What kinds of professionals is the new MacBook Pro designed for?

[brock2621]

This sounds like a great endorsement for Dropbox if anything

Sure, but it could be GDrive or OneDrive, or CloudDrive, or Amazon or Adobe or any other cloud drive.

Most modern companies back their work up and work from the cloud. It's safer, faster, reduces redundent work and user error. If my whole building goes up in flames I can drive straight to Apple Store, pick up a new computer and start working immediately with no visible delay to client.

It's honestly a workflow that my clients are starting to expect by default rather than be pleasantly suprised by with each passing year.

 

[Wackery]

this is a big middle finger to pro users

 

[brock2621]

this is a big middle finger to pro users

Yup, professionals never send emoji's

 

[urkel]

I'm still curious what "Pro" is excited about a TouchBar but still against TouchScreen.

TouchBar - Requires looking down to the keyboard to scrub, select, zoom)

TouchScreen - Enables the same control as touch bar or app interface but you're actually manipulating the media you're working on


Don't get me wrong. TouchBar is interesting but a non-static off screen toolbar doesn't actually make media manipulation easier.

 

[wegster]

I'm a non-IT, non-graphic design professional. I need a laptop because an iPad is insufficient for some of my mobile work. I also want a backup for my desktop Mac for redundancy. I want to stay in the Apple ecosystem because I like iOS and macOS - very efficient software infrastructure for my work. The new 2016 13" touch bar MacBook Pro is the kind of device I would like to have, but the price and dongles issue has given me pause and I don't need a touch bar. I am uncomfortably thinking that I might have to bite the bullet. Wish the decision was easier.

Both valid concerns, although at least you are in the 'sweet spot' for the latest lineup, meaning you don't need/strongly want more RAM, and don't 'need' the quad core computing power or screen real estate of the 15" models. Consider your usage - you may be well served by either a refurb 2015, the non-touch new 13" or just go for it with the touch strip. Considering you won't have the magic toolbar on your Mac Pro, the prior two may fit best.

Consider what you really plug into when portable, as in your case it seems like you have the desktop Mac as primary - find a multi-breakout for USB-C and it may not be nearly as bad as you're thinking.
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For professionals like me.

I organize and manage a team of professional photographers, graphic designers, video production team and motion graphics artists. I have meetings an hour or two away and need a portable version of my iMac that can handle as much as possible on the go. It needs to integrate seemlessly into the entire rest of the MAC office with shared calendars, Logic, Numbers files, fcp-x, in design, photoshop and DaVinci files synced via Dropbox.

So when my animator tells me on Slack he just exported a new version of a company logo for a commercial, i open Dropbox, watch it and then FaceTime him with notes on some tweaks.

When one of my graphic designers uploads a PDF to Dropbox and slack and asks the team's creative input on the cover photo for a brochure. They all weigh in and decide my photographer needs to go shoot something. So he runs out, takes some photos and throws them on Dropbox as the team jumps in and starts editing, color correcting and integrating them via indesign and posts a v2 Dropbox link on Slack for me to review in my car via my phone hotspot before my meeting.

If my editing team needs my input on a commercial I simply open the fcp-x file via Dropbox and tweak it and close it as it syncs for them to see.

If a needy client demands some web updates over the weekend and nobody (including myself) is in the office, I'll take care of it at home by opening after effects, changing an animation, export a looping gif, and then open dreamweaver and code the changes. Those changes sync to the client's server and all the after effects files sync to our Dropbox. When everyone arrives in the office Monday all of their iMacs already have the .aep file and the exported gif on their computer and they will be using the most recent version if they need to do any work.

I've ordered 2 new MBP's so far...

Note that any of that could be effectively done on any PC or Mac, desktop or laptop, able to run DropBox (Windows, Linux, OS X..) and your tools of choice. There's little that benefits you in the new lineup directly other than the improved display, which is certainly beneficial for graphic professionals, unless the ~1/2lb lightening really makes your day. Other graphics pros may well benefit via USB-C connection to multiple displays, etc., but in your case it seems asa everyone is using desktop Macs.
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Sure, but it could be GDrive or OneDrive, or CloudDrive, or Amazon or Adobe or any other cloud drive.

Most modern companies back their work up and work from the cloud. It's safer, faster, reduces redundent work and user error. If my whole building goes up in flames I can drive straight to Apple Store, pick up a new computer and start working immediately with no visible delay to client.

It's honestly a workflow that my clients are starting to expect by default rather than be pleasantly suprised by with each passing year.

Sure, but while your team may also have desktop Macs of some sort for 'power,' more and more are looking for a 'nearly workstation' single laptop purchase, where computing power (and RAM) is still needed, for the reasons outlined - we occasionally to often take work home, or to customer sites, or on vacation -/) or ..

