Apple Macbook Pro Late 2016 leaks, news and eventually owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Rodney]

I returned my MacBook Pro 2016 a few weeks after getting it. I just couldn't justify the cost of the machine to myself.
I didn't really feel much better performance from it than from the 2012 MBP it was to replace, and that was a big disappointment to me.
I liked the Touch Bar very much, but that alone was not enough for me to shell out so much money.

 

[DaveF]

I am glad that Apple discovered the bug that was causing inconsistent battery life results. And kudos to Consumer Reports for having the readership and "press" to "encourage" Apple to do more than tell new MBP owners that they were "holding it wrong." There is no doubt in my mind that this bug would not have been fixed as quickly as it was without Consumer Reports getting involved.

Battery life aside, the new 2016 MBP are NOT pro machines.

Mark

It's good that this bug was fixed. And we can discuss whether this is another sign of Apple's software quality slipping. But fixing this bug does nothing for typical users. It really only fixes CR's test protocol and helps web developers, the target user of the buggy feature.

Which is not to say that the new MBP battery life meets expectations or even Apple's claims. But whatever problems a person was having with battery life will remain unchanged by this big fix.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Interesting....

http://www.techradar.com/news/new-m...m_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer_trtw

 

[Mark Booth]

I've seen it all now! A new product that Other World Computing is working on. It's an add-on bottom for the 2016 MacBook Pro.

https://www.owcdigital.com/DEC/?utm...edium=banner&gclid=CJWI1t2zx9ECFYpffgodTdoC4Q

Apple, you know you've got a problem when a third-party company (and long-time Mac supporter) advertisers their product with this slogan:

"MAKE YOUR MACBOOK PRO, AGAIN"

Ha!

It appears the add-on will tap off a single USB C port and add three USB 3 ports, one SD Card port and one Ethernet port to the MacBook Pro. Plus more battery life.

Mark

 

[DaveF]

That's pretty clever.

 

[Alf S]

As clever as the "Airbar"?

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...-making-your-macbook-screen-touchable.350720/

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Clever? It adds volume and weight to a slimline MacBook Pro. No thanks. Would rather use a dongle.

The Airbar is far more clever. I may actually purchase that.

 

[DaveF]

My impression is it's got battery in there as well. It seems to combine the functions of a battery pack, misc card readers, and some ports. All in a almost seamless design.

It's not the kind of thing I'd buy. But I can see it appealing to some.

 

[DaveF]

As for the Airbar: This kind of thing has been around for a decade or so.

http://www.modbook.com/modbookpro

 

[Ronald Epstein]

As for the Airbar: This kind of thing has been around for a decade or so.

http://www.modbook.com/modbookpro

Not even in the same league....or price, for that matter.

Why would I buy a separate tablet for well over $1k when I can have a simple attachment for about $100.

 

[Rodney]

David Pogue wrote a column on his experience with the 2016 MBP. Interesting stuff.

 

[DaveF]

This is a must-read article if you've any interest in the MBP's battery life.

“Tested: The truth behind the MacBook Pro's 'terrible' battery life | Macworld”

http://www.macworld.com/article/315...d-the-macbook-pros-terrible-battery-life.html

 

[Adam_S]

The only thing that really bugs me is the lack of a memory card slot. I've put it through paces offsite for work this week and it was simultaneously running photoshop illustrator bridge Lightroom and avid media composer and toggling between them and running at full tilt the whole time. My wife has had a new desktop, laptop and surface pro in the last year and they are all screaming fast amazing machines right until you install anti virus and anti malware software, then their performance drops through the floor about 80 % to typical slow as molasses pc performance. I'm really loving my MacBook for most part, my first personal mac.

 

[DaveF]

My wife has had a new desktop, laptop and surface pro in the last year and they are all screaming fast amazing machines right until you install anti virus and anti malware software, then their performance drops through the floor about 80 % to typical slow as molasses pc performance.

So don't install performance-sapping AV garbage software on your wife's PC. Use Windows Defender, which doesn't kill performance.

 

[Rodney]

So don't install performance-sapping AV garbage software on your wife's PC. Use Windows Defender, which doesn't kill performance.

Spot on, Dave. Robert O'Callahan recently blogged about how AV software may be making your computer less safe, and recommends ditching them, keeping your OS up-to-date, and using Windows Defender.

 

[Sam Posten]

Ditching them aka move to a Mac =)

 

[Alf S]

Not in a million years!

 

[Rodney]

Ron:

I picked basically the same configuration, only the SSD size is different:

15-inch MacBook Pro - Space Gray

$3,099.00
• 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 16GB 2133MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based SSD
• Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory
• Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
• Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
• Touch Bar and Touch ID
• Force Touch trackpad
• Accessory Kit

I returned my MacBook Pro 2016 a few weeks after getting it. I just couldn't justify the cost of the machine to myself.
I didn't really feel much better performance from it than from the 2012 MBP it was to replace, and that was a big disappointment to me.
I liked the Touch Bar very much, but that alone was not enough for me to shell out so much money.

Well, it came where I needed to replace my 2012 MBP, so I purchased the MBP 2016 that I returned last December. Only this time I bought it refurbished, and got an upgrade of a 1TB drive for less than the cost of my first purchase.

Though I am still not WOW'ed by this machine, I am liking the longer battery life I am getting. I wonder if High Sierra will be a big impact, with the new file system and better Safari browser. I'm thinking of trying out the Safari Technology Preview. The biggest want for me is to kill auto-play of videos on websites.

 

[DaveF]

There’s a lot to like about the new MacBook Pros, but they need some changes to be truly great and up to Apple’s standards.

Here’s what I’m hoping to see in the next MacBook Pro that I believe is technically possible, reasonable, widely agreeable, and likely for Apple to actually do, in descending order of importance:

https://marco.org/2017/11/24/fixing-the-macbook-pro

The ongoing tech pundit negativity I might dismiss as weird form of elitism...but a friend and professional developer recently went on a rant about the his new MacBook Pro — no escape key, useless touch bar, and terrible keyboard. And he returned it.

So these design choices are causing problems for non-bloggers too.

 

[Mark Booth]

More bad news for Apple's 2016 MacBook Pro redesign... The new butterfly keyboard switches are proving unreliable:

https://theoutline.com/post/4277/dont-buy-the-new-macbook-pros-even-on-sale-in-my-opinion

Will the 2018 MacBook Pro design actually be thicker than the 2016 to accommodate better keyboard switches and maybe stick one standard USB port on there?

Mark