adapters in order to plug in HDMI cables (e.g. meeting rooms). I've now got to a point where I can barely connect to any monitor, even though the charger works on all ports.

2) The battery on this particular laptop lasts far less time than the 2012 15" rMBP it replaced, is this normal? I could do nearly a full day's work on battery power with the old one and am now running out by lunch time in similar situations. Again I don't use battery power too often, but it does let me down when I need it.

3) I swear that the keyboard often misses some letters, is this normal? Fortunately I use an external keyboard most of the time, but this always surprises me when I have to type at meetings. Also the keyboard is quite loud!

4) I have tried explaining to Apple tech staff that the laptop feels much more unresponsive than my old one, e.g. waking from sleep, restarting, connecting devices, unlocking, but their position has been that there is nothing wrong with the laptop. I can only assume they think it is normal?

To me it feels that what used to be *the* premium choice for laptops, i.e. high quality build and reliability, has been lost somewhat. Maybe I've got a bad egg?

My options as I see them:

a) Lose 1k selling the laptop and risk getting another MBP. My confidence in Apple has been dented somewhat, and colleagues are also unhappy with the newer (2016>) Macbooks. These issues can come back.

b) Lose 1k selling the laptop and move away from Apple. Would be a huge hassle, and I may end up with something less than perfect, but as a consumer I don't like feeling trapped into a brand.

I reckon this being an Apple community you may not recommend option b) but I'd be interested to know what you advise.

Many thanks for reading!

Sorry to hear about that!

 

[zarathu]

At the moment, the Mac Mini and iMac are their only good (as in reliable) systems. Everything else is unreliable or out of date.

I hear that a lot in the complaining area.

But I wonder if people really have just the need to be up to date, and it's not about Apple or MS, it's about having the latest and newest no matter what. My son in law runs a full animation business without any problem running in Apple, and has no need to look for something in another realm. My son is a senior software engineer(PhD) who does all his work on a 13 inch MBP which is current but not much faster than my lte 2013 15 inch MBP.

There is literally nothing that I do including making long movies that I need more power.

And if its because you can’t do the gaming, then get a super gaming machine that Apple will never build.

What do you NEED, rather than just want, that is not too out of date in a Mac? Just wondering.

 

[pshufd]

I hear that a lot in the complaining area.

But I wonder if people really have just the need to be up to date, and it's not about Apple or MS, it's about having the latest and newest no matter what. My son in law runs a full animation business without any problem running in Apple, and has no need to look for something in another realm. My son is a senior software engineer(PhD) who does all his work on a 13 inch MBP which is current but not much faster than my lte 2013 15 inch MBP.

There is literally nothing that I do including making long movies that I need more power.

And if its because you can’t do the gaming, then get a super gaming machine that Apple will never build.

I'm running 2014 and 2015 MacBook Pros and they are fine for me. But I run into people who do production work and it seems like they do need a lot of horsepower and memory for their workflows. My son works in oncogenomics and they have servers with huge RAM, number of processors and huge storage to process DNA analysis but their hardware is a few years old. In that space, there may be some benefit to newer hardware as you can turn around the identification of cancer mutations faster.

I have a personal computer from 1977 or so. It has 224 words of memory and 16 registers I think. Storage was 224 Words on magnetic tape. This computer still works and I do use it from time to time. I recall writing programs on it in high-school.

 

[zarathu]

If you don't have a bit of knowledge with computers and their OS's, Windows can be a real pain (and tech support / hardware repair can add up quickly if you can't do it yourself). I haven't used their newer products within the past few years so this may have changed.

This is completely true. And quadruply so for Linux. I used a linux machine for awhile, and I guess if I was a software engineer it would have been fun. But not having any facility with typing in arcane commands in the “terminal” I was always having to type the command that reverted back to what I had before I fixed it with some new thing that actually made everything not work at all.

I got tired of that after awhile. Getting the newest thing in Linux means learning Linux programming language, and then searching everywhere on the internet for the arcane commands to do stuff.

I don’t enjoy being spied on continuously by MS, or having automatic updates continuously. As much as I might dislike Apple for some things, the level of predatory behavior of MS is way way worse.
[doublepost=1557425004][/doublepost]

My son works in oncogenomics and they have servers with huge RAM, number of processors and huge storage to process DNA analysis but their hardware is a few years old. In that space, there may be some benefit to newer hardware as you can turn around the identification of cancer mutations faster.

.