Yup, professionals never send emoji's

Would they pay several hundred $s extra in order to have a touch strip to somehow improve 'emoji productivity'? I've got no real beef with the touch strip and think it may turn out nicely for those using the MBPs keyboards instead of docking/external kb, mouse, displays, .. but I wouldn't go so far as to say that the emoji strip will radically improve productivity at this point, for the added $.

 

[Ries]

Setting aside for a moment the issue of whether or not Apple still cares about Pro Consumers (which I've been hearing for over a decade now, in various iterations);

People have been buying expensive watch cases for CENTURIES with the "same" internals. Okay, granted, some fine watches have better mechanisms. But seriously; that's kind of what a watch is. That's nothing at all unique to Apple. People spend $10,000 on a Rolex and it won't tell you the weather!

A Rolex can live a 100 years, because it is handmade craftsmen ship. You're lucky if that tech gadget is useful beyond 5 years.

 

[Gudi]

the guys i know are already using dockingstations, they are simply amazing!

Professionals don't use docking stations, they buy new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals and 5K monitors, who utilize the 40 Gbps speed the new ports provide.

 

[brock2621]

Professionals don't use docking stations, they buy new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals and 5K monitors, who utilize the 40 Gbps speed the new ports provide.

I use 6k raw RED footage and we've been buying up as many lacie thunderbolt 2 SSD's we can get our hands on to work from. I'm stoked to have even faster data transfer from these new ports and ssd raid stacks

 

[jackoatmon]

I'm still curious what "Pro" is excited about a TouchBar but still against TouchScreen.

TouchBar - Requires looking down to the keyboard to scrub, select, zoom)

TouchScreen - Enables the same control as touch bar or app interface but you're actually manipulating the media you're working on

Visual art pros. Not all of them, but most of them. When you work in an environment with a lot of designers and photographers and art directors, you very quickly learn that one of the most irritating things to them is people touching and smudging their screens.

Though I think the Surface Studio is incredible, and will be great for many pros, touchscreen is a total non-starter for a huge segment of the visual arts industry.

The bar, on the other hand, has a lot of similar uses, without the smudging. I would compare the bar to microsoft's new Cylinder thingy. It's an ergonomic alternate piece of UI.

Now, you could argue, with a pen you don't actually have to touch the screen. Which is valid. But then it requires an entirely different form factor philosophy (flattenable screen). I'm personally quite pleased to see Apple and Microsoft going in different directions, covering more territory for more use cases.

I think the touch bar will be very useful, and at very least, unobtrusive. I know for video editing (timeline navigation) it will be exquisite.

 

[WoodyVuko]

Professionals don't use docking stations, they buy new Thunderbolt 3 peripherals and 5K monitors, who utilize the 40 Gbps speed the new ports provide.

i guess it depends on the "professionals". its sick how everybody is arguing about "professionals" here and there, like there is only 1 answer to it.

if you got a smaller company and dont (really) need a upgrade, why spend the money?
it is stupid to think, that you need to upgrade your hardware all the time, especially if you consider the value/price
hell i worked last year on a project at a multi-billion euro company and they still got some hardware from 2008.
if you or your company spends money (every year) on new hardware from apple, fine but its business 1o1 hold the costs cheap

and my opinion as a "professional" about the new belkin TB3 Station is: its great and really popular with my colleges and friends
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Or, the real pros could buy ONE piece of hardware for 50% less with all ports built-in and no need for any additional purchases. I get the consumerism in the DNA, but there comes a point.

I love your signature about ninjas! Nice one!

na the problem is, that there a certain areas where you depend on macos.
lets be real, who is happy to buy hardware-only for double the price ?
it is the package and the need for macos (sadly).
btw thanks !!

 

[Macshroomer]

As a pro Apple user since 1990 (photographer), I am interested in this new MacBook Pro for sure but will probably sit this one out as my 2013 is still kicking butt and pretty maxed out as it is.

I'm not too hot on the loss of ports and need for dongles but that seems to be the way it is going. I love the idea of the touch bar but still wish it had a touch screen. Everyone is different, I like getting faster hardware mainly so I spend less time on it....life is best when not on gadgets.

 

[el-John-o]

A Rolex can live a 100 years, because it is handmade craftsmen ship. You're lucky if that tech gadget is useful beyond 5 years.

Fair enough!

But, the claim was "People spend $1200 just because it has a nicer case material" somehow implied that's unique to Apple. Lots of other watches can last for 100 years in the $500~ range, you don't need a $10,000 Rolex. Nobody does. However, it's a fine watch that people pay for the materials, the craftsmanship, and the look! I don't own a Rolex OR an Apple Watch Edition. I'm not defending or refuting the purchase of either. Simply that I thought that was a specious "cheap shot" that wasn't really warranted.