Why Buy New Macbook Pro
Apple’s recent presentation of the new Macbook Pro has had rather negative feedback. I too was disappointed when the end arrived and all we’d seen was something related to Apple TV (not interested), the demise of the Macbook Air and a new line up of Pros.
Like many others, I’ve been waiting for quite some time to upgrade my Mac. In fact, my mini is nearing 10 years old and no longer supported by Apple and Google Chrome (at least there’s Firefox)! With only 2Gb Ram, it’s rather slow and somewhat annoying, but it was my first Mac and I’m still rather fond of its ground breaking design; before which, PCs had all been large, rectangular beige or black boxes that you wanted to hide away.
The Mac mini was so revolutionary and my introduction to OS X far beyond what Windows was providing me at the time, that it led to my career changing from working with PCs to becoming a researcher and Lead Developer of an OS X security product with a well respected security company.
In the days that have passed since Apple’s announcement of the new Macbook Pro, I’ve had time to reflect and think about the decisions they’ve made and whether or not it’s right for me when it comes to upgrading.
Why the negativity?
Personally, I think the disappointment of Apple’s Macbook Pro on social media is rather myopic. As I see it, Apple has two problems here, firstly the increased price which, being in the UK with an all time low of the pound to dollar, is going to make people think twice about their purchase.
The base model 13” Macbook Pro, without touch bar retails at £1449, which at the exchange at time of writing is $1808.75 .
A UK fully kitted out 15” Macbook Pro is £4049 ($5052). If bought directly in the US, that would be just ($4299). Yes, an extra $753 to live across the pond. As we say here “Rip-off Britain”.
The second issue is the mis-management of high expectations people had due to the lack of upgrades across Apple’s line of products; where’s my new Mac Mini, an upgrade to the Mac Air and a new Mac Pro that hasn’t been updated in more than 1000 days?
Of-course, Microsoft’s new Surface Studio was well timed to divert people’s attention from Apple, but it’s a rather niche product and we’re not all going to go out and buy one for the home, though if it’s just a start of a new product line up, they could be onto something.
Let’s focus
Processor and Memory
So, cost and expectations aside for now. My thoughts have led me to view the current Macbook Pro in isolation and decide if it’s worth having.
The processors have been upgraded to Skylake. However, we’re talking about a laptop, so it’s the mobile version (Core M) and with it comes restrictions, one of which is the amount of Ram that can be used, as well as the type (no DDR4). Whilst many are complaining about a maximum of 16Gb, as I understand it, this is due to the restrictions of Intel’s processor. After all, if you need more memory right now, a laptop isn’t for you and you’ll need to wait for an upgrade to the iMac.
USB-C
Skylake brings with it the support for USB-C and Apple is taking full advantage here. So, the complaints are the number of adapters that are going to be required and I get it, but think back, then ahead…
When Apple last changed the connector on the iPhone there was outrage. Besides not being compatible with a plethora of other kit that people had bought, it wasn’t the standard micro-usb that other manufacturers were embracing. If you do a little research, it’s expected that USB-C is the future and all the big named brands are on-board, not just Apple. Of-course, they could have included a single USB 2 port, but considering just how long Mac hardware lasts, it would become obsolete for many, just as the Super-Drive was in my Mac Mini, which broke over a year after purchase and I never missed it.
Only providing USB-C is a bold move, but I can see where Apple are coming from and at least they’re embracing a standard, even if it is at the loss of the brilliant MagSafe adapter.
Apple clearly know this is an issue right now and have announced that they’re reducing the cost of adapters, though third party manufacturers aren’t going to be worried.
I expect the iPhone 7S or iPhone 8 will have USB-C. It makes sense to me that it doesn’t now, as the majority of people don’t have a compatible device, but Apple should have included a second cable.
Removal of the SD Card Slot
I have a DSLR that takes Compact Flash and I don’t want every type of card slot on a laptop. Removing it makes sense to me. I also have an EOS-M3, with WiFi build in, making it easy to upload photos without even removing the storage card.
To touch, or not to touch!
Apple’s standpoint is that there are devices suited to touch screens (phones / tablets) and there are those that aren’t (desktops / laptops). I would be inclined to agree with Apple on this. Sitting at a desk with the keyboard under my fingers, I don’t want to be lifting my arm every few moments to touch or drag objects on the screen and having to wipe it several times a day due to fingerprint smears that may have been left behind.
About four years ago, I moved from using a mouse to an external ‘Apple Magic Trackpad’ and never looked back. Having to revert back to a mouse on another machine reaffirms my appreciation of this. I suspect the size of the external trackpad is why I like it so much more than those built in to the Macbook Pro, so it’s great to see they’ve increased it for the new version.
As we have seen, Apple’s answer to the touch screen is its new Touch Bar that replaces the ‘Esc’ and function keys. The idea of mapping generic functions to keys F1, F2, F3 etc dates back to the 1960’s. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t have any demonstration machines in its store this weekend, so I haven’t yet tried it out, but I expect this is another feature that I’ll miss when its absent.
Some valid issues have been raised about the lack of haptic feedback when selecting a virtual button; considering the simulated feedback in the internal touchpad and iPhone 7, I expect it’s only a matter of time before we see a Touch Bar with this too.
Conclusion
Like cars, computers (mobiles, laptops, desktops) have reached a maturity; Goodbye Moore’s Law. It’s not like the days when I had a 486 dx66 PC that could barely play an MP3 in mono and a Pentium was released making a world of difference. I expect future improvements will mostly be incremental and not revolutionary.
16Gb is more than enough Ram for my needs; my work laptop with a Haswell processor and 16Gb Ram is 2 years old. I’m currently running VMWare, Xcode, Skype, Safari, Mail, Qt Creator, Activity Monitor, Terminal, Spotify, Chatter, Skype for Business and Chrome with more a huge number of tabs and this machine flies!
So to sum up: -
- I need a new Mac.
- I’m disappointed by the high price, but can justify it over the long term.
- Processor speed is not an issue for my needs today or tomorrow.
- 16Gb will easily suffice for most people for quite some time.
- Based on previous experience, I expect the new Macbook Pro will last me a good 6 to 10 years.
- Buying a few adapters for the short term is not really going to bother me.
- There will always be something better if I wait, so why not buy now?