The solution is simple: If you feel the product isn't worth the expense, don't buy it.
TBH, Apple COMPLETELY screwed this up.
This is what I've been waiting for. Better, even.
Why remove *essential* and necessary ports?
Which ports do you consider essential and why does this sound like the same bellyaching when Apple moved to USB (Type-A) and pulled the rest of the PC world along with it?
Why remove MagSafe?
Why keep it? Why would you prefer to use a proprietary PSU can connector when USB-C cables and PSUs with a USB out-port are universal and cheap?
If you really need a magnetic connector because you're weirdly tripping over your power cable and the shallow USB-C still won't pop out properly, even though the original MagSafe was born out of a replacmetnt for a long power cable that went relatively deep into your Mac, then why not get one of the 3rd-party solutions?
Personally, I love that the wonderful USB-C will be the go-to connector for the entire industry for power, data, and video. This means lower costs for power cord replacments and being able to have multiple power cords in various places without the high cost of needing to pay Apple for extra PSUs.
These were completely fine, and all of these technologies are still extremely relevant.
They were fine. So was VGA and parrell port printer cables when Apple moved to USB. Do you still want that back? How about the CD/DVD drives? No, it's less relevant since it's not being replaced with a propriety solution and Macs then had a useable battery life of 2-3 hours and now they can get you through a full work day.
And what the hell is the pricing on these? Completely unnecessary to jack up the price by $200+.
Why is it unnecessary? How can you determine what is necessary or unnecessary for Apple? What you mean to say is "I wish they didn't make it more expensive for me"; and that's fine. You don't have to like that it's more expensive, or that these wonderful features don't appeal to you. You even have the right to complain that they aren't using Kaby Lake processoers that don't yet exist for Apple's needs. It don't mean you sound reasonable, but you have the right to say stupid things.
N0 Mac Pro or MBA update? This was a complete joke.
No desktop Mac updates. A lot of wish they had updated these machins. They didn't. Get over it.
As for the the MacBook Air, it was updated today. It's not the entry-level 13" MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar.
I think it's time to say goodbye to Tim.
Did you create a new account, Sog?
What I don't understand is why these people just hang around and whine. It is pretty clear where Apple is heading: wireless connections across the board and a second screen where the keyboard used to be. If you don't like the tech and you don't like the price then just buy something else. Why is that so hard?
does anyone know if the SSD is removable ? if yes I will just go for the 1Tb version and upgrade later to a 2Tb SSD when they become available from third parties.
Not likely... It's a PCI-e.... Probably wired right into the MB.
The solution is simple: If you feel the product isn't worth the expense, don't buy it.
TBH, Apple COMPLETELY screwed this up.
This is what I've been waiting for. Better, even.
Why remove *essential* and necessary ports?
Which ports do you consider essential and why does this sound like the same bellyaching when Apple moved to USB (Type-A) and pulled the rest of the PC world along with it?
Why remove MagSafe?
Why keep it? Why would you prefer to use a proprietary PSU can connector when USB-C cables and PSUs with a USB out-port are universal and cheap?
If you really need a magnetic connector because you're weirdly tripping over your power cable and the shallow USB-C still won't pop out properly, even though the original MagSafe was born out of a replacmetnt for a long power cable that went relatively deep into your Mac, then why not get one of the 3rd-party solutions?
Personally, I love that the wonderful USB-C will be the go-to connector for the entire industry for power, data, and video. This means lower costs for power cord replacments and being able to have multiple power cords in various places without the high cost of needing to pay Apple for extra PSUs.
These were completely fine, and all of these technologies are still extremely relevant.
They were fine. So was VGA and parrell port printer cables when Apple moved to USB. Do you still want that back? How about the CD/DVD drives? No, it's less relevant since it's not being replaced with a propriety solution and Macs then had a useable battery life of 2-3 hours and now they can get you through a full work day.
And what the hell is the pricing on these? Completely unnecessary to jack up the price by $200+.
Why is it unnecessary? How can you determine what is necessary or unnecessary for Apple? What you mean to say is "I wish they didn't make it more expensive for me"; and that's fine. You don't have to like that it's more expensive, or that these wonderful features don't appeal to you. You even have the right to complain that they aren't using Kaby Lake processoers that don't yet exist for Apple's needs. It don't mean you sound reasonable, but you have the right to say stupid things.
N0 Mac Pro or MBA update? This was a complete joke.
No desktop Mac updates. A lot of wish they had updated these machins. They didn't. Get over it.
As for the the MacBook Air, it was updated today. It's not the entry-level 13" MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar.
I think it's time to say goodbye to Tim.
Did you create a new account, Sog?