Yes.... admittedly, Apple chooses not to provide work in that area. Look how they have dragged their feet on th mac pro updates. They are most interested in selling thing that make them a lot of money. THIS is what corporations do---make money. And the MBP market is not their big money maker. For them its really a case of diminishing returns.

They will never be what we want because what we want isn’t something they are interested in providing anymore---and it really never was. They were always into making appliances.

 

[Mendota]

From what I can tell, people who use Windows laptops have a MUCH better experience when they're extremely tech savvy. The only reason I say this is because I worked in a repair shop and ALL I saw were Windows users with software problems such as viruses and deleted OS files, bogus programs embedded into their boot up somehow (not necessarily Windows fault, but things THEY did to the computer and messed it up). Windows is more of an open system than Mac OS (which most people can agree on). The only time I saw people bring Apple products in was for failing pieces of hardware.

Considering myself as a tech junkie and knowing how to fix all of these issues, I still avoid Windows products to avoid the possibility of these headaches. If you don't have a bit of knowledge with computers and their OS's, Windows can be a real pain (and tech support / hardware repair can add up quickly if you can't do it yourself). I haven't used their newer products within the past few years so this may have changed.

Windows 10 changed a lot of this and ironically enough with one of it most "unpopular" features... The update system. Windows now pretty much forces users like the ones you describe to update their systems including the virus and malware updates. So of course now we hear the complaints about updates from people who never would update on their own.
[doublepost=1557429338][/doublepost]

This is completely true. And quadruply so for Linux. I used a linux machine for awhile, and I guess if I was a software engineer it would have been fun. But not having any facility with typing in arcane commands in the “terminal” I was always having to type the command that reverted back to what I had before I fixed it with some new thing that actually made everything not work at all.

I got tired of that after awhile. Getting the newest thing in Linux means learning Linux programming language, and then searching everywhere on the internet for the arcane commands to do stuff.

I don’t enjoy being spied on continuously by MS, or having automatic updates continuously. As much as I might dislike Apple for some things, the level of predatory behavior of MS is way way worse.
[doublepost=1557425004][/doublepost]

Yes.... admittedly, Apple chooses not to provide work in that area. Look how they have dragged their feet on th mac pro updates. They are most interested in selling thing that make them a lot of money. THIS is what corporations do---make money. And the MBP market is not their big money maker. For them its really a case of diminishing returns.

They will never be what we want because what we want isn’t something they are interested in providing anymore---and it really never was. They were always into making appliances.

If you think Microsoft is "predatory" I hope you don't use any Google products to include YouTube and search. Microsoft collects data to seen how Windows is running and being used... Not to spy on you for profit. If you use Cortana she looks at things to give you suggestions and reminders. You don't have to use her, and Apple has now started to do the same with Siri. I respect everyone's choice to use the operating system that works best for them. (I enjoy all of them and use them all) But I don't understand the mentality of putting down the systems that you don't use.

 

[casperes1996]

Color calibration is much better integrated in macOS than in Windows

This is such a big deal and never pointed out enough if you ask me. Windows just has terrible color management throughout. Hell, MS knows it and admits it themselves
[doublepost=1557430281][/doublepost]

Windows is more of an open system than Mac OS (which most people can agree on).

The fun part is, yes, most people agree on that. But the correct sentence is "Windows is thought to be more open". But it actually isn'.
Windows is more permissive by default, sure. macOS protects the average Joe that you describe in your post from screwing up the system. But if you know enough to use the Terminal macOS is a more open system. - Hell a lot of it is open source (and by that I mean the backend - not front end).

My TA at university was given a Dell XPS for her Ph.D project, researching GPGPU programming and in her own words "I miss macOS - There are so many things Windows is too restrictive for". She was in the process of getting the IT department to allow a switch over to Linux for her research.

 

[shaunp]

I used Windows for a few days and Windows Update does seem to take far less time than it used to. I can't really live without a bunch of iCloud stuff though. But it does mean that a Windows laptop + MacBook Pro (2014 or 2015) would work. Right now I'm using a 2014+2015 and it works really well. I would have liked 32 GB of RAM but I've made some modifications to Firefox settings and it's using far less RAM than before and I don't really notice a drop in performance.

At the moment, the Mac Mini and iMac are their only good (as in reliable) systems. Everything else is unreliable or out of date.

I know what you mean about missing iCloud. Messages, mail, calendar, etc are all better than the Windows equivalents especially if you have an iPhone too, but I learnt to adjust. Most of my friends use WhatsApp anyway so this has replaced Messages. The apps that actually make me money work better on the PC so that's what really matters for me, the others are just nice to have.

