It seems Apple for years planned to abandon the market for modular desktops. No Mac Pro planned before now, and Mac Mini "important, but nothing to say".
1. With the previous plans for hardware the macOS could be kept on leftovers from iOS. That has to change. There is a need to add teams to deliver Pro features that otherwise wouldn't have been required. It will take a couple of years before macOS is getting back. Pro applications? Simply buy Adobe and kill the Windows versions of their tools when the new Mac Pro line is ready.
2. The Pro series have been either "weird technology and extreme pricing" - IIfx, 840AV, G5, Mac Pro or "cool but affordable" like the first PowerMac generation, IIcx, and Beige G3. I do hope Apple will understand that desktop Macs are tools. They have to look great – but not like the 20th anniversary Mac, Cube or the current Mac Pro. Better introduce something soon than wait 2 more years.
3. Monitors... what is the plan for Apple? In October they killed their last monitor. Now they want to introduce new monitor(s). Will they update them this time? Price them to sell? Apple just pushed the price on the UltraFine 5K up by 33% to the "original price" - the same week as Dell started shipping the first 8K monitor. Apple should have kept the discount. Inferior quality and increased cost doesn't say "we want pro users to stay".
4. All of this is due to the reception by users of the MBP16. So how will this affect the MBP? Will it keep the touchy-smiley-bar, mediocre keyboard, and insane pricing? Probably not. I expect the current version to get Kaby Lake soon, but the next version will be more like Dell XPS.
Why not have both the normal function key row (and a real escape key) AND a touch bar??
Also, any Cintique-like functionality better not be limited to a new iPad. I bought an iPad Pro 12.9" partially for the Pencil, so any new Such features that clearly don't require new hardware better not be limited to new hardware. If they punish early adopters of the iPad Pro and Pencil, I'll be incensed.
They only require new hardware when new hardware is required. It's not a conspiracy, and they're not in the business of pissing people off for fun. Apple devices have the longest useful lifespan in the biz.
2. The Pro series have been either "weird technology and extreme pricing" - IIfx, 840AV, G5, Mac Pro or "cool but affordable" like the first PowerMac generation, IIcx, and Beige G3. I do hope Apple will understand that desktop Macs are tools. They have to look great – but not like the 20th anniversary Mac, Cube or the current Mac Pro. Better introduce something soon than wait 2 more years.
The 2008-2010 Mac Pro falls under "cool but affordable". I thought the Mac Pro introduced in 2009 was a bargain -- I'm still using mine.
I suspect what they might do is include an entry level MacBook Pro that doesn't include touch bar (but still has a non-ULV processor, and can be upgraded to a full blown i7 with tons of RAM etc. I was almost certain I'd be buying a new MacBook Pro last fall, but I looked at the prices and realized that I'd be paying the cost of an Apple Watch in order to get what's essentially an Apple Watch built into my MacBook. And i said no. (I actually wrote to Tim about it, who knows if he read it.)
I would actually love to see them move back to the design of the non-retina MacBook Pros, and include MORE. They could leave the optical drive out and instead create a space for modular upgrades (I know it's a very non-Apple thing to do, but it'd cater to the pro market very well.) If it's empty your laptop is lighter. If it's full you have additional battery, or an optical drive (for people like my sister who's a lawyer who HAS to deal with DVDs often on the go because that's how they get evidence given to them.) You could have other modules like a discrete GPU. There are probably also a number of other options that you might like to have built into your MacBook that I haven't thought of. Sadly I doubt this'll happen.
Because it's not a very good idea. Building a drive bay in order to let people plug in an optical drive incurs design compromises that are unnecessary for most people. People in that use case can simply plug a drive into a USBC port, which doesn't incur compromises on everybody else.
I'm a pro and I have no desire for what you've described. I want a thin, light, powerful machine. I have that. Battery life is good when on the go, and if stationary all day I can plug in.
Because you don't need it does not make it a bad idea. Others do need it and want it. Saying all notebooks should be thick with lots of ports and modular connections is as silly as saying all notebooks should be thin and light.
You missed the first paragraph -- it's not a good idea because it saddles everyone with compromise while only some get benefit. I'm not saying anything about all notebooks -- I'm saying Apple doesn't build thick devices with lots of ports and legacy support. It's never been their MO and won't start now. If you need a thick portable with legacy ports a MBP is not for you.