What I don't understand is why these people just hang around and whine. It is pretty clear where Apple is heading: wireless connections across the board and a second screen where the keyboard used to be. If you don't like the tech and you don't like the price then just buy something else. Why is that so hard?
You mean the entire keyboard going away? If so, I don't see that. The top row of keys are infrequency used and usually require some sort of looking. I certainly blindly hit the keyboard backlight buttons blindly with 100% accuracy like I can type out this message. I think we could see the keys become displays once the tech is cheap enough, but I don't think that's even close to being feasible.
Yes, MacOS is a far better OS than Windows... But, because of the price differential it's not enough to get me to buy a Mac (Particularly a MacBook Pro) -- and the hardware is, at best, a wash.
Actually, I can buy 2 or 3 Windows machines for the price of a MacBook Pro. Or, if I want to go used, even more. And, because they are upgradeable, used Windows machines are very viable. Actually, the upgradeability and extra legacy ports make the Windows based hardware even more attractive: For example: I'm typing this on a 15", 8Gb, I7 with a 500Gb drive that cost a total of less than $200 -- so I can get 10 of them for the price of a MacBook Pro. And, I can plug in just about any peripheral I might come across (except USB-C).
Actually, as a general user (email, web, some spreadsheet & word processing), Mac's have only two main selling points for me: 1) Apple's security and infrastructure - plus the fact that they do not collect and sell my data (at least not as their main source of revenue) 2) Integration with my IPhone. +) If I were a student and carried a laptop with me, it's extreme portability would be a third reason.
I am looking forward to Apple putting out a general user (non-pro) machine that is competitive with the Windows machines. And,, actually, I am thinking that that may end up being a direct competitor to the ChromeBooks which are dirt cheap. Apple already has the infrastructure to drive their own version of the chromebook line. Could that be the next MacBook?
I understand what you are saying, and agree (to a degree) with some of your points. Someone can certainly purchase (new) maybe a couple of Windows PC's over the lifetime of a Mac for about the same price (but not equivalent specs including things like weight, size, SSD performance, RAM performance, and of course OS optimization). I just bought my son a PC back in the spring, and I can tell you that to get reasonable performing H/W (new), it is costing a good $750+ (Canadian), and it is not on par with a Mac at that price (but quite usable). It also requires FW software, getting a version of Office if such apps are required (being a student he is mostly online with Google Docs and similar from school), etc. Just to note - I got him a more economical model, on-sale for $550, but it was not even an "i3" CPU (similar).
It is not nearly as nice to use as a Mac (bigger, heavier, have to remove all of the bloatware), but certainly OK for him as a student. I wasn't going to buy him a Mac due to the costs and he is not old/mature enough to take care of it or appreciate it.
I don't believe that Apple has any interest in competing in even the "mid market", let alone the lower end with Chromebooks. They possibly could in the mid market ($600-700 USD) with an Ax series CPU, but given the compatibility issue with 3rd party s/w, it is not clear that they would go this route. It has a lot of possible benefits to expand footprint with margin, but that whole x86 compatibility really complicates the go-to-market.
I do find the pricing on the new MBP's to be "high", and that isn't saying it from a personal perspective ("it is more than I want to pay, so I don't like it"). I am looking at it from a business perspective. Is that high level of pricing (and it can get really bad with a high USD compared to other currencies) going to overall shrink the Mac total market? Is going higher end pricing, and losing some share, Apple's intention? Sure seems to be, and of course we can only tell in time if it was a good strategy.
Good points... But you did also illustrate why I brought up ChromeBooks. In addition to them falling right into the probable Apple direction of everything wireless (they are the ultimate wireless), they are also becoming pervasive in schools. The kids learning and working with them will become increasingly comfortable with them and, when it comes time for them to purchase their own, will they shell out $2,000 for a Mac that they are unfamiliar with or $200 for a Chromebook that they grew up with? I think it is a question that Apple will have to address at some point -- hopefully sooner rather than later.
The tech on this new computer is pretty cool, but there are still questions to be answered about the usability. Also, this new event was pretty much a flop. So where did Apple go wrong?
1. Pricing - Apple literally had no reason to jack up their prices by $200+. Why are they charging 200 bucks more as a replacement to an extremely outdated computer that *barely* brings it back on par with modern-day tech? Simply a cash grab. And why do they raise the price by $400 for the 15 inch? A complete joke. I was actually considering getting one of these, but now, it's simply a joke. I can make something better than a Mac Pro for that money, much less a crappy 15" LAPTOP. I get that Apple is supposed to be "premium" and "innovative", but now you're just paying for the name now, not the innovation.