 

[zarathu]

Windows 10 changed a lot of this and ironically enough with one of it most "unpopular" features... The update system. Windows now pretty much forces users like the ones you describe to update their systems including the virus and malware updates. So of course now we hear the complaints about updates from people who never would update on their own.
[doublepost=1557429338][/doublepost]

If you think Microsoft is "predatory" I hope you don't use any Google products to include YouTube and search.

Nope ...I use yahoo to search, and stay away from Youtube as much as I can.

 

[shaunp]

I hear that a lot in the complaining area.

But I wonder if people really have just the need to be up to date, and it's not about Apple or MS, it's about having the latest and newest no matter what. My son in law runs a full animation business without any problem running in Apple, and has no need to look for something in another realm. My son is a senior software engineer(PhD) who does all his work on a 13 inch MBP which is current but not much faster than my lte 2013 15 inch MBP.

There is literally nothing that I do including making long movies that I need more power.

And if its because you can’t do the gaming, then get a super gaming machine that Apple will never build.

What do you NEED, rather than just want, that is not too out of date in a Mac? Just wondering.

That's the thing, most people look at what they want rather than what they really need, which is why Apple is able to push ever thinner designs, etc and folks just lap it up. Nobody stops to think do I really need this, is it a good idea or am I just buying it because it looks cool. Far too many people when buying Apple buy fashion statement first, computer second.

An interesting experiment would be this. Enable Mac OS to be licensed, for example on a ThinkPad. Just two models X1 Carbon and X1 Extreme, and sell them along side the 13" and 15" MBP. Then track which demographic bought which laptop. Working on the basis of buying what you need, I bet most professionals would buy a ThinkPad running Mac OS than a MacBook and would keep it several years where as most just wanting a laptop would go with the MacBook and replace it more often. Even if the ThinkPad placed alongside was cheaper, more powerful, user upgradable and with much wider choice of ports the majority of non-professionals/average users would just buy the pretty one.

 

[Mendota]

That's the thing, most people look at what they want rather than what they really need, which is why Apple is able to push ever thinner designs, etc and folks just lap it up. Nobody stops to think do I really need this, is it a good idea or am I just buying it because it looks cool. Far too many people when buying Apple buy fashion statement first, computer second.

An interesting experiment would be this. Enable Mac OS to be licensed, for example on a ThinkPad. Just two models X1 Carbon and X1 Extreme, and sell them along side the 13" and 15" MBP. Then track which demographic bought which laptop. Working on the basis of buying what you need, I bet most professionals would buy a ThinkPad running Mac OS than a MacBook and would keep it several years where as most just wanting a laptop would go with the MacBook and replace it more often. Even if the ThinkPad placed alongside was cheaper, more powerful, user upgradable and with much wider choice of ports the majority of non-professionals/average users would just buy the pretty one.

Well I agree with a lot of what you have said, but I don't think there is anything wrong with buying things you don't actually need if they make you happy and you enjoy them. That is part of what we work for. The issue right now with Apple is that they are in essence selling a "defective" product at premium and I mean premium prices. When people pay for the best, they deserve to get the best.

 

[SDColorado]

If you think Microsoft is "predatory" I hope you don't use any Google products to include YouTube and search. Microsoft collects data to seen how Windows is running and being used... Not to spy on you for profit. If you use Cortana she looks at things to give you suggestions and reminders. You don't have to use her, and Apple has now started to do the same with Siri. I respect everyone's choice to use the operating system that works best for them. (I enjoy all of them and use them all) But I don't understand the mentality of putting down the systems that you don't use.

Stay away from Facebook, Instagram and Whatsap as well, since they are now all under the Facebook umbrella.

As far as what MS collects, you can download the Diagnostic Data Viewer app and see for yourself. Pretty boring and generic stuff with no identifying info.

Nope ...I use yahoo to search, and stay away from Youtube as much as I can.

Yahoo isn't that squeaky clean either.

https://policies.yahoo.com/xa/en/yahoo/privacy/index.htm

vs Duck Duck Go

https://duckduckgo.com/privacy

 

[ET iPhone Home]

Hi all,

I've long been frustrated with my MBP and wanted to see if the community had any advice, as I am coming to consider a change in platform which would come at a terrible cost (i.e. loss of money reselling my mac).

