Forbes goes in hard with damming review on M1 Pro

[Graham King]

I removed Forbes from my news feeds quite a while back because of the constant and ridiculous Apple doom clickbait articles.

 

[Hoo Doo Dude]

So this person gets a new M1 Mac to do nothing but run Microsoft apps? Hmm, not the sharpest tool in the shed. Certainly far from being an "tech expert". I've worked with every bit of OS and hardware from the original PC with the first version of DOS to all the latest and greatest. At no point did it seem wise or even useful to do any of the things this Forbes flunky was writing about. He wanted to write a bad review and set out his test process to achieve that goal. If anybody pays for that "expertise" they deserve the results they get. But it is a huge disservice to the public to let somebody disseminate this patently inaccurate and misleading screed.

 

[gmwalk]

He reminds me of the old couple at a restaurant for the "early bird":
She: "The food is terrible!"
He: "Yes, and the portions are too small!"

 

[Joe Dohn]

He reminds me of the old couple at a restaurant for the "early bird":
She: "The food is terrible!"
He: "Yes, and the portions are too small!"

That... was not a good example. Have you considered that one of the reasons the food may be terrible is precisely because they are serving very small portions? That doesn't seem mutually exclusive to me.

 

[gmwalk]

That... was not a good example. Have you considered that one of the reasons the food may be terrible is precisely because they are serving very small portions? That doesn't seem mutually exclusive to me.

Not big on humor, huh?

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Not big on humor, huh?

There is a difference between humor and humor.

 

[kingz]

“1#-ranked tech analyst” should be an indication that this review is not to taken seriously

It is a fact webcam is horrible in the age of working from home and video calls. It is a fact that you can’t use more than one external monitor display - again in the age of working from home. There is simply no excuse for failing to cater to these two common use cases for a revolutionary new laptop. For many, this is unfortunate, and as a sufferer of their butterfly keyboard, it is refreshing to see a review that reports practically instead of a complete love fest

 

[kingz]

This forum is hardly an echo chamber. Literally 95% of the discussions are users helping each other with bugs and most of them understand that software development is really hard and will never be perfect. So no, I don’t buy this idea that there is some brainless cult who jump thoughtlessly to defend these products.

It absolutely is an echo chamber. The level of Criticism for just one review that calls out the ancient poor webcam quality and inability to use more than one external display in the age of working from home meets the very definition of echo chamber

 

[kingz]

yes. huffo, businessinsider, forbes, etc.... for the love of god stop sharing this trash across the internet

So is it unreasonable for some folks to be disappointed with a third class ancient webcam and limitation to just one external display/monitor when their main use cases are to perform real world tasks while working from home? I refuse to use my 2019 mbp 15 for zoom/skype calls, its just a joke

 

[throAU]

guy complains about software compatibility on month 1 with non-apple software

I wonder if he does the same thing about random crapware that crashes on Windows, and blames microsoft/dell/etc.?


complains about gcc not having support, when llvm/clang is native and generally better...

 

[kingz]

Beat me to it. This alone is why the article is a joke. Who uses Edge!!??

Do u work from home where you have to use webcam often? If so, this article speaks the truth. You can’t even hook it up to two external displays....... these are important facts buyers would want to know. Not everyone is a die hard apple consumer willing to take it up the rear dealing with a piece of crap butterfly keyboard after dropping nearly $3k on it

 

[kingz]

Forbes have been writing anti-apple stories for years. It’s their thing. There is one particular writer, can’t rent his name, but it became ridiculous how much venom he threw at every new Apple product that was released over the years. I’ve blocked all and every Forbes article I’ve come across since.

So you don’t think consumers want to know they can’t use more than one external display with it? Or that they haven’t changed the junk of a webcam? For ppl who work from home and use video conferencing, these are facts we want to read in a review

 

[kingz]

To be perfectly fair though, who shouldn't buy is just as important as who should.
And if your software demands are limited to Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft Skype for Business then maybe a Mac isn't for you. Perhaps Microsoft Windows is more suited to you.
To quote the "analyst" himself; "I think the new MacBook Pro 13” M1 will be fine for users who use 100% Apple software[...]".
I think the guy should stick to his Microsoft Surface which is fine for users who use 100% Microsoft software to

Same goes for consumers who want to be able to use two monitors and have a decent video cam capability - they shld not get the m1s yet. Apple needs to address these basic real world consumer use cases

 

[KPOM]

That is not a 'balanced review' in terms of actual real world usage of an M1. The Forbes review is based on a 5 day realworld usage of the machine, the PCMag review is specifically related to if buyers of existing mac machines should upgrade to an M1. This cannot be compared to the Forbes review because it's context is entirely different. Also, the PCMage review is very pro supportive towards Apple and the M1, hence why there has been no outcry about it in this forum.

Except it looks like he went on a fishing expedition to find applications that don't run well on M1 Macs. How many people really use Microsoft Edge on Macs (and how likely is it that Microsoft won't issue a native version soon that addresses the crashing)? Chrome and Safari are already native and are far more popular on the Mac. Same with WinZip.

 

[KPOM]

So you don’t think consumers want to know they can’t use more than one external display with it? Or that they haven’t changed the junk of a webcam? For ppl who work from home and use video conferencing, these are facts we want to read in a review

Even positive reviews such as Joanna Stern's have pointed out the webcam is still 720p and only so-so.

 

[triangletechie]

You lost me at Forbes.

 

[PhoneI]

I stopped reading when he started complaining that he couldn't run WinZip

 

[crawfish963]

Do u work from home where you have to use webcam often? If so, this article speaks the truth. You can’t even hook it up to two external displays....... these are important facts buyers would want to know. Not everyone is a die hard apple consumer willing to take it up the rear dealing with a piece of crap butterfly keyboard after dropping nearly $3k on it

I have a MacBook Pro. I use it like a laptop-mobile and on the go. I have a desktop with a 43" ultra wide monitor for the use case you are describing.

 

[ADGrant]

I would not describe the review as damming though it was not particularly positive. The writer is not completely wrong though. If you use your Mac to run a lot of non-Apple software (Microsoft, Adobe or whatever), some caution is warranted.

Where he is wrong is to suggest this is Apple's problem to fix. The third party software vendors need to fix their apps.

 

[KPOM]

So is it unreasonable for some folks to be disappointed with a third class ancient webcam and limitation to just one external display/monitor when their main use cases are to perform real world tasks while working from home? I refuse to use my 2019 mbp 15 for zoom/skype calls, its just a joke

Uh, most notebooks have bad webcams. Even $1K+ models from Dell and HP.

 

[Jimmy James]

That’s not a balanced review. It’s an attempt to offset glowingly positive reviews.

 

[David Hassholehoff]

Same goes for consumers who want to be able to use two monitors and have a decent video cam capability - they shld not get the m1s yet. Apple needs to address these basic real world consumer use cases

Yes, he had some good points in there too. I was serious about that.

Oh, and I still use a 2014 MacBook Pro 15" specifically because I can't stand the butterfly keyboard.

 

[andrewstirling]

They’ve fixed that though haven’t they?

 

[adrianlondon]

Wait, what year is this? Who on earth is using WinZip especially on a Mac? I feel like I need a shower after reading this.

It was the only way he could get Lotus 123 installed.

 

[giggles]

If we give attention to a troll, we’re the ones being trolled.
As Rene Ritchie stressed, “Apple-chosen reviewers” is a crass characterization bordering fake news, as any company “chooses“ who to send review units to, so that applies to any early review in the history of anything.