Apple Unveils New MacBook Pro Featuring OLED Touch Bar, Touch ID - Powered By Intel Skylake Processor (arstechnica.com) 361
At an event on Thursday, Apple unveiled the new 2016 MacBook Pro. The redesigned MacBook Pro comes with "incredible extreme" all-metal body. The main attraction of the new MacBook Pro is an OLED touch strip at the top that Apple is calling the Touch Bar. The Touch Bar comes with a fingerprint scanner Touch ID that users can tap to log-in quickly to their computer as well as make online payments. The touch strip offers on-screen button that changes according to the application you're running. Schiller, Apple SVP, said it was time Apple gotten rid of the dedicated function keys. The new MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than the existing model, and it is powerful too. It comes in two screen sizes: 13-inch, which weighs 3 pounds and measures 14.9mm -- down from 18mm from older MacBook Pro. The trackpad is larger too, Apple says, twice as larger than the older one. Also, it's Force Touch trackpad. ArsTechnica adds: Both laptops are still recognizably MacBook Pros, but in keeping with Apple's design priorities they've got slimmer profiles and smaller footprints. This is made possible in part by the move to USB Type-C ports like the one in the MacBook, all four of which support Thunderbolt 3. All four ports can be used to charge the system, too. Compared to the measly one port in the MacBook, the MacBook Pros are much more appealing to people who plug lots of stuff into their computers at once. Apple has also made the cowardly decision to retain the headset jack. Both systems include new Intel Skylake processors -- dual-core chips in the 13-inch Pro and quad-core chips in the 15-inch model, just like before. The 13-inch Pros ship exclusively with Intel Iris 540 GPUs, while the 15-inch models ship with Polaris-based AMD Radeon graphics at the high-end.The 13-inch model MacBook Pro starts at $1,799, whereas the 15-inch model starts at $2,399.
No escape (Score:3)
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Apple Menu -> System Preferences... -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Tab -> Modifier Keys and select Esc for Caps Lock.
I mean, you had that mapped already, right?
Re:No escape (Score:5, Funny)
Apple Menu -> System Preferences... -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Tab -> Modifier Keys and select Esc for Caps Lock.
I mean, you had that mapped already, right?
PLEASE HELP I THINK I DID IT WORNG
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Thank you for explaining the joke to us. I'm sure no-one would have understood that, otherwise.
Re:No escape (Score:5, Informative)
No, we have mapped caps lock to ctrl.
Mapping it to ESC makes no sense.
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So you have to dig into some arcana to get keys to work when your competitors escape keys Just Work?
What irony.
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It does when it needs it. Virtual Fn keys. Which can also become controls or other things when the program wants them to.
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Virtual Fn keys
I prefer real f'n keys with real f'n tactile feedback. Virtual keys don't make any f'n sense to me.
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Then get a model M and annoy the hell of your office mates!
Re:No escape (Score:5, Funny)
Don't forget the $80 adapter from thunderbolt 3 to normal thunderbolt so you can plug in your $200 thunderbolt-to-usb dock where you can have a usb-to-ps2 adapter, connected to a ps2-to-xt keyboard adapter, though! IT'S MAGIC
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It's a thunderbolt/usb-c port, so you don't have to convert to usb. You can go straight from usb to ps/2, though I don't know if they make a usb-c to ps/2 adapter.
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Ok, so you buy a USB-C-to-Thunderbolt2 adapter, plug your Thunderbolt-to-USB adapter into that, and then plug your USB-to-PS/2 adapter into that.
Dongles on dongles.
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Hah, I suppose I would!
I'm happy with my 2012 MacBook Pro i7. I'll use it till I can't get OS X (er, macOS) upgrades anymore.
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I actually do have a circa 2001 split keyboard with no brand name on it anywhere and PS2 connectors plugged into a PS2-USB Dongle and then the KVM Switch Port 2 on the KVM is connected to the OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock and a 2013 Macbook Pro.
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Well, that's your f'n problem. Go buy some other f'n laptop that doesn't dynamically f'n adjust to the f'n program that's currently f'n running.
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You do realize that with Apple's implementation the virtual keys are keys, sliders, dials, color spectrums, etc, etc, etc, right?