2. Ports - While I do see USB-C as the new standard, we are not even close to there yet. Many of these ports (USB, HDMI, SD) are still extremely relevant. Why remove them? I get that they want to bring the future faster, but this is too extreme. And to all of you comparing this to the remove of the CD drive, the CD drive was already a fading technology when it was removed. And what about a lightning port? How am I supposed to connect this directly to my iPhone 7? Did nobody at Apple think this through? They are literally DESTROYING their own ecosystem by removing connectivity with their own devices.
3. Other announcements - This was a complete flop. Where are the MacBook Airs, Mac Pros, and Minis? What the hell is Apple doing? Do they just want to get rid of these computers? Seems like they don't care, they just want the most money out of their most profitable computers. AirPods release date? Another flop. These computers appeal to such a wide audience, and could boost Mac sales by so much, it doesn't make sense that Apple completely ignores them.
Usually I am very happy with Apple updates, but this was a complete joke. I was seriously considering buying a nice new 15" Pro to replace by 2012 13", but the pricing and port availability make it unviable. Looks like my blazing-fast 13" with an SSD will have to keep going for a while.
Apple literally had no reason to jack up their prices by $200+.
The US dollar has gone to shit.
now you're just paying for the name
Look at Microsoft and then shut up.
While I do see USB as the new standard, we are not even close to there yet. Many of these ports (ADB, SCSI, PS/2) are still extremely relevant. Why remove them?
You, 1998.
And what about a 30-pin Dock Connector? How am I supposed to connect this directly to my iPod? Did nobody at Apple think this through?
You, 2002. And ignoring that female and male connectors are completely meaningless…
They are literally DESTROYING their own ecosystem by removing connectivity with their own devices.
Yeah I think it looks great! Only problem for me is I have a MBP that is only 6 months old. So this won't be on my shopping list. If that wasn't the case however I would get the new MBP.
I have the first retina MBP from 2012, it's in mint condition and is still blazingly fast. Apple has really changed my idea of how long a computer lasts. Even though it's 4 years old, it literally feels like brand new and faster than any other computer I use. My job assigned me a brand new Dell laptop this year and it's a dog compared to my MBP. I actually don't intend to even think about a new one for at least another 2-3 years. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Apple cuts me off with an updated OS that I can't use before that.
I'm still using a late-2008 MBP and it's fine for everything except video editing. I still use it for video editing, but it's not frame accurate, because it can't keep up with the frame rate. And it does take an incredibly long time to process the video - a 10 minute video can take several hours to write the file. The machine still looks brand new. So yes, it did cost more than competitive laptops when I bought it, but it turned out to be great value because it's lasted all this time. I did upgrade memory, swapped out the hard disk twice and replaced the battery twice. Unfortunately, the current machines don't enable that anymore.
My PC laptops at work generally only last a year or two. Some years ago, I had a Lenovo in which the paint literally wore away on the top surface from the acid in my skin.
I'd love the new MBP, but I don't think I can rationalize it because this 2008 machine is still doing so well. But I might buy it anyway. Or...I might wait just one more year to see if we get next generation processors by then and also because there should be cheaper USB C connectors and adapters by then.
I had a good laugh at all of the people to immediately panned the AirPods as being no good as they would not stay in their ears...although not a single soul had ever touched the product (since it wasn't available).
Except that they seem to be exactly the same shape and size as the wired Pods and those don't stay in my ears and I know other people with the same problem. (Every wired Apple Pod I've ever owned has eventually stopped working in that you can hear a signal when the pod is not in one's ear, but when you put it in your ear, the signal disappears.) So I think it was a legit criticism. There's a reason why other ear buds come with flexible and removable tips and provide tips in various sizes. But it's Apple, so it's form over function. They're probably made for Jonathan Ive's ear.
Yeah I think it looks great! Only problem for me is I have a MBP that is only 6 months old. So this won't be on my shopping list. If that wasn't the case however I would get the new MBP.
I have the first retina MBP from 2012, it's in mint condition and is still blazingly fast. Apple has really changed my idea of how long a computer lasts. Even though it's 4 years old, it literally feels like brand new and faster than any other computer I use. My job assigned me a brand new Dell laptop this year and it's a dog compared to my MBP. I actually don't intend to even think about a new one for at least another 2-3 years. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Apple cuts me off with an updated OS that I can't use before that.
I'm still using a late-2008 MBP and it's fine for everything except video editing. I still use it for video editing, but it's not frame accurate, because it can't keep up with the frame rate. And it does take an incredibly long time to process the video - a 10 minute video can take several hours to write the file. The machine still looks brand new. So yes, it did cost more than competitive laptops when I bought it, but it turned out to be great value because it's lasted all this time. I did upgrade memory, swapped out the hard disk twice and replaced the battery twice. Unfortunately, the current machines don't enable that anymore.