I bought my first MBP about 12 years ago, at a time where they represented supreme build quality, and have found OSX (now MacOS) vastly superior for getting work done quickly. That first MBP was replaced in 2012 by the first-gen rMBP which I had until 2017, it was an excellent machine and kept me recommending Macbooks to family and friends.

I then made the mistake (in hindsight) of purchasing the 2017 15" MBP, here's what have been my main sources of frustration:

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).
Unfortunately the monitor connection isn't perfect even on the right hand side ports as sometimes a small desk movement will cause it to go into a disconnect/reconnect loop.
I have mainly used USB-C cables when at my desk, but at times had to use adapters in order to plug in HDMI cables (e.g. meeting rooms). I've now got to a point where I can barely connect to any monitor, even though the charger works on all ports.

2) The battery on this particular laptop lasts far less time than the 2012 15" rMBP it replaced, is this normal? I could do nearly a full day's work on battery power with the old one and am now running out by lunch time in similar situations. Again I don't use battery power too often, but it does let me down when I need it.

3) I swear that the keyboard often misses some letters, is this normal? Fortunately I use an external keyboard most of the time, but this always surprises me when I have to type at meetings. Also the keyboard is quite loud!

4) I have tried explaining to Apple tech staff that the laptop feels much more unresponsive than my old one, e.g. waking from sleep, restarting, connecting devices, unlocking, but their position has been that there is nothing wrong with the laptop. I can only assume they think it is normal?

To me it feels that what used to be *the* premium choice for laptops, i.e. high quality build and reliability, has been lost somewhat. Maybe I've got a bad egg?

My options as I see them:

a) Lose 1k selling the laptop and risk getting another MBP. My confidence in Apple has been dented somewhat, and colleagues are also unhappy with the newer (2016>) Macbooks. These issues can come back.

b) Lose 1k selling the laptop and move away from Apple. Would be a huge hassle, and I may end up with something less than perfect, but as a consumer I don't like feeling trapped into a brand.

I reckon this being an Apple community you may not recommend option b) but I'd be interested to know what you advise.

Many thanks for reading!

I'm beginning to equate Apple Laptops with BMW. From experience, BMW cars look good, but there are so many issues internally. You would think purchasing an expensive car would be worry-free and you pay what you get. Not the case. BMW's are problematic. This is why I have taken so long to upgrade my 2011 MBA. There's so many stories of people having issues with recent MBP laptops.

 

[Queen6]

I don't know what forums or places you visited but most of the top Window machines don't have anywhere near the issues that the current Macs have. There are people on these very forums that are using Think pads, Surfaces, Dells, and HP's that are very happy. I think you are trying to hard to try and make Apple look better by implying others are the same... They are not.

All the Windows hardware I've used since switching in 2016 has had zero issue, which is a lot more than I can say about my Mac's which can barely withstand 3-4 days without running into issue due to the workload. Turned back 2016 & 2017 MBP's due to the atrocious keyboards and wont waste my time on third iteration of this subjectively garbage, objectively unreliable keyboard. Apple has simply turned the MBP into a pretentious joke with an elevated price tag.

Less is more has never applied more; far less for the users and far more margin for Apple. as my late father would say "fools and their money"...

Q-6

 

[smirking]

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).

I had a 2016 MBP and now have a 2018 MPB. My 2016 MBP had loose ports. They weren't so loose as to be unstable the way you describe, but they were loose enough that I wouldn't want to move the laptop around if it was connected to something vital.

Then I had my 2016 serviced for a battery replacement and they replaced the ports for me too without me asking. The new ports were a lot better. They had the same kind of snap that I experience on my 2018 MBP. It wasn't just a thing where the ports were new and I could expect them to loosen over time. Sure, they'll probably loosen a little, but the old ports on my 2016 were never ever that tight and the new ones felt identical to the way my 2018 ports felt.

 

[daniel_ap]

Hi all,

I've long been frustrated with my MBP and wanted to see if the community had any advice, as I am coming to consider a change in platform which would come at a terrible cost (i.e. loss of money reselling my mac).

I bought my first MBP about 12 years ago, at a time where they represented supreme build quality, and have found OSX (now MacOS) vastly superior for getting work done quickly. That first MBP was replaced in 2012 by the first-gen rMBP which I had until 2017, it was an excellent machine and kept me recommending Macbooks to family and friends.