Siri, press the escape key (Score:5, Funny)
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I'm sure apps that need escape, such as terminal and Vim, will have a way to get it mapped to the corner of the touch bar. And as others noted, there's always remapping that caps lock key.
No doubt someone will come out with a little hack to keep the escape key always in the corner.
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It appears as standard. When nothing maps to the the bar, esc is always there.
Now I want to see vi mappings for this bar!
Re:No escape (Score:4, Funny)
Sure. What a pleasure it would be to use vi, if only I had a touch-panel across the top of my keyboard for heavily-used commands like "escape", "colon", "slash", "single-quote", "h", "j", "k", "l"...
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Harder to hit without a physical key. Even not having the standard 4-4-4 spacing is a deal-breaker for me.
The suggested uses for the touch bar are stupid. Spelling suggestions? I'm looking at the screen, not the keyboard. Reconfiguring shortcut keys defeat the purpose of shortcut keys.
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It sounds like it's software configurable, and that there will be an API to control this, from how it's described. That would be the ideal solution, so if someone just wanted to put the old function keys back, they can do that, rather than having to hold the Fn key down, which sounds awkward - maybe even allowing it to be toggled. It sort of depends on how much control Apple allows, of course.
It's hard to say without using it, but this could turn into a neat feature. Function keys are nothing more than a
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And I don't see an escape key. :(
I guess you didn't watch the video of the Apple event, where the touch bar had, in many scenes, a button on the left hand edge marked "esc". (As I said in comments for the rumor article, it's not directly above the {~ `} key, so your muscle memory may have some issues with it.)
Actually there is a new model with an escape key (Score:2)
http://www.apple.com/macbook-p... [apple.com]
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You must not have looked to hard, I saw it multiple times during their presentation.
Touch Bar Escape Key? (Score:2)
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Is this where the fabled escape key has been banished to?
Yes - there were several scenes in the video of the Apple event showing a virtual key labeled "esc" on the left-hand edge of the touch bar (although, as I've noted elsewhere, it's not directly above the {~ `} key, which may get in the way of muscle memory).
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But you know that the traditional ESC key is on the upper left corner of the keyboard: which is the perfect place for it? Or why are you suggesting to use the _traditional_ ctrl key for ESC?
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The upper left corner of the screen is a terrible place for the ESC key for software that uses it a lot,
Software that uses a dedicated, isolated, important key a lot is terrible.
Escape is the key that stands alone. It's special, in the corner all by itself. It's there when you need it, and it's nearly impossible to fat finger it and hit the wrong key. If you need a meta or control key, use one of those. Escape is a functional key and should be used for a very small set of dedicated functions, such as terminating shit.
If you've got a list of 50 combos and sequences involving the escape key, fuck you. CTRL
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And years of using the escape key as it was is going to retrain my poor pinky (or in my deformed case, left ring finger) to stop all that in favor of caps-lock?
I'm not anti-touch bar I think this needed to be done for a while. I disagree that function keys were particular to an ancient mainframe (I use mine all the time), their meanings are obscure and app specific and the touch bar design is actually a good way of implementing something like that.
However I am also pro-escape key. It seems to me they could
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Congratulations Apple! (Score:3, Interesting)
You've introduced the capacitive touch bar my wife's 10 year old HP Pavilion Media laptop has been rockin' forever!
(I really do to this day think that part of the laptop is really cool, except when I swipe to change the volume and it doesn't work the first time)
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It's not as trivial as a simple touch bar. It's basically one big long retina touch screen. It's actually pretty cool.
Too bad the rest of the laptop is a steaming pile of wank, at a price that's even more ridiculous. I mean, not even an HDMI port?
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The touch bar on your wife's machine will change its controls to suit the app you're using?
Oh... no. It's just gimmicky media controls you can't operate by feel.
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I love it when Apple fanboys get their panties in a twist.
Holy Carpal Tunnel Batman (Score:3)
I can see some interesting use cases for that TouchBar, but dear God, when that Photoshop lady was demonstrating using the mousepad & TouchBar at the same time, I cringed. I mimicked it on my keyboard in front of me and my wrists cried out in pain -- I can't imagine how it'd be if the keyboard was in my lap (i.e. on a laptop).