3. Monitors... what is the plan for Apple? In October they killed their last monitor. Now they want to introduce new monitor(s). Will they update them this time? Price them to sell? Apple just pushed the price on the UltraFine 5K up by 33% to the "original price" - the same week as Dell started shipping the first 8K monitor. Apple should have kept the discount. Inferior quality and increased cost doesn't say "we want pro users to stay".
This is the first I'm hearing about this. It does seem like an odd move--IF it's Apple's decision. They aren't Apple's product. What does Apple care if you buy an LG monitor for your Mac or a Dell?
Finally an iPad Pro Cintiq rumor. I really hope they're doing it. It's such an obvious feature that should've been there from day one. In these days with USB-3 and C and stuff, it should be a nobrainer over wire. Wire is good! It doesn't have to be wireless! I've actually been holding off the Touchbar version, waiting to see how it's going.
You can already use it like a Cintiq — get AstroPad.
What difference does it make about the Touch Bar if the iPad will eventually replace the Mac altogether.
Apple execs said plainly Mac is part of the future. Trucks.
Ford sales allot of F150 Pickup Trucks. And then they also sell F250, F350, and F450 making a pretty good profit on those.
If Apple sales 1 million Mac Pros they could probably sell two Pro computers. The first compact with limited options and then the second expandable with higher option - maybe like the pizza box with a rack mount capability.
No matter what after two years out, Apple needs to either refresh the hardware with spec bumps ( like they just announced but sooner) or lower the price like the do with the iPhone and iPad lines.
There's no way in hell Apple is ditching the Touchbar. It's a fantastic addition with great potential, adds unlimited flexibility and expandability to the keyboard. Everyone I know who has the new MBP loves it. Who comes up with these shitty rumors?
There is nothing in the Touchbar that appeals to me other than TouchId and I'm not sure it's worth $300 for a MEH feature.
But they definitely need to get this feature out to computer and keyboard they make including the MacBook. If they really believe it is the game changer they seemed to think it is they need have it on every computer so that developers think it's worth investing their time and money.
And it's time to kill the MacBook Air and replace it with an iPad based iOSBook Pro laptop.
Apple was allegedly taken aback by poor "professional" response to the 2016 Retina MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and amped up attention to the segment.
Two thoughts here:
1. I am genuinely thrilled that Apple seems to be listening to pro-users and understanding their importance
2. As a corollary, I am also thrilled that the kinds of mindless fanboys who rabidly attack every criticism of Apple are not the kinds of people who appear to be calling the shots in Cupertino. You people know who you are.
Apple said that they spent many years working on the touchbar. This would have been through the time frame that they released the New MacBook and other updates. Maybe that's part of why they they were caught unawares by the criticism to the Stagnent Mac Pro.
I also think Apple wasted too much time and resources on the Apple Car/Project Titan. apple had far too much that they need to make better before releasing a car.
Apple was allegedly taken aback by poor "professional" response to the 2016 Retina MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and amped up attention to the segment.
Two thoughts here:
1. I am genuinely thrilled that Apple seems to be listening to pro-users and understanding their importance
2. As a corollary, I am also thrilled that the kinds of mindless fanboys who rabidly attack every criticism of Apple are not the kinds of people who appear to be calling the shots in Cupertino. You people know who you are.
Funny that, because it was the 'mindless fanboys' who called it right. While your sensible folk were screaming that Apple had abandoned them, that the Mac Pro was done, there were some who were saying that Apple hadn't abandoned the Mac, and that a new machine would be released … and that when it did show up, none of the naysayers would like it.
I'm going to say that this will still be the case, because the sensible folk, such as yourself, will be expecting something akin to the old cheese grater design: a large loud box with lots of empty space for extra drives, memory and cards. If that's what you are expecting then you need to go back and listen to what Schiller said and what he didn't say.
He never said 'expandable'. He did say 'modular'.
I think we're going to get a series of modules that sit on top of one another, linked through something similar to the smart connector that will send power and data between them. Wireless would be great, but I don't think Apple can send enough power to run the modules or enough data at a reasonable speed.
One thing they could do is roll the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro into the same case. The only difference would be that the there would be no expansion connections on the Mac Mini.
Oh, and I will name one 'mindless fanboy' who absolutely nailed it: StrangeDays said that the vast majority of Apple's power users are running souped up iMacs, and Schiller said that is exactly what they're doing. The number of users who will need a huge expensive power stack (and make no mistake, this thing will not be cheap) will remain fairly small. He also said that there are many types of professional, and most of them are served by the current line up. It was only the narrow-minded who couldn't see that there are other Apple customers who might not fall into the same professional category as themselves.
Apple had not abandoned the Mac; they took a wrong step. They thought that external expansion through Thunderbolt was the way forward. That didn't pan out, but of course they're not going to know that immediately. I think Intel can share a lot of the blame for this. It seems to me that Apple is carrying the Thunderbolt torch on its own, while Intel is busy planning ways to replace processors as its main line of business. I also don't like the fact that reliance on Thunderbolt ties Apple to Intel chipsets. Maybe it's time for Apple to go its own way on this.
The thermal expansion problem was something that should have been avoided however. It seems that Apple is close to the same situation that they found themselves in with IBM many years ago when the PowerPC was stuck in a rut. Big Blue could make it run faster, but it was also running hotter, and Jobs didn't like that. Maybe this is another reason to think beyond Thunderbolt.
And I think the only person saying the Mac is finished is Sog, but as most people know, Sog can't see very far.
Perhaps we are thinking of different people. The people I'm thinking of as fan boys did not call it right. They took a "love it or leave it" attitude. They ridiculed the legitimate concerns raised by long-time pro users. They are the kinds of clowns who give grown-up Apple fans a bad name.
I suppose that in some sense, the clowns can claim that they "got it right" because they just mindlessly defend Apple, so whatever Apple does is right, which means they got it right. It's Calvin Ball. I suppose in their minds, the fact that Apple is coming around to doing the right thing means that they were right all along. And they can just kind of gloss over the very strong indications that Apple would *NOT* have come around to doing the right thing if it were not for the vocal and legitimate complaints of pro users. And had Apple not come around to doing the right thing, they would have claimed victory in Apple choosing to cast aside those whiney pro-users. Heads they win, tails we lose.
It's a fallacy to look at the existing installed base and conclude that nobody needs a Mac Pro. The existing installed base is coping with the fact that the existing Mac Pro doesn't meet their needs. Some of them cope with a souped-up iMac. Some cope by buying a used 2010 Mac Pro and souping that up. Some cope by going Hackintosh. Some cope by leaving the platform.
Having said that, I agree that a real Mac Pro is, as John Gruber said, something that appeals to a low single digit percentage of the Mac user base. Maybe just 1 percent. But 1 percent out of 100 million is 1 million, and that's not trivial. There's a lot to be gained by appealing to the top 1%.
BTW, contrary to your assumptions, I'm not at all wedded to the cheese-grater design. I'm not necessarily opposed to the cylinder design, if they would have designed it in a way to allow greater flexibility. I need two CPUs and one GPU, not the other way round. And I don't need a lot of PCI expansion or 3.5 inch HDD bays. Yet I recognize that there are people who do need those things, and I recognize that some folks need more GPU than CPU. Flexibility is needed for pros, and the 2013 Mac Pro lacked flexibility.
One way to achieve flexibility is the good old big aluminum tower. Another way to achieve flexibility is multiple smaller devices, connected together with TB cables. Again, the cylinder design had hints of that approach to being modular, but it failed in execution.
So in terms of what a good future Mac Pro might look like, I don't disagree with you.
Bottom line for me is, I'm glad people complained. I'm glad Apple listened and adapted. And I'm glad that Apple management doesn't have the mindset of reactionary "love it or leave it" clowns.
Again, the only person who said 'love it or leave it' was Sog, and he doesn't count. Most sensible people did say that there would be a new Mac Pro, though we had no idea what form it would take. (We still don't).
I'm not sure that the TB cable solution is going to work anymore. I thought it was the way forward (and so did Apple), but now I'm not so sure. The problem I have with it is that it ties Apple to Intel, and I'm not sure that's such a good place to be.
Apple was allegedly taken aback by poor "professional" response to the 2016 Retina MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and amped up attention to the segment.
Two thoughts here:
1. I am genuinely thrilled that Apple seems to be listening to pro-users and understanding their importance
2. As a corollary, I am also thrilled that the kinds of mindless fanboys who rabidly attack every criticism of Apple are not the kinds of people who appear to be calling the shots in Cupertino. You people know who you are.
He also said that there are many types of professional, and most of them are served by the current line up. It was only the narrow-minded who couldn't see that there are other Apple customers who might not fall into the same professional category as themselves.