I then made the mistake (in hindsight) of purchasing the 2017 15" MBP, here's what have been my main sources of frustration:

1) The connection to the left two USB C ports started becoming loose within a few months of purchasing, which Apple fixed under warranty, but sadly a few months ago (i.e. after the warranty elapsed) the same happened again. This makes connecting to external monitors unreliable which is incredibly frustrating (i.e. they will randomly disconnect as I'm working).
Unfortunately the monitor connection isn't perfect even on the right hand side ports as sometimes a small desk movement will cause it to go into a disconnect/reconnect loop.
I have mainly used USB-C cables when at my desk, but at times had to use adapters in order to plug in HDMI cables (e.g. meeting rooms). I've now got to a point where I can barely connect to any monitor, even though the charger works on all ports.

2) The battery on this particular laptop lasts far less time than the 2012 15" rMBP it replaced, is this normal? I could do nearly a full day's work on battery power with the old one and am now running out by lunch time in similar situations. Again I don't use battery power too often, but it does let me down when I need it.

3) I swear that the keyboard often misses some letters, is this normal? Fortunately I use an external keyboard most of the time, but this always surprises me when I have to type at meetings. Also the keyboard is quite loud!

4) I have tried explaining to Apple tech staff that the laptop feels much more unresponsive than my old one, e.g. waking from sleep, restarting, connecting devices, unlocking, but their position has been that there is nothing wrong with the laptop. I can only assume they think it is normal?

To me it feels that what used to be *the* premium choice for laptops, i.e. high quality build and reliability, has been lost somewhat. Maybe I've got a bad egg?

My options as I see them:

a) Lose 1k selling the laptop and risk getting another MBP. My confidence in Apple has been dented somewhat, and colleagues are also unhappy with the newer (2016>) Macbooks. These issues can come back.

b) Lose 1k selling the laptop and move away from Apple. Would be a huge hassle, and I may end up with something less than perfect, but as a consumer I don't like feeling trapped into a brand.

I reckon this being an Apple community you may not recommend option b) but I'd be interested to know what you advise.

Many thanks for reading!

There are just so many issues with the new mbp.

 

[shaunp]

Well I agree with a lot of what you have said, but I don't think there is anything wrong with buying things you don't actually need if they make you happy and you enjoy them. That is part of what we work for. The issue right now with Apple is that they are in essence selling a "defective" product at premium and I mean premium prices. When people pay for the best, they deserve to get the best.

That's probably a better way of looking at it to be fair, but I'd also add 'not fit for purpose' along with defective.

 

[th0masp]

I'm beginning to equate Apple Laptops with BMW. From experience, BMW cars look good, but there are so many issues internally. You would think purchasing an expensive car would be worry-free and you pay what you get. Not the case. BMW's are problematic. This is why I have taken so long to upgrade my 2011 MBA. There's so many stories of people having issues with recent MBP laptops.

Funny you say that. A family member of mine works in sales for big pharma. In her line of work its not unusual to choose a gig in no small part based on what types of cars the companies offer. Suffice to say I heard the complaints about BMW for years.
... now I'd really like to know who's making the Audis of the laptop world because I've been told the opposite about those over and over.

 

[zarathu]

The macbook pro is not a hot machine; 2019 is fast but not really HOT. Yes Apple could build one of those, but they wouldn’t get an ergonomic awards for classy looks by offering a one inch thick, 10 lb machine. Only nerds would buy one.

Of course it would be bullet proof(literally), it would have fans that would keep the book cool at any conceivable temperature, and it would scream at the highest speed level anyone needed. It would play any game you wanted.

But very few people would buy one.

Apple has always opted for a different set of parameters.

Clearly ya’ll need to buy another machine. I suggest an Alienware 17R5. It costs $3900 at top config, weighs in at 10 pounds, and screams.

https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/360470/the-fastest-laptops

What you all want is an alienware 17R5 squeezed into a MBP chassis. Of course, apple doesn’t make its own graphic cards or its own CPU(for the mac anyway), so its kind of hobbled by the physical size of other components.

 

[pshufd]

The macbook pro is not a hot machine. Yes Apple could build one of those, but they wouldn’t get an ergonomic awards for classy looks by offering a one inch thick, 6 lb machine. Only nerds would buy one.

Of course it would be bullet proof(literally), it would have fans that would keep the book cool at any conceivable temperature, and it would scream at the highest speed level anyone needed. It would play any game you wanted.

But very few people would buy one.

Apple has always opted for a different set of parameters.

I'd be happy if Apple modified the Mac Mini to be one inch thick, the size of a 15 inch MacBook Pro, then add a screen. I can add the keyboard and mouse.

I carry two MacBook Pros with me. I guess they're almost an inch thick when put together.