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I do a lot of repetitive motion in my lap and my wrists are fine.
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Anyone that is doing much more than casual, every once in awhile Photoshop work...already is using something like a wacom tablet and pen.
You can get more control and that combine
Time to sell my Apple stock... (Score:5, Interesting)
Waited years for an update and this is it? Seriously? A touch bar? That's what they added? It took years to add something that other manufacturers added and abandoned?
What I'm most pissed about is that they are offering a "pro" system with a max of 16GB of RAM.
I'll be looking elsewhere and seeing what better, truly "pro" laptops can be hacked to run MacOS.
Re:Time to sell my Apple stock... (Score:5, Funny)
But... but... you forgot to mention they're using previous-generation processors in their brand-new laptops! That takes courage!
Re:Time to sell my Apple stock... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Time to sell my Apple stock... (Score:4, Interesting)
> But... but... you forgot to mention they're using previous-generation processors in their brand-new laptops! That takes courage!
Not really. The Kaby Lake equivalents of the Skylake CPUs they are using have not been released yet, so they are the current generation CPUs in those configurations.
Nothing upgradable, right? (Score:2)
I suppose neither RAM nor SSD can be upgraded or replaced.
I know I am miserable, but it gets expensive to buy maximum RAM from the beginning. And it sucks to have too little RAM down the road.
But with a non repairable/replacable SSD, who wants to spend too much money on a laptop?
Or am I wrong?
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You are actually right about the memory. Not sure about the SSD, which is ridiculously small. Come on, 256gb default on the 13"? Is this 2010? That's 200 bucks for a 512gb SD card. Oh wait, no SD card reader anymore...
Tiny screen (Score:2)
The market for 17" MacBooks only gets stronger.
Also, all 17" laptops use Optimus video which isn't compatible with Mac OS X.
Apple has completely abandoned pro users and depends on i-crap zealots to attack us and keep up quiet.
Professional users are thrilled, obviously (Score:2)
Nice summary (Score:2)
"The touch strip offers on-screen button..."
"Schiller, Apple SVP, said it was time Apple gotten rid of the dedicated function keys"
"Apple says, twice as larger than the older one"
Summary written by Tomik and Bellgarde: http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Tomik_and_Bellgarde [wikia.com]
Why not move on to touchscreen (Score:2)
As long as I'm complaining, I also don't understand why the 13" MBP is limit
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As long as I'm complaining, I also don't understand why the 13" MBP is limited to 8 Gig of Ram
It's not.
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$200 to add 8GB of RAM
$50 for the RAM and $150 for the Apple tax
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You can also get 2TB SSD in 15" MBP. If/when I upgrade that may be enough to drag me back to a 15" notebook.
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I've been an Apple user since 06 when they went Intel (strictly *nix for 22 years before that other than a brief, self abusive period using Windows in the late 90s) and I don't understand why the retina, multi-touch tech of the TouchBar isn't implement in the screen as well.
I've been an Apple user since 1985, using Unix most of that time -- UniPlus+ on a Lisa, then A/UX on a Mac II, then a bit of a hiatus running terminal programs to get into remote Unix systems until OS X came along. (And, let me tell you, it wasn't always fun.)
I was a happy Fingerworks TouchStream user during the last decade. I'm still sore at Apple for shutting them down when they bought out their multi-touch technology. I want all that cool gestural technology back.
I do not want it on my desktop displays,
So, cops can force you to unlock it, no 5th. (Score:2, Informative)
The Touch Bar comes with a fingerprint scanner Touch ID that users can tap to log-in quickly to their computer
The courts have said a few times that compelling someone to unlock their phone with their fingerprint is not a 5th amendment violation (forcing them to tell a password would be).
So don't plan on using this laptop for anything you're not willing to show to the authorities....or anyone else who can mock up a dummy fingerprint, which is surprisingly easy to do. They can probably just lift a print fr
Touchbar is an awesome solution (Score:2)
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That was one seriously weird thing about that part of the demo. Autocomplete suggestions down in the new touchbar? Do they think users are staring at the keyboard as they type rather than at the screen?