My PC laptops at work generally only last a year or two. Some years ago, I had a Lenovo in which the paint literally wore away on the top surface from the acid in my skin.
I'd love the new MBP, but I don't think I can rationalize it because this 2008 machine is still doing so well. But I might buy it anyway. Or...I might wait just one more year to see if we get next generation processors by then and also because there should be cheaper USB C connectors and adapters by then.
If you get the 15", it would be at least 4x faster than the one you have for processing video. It would likely be even faster because some processing uses OpenCL now so the more powerful GPU will help a lot. The SSD would be an improvement too if you have a HDD. Waiting several hours to export 10 minutes of footage is far too long. There are export times here at 1080p and 4K:
The export on modern computers is around real-time (5 min clip = ~5 min export) for 1080p but the hardware accelerated exports are even faster. The 13" would be about half the speed of the 15". CPUs aren't improving much any more - around 10% per year - so next year's MBP won't offer much improvement. USB C will be more widely adopted next year so those products will be cheaper but if you don't have many USB devices plugged in at the same time, you can probably get away with 1 or two new cables.
When it comes to upgrading internals, the RAM is maxed out at 16GB in the 15" and soldered in; even if it had the old slots, it couldn't be upgraded further. Being able to upgrade the storage was nice but it used SATA which was stuck at 6Gbps (real world around 500MB/s). PCIe SSDs now are 3GB/s so 6x faster than the fastest SSD in an old machine. You can still upgrade the SSD too, OWC offers an upgrade. The battery life is also far better with new machines with over 8 hours of battery life. Old machines didn't last that long when new because the parts used a lot of power, maybe 5 hours and they'd degrade to 3 hours over a few years. Even after a few years, assuming the battery hasn't had a fault, a new machine will still manage over 5-6 hours.
You can't upgrade the SSD in these, probably; they appear to be soldered in. In any case, the replacement SSD upgrades offered by third parties were only about half the speed of the original. And the new SSD is twice that.
When Steve came back and ran Apple from 1999- 2010 we got the iMac, the G3 tower, the G4 tower, G5 Tower, Mac Pro, the "Pixar lamp" iMac, the switch to Intel processors, iTunes and the iTunes store, TV and movie rentals and purchases, Apple TV, a new Mac OS built from the ground up with a Unix kernel, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the titanium PowerBook G4, the iBook, the MacBook Pro aluminum redesign, the Apple Cinema Display lineup with up to 30" flat panel, the iSight camera, FaceTime, iOS.
With Tim Cook in charge since 2010- 2016 we have thinner iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, the Apple Watch, and the decline and slow death of the Mac.
Really miss you Steve!
You mean the iMac, which was virtually identical to the G3 all-in-one that came before, except packaged in a gorgeous new enclosure that dropped all legacy ports, causing a HUGE uproar at the time?
Yeah.
Incidentally, the parallel doesn't end there: back then, the only legacy connections retained were the networking ones: infrared, modem, and Ethernet. These days, Bluetooth and wifi are retained.
I remember well the 2008 MacBook Pro revision (don't nail me down, but I'm pretty sure Steve was still overseeing Apple back then). I quote a good friend and colleague of mine: "What's 'pro' about a laptop without a PCMCIA slot?"
I don't get it. People are honestly critical of the 4 TB3 ports!! I would rather rather have the functionality and bandwidth of TB3 than an old USB-A or DVI port. TB3 is more than worth having to purchase an inexpensive adapter.
I was actually impressed by the new machines. OLED still isn't mainstream and I like the touchbar. Discrete graphics in the higher end machine is a plus. The discrete graphics would work well with the iPad Pro using Duet and having such a set up is quite portable and would serve nearly conceivable need I would ever have. Including the ability to run Windows in VMWare.
I am seriously looking at picking up one of these machines.
Why do people keep thinking that those of us who would have liked a USB Type A port don't ALSO want some Type C love, too? How about 3 Type C/Thunderbolt 3 ports and one Type A/USB 3 port? How often is anyone going to need more than 3 C ports? If you are using all 4 ports there is a very good chance that one of them is connected to a Type A device via an adapter.
And it's not about the expense, it's about the convenience. Forget or lose your adapter just once and you're screwed if a friend or client hands you a flash drive or you want to borrow someone else's cable to charge your phone or your watch or wireless headphones. If your MBP sits at your desk 90% of the time it's probably not going to be an issue. But some of us take our laptops out into the real world where USB C is probably a couple years (or more) away still from being common place. Don't expect accessory makers to simply start shipping all of their devices with USB C cables anytime soon because they will need to maintain compatibility with the Type A ports on the vast majority of their customer's computers and chargers.
