Battery life is one of my biggest concerns from all of the mixed feedback I have read.
You hear it's great, and you hear it's horrible. I guess we'll find out.
Battery life is one of my biggest concerns from all of the mixed feedback I have read.
You hear it's great, and you hear it's horrible. I guess we'll find out.
But, where I used to simply press the up or down arrow key once or twice to adjust the sound or brightness, I now look at the touchbar, press the brightness or sound button, wait for a slider to show up, and then adjust the level by sliding my finger side to side. It was a LOT easier and faster pressing the function key once or twice, and the touchbar is a big silly negative.
You do know you can touch and hold the brightness / volume control then just slide your finger left/right so you don't need to move your finger over to the actual slider, don't you?
After saying I wasn't going to get one of the new MBPros as I have an iMac as my main machine, a surface book for "power on the road", and an rMB as a portable mac, I caved in and bought one! In my defence, my rMB has been passed to my daughter to use at Uni and I'm going to be away a lot this year so needed something more powerful than it anyway.
Added to that the fact my surface book was becoming annoying (it's been a bit of a problem child from the start with blue screens and sleep issues and now has issues with controlling its CPU speed) and I decided a new MacBook Pro was in my future
I went for the 13" TB with 1GB SSD, 16GB ram and the middle processor in the end as the 15" is too big for me as a portable machine and it was delivered today.
The first impressions are good - build quality is excellent and it looks really sleek.
I'm still migrating my data at the moment so haven't really had much of a play as yet but it seems pretty fast out of the box
I'm hoping this will provide enough power to replace both my rMB and Surface Book and allow me to reduce my total number of computers
Hi RobHi Phil,
I'd been considering a high spec surface book, but the significant number of reported problems have been a concern to say the least!
Back to the new TB 13" MBPs, I clicked up an ideal spec machine in the online Applestore - i7, 1tb ssd and 16gb ram, and then thought, "Deary me! That's expensive!"
What processor did you spec? How's life a few days further on? How does the keyboard compare with the rMB? - can you tell I'm trying to persuade myself that I don't need the upgrade from my rMB 1.3ghz 512gb ssd 8gb ram?
Regards,
-Rob (a few miles up the road in Wrexham)
No, it's one of those stupid controls that gets hidden when you replace clearly marked mechanical buttons with touchscreens and everything has to be done with different gestures. Maybe I should have read a manual on how to increase or decrease volume now that the buttons have been removed, because having to read how to use it just adds more weight to the argument that the touchbar is an improvement and an easier and better solution than simply pressing a single function button.
Similarly, the iPhone would be a much better device if there were more function specific buttons along its edges, as the gesture nonsense and nonrecognition vs. simply pushing a mechanical button is one of the most annoying aspects of using it. And, like I said above, Tim is a clown who thinks he'll sell more $3000 MBPs if they look and function more like an iPhone than a laptop computer.
EDIT: Sorry, didn't mean to rant, but I don't find the slider works as well as pushing a key once or twice. If they'd actually added anything such as having more increments for finer adjustment it might be a plus, but providing an analogue input by sliding my finger back and forth on a digital reader that mimics an analogue slider and having my cpu convert that info seems like a lot of wasted software and hardware and a stupid reason to increase the cost over using a normal key that is simpler, faster and cheaper.
And I don't think I'd necessarily like an iPhone with lots of buttons on the edge. What I wanted to say is that I feel the issues with the iPhone, and software in general, are similar. Rather than improve the basic function for which the product is being purchased, companies try to add more bells and whistles. Autocorrect doesn't work and is a joke when texting. But I've tried turning it off and, while it doesn't screw up the big words, it's too much of a pain having to go back and fix all the mispeled "and"s and "the"s. So when Apple doesn't do anything to improve autocorrect, which I have to use daily, and instead adds a transcriber to their voicemail app, which doesn't work either, they really seem more like an advertising company than a technology one. And when I read that Tim Cook extended his own deadlines and extensively delayed release of the new MBP because Apple was working on a new battery, which they then failed to produce, it makes it seem pretty clear why Apple is about gimmicks and hype as opposed to brains and technology.
The most stunning thing to me is that my 2008 MBP, with a 256K SSD I put in as soon as I bought it and running it's original OS, was faster, less laggy and much more stable than the 2017 MBP I just bought with the latest chip. And further, I can't point to a single thing about the current OS that's better or even noticeably different. But it does have a touchbar and a friggin' huge touchpad, for some reason.....
It may not return the tactile feel, but it will restore the buttons you miss so much at least.