Of course people like Ive and Cook, who designed and approved this move, almost certainly don't do much of their own typing. But it seems like a breathtakingly brain-dead idea from a company that used to obsess over the end user experience.
How many TB3 bus's? video card at pci-e 3.0 X8? a (Score:2)
How many TB3 bus's? video card at pci-e 3.0 X8? as well?
2016 marks the end of Apple brand loyalty (Score:5, Insightful)
2016 marks the end of Apple brand loyalty. We have quite clearly reached the point where the roadmap Steve Jobs laid out has ended, and now Cook and Ives are on their own, screwing things up as they go.
The outrage about today's keynote at AppleInsider is palpable. Among the common complaints are:
- These computers are overpriced and underwhelming. The price of the entry-level MacBook Pro was bumped up hundreds of dollars, and all they did was increase the price and remove ports from it. (The entry-level model only has two Thunderbolt ports (USB, etc. have been removed), and one of the ports has to be used for charging! What kind of "Pro" computer is that???)
- The mind boggles that they removed the "esc" key from a supposedly "Pro" computer.
- They removed the MagSafe connector, which is arguably one of the greatest features of Apple's laptops.
- The only connections are Thunderbolt 3, meaning that you will need a dongle for ~anything~ you want to connect. Do you own an iOS device? Better hope you have a USB-C adapter for it.
- Removal of the SD drive.
Apparently Apple has also been sending out emails to some of its customers asking if they use features such as the headphone jack on their laptop. (Because of course, they're going to remove it from there as well.)
This company has lost its mind.
Re:2016 marks the end of Apple brand loyalty (Score:5, Interesting)
I was ready to buy the 15" model sight unseen, but now I'm reconsidering. The fact that they put only USB-C ports in the machine, and then have the balls to charge $19 - $25 for each adapter cable, is what pisses me off the most, because they know full well that none of their previous products shipped with a USB-C cable. So Apple is basically giving their most loyal users a big "fuck you": $3000 for a 15" MacBook Pro, and they want to nickel-and-dime us for $40 worth of adapters that should have shipped WITH the machine because they decided to not make it backward compatible with their own products. Yeah. Fuck you Apple.
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They can still get away with it, because Windows sucks and Linux is a pain in the ass.
I agree the new macbooks seem overpriced, but what's the alternative?
Re:2016 marks the end of Apple brand loyalty (Score:5, Funny)
OS/2?
Touch Bar is a disaster waiting to happen (Score:5, Informative)
Did you catch in one of the videos where the Touch Bar changed to show the Accept/Decline buttons of an incoming Facetime call? Imagine being in the middle of an important workflow, and as you move your finger to touch a virtual key, it suddenly changes its meaning, and because you shouldn't have to keep moving your eyes from the display to the keyboard, you end up affecting that call by mistake? The user should *never* have to look at the keyboard to confirm they are typing what they think they're typing. Hell, the way that Touch Bar works, even looking at it isn't good enough if the keys can change meaning right out from under your fingers.
Re:Touch Bar is a disaster waiting to happen (Score:5, Interesting)
Wanted to give this one mod points, but figured I'll have too much to say in this thread.
In any situation where the display can change out from under an in-progress action -- for example, an Outlook reminder popping up in the middle of a standard Windows keyboard-and-mouse workflow -- the very first thing that a well-integrated system should do is to check the interpretation of the next user action (click, keystroke, etc) against the pre-existing interaction state, explicitly accounting for human reaction times. If I've just hit Return, and that event is going to a confirmation dialog that was displayed 0.05 seconds ago, there is no way that I've seen and read the dialog.
But I have yet to use any system that does this consistently. If anybody's going to lead the way on it, I'd expect it to be Apple, or Microsoft with the Surface stuff -- but I'm betting that they haven't, at least not yet.
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Wanted to give this one mod points, but figured I'll have too much to say in this thread.
In any situation where the display can change out from under an in-progress action -- for example, an Outlook reminder popping up in the middle of a standard Windows keyboard-and-mouse workflow -- the very first thing that a well-integrated system should do is to check the interpretation of the next user action (click, keystroke, etc) against the pre-existing interaction state, explicitly accounting for human reaction times. If I've just hit Return, and that event is going to a confirmation dialog that was displayed 0.05 seconds ago, there is no way that I've seen and read the dialog.