Exactly. USB A ports are going to be around for a VERY long time. They are like the headphone jack and the VGA port. Just because Apple is standardizing on USB C, doesn't mean the rest of the industry is.
Yes it does. That's EXACTLY what it means.
I'm all for forwarding technology (e.g. when Apple dropped the floppy disk) when it makes sense. But USB C is still too new. Even when Apple moved to USB, back in the Power Mac days, they still included some of the legacy ports on the Power Mac G3. They allowed for an easy transition to the new standard. These days, Apple goes full steam ahead with a new standard, users be damned. It's sad, really. But hey, need to connect a legacy device? There's an adapter for that!
They included basic networking and analog audio. EVERYTHING else was replaced by USB and FireWire at the time. You could, however, get a SCSI expansion card - for the desktop towers only. Sort of an internal dongle.
Just curious how a company that prides itself on it's integrated ecosystem has its two brand new 2016 devices, iPhone 7 and MacBook Pro that can't connect to each other without an out of box dongle or cable purchase.
You can't be serious. What solution do you propose other than never moving from USB-A?
Um, do what they did with every other MBP port migration in the past. When they moved to FW800, there was a model of MBP that had both FW800 and FW400. When they moved to Thunderbolt they had a model that had both Thunderbolt and FW800. In both of those cases, the outgoing port would easily have been considered a niche market, and yet Apple included it so that users could have time to transition their devices/peripherals to the new standard while still being able to conveniently use their old devices.
USB Type A is easily the most prolific port standard in computer history, not niche like FW was. Literally every device most of us own and use daily is going to require an adapter. You'll either need to buy many adapters, one for each device, or be constantly swapping them. And always carry one with you in case someone hands you a thumb drive with files you need. You'll need a different cable or adapter depending if you are charging your phone/watch/table/etc from your laptop vs wall charger.
While I see your point, this is crucially different, precisely because it isn't niche: the entire industry IS standardizing on USB-C connectors, which means that this is a very short-lived, temporary issue - much like the initial USB transition spearheaded by Apple.
They included both FW 800 and FW400 for a while probably because they didn't want to alienate an already small user base. They aren't risking that here, despite all the (somewhat amusing, somewhat pathetic) whining on some of the tech forums. They are merely spearheading and forcing a move that is already happening, for everybody.
If they included legacy USB, they would dilute the message, clutter the design, and slow down a transition that needs to happen as quickly as possible, for the benefit of everybody.
Um, do what they did with every other MBP port migration in the past. When they moved to FW800, there was a model of MBP that had both FW800 and FW400. When they moved to Thunderbolt they had a model that had both Thunderbolt and FW800. In both of those cases, the outgoing port would easily have been considered a niche market, and yet Apple included it so that users could have time to transition their devices/peripherals to the new standard while still being able to conveniently use their old devices.
USB Type A is easily the most prolific port standard in computer history, not niche like FW was. Literally every device most of us own and use daily is going to require an adapter. You'll either need to buy many adapters, one for each device, or be constantly swapping them. And always carry one with you in case someone hands you a thumb drive with files you need. You'll need a different cable or adapter depending if you are charging your phone/watch/table/etc from your laptop vs wall charger.
While I see your point, this is crucially different, precisely because it isn't niche: the entire industry IS standardizing on USB-C connectors, which means that this is a very short-lived, temporary issue - much like the initial USB transition spearheaded by Apple.
They included both FW 800 and FW400 for a while probably because they didn't want to alienate an already small user base. They aren't risking that here, despite all the (somewhat amusing, somewhat pathetic) whining on some of the tech forums. They are merely spearheading and forcing a move that is already happening, for everybody.
If they included legacy USB, they would dilute the message, clutter the design, and slow down a transition that needs to happen as quickly as possible, for the benefit of everybody.
And Thunderbolt wasn't a directly replacement for FW800. It was utilizing the mDP port that Apple invented and adopted by VESA and that pot interface was then adopted by Intel for TB. You could use the TB for FW (and Ethernet USB and DVI and many other communication standards it's protocol agnostic) but it's primary reason for being included was that it was available and it didn't affect the display-out port on the Mac.
This USB-C hate I'm seeing blows my mind. FINALLY after decades of countless, shitty port interfaces we finally have a reversible, versatile, high-bandwidth, protocol agnostic, future-proof port. If this had happened last year I would've bought a new MBP then.
And let's remember that Apple has to once again pull the rest of the world into the present. Not the future, but the present—that's how poor we are at accepting change and why nearly all other vendors keep pushing the status quo until a company like Apple comes along and forces their hand. And let's also keep in mind that Apple will no longer be getting the same revenue and profit from their PSU's with the attached power cable now that we can buy any PSU with sufficient Wattage and USB-C cable or our choice, either from a 3rd-party vendor or even as a stand-alone product from a Win OEM that has a really nice option (like one with a built-in dock. I certainly plan to have to multiple PSUs and USB-C cables for charging now that it's not $80 each and will be useful for multiple generations of MBP.