I think you're twisting my words. I didn't say I miss the old machine or it's function keys, but that the new machine isn't an improvement. Big difference. The extra key clicks are a bit of an annoyance, but I didn't say I can't stand it and wish I had the old machine back. What I said is that the touchbar is an expensive gimmick and not and improvement, which seems to me to be a pretty far cry from "I miss the buttons so much". I read your post in the same tone as the guys' above - they seem to be very excited in thinking the new keyboard is a slight improvement over the one from ten years ago, when I think the fact people are talking about Siri, keyboards, touchbars, fingerprint recognition and trackpads demonstrates there has been no innovation and the new machine is the old machine plus some gimmicky junk. A slightly bigger trackpad is innovation? Moving Siri and fingerprint recognition from the phone to the laptop is major innovation? Replacing a cheap analog key with an expensive digital touch strip that's made to look and function like an analog input is innovation? Yeah, if your placated by gimmicks the new machine is just fine, but it's not a new, innovative and better computer, it just has a newer chipset plus superficial and poorly functioning cosmetic changes.
Hi Rob
A few days in and I have to say I absolutely love my new MacBook!
The keyboard is possibly the best I've ever used on any computer: it's incredibly light touch but gives great positive feedback. It's definitely a refinement of the rMB keyboard and is more positive in feel
I'm used to low profile keyboards after my rMB and the magic keyboard on my iMac: if you like them you'll love the new keyboard, if you don't you'll probably hate it
I went for the 3.1 i5 as it was only £90 more than the base one, but I'm not sure it's really any different in real world use. I was tempted by the i7 but when I checked the specs on CPU comparison sites it didn't seem enough faster to justify the cost addition.
There's no getting away from the fact that it really is expensive but I think it's worth every penny: it's absolutely gorgeous and a joy to use and will hopefully give me years of service!
Very happy punter![]()
I guess "Punter" is an synonym for "Fanboy" in Scottish....
The funny thing is that you don't address any of my comments, other than to say "I don't have a real counterargument other than that I love it and think it's great!" And apparently the only real qualification you can provide for your opinion is that your brand new machine runs CAD better than your five year old iMac - woo hoo indeed..... Your comments are so funny and telling - it's all about the potential and you can see how some of these features could be implemented in some useful way sometime in the future. Yep, when I buy a $3K laptop it's not because I have work to do now and the features help me get it done, but because those cool looking features might be incorporated better and made to function more efficiently in the future. You know, just like Apple has improved autocorrect, voice recognition, Siri and everything else over the years!)
If you read my posts you should know I am coming form a 2008 MBP. I also have lots of PCs, and your "maybe you should try windows", is just more fanboy nonsense.
Before arguing about it, maybe you should look up the word "innovation" and find out what it actually means. Moving a feature like Siri that was introduced on the iPhone 6 years ago, and which hasn't been updated since, to the new MBP is not innovative. Or maybe you think every new car that comes out with bluetooth is still innovative...heck, maybe Tim will put a sunroof on the Mac for you.
Please feel free to enjoy that touchbar and be proud that Siri lets you use your $3000 laptop as an egg timer, you've made some very convincing and objective arguments![]()
That's right, potential. It's a handy thing to have in a system that I'll probably keep for a handful of years. I'd rather have a system which can meet my needs now, which it does admirably I've yet to find something it can't do, which also has the ability to grow and evolve with the hardware and operating system for the duration of ownership. Than one that meets my needs now and that's it, it'll never change, never improve or expand in its features. As for performing better than an ageing iMac, that did still surprise me. The iMac has since been upgraded with 32GB of RAM and a fast SSD so it's still very capable and performs everything I ask of it even now with ease. So comparing it to a device with a mobile CPU rather than a desktop CPU and half the amount of RAM was an interesting move.
Not that it's relevant to your tirade against progress, but "punter" means customer. I evaluated all of the available choices, including Windows systems (which I still have) before deciding on the new MacBook as the best one to serve me for the next four or five years. It amuses me when people use terms like "fanboy" it's a ridiculously childish term and for what it's worth, utterly useless when you know nothing of the person you're using it against. Who happens to be platform agnostic as they use macOS, Windows and Linux.
As I said, there is an abundance of top class systems out there just now from several very good manufacturers. If you have so much against Apple now and find their products and technologies to be unsuitable for your needs then they may well not be the best option for you. The old system you are coming from means absolutely nothing. It's the one you need now and for the next few years that's important. You have to buy a system you are happy with and from the amount of complaining you're doing over this one, it doesn't sound as if it makes you happy.
I was going to say in my last post that I've never called anyone a "fanboy" before, but that the things you said in your previous response were about as fitting and telling as I've ever seen. If you don't feel wed to Apple's technology (I was almost tempted to make a crack about seeing Tim as a father figure) I'll take you at your word.
It's ironic that you think my tirade is against progress, when I am complaining that Apple is giving us gimmicks masquerading as progress. My new MBP can't copy files efficiently between two external drives, is incredibly slow and laggy, and Finder crashes and becomes non-responsive causing me to lose files and have to perform a hard reset (I can post pics of Finder being red and non-responsive in Activity Monitor if you want). There are numerous other serious and annoying issues I've mentioned in other posts. None of these things ever happened on the 2008 as it never crashed in nine years, while the new and improved MBP crashed five times in the first two weeks. I'm a PhD research scientist, and while I love technology and don't have anything against gimmicks and silliness, I need my computer to allow me to quickