This has been the case for several years now.
No not entirely it has been progressively getting worse. The 2016 model is the first model with a soldered SSD and removal of the MagSafe.
It's amazing how there are some people who still think it is ridiculous for anyone to complain about anything Apple does.
You guys think Tim isn't running Apple into the ground? Lets go over the score card.
Timmy's Blunders:
- Soldered on the RAM to MacBooks starting in 2012.
- Alienated a large segment by killing the Mac Pro Tower off in favor of what amounts to the G4 Cube 2.0 in 2013. Steve would have released the nMP as a marvel but never killed off the Tower.
- Hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2013.
- Dropped the quad cores from the Mac Mini and soldered the RAM onto it in 2014.
- Hasn't released a new Mac Mini since 2014.
- The 27" iMac while very nice right now is 16.5 months old right now. Where is it's updated model?
- The only machine released in 2016 was the very unpopular 2016 MacBook Pro with soldered RAM and a soldered SSD in addition to the removal of the mag safe power port. Essentially DongleGate.
- Tim Thinks the iPad is replacing the Mac. He has lost touch with reality.
- Tim killed Apple monitors off.
- Tim is killing off Airports wireless routers and time capsules.
- Tim is degrading the quality of in store service by essentially having untrained techs training on our equipment, after watching a few videos on the web.
By all means show me how he is doing such a great job penny pinching, being greedy and in general being a horrible leader.
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1) If you're worried about the RAM, max it out at 16gb. Done deal.
2) Fastest SSD going and plenty of room. Professionals store on external drives anyway and with USB-C they're blazing fast on all ports.
3) Need 4 cores? Get the 15" like I did.
4) Mag Safe sucks. When it breaks you pay 80 bucks for the whole thing. And it can only be used on ONE side of the machine. USB-C gives you far more versatility options and no worries about charging.
5) Which straw broke the camel's back? Was it the better screen, faster SSD, precise improved keyboard, better speakers, larger trackpad, smaller size & weight?
My 13" and 15" Touchbar machines replaced last years 15" rMBP, which went straight to Craigslist. It was no contest. The new machines are superior.
You should start off by ignoring the rhetoric of a minority who are upset that Apple didn't consult with them before releasing new machines!
R.
The apology is strong with you.
Mag Safe doesn't suck. The heat shrink and stress relief on their cabling sucks. If you don't know the difference then your post is understandable. The difference is mag safe keeps you from replacing your MacBook when someone trips on you cable and rips your power cord off. Now it simply yanks the MacBook right off the table and you get a much higher bill the $80. But by all means hate Mag Safe now because Timmy told you too.
To the people like this guy. WAKE UP.
Professionals don't use USB external drives. Professionals have internal drives to get their work done and then once it is done move it to networked drives for storage on a server. However at least for me I keep my template for the various interfaces on my machine and the template code along with the modules and everything needed to implement a system fast. It's true this is backed up on a network too but I don't work from a networked drive.
In addition when I'm in the field it is laughable to suggest I have to work with a external drive. It's laughable to in this day and age have a 128GB as the smallest drive and kill the SD Card slot. You guys may laugh at the SD Card slot but it was a inexpensive way for me to double my storage on my machine for files that add up but don't require the drive speed of the SSD.
At least with the 2015 and previous MacBook Pros the drives could be swapped out after the time of purchase even if it became more and more expensive to do so.
Buying more RAM and now storage at the time of purchase as an acceptable solution is utterly ridiculous. Do you realize how much Apple charges for their RAM and storage? By all means be fleeced but we will have to agree to disagree.
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I am self-employed and paid well for the work I do. In that work I use: iPhone, MacBook, MacBook Pro and some heavy servers. So from the perspective of "stuff" for professional use, all these would then be "Pro".
As a professional my focus is to get my job done, quickly and reliably.
From that perspective discussion about if RAM or SSD being soldered is for me silly. I do not care, if it improves reliability I am all for it.
I carry a small bag of cables and dongles when on the road, yes it contains a few more things now. But as a big plus I now have more flexibility when charging and the MBP has a more compact build.
The quad core is a valid point for certain types of use, for me Visual Studio in a Fusion VM, and was the reason for going 15" rather than 13" this time.
I think a characteristic of a professional is that he uses the right tool for the task and as you saw above I am using a wide range. I really appreciate Apple offering me options at different points on the scale of power and portability.
How does it improve reliability? It makes it impossible to replace individual parts if something breaks. Instead you replace the entire machine or might as well when you see how much the logic board is going to cost.
I'm actually rather shocked that everyone is defending this device...