BTW are you Schiller's intern or do you do his bidding for free?
I am neither. I say things the way I see them.
1. Requires dongles -- not for legacy devices and peripherals but for current and still ubiquitous ones.
For most of these you can just get new cables. USB-A, HDMI and SD card can be solved with one hub until the time comes that you can plug these things directly. Apple is pushing this day to be sooner, and one little hub is not really that much of an inconvenience.
2. RAM restricted to 16GB.
For most users that won't be an issue. Some users will think they need more, but combined with the super-fast SSD, they will realize that 16Gb is plenty. For those that really need 32Gb, they are out of luck. Still, the majority will benefit from a smaller and lighter computer.
3. Standard entry level storage rolled back to 256GB
Not true. Standard 15" always came with 256Gb, standard 13" with 128Gb. In fact, they increased the space minimum for 13", others remained the same.
4. Magsafe gone, but also, new charging takes up one port, in effect only offering 3 usable ports, a cut back from my 2012 model with a diverse selection, no dongles required for common devices: 2 USB, 2 FW 800, HDMI, and SD slot. Also dongles are expensive, in addition to being a PITA.
True for Magsafe. No one is glad about that. The one charging port can be used up by charging, but a lot of hubs allow the power to go through. Also, attach it to one of those LG screens and get not only charging, but additional ports as well as video out. Basically, there are a lot of ways to use this port for charging and for data at the same time, and more will come.
Your 2012 model didn't have a diverse selection, it had several ports that could be used for one type of device only. The 2012. model didn't have Firewire, perhaps you have an older one. And it's a perfect example. Each port takes space and resources - not only physical space, but also data lanes on the motherboard. I never had a single Firewire device and never will, and yet, I would be forced to buy a computer with a port taking up resources just because you need it. Instead, isn't it better to have universal ports that can be hooked up with anything with a few adapters? You all act like adapters are the end of the world. Why are they a PITA? You throw a few in your laptop bag, big deal. A small price to pay for better ports and pushing the industry forward.
5. Keyboard is improved (have tried it next to an original butterfly keyboard) but still is not the same quality as the old keyboard. Apple could have easily left the MBP thickness as-is and kept the old keyboard.
This is your opinion. It is fine and I won't try to change it. For me, the MacBook keyboard (didn't try the one on the pro) is quite fine. And if Apple left the MBP as thick as it was, everyone on these forums and their dog would compare them to Surface Books and Dell XPS' and yell how Apple lost the edge and how Tim Cook should step down.
I wanted it thinner and lighter. A lot of people did. This is 2016. - I want power AND portability.
6. Battery life 2 hours less than the previous model.
Previous models all had 10 hours battery life, what are you talking about?
You clearly have no idea what true power uses need. 16GB RAM is scratching the surface for the need for Photoshop and video editing.
You clearly have no clue what you're saying. I've been a professional in Photoshop for 10 years now. I can guarantee you don't know what you're talking about if you think 16Gb is "scratching the surface for Photoshop". Even for huge files with lots of layers, you can make due with 8Gb. 16Gb is more than enough.
Here is a helpful video.
And before you say it - yes, this was done in the end of 2014. but requirements haven't changed for Photoshop (in fact, because of the rise of Windows tablets with pens, Adobe optimized Photoshop even better)
As you can see, there are severe diminishing returns for more RAM than 8Gb for Photoshop (and it's similar with most programs, for example, Zbrush is still a 32bit program that can't even see more than 4Gb, even though it's an industry standard for working with MILLIONS of polygons). And even when there is some benefit to having more than 16Gb RAM, like in certain video projects, it doesn't prevent anyone from doing serious work - it only makes them a bit slower.
There are certain situations where you really need 32 and even more RAM. Serious rendering projects, running a large number of VM, etc. But these are really in minority and Apple balanced a computer to offer maximum benefit to most, solid solution to a few and a bad solution to a really small number of users.
Of course, there is a huge amount of users who THINK they need 32Gb RAM. But then again, there are people who buy hex-core computers for gaming. People think a lot of things.
You clearly don't know how much RAM is required and follow the rule "more must be better".
Also, while the lack of MagSafe is bad and having to use adapters is a mild inconvenience - you willfuly ignore all the benefits:
1. much better screen
2. much faster hard drive
3. performance increase all around - probably one of the fastest laptops for everything but gaming (wait for benchmarks, you'll be surprised)
4. much better mobility
5. innovative Touch Bar (everyone who tried it agrees it's really good, the only people who claim it's a gimmick are those that didn't even try it)
6. much faster I/O with the largest number of Thunderbolt 3 ports on the market
7. able to run two 5K displays and four (four!) 4K displays. What other laptop can do that?
8. de facto the best trackpad on the market
These are some of the most 'pro' laptops on the market if you ask me. And Schiller didn't have to pay me a dime, because it's the truth.