On the balance, as Apple's "premium" notebook offering, this thing is pretty unimpressive.
The best part, by far, is the touch strip. Hopefully developers are able to exploit its usefulness by integrating critical functions into easy-to-use gestures and buttons. However, for people like me, who use my notebook in clamshell mode 90% of the time, the touch strip is useless (unless apple releases an external keyboard with one integrated).
The downsides, however, are numerous:
1) One-generation old processors, in a BRAND NEW model computer;
2) HDD storage still heinously overpriced (high end Samsung 1TB SSDs can be had for $300, why is it a $400 UPGRADE to 1TB??);
3) Ram still limited to 16GB (this doesn't affect me, but there are some professionals who will feel the pinch of this);
4) All USB-C. I find it shocking that, for the first time in Apple's history, if I go out and buy an iPhone 7 and a new MacBook Pro, the two are incompatible with one-another without a dongle/converter.
At the very least, the new MacBook Pro should come with some sort of "docking strip" that plugs into a USB-C port and sports a host of legacy inputs. But nothing like that is forthcoming. Really, this thing should have had 3 USB-C ports, a USB 3.0 port, and potentially an HDMI-mini port. Then, over time, phase out the USB 3.0 port and the HDMI port.
1) The LATEST AVAILABLE processors, in a brand new model computer. Not an issue.
2) The $300 Samsung drive is only a fraction as fast. Yes, this sucks if you're primarily after capacity and speed is "fast enough". I'd love to have the capacity at the price in my new laptop (I upgraded my 2011 MBP with a 1 TB SSD years ago). Chances are, though, that I'll appreciate the additional speed when I work on multi-GB projects on the job, and I understand that Apple prioritized speed over cheap.
3) Yep. 16 GB is not so cool. I think it will be enough, especially since memory compression has eased the bottleneck considerably - pretty much completely, in fact, for my purposes (audio production and performance). I'm a little worried that this might come back and bite me in the ass five or six years down the line, though. But by then, it will hopefully have had a good and revenue-generating run. My current machine's limitation is the dual-core CPU (early 2011 13"), and that didn't really hit until after about four or five years. 8GB officially supported RAM was *just* becoming a bottleneck, but then Apple released Mavericks and memory compression made that go away. (Upgraded to 16 anyway )
4) Mine is on order with about €200 worth of adapters. But I've figured them into the budget since the first leaks this spring, and any pro user always has a bag of cables and adapters along at all times. Same difference. One of those adapters is a Thunderbolt 3-->TB2 adapter that plugs the new machine into my Belkin Thunderbolt Dock. There are (and will be) plenty of USB-C Docks out there that make dealing with dongles irrelevant for most stationary purposes, at least.
But, oh! - the promise of ONE CONNEKTAR to rule them all! After decades of dealing with a plethora of crap...it will be a while, of course, but I'll gladly deal with adapters for a while (always had to have the right cable along, and hope for the tech to have a drawerful of adapters if you happened to forget yours - how many goddamn monitor connectors has Apple had over the past fifteen years?) if it means that this bit will simplify itself away in a few years' time...enough cables in my life as an audio guy, anyway...
Yes, Apple should have transitioned to the ports and in the best sense of the word. In this case, over the course of a few models. Forcing users to pick up dubious quality adaptors (Apple's are far from premium) just adds to size and weight, possible loss and cost. Cutting off from the past in one foul swoop shows very little thought for upgraders (the vast majority of potential buyers).
The obsession for thinness has just gone too far and is now compromising the systems themselves. Limiting the (pro?) machines to 16GB RAM due to power constraints should never have got past the first gate at the design stage and neither should the connectivity issues with the latest iPhone. No 'pro' machine should come with just two ports either. Late 2016 and 'pro' machines should be starting at 512GB SSD across the board, especially given the starting prices. They are, economically speaking, mostly out of reach of your average user. If you happen to live in the UK, even further out of reach. As they can't be upgraded after purchase, the cost is pushed still higher if you don't want to have an underspecced machine limiting your work. They've even taken a step back by making the power brick extension cord an a paid extra. Eliminating the lit Apple logo perhaps just compounds what has gone wrong with the thinking behind these new machines.
Apple could put a survey up on its site and ask its users what they want. It would be so simple. Then build a machine that was attractive to the majority based on what users want instead of what Apple management wants us to want. Apple's ideas should be extra to our needs. I believe these machines will flop for many reasons (pricing being the biggest problem) and the lack of decent (fallback) Mac hardware for professionals could lead to users abandoning the platform. There is simply nothing available in the rest of an increasingly complex product matrix that fits the bill for professionals. Although they have the ports, the components are just too out of date for the asking price.
Not enough profits and margin to justify Tim Cook to update.
He'd rather sell you $2000 laptops that make much better profit margins.
This is Tim Cook's Apple. Always trying to maximize margins at the expense of the customer
Well, that should be good for the profits and stock price.
Not at all. Profits come after sales. Let's see how many they actually sell. If sales take a tumble so will the stock price. As of today, there are still no new iMacs for the Christmas season. iPads are suffering a sales drop and the iPhone 7 will probably peak this quarter. Mac sales might not be the cash driver they once were but a major drop in sales would be more than enough to set alarm bells running. IMO, the new MBP line is unsellable in large number at current prices. There will be a spike for pent up demand but it could be far short of what we are used to. Next Apple earnings could prove interesting.
The solution is simple: If you feel the product isn't worth the expense, don't buy it.
But what if he never intended to buy one anyway? His message was that they are incredibly overpriced. That view has largely been shared by virtually all the tech media coverage. In fact, I have yet to read an article that doesn't comment on the high pricing. The solution is not 'don't buy' although that may well be the outcome for many.
The solution is simple: If you feel the product isn't worth the expense, don't buy it.
But what if he never intended to buy one anyway? His message was that they are incredibly overpriced. That view has largely been shared by virtually all the tech media coverage. In fact, I have yet to read an article that doesn't comment on the high pricing. The solution is not 'don't buy' although that may well be the outcome for many.
Comments
But you did also illustrate why I brought up ChromeBooks. In addition to them falling right into the probable Apple direction of everything wireless (they are the ultimate wireless), they are also becoming pervasive in schools. The kids learning and working with them will become increasingly comfortable with them and, when it comes time for them to purchase their own, will they shell out $2,000 for a Mac that they are unfamiliar with or $200 for a Chromebook that they grew up with? I think it is a question that Apple will have to address at some point -- hopefully sooner rather than later.
Look at Microsoft and then shut up.
You, 1998.
You, 2002. And ignoring that female and male connectors are completely meaningless…
Show us where connectivity was removed.
My PC laptops at work generally only last a year or two. Some years ago, I had a Lenovo in which the paint literally wore away on the top surface from the acid in my skin.
I'd love the new MBP, but I don't think I can rationalize it because this 2008 machine is still doing so well. But I might buy it anyway. Or...I might wait just one more year to see if we get next generation processors by then and also because there should be cheaper USB C connectors and adapters by then.
Except that they seem to be exactly the same shape and size as the wired Pods and those don't stay in my ears and I know other people with the same problem. (Every wired Apple Pod I've ever owned has eventually stopped working in that you can hear a signal when the pod is not in one's ear, but when you put it in your ear, the signal disappears.) So I think it was a legit criticism. There's a reason why other ear buds come with flexible and removable tips and provide tips in various sizes. But it's Apple, so it's form over function. They're probably made for Jonathan Ive's ear.
http://maxcamera.net/computers/2014vs2015macbookpro/
The export on modern computers is around real-time (5 min clip = ~5 min export) for 1080p but the hardware accelerated exports are even faster. The 13" would be about half the speed of the 15". CPUs aren't improving much any more - around 10% per year - so next year's MBP won't offer much improvement. USB C will be more widely adopted next year so those products will be cheaper but if you don't have many USB devices plugged in at the same time, you can probably get away with 1 or two new cables.
When it comes to upgrading internals, the RAM is maxed out at 16GB in the 15" and soldered in; even if it had the old slots, it couldn't be upgraded further. Being able to upgrade the storage was nice but it used SATA which was stuck at 6Gbps (real world around 500MB/s). PCIe SSDs now are 3GB/s so 6x faster than the fastest SSD in an old machine. You can still upgrade the SSD too, OWC offers an upgrade. The battery life is also far better with new machines with over 8 hours of battery life. Old machines didn't last that long when new because the parts used a lot of power, maybe 5 hours and they'd degrade to 3 hours over a few years. Even after a few years, assuming the battery hasn't had a fault, a new machine will still manage over 5-6 hours.
Yeah.
Incidentally, the parallel doesn't end there: back then, the only legacy connections retained were the networking ones: infrared, modem, and Ethernet. These days, Bluetooth and wifi are retained.
I remember well the 2008 MacBook Pro revision (don't nail me down, but I'm pretty sure Steve was still overseeing Apple back then). I quote a good friend and colleague of mine: "What's 'pro' about a laptop without a PCMCIA slot?"
They included basic networking and analog audio. EVERYTHING else was replaced by USB and FireWire at the time. You could, however, get a SCSI expansion card - for the desktop towers only. Sort of an internal dongle.
While I see your point, this is crucially different, precisely because it isn't niche: the entire industry IS standardizing on USB-C connectors, which means that this is a very short-lived, temporary issue - much like the initial USB transition spearheaded by Apple.
They included both FW 800 and FW400 for a while probably because they didn't want to alienate an already small user base. They aren't risking that here, despite all the (somewhat amusing, somewhat pathetic) whining on some of the tech forums. They are merely spearheading and forcing a move that is already happening, for everybody.
If they included legacy USB, they would dilute the message, clutter the design, and slow down a transition that needs to happen as quickly as possible, for the benefit of everybody.
This USB-C hate I'm seeing blows my mind. FINALLY after decades of countless, shitty port interfaces we finally have a reversible, versatile, high-bandwidth, protocol agnostic, future-proof port. If this had happened last year I would've bought a new MBP then.
And let's remember that Apple has to once again pull the rest of the world into the present. Not the future, but the present—that's how poor we are at accepting change and why nearly all other vendors keep pushing the status quo until a company like Apple comes along and forces their hand. And let's also keep in mind that Apple will no longer be getting the same revenue and profit from their PSU's with the attached power cable now that we can buy any PSU with sufficient Wattage and USB-C cable or our choice, either from a 3rd-party vendor or even as a stand-alone product from a Win OEM that has a really nice option (like one with a built-in dock. I certainly plan to have to multiple PSUs and USB-C cables for charging now that it's not $80 each and will be useful for multiple generations of MBP.
2) The $300 Samsung drive is only a fraction as fast. Yes, this sucks if you're primarily after capacity and speed is "fast enough". I'd love to have the capacity at the price in my new laptop (I upgraded my 2011 MBP with a 1 TB SSD years ago). Chances are, though, that I'll appreciate the additional speed when I work on multi-GB projects on the job, and I understand that Apple prioritized speed over cheap.
3) Yep. 16 GB is not so cool. I think it will be enough, especially since memory compression has eased the bottleneck considerably - pretty much completely, in fact, for my purposes (audio production and performance). I'm a little worried that this might come back and bite me in the ass five or six years down the line, though. But by then, it will hopefully have had a good and revenue-generating run. My current machine's limitation is the dual-core CPU (early 2011 13"), and that didn't really hit until after about four or five years. 8GB officially supported RAM was *just* becoming a bottleneck, but then Apple released Mavericks and memory compression made that go away. (Upgraded to 16 anyway
4) Mine is on order with about €200 worth of adapters. But I've figured them into the budget since the first leaks this spring, and any pro user always has a bag of cables and adapters along at all times. Same difference.
One of those adapters is a Thunderbolt 3-->TB2 adapter that plugs the new machine into my Belkin Thunderbolt Dock.
There are (and will be) plenty of USB-C Docks out there that make dealing with dongles irrelevant for most stationary purposes, at least.
But, oh! - the promise of ONE CONNEKTAR to rule them all! After decades of dealing with a plethora of crap...it will be a while, of course, but I'll gladly deal with adapters for a while (always had to have the right cable along, and hope for the tech to have a drawerful of adapters if you happened to forget yours - how many goddamn monitor connectors has Apple had over the past fifteen years?) if it means that this bit will simplify itself away in a few years' time...enough cables in my life as an audio guy, anyway...
The obsession for thinness has just gone too far and is now compromising the systems themselves. Limiting the (pro?) machines to 16GB RAM due to power constraints should never have got past the first gate at the design stage and neither should the connectivity issues with the latest iPhone. No 'pro' machine should come with just two ports either. Late 2016 and 'pro' machines should be starting at 512GB SSD across the board, especially given the starting prices. They are, economically speaking, mostly out of reach of your average user. If you happen to live in the UK, even further out of reach. As they can't be upgraded after purchase, the cost is pushed still higher if you don't want to have an underspecced machine limiting your work. They've even taken a step back by making the power brick extension cord an a paid extra. Eliminating the lit Apple logo perhaps just compounds what has gone wrong with the thinking behind these new machines.
Apple could put a survey up on its site and ask its users what they want. It would be so simple. Then build a machine that was attractive to the majority based on what users want instead of what Apple management wants us to want. Apple's ideas should be extra to our needs. I believe these machines will flop for many reasons (pricing being the biggest problem) and the lack of decent (fallback) Mac hardware for professionals could lead to users abandoning the platform. There is simply nothing available in the rest of an increasingly complex product matrix that fits the bill for professionals. Although they have the ports, the components are just too out of date for the asking price.
Eat your heart out.