But I have yet to use any system that does this consistently. If anybody's going to lead the way on it, I'd expect it to be Apple, or Microsoft with the Surface stuff -- but I'm betting that they haven't, at least not yet.
Good idea. Actually, from what I've seen, Firefox (of all places) is leading the way here. When certain popups show up (like file downloads and add-on installers), it doesn't let the user click to accept for a couple of seconds.
Too bad this idea hasn't been refined or caught on further among "UX experts."
Confirmation bias, of a sort (Score:2)
Today's announcements confirmed to me that I made the right choice getting a refurbished 2015 MacBook Pro this past spring. Not only do I have all the ports Apple chose to remove from this new laptop*, I don't have to put up with the inevitable problems that occur with the first generation of any Apple product where they've made some major hardware changes.
As far as the processor generation goes... it's probably been six or seven years since the CPU has been even a marginally limiting factor with anything I
No updates or price cut's to other apple hardware! (Score:2)
No updates or price cut's to other apple hardware!
Did the new microsoft surface all in one make them scrap / rework the new imac?
apple planing to kill all desktops? if they do at least let us run mac os server in a VM on any base hardware!
Are you !$&%@$ kidding? (Score:5, Insightful)
No new desktops at all. A laptop that has no video ports, no magsafe power, no SD card slot... just 4 stupid thunderbolt ports that will require a rats nest of dongles to make usable.
And Apple wonders why their revenues are nosediving?
Re:Are you !$&%@$ kidding? Seriously &%*(# (Score:4, Insightful)
This replaces a Magsafe charger port, two thunderbolt ports, HDMI port, and a SD card slot!
Even their so called wide gamut display uses the P3 color space, and is usually used for projectors. If you want to create content, the display should be a Adobe RGB based gamut. This laptop must be designed for consume only purposes, not to create content.
Really Apple? You must either be attempting to drive your fan base away from laptops or turning your laptops into consume-only devices like your iPhones. Which begs the question why is this laptop labelled "Pro"? Pro what?
Good / Bad (Score:2)
The bad: No 32GB? AYFKM?! Holy crap! JI can go EABOD. Perhaps they'll release an upgrade in the form a Tbolt dongle
Exasperating (Score:3)
I went from being a researcher and developer to being in technical management. I also spend much of my time on the road and on the go. I switched to Mac from dual-boot PC's shortly after OSX. It had everything I needed. It just worked. I closed the lid when the plane was about to land, and an hour later, voila. I could be in a terminal running screen on multiple servers, and 'alt-tab' to MS-Outlook to accept a meeting invite. I could go from coding in vim and compiling in a Unix environment to, *gasp*, editing a power point. I even run multiple VM's, and with a simple USB hub could have a complete office on the go. Even iTunes didn't use to be all that terrible. I'd laugh at all those PC people enslaved to the one bank of power outlets at the airport, while I was smugly charging both phones from my computer, confident I'd still have juice for the next flight. And it didn't hurt that the thing looked like a luxury car, and didn't feel like something that looked like it was trying to be a luxury car. Oh and lasted more than a year under substantial use. And lastly that my whole setup weighed less than the power brick for many other machines (I'm looking at you, HP).
Sadly, I feel those days coming to an end, and I'm honestly not sure what will be next.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Informative)
OK, I'll bite.
Macbook Pro, 15-inch (just announced):
- Intel "Skylake" (6th gen.) processor
- New! Improved! USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 support!
- AMD Radeon "Polaris" GPU
- $2399
Dell XPS 15 (available since November 2015):
- Intel "Skylake" (6th gen.) processor
- USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 support
- nVidia GTX 960M GPU
- $1699 ($1749 with Windows Pro instead of Home edition)
Seriously, Kaby Lake has been out and available at retail for 2 months now, with a focus on mobile. OEM's have already started selling laptops with Kaby Lake CPU's. Apple, however, cheaped out on the core part of their system, so what makes you think they won't cheap out on everything?
Then you have the puffery about USB-C and TB3. My Dell has had that for nearly a year. Marketing is one thing, but don't insult me with your lies, Apple.