What else do you expect him to say? Steve also said one that time in response to an employee to if someone dropped their phone (as it would break to easily) that 'great, then they'll have to buy another'. A dickhead response. Design is how it breaks? Don't think that Apple doesn't paint a rosy picture of everything, even it it isn't always or ever the case. They done fucked up with this design. Now they are managing that situation. The design of the current Mac Pro was a miscalculation. That's why they are doing this PR-move now, before WWDC comes. Why do you think so many pros were choosing iMacs? It doesn't imply the iMac is perfect for them. It may in fact imply the Mac Pro wasn't compelling enough. For me, a good argument could be made for the latter.
Have to disagree on that one, because it's pretty obvious that there are many kinds of professionals, and unless you're saying Apple is lying then the majority of them don't need a Mac Pro.
The reason that so many pros chose iMacs was because the iMac suited their needs; if they didn't then they would do what other professionals do when the platform no longer serves their needs: they move to another platform. If you buy a machine that doesn't meet your needs then you're not a professional, you're an idiot.
It seems Apple for years planned to abandon the market for modular desktops. No Mac Pro planned before now, and Mac Mini "important, but nothing to say".
1. With the previous plans for hardware the macOS could be kept on leftovers from iOS. That has to change. There is a need to add teams to deliver Pro features that otherwise wouldn't have been required. It will take a couple of years before macOS is getting back. Pro applications? Simply buy Adobe and kill the Windows versions of their tools when the new Mac Pro line is ready.
2. The Pro series have been either "weird technology and extreme pricing" - IIfx, 840AV, G5, Mac Pro or "cool but affordable" like the first PowerMac generation, IIcx, and Beige G3. I do hope Apple will understand that desktop Macs are tools. They have to look great – but not like the 20th anniversary Mac, Cube or the current Mac Pro. Better introduce something soon than wait 2 more years.
3. Monitors... what is the plan for Apple? In October they killed their last monitor. Now they want to introduce new monitor(s). Will they update them this time? Price them to sell? Apple just pushed the price on the UltraFine 5K up by 33% to the "original price" - the same week as Dell started shipping the first 8K monitor. Apple should have kept the discount. Inferior quality and increased cost doesn't say "we want pro users to stay".
4. All of this is due to the reception by users of the MBP16. So how will this affect the MBP? Will it keep the touchy-smiley-bar, mediocre keyboard, and insane pricing? Probably not. I expect the current version to get Kaby Lake soon, but the next version will be more like Dell XPS.
1. What are the specific pro features for macOS? I assume you have some in mind, if you think "teams" need to be added? Pro apps are not macOS features though, so I assume something else. And why should Apple buy Adobe for billions, just so they can sell you the same software you could buy from Adobe?
2. Fully agree. Make it elegant but useful. However, I wouldn't expect this next MP to be anything other than "expensive" - and there to be a very vocal outcry about that. Hopefully though it will have a much longer life (for the pro that purchases it) through upgrades, and so the cost is spread out over many years.
3. Monitors. This is a business that in general, I don't see Apple providing much value in these days - Apple provides most of its value in products through software. I think that working with partners to provide the specs necessary is the better path. The complaint prior to Apple working with LG was that Apple monitors were too expensive and overly designed. When Apple worked with LG, the complaints were that it was cheap looking (but it was cheaper than Apple ever would have sold on for).
I am not going to complain about Apple making their own - it is a blip on the radar of costs and revenue. Unlike most on this forum, I don't get my knickers in a knot when Apple does or doesn't do something that doesn't affects me.
4. I get the requirement for more than 16GB of RAM for some, but let's not pretend that the new MBP with TouchBar didn't sell well.
good. the touchbar puts needless strain on the battery and cpu. without the touchbar, battery life will surely increase. what we really need is a discrete graphics chip in the 13" macbook pros.
I'm sure that discrete GPU will do wonders for the battery life you profess to be so concerned with.
- (mini) displayport support - 5K iMac target display (dual link adapter assumed required) - user upgradable drive - 32G ram option
I can imagine in dedicated, customized workflow the touch bar both elegant & useful, but at what sacrifice to so much else...?
Was this in part one more thing to feed developers?
It has DisplayPort support on all four TB3 ports.
The iMac thing is an iMac limitation, no?
The mDP support is absent from the TB3~TB2 adapter - this lack of support is so egregious that no less than FIVE Apple sales & tech (including a 'Genius') told me it should work... One needs to find a 3rd party solution - many promised but none I could find in stock (even) and at $200+ for a dock - WTF ? And yes I am at the expletive level for Apple these days...
The 5K iMac target display option seems a bandwidth limitation in TB2, so I might have hoped for a dual link display adapter/cable, or 'Y' adapter cable with the TB3, and even 60hz 4K only arrived with 10.12.2. If Apple is working on it they might let us know, and understand these things can be a challenge.
Touchbar seemed gimmicky to me, with one more layer of learning and possible compatibility conflict in already crowded landscape, with so many other limitations & it was so new I kept working on my 17" mbp...
I would add 17" to my list of 'give up touch bar' as well - I really don't get the shrinking of everything to squinting size, and just finished a trade show where the bigger screen was a tremendous asset - they can pry my 17" macbook pro from my cold dead hands...!
I'll say it again at the risk of 'troll' flames, but to me the Razer Pro 17" seems on the mark for pro specs (portable desktop), and I question all the limitations imposed by the decision to move beyond 4K to 5K - was it really worth it? The bleeding edge?
I honestly can't answer that because I still like Snow Leopard, maintain as much legacy compatibility as I can, ask if the annual churn of MacOS is more a cash cow for developers than a help for users, and am ready to swear off any mac beyond Mavericks...
I am ready also ready to rip Photos off every computer I own if Apple does not give us an opt out for the image tagging that I ask if must be related to either the future AI or the new governance...? It can't be uninstalled according to the trash error message I get because it is now an 'essential' part of the MacOS - really? One must have a Photos App that tags all images?
Is there something increasingly surreptitiously pernicious about the MacOS since the days of the invocation of the Patriot Act & passing of Jobs...?
...and I'll be damned if I ever knowingly upload confidential or client information up to a cloud service beyond in house user control... What is wrong with this picture...?
- (mini) displayport support - 5K iMac target display (dual link adapter assumed required) - user upgradable drive - 32G ram option
I can imagine in dedicated, customized workflow the touch bar both elegant & useful, but at what sacrifice to so much else...?
Was this in part one more thing to feed developers?
It has DisplayPort support on all four TB3 ports.
The iMac thing is an iMac limitation, no?
The mDP support is absent from the TB3~TB2 adapter - this lack of support is so egregious that no less than FIVE Apple sales & tech (including a 'Genius') told me it should work... One needs to find a 3rd party solution - many promised but none I could find in stock (even) and at $200+ for a dock - WTF ? And yes I am at the expletive level for Apple these days...
[ ... ]
I honestly can't answer that because I still like Snow Leopard, maintain as much legacy compatibility as I can, ask if the annual churn of MacOS is more a cash cow for developers than a help for users, and am ready to swear off any mac beyond Mavericks...
I am ready also ready to rip Photos off every computer I own if Apple does not give us an opt out for the image tagging that I ask if must be related to either the future AI or the new governance...? It can't be uninstalled according to the trash error message I get because it is now an 'essential' part of the MacOS - really? One must have a Photos App that tags all images?
Is there something increasingly surreptitiously pernicious about the MacOS since the days of the invocation of the Patriot Act & passing of Jobs...?
You can get a USB-C to mDP adapter for like $15-20 on Amazon to hook up your Cinema Display.
As for Photos, nobody is forcing you to use it. I find it funny that you're worried about security but you're running an 8 year old version of OS X that hasn't had a security update in almost 6 years.
Comments
1. With the previous plans for hardware the macOS could be kept on leftovers from iOS. That has to change. There is a need to add teams to deliver Pro features that otherwise wouldn't have been required. It will take a couple of years before macOS is getting back. Pro applications? Simply buy Adobe and kill the Windows versions of their tools when the new Mac Pro line is ready.
2. The Pro series have been either "weird technology and extreme pricing" - IIfx, 840AV, G5, Mac Pro or "cool but affordable" like the first PowerMac generation, IIcx, and Beige G3. I do hope Apple will understand that desktop Macs are tools. They have to look great – but not like the 20th anniversary Mac, Cube or the current Mac Pro. Better introduce something soon than wait 2 more years.
3. Monitors... what is the plan for Apple? In October they killed their last monitor. Now they want to introduce new monitor(s). Will they update them this time? Price them to sell? Apple just pushed the price on the UltraFine 5K up by 33% to the "original price" - the same week as Dell started shipping the first 8K monitor. Apple should have kept the discount. Inferior quality and increased cost doesn't say "we want pro users to stay".
4. All of this is due to the reception by users of the MBP16. So how will this affect the MBP? Will it keep the touchy-smiley-bar, mediocre keyboard, and insane pricing? Probably not. I expect the current version to get Kaby Lake soon, but the next version will be more like Dell XPS.