Then there's the pathetic AMD GPU. Just make a goddamned nVidia driver for macOS already.
And finally, we have the enormous price difference. Now, granted, Dell has jacked their price up since I got mine, but it's only about $200 more, not $700 more like Apple is reaming their customers for.
This is why I'm not a Mac guy anymore. Well, this, and Windows is just as good as macOS these days. (And that's an opinion that is likely to piss off the cultists something fierce.)
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Informative)
One note: The Skylake chips used in the high end MBP are quad-core. The Kaby Lake chips that are shipping are dual-core and apparently Intel won't be shipping quad-core chips for several months.
You can't ship what you don't have.
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Ok but I wouldn't buy the Dell system if they paid me. Or HP. There isn't a good notebook vendor other than Apple, and now we're stuck with whatever Apple chooses to give us. Yay world.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:4, Informative)
Ok but I wouldn't buy the Dell system if they paid me. Or HP. There isn't a good notebook vendor other than Apple, and now we're stuck with whatever Apple chooses to give us. Yay world.
Most people who hate Dell or HP base their opinion on low cost low quality systems ($500 to $700 range) which tend to fail more often due to cheaper components. Both HP and Dell have very nice high end quality systems, but you have to pay for the higher quality. I love my Dell XPS 13 laptop and I have several HP Workstation class desktops (Z640) running, all of which have been very reliable.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Interesting)
OEM's have already started selling laptops with Kaby Lake CPU's. Apple, however, cheaped out on the core part of their system, so what makes you think they won't cheap out on everything?
You've got your facts backwards: Apple is the one that went with the more expensive, more powerful part, and it's the other OEMs who are cheaping out by using the chips they are.
The Kaby Lake chips that are available today are the dual core models. The quad-core Kaby Lake chips that would be suitable for use in a MacBook Pro won't be available for another few months [wccftech.com]. Moreover, even if they had waited, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The performance gap between the generations is minimal (which seems to be the general trend for CPUs these days), whereas the dual core to quad core performance gap is substantial for the types of work you expect pro users to be doing. Sticking with Skylake was definitely the right call because it allowed them to release a more powerful machine without the wait, and it was definitely not the cheaper route.
Then you have the puffery about USB-C and TB3. My Dell has had that for nearly a year. Marketing is one thing, but don't insult me with your lies, Apple.
You accuse them of puffery and lies without citing examples of either. They said it has Thunderbolt 3 via USB 3.1 Type-C. They never claimed it was first laptop to offer it (nor would they, since they launched one earlier this year that had it), though they're definitely the first to embrace it to such a degree by putting four of the ports on one machine, making them the only ports the computer has, and making them equally usable for all tasks (i.e. you can plug any cable--including the power cable--into any of them).
Then there's the pathetic AMD GPU. Just make a goddamned nVidia driver for macOS already.
It's the not-yet-released Radeon Pro 460 (i.e. the mobile version of the RX 460), and the Polaris architecture has been going head-to-head with nVidia's latest architecture (Pascal) in terms of both performance and power efficiency. But facts be damned. It's apparently "pathetic" because an Anonymous Coward has declared it so.
There are certainly valid reasons to go from Mac to Windows (I'm even planning to do so myself before the end of the year) or vice versa, but it sounds to me like you're just grasping for any reason you can find to rationalize the decision you made.
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They did allude briefly to the new LG 5K monitor, but didn't show much detail....more on that would have been interesting too.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Insightful)
And I was hoping for a new Mac mini. The poor thing hasn't been updated* since 2012.
* it was downgraded in 2014.
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I'd like a Mac Pro with Nvidia GPUs in them. Everything I use runs on CUDA and my 2012 Mac Pro is showing its age.
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How about keeping it the same thickness and increasing the battery life?
Because that is not what most people want. It has 10 hours of battery life. That is good enough for most people. How often do you use laptop for 10 hours without access to an electrical outlet? Sure, maybe on a camping trip, but then would an extra 2 or 3 hours really matter?
If you really need extended battery life, then you can buy a separate external USB-C battery pack. There are several available on Amazon, starting under $20.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, I just got back from Apple's website where I found out that the new MBP 15" still maxes out at 16GB RAM. Arrrgggghg!!!!
I refuse to upgrade until they give me 32GB, minimum!
Re: Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:2, Insightful)
My early 2011 has 16 GB of RAM, and it is approaching six years old! What a complete joke for something that has Pro in the name.
Re: Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Funny)
What a complete joke for something that has Pro in the name.
Don't worry, that'll be changing next summer when they bring their product names into line - like they did with their OS offerings this past summer.
iPhone will become Apple Phone.
iPad will become Apple Pad.
MacBook Pro will become Apple Laptop.
Looking further out... they'll probably consolidate their naming scheme further to be consistent with what they did with their retail outlets.
Apple Phone will become Apple.
Apple Pad will become Apple.
Apple Laptop will become Apple.
And you, the Apple Customer, will also become Apple.
So Apple will take your Apple to the Apple to be repaired, er, reAppled. It's like the Smurfs, but with Apples!
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Why do you need 32 GB?
Google Chrome.
What, you think anybody uses Safari? On purpose?
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:5, Insightful)
10 hours is under "normal" workloads. My 2015 MBP lasts anywhere from 4 to 10 depending on what I'm doing. I'd much rather have it be double that so I don't need to plug it in as often.
The Surface Book looks very intriguing right now as it has an advertised 16 hours of battery life. The first gen Surface Book managed to get 13 in tests so that's actually believable.
Re:Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:4)
You did a survey of what most people want?
Most people bitch about their cell phone battery life but that hasn't led to Apple doing anything but making their phones thinner and their batteries smaller.
Maybe what most people want has nothing to do with it and it is more a matter of advertising thinnest and lightest works even though people end up disappointed about things that actually matter like battery life.
Good luck with that 10 hours of battery life doing more than watching videos, at low brightness with WiFi turned off.
Re: (Score:3)
Most people bitch about their cell phone battery life but that hasn't led to Apple doing anything but making their phones thinner and their batteries smaller.
Well WTF do they expect? If they bitch and complain, and then run out and pay top dollar anyway for a device they bitch and complain about, why would the vendor bother listening to their complaints?
Re: (Score:3)
You did a survey of what most people want?
I don't need to because I can just look at sales data. Thin laptops outsell laptops with big batteries. Same with phones. Few people buy auxiliary battery packs, although they are cheap, reliable, and work well. So people are just complaining about battery life because they like to complain, not because it is a real need or even desire.
Re: Less Space than a Nomad. (Score:2, Informative)
I would be happy if they did NOTHING but give it a matte display option, even for a few hundred dollars more. Actually, that would be preferable to what they did produce.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
...and for decades to come! Just look up "beleaguered Apple" on Google and seem how many hits you get! (-- probably one of the stupidest things I ever read in an article about how poorly Apples prospects were 10+ years ago)
I plan on getting one of these to replace my October 2011 MacBook Air
Re: (Score:2)
And they already are as expensive as macs anyway
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not buying it
Given that it does have a headphone jack [apple.com] (look under "Charging and Expansion"), will you be buying it?
Re: (Score:2)
Sure. I use USB headphones. I'm able to have the system sounds continue to go out the built-in audio while my headphones only contains audio of my telecom.
I've been happy with my logitech headset but, if I weren't, I can get a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter like for the Moto Z. (I have a USB to audio out/in adapter already, but might as well get one that doesn't require a USB to USB-C adapter)
Re: (Score:2)
>twice as larger than the older one
for fucks sake
"Schiller, Apple SVP, said it was time Apple gotten rid of the dedicated function keys."
Re: (Score:3)
Designed to Suck (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only that, but you'd have to start, inasmuch as there is zero tactile feedback, and you don't know what's up there until you look.
Funny thing... if they'd have gone with a touchscreen on the main laptop monitor, they wouldn't have needed to do this and it would have been a metric fuckton more capable and it would be where you're already, you know, actually looking (but then again, since there's nothing really good about this thing, and there are a lot of things that aren't, I guess they really needed something to confuse the potential buyers.)
But hey. No touchscreen for you.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Sort of like this [extremetech.com], by some strange coincidence [blogspot.com]?
Re:Touch screen (Score:4, Informative)
Here you go. [artlebedev.com]