The 2008-2010 Mac Pro falls under "cool but affordable". I thought the Mac Pro introduced in 2009 was a bargain -- I'm still using mine.
Overall, i agree with most of your post, though.
You missed the first paragraph -- it's not a good idea because it saddles everyone with compromise while only some get benefit. I'm not saying anything about all notebooks -- I'm saying Apple doesn't build thick devices with lots of ports and legacy support. It's never been their MO and won't start now. If you need a thick portable with legacy ports a MBP is not for you.
The iMac thing is an iMac limitation, no?
If Apple sales 1 million Mac Pros they could probably sell two Pro computers. The first compact with limited options and then the second expandable with higher option - maybe like the pizza box with a rack mount capability.
No matter what after two years out, Apple needs to either refresh the hardware with spec bumps ( like they just announced but sooner) or lower the price like the do with the iPhone and iPad lines.
But they definitely need to get this feature out to computer and keyboard they make including the MacBook. If they really believe it is the game changer they seemed to think it is they need have it on every computer so that developers think it's worth investing their time and money.
And it's time to kill the MacBook Air and replace it with an iPad based iOSBook Pro laptop.
I also think Apple wasted too much time and resources on the Apple Car/Project Titan.
apple had far too much that they need to make better before releasing a car.
Again, the only person who said 'love it or leave it' was Sog, and he doesn't count. Most sensible people did say that there would be a new Mac Pro, though we had no idea what form it would take. (We still don't).
I'm not sure that the TB cable solution is going to work anymore. I thought it was the way forward (and so did Apple), but now I'm not so sure. The problem I have with it is that it ties Apple to Intel, and I'm not sure that's such a good place to be.
Have to disagree on that one, because it's pretty obvious that there are many kinds of professionals, and unless you're saying Apple is lying then the majority of them don't need a Mac Pro.
The reason that so many pros chose iMacs was because the iMac suited their needs; if they didn't then they would do what other professionals do when the platform no longer serves their needs: they move to another platform. If you buy a machine that doesn't meet your needs then you're not a professional, you're an idiot.
2. Fully agree. Make it elegant but useful. However, I wouldn't expect this next MP to be anything other than "expensive" - and there to be a very vocal outcry about that. Hopefully though it will have a much longer life (for the pro that purchases it) through upgrades, and so the cost is spread out over many years.
3. Monitors. This is a business that in general, I don't see Apple providing much value in these days - Apple provides most of its value in products through software. I think that working with partners to provide the specs necessary is the better path. The complaint prior to Apple working with LG was that Apple monitors were too expensive and overly designed. When Apple worked with LG, the complaints were that it was cheap looking (but it was cheaper than Apple ever would have sold on for).
4. I get the requirement for more than 16GB of RAM for some, but let's not pretend that the new MBP with TouchBar didn't sell well.
The 5K iMac target display option seems a bandwidth limitation in TB2, so I might have hoped for a dual link display adapter/cable, or 'Y' adapter cable with the TB3, and even 60hz 4K only arrived with 10.12.2. If Apple is working on it they might let us know, and understand these things can be a challenge.
Touchbar seemed gimmicky to me, with one more layer of learning and possible compatibility conflict in already crowded landscape, with so many other limitations & it was so new I kept working on my 17" mbp...
I would add 17" to my list of 'give up touch bar' as well - I really don't get the shrinking of everything to squinting size, and just finished a trade show where the bigger screen was a tremendous asset - they can pry my 17" macbook pro from my cold dead hands...!
I'll say it again at the risk of 'troll' flames, but to me the Razer Pro 17" seems on the mark for pro specs (portable desktop), and I question all the limitations imposed by the decision to move beyond 4K to 5K - was it really worth it? The bleeding edge?
I honestly can't answer that because I still like Snow Leopard, maintain as much legacy compatibility as I can, ask if the annual churn of MacOS is more a cash cow for developers than a help for users, and am ready to swear off any mac beyond Mavericks...
I am ready also ready to rip Photos off every computer I own if Apple does not give us an opt out for the image tagging that I ask if must be related to either the future AI or the new governance...? It can't be uninstalled according to the trash error message I get because it is now an 'essential' part of the MacOS - really? One must have a Photos App that tags all images?
Is there something increasingly surreptitiously pernicious about the MacOS since the days of the invocation of the Patriot Act & passing of Jobs...?
As for Photos, nobody is forcing you to use it. I find it funny that you're worried about security but you're running an 8 year old version of OS X that hasn't had a security update in almost 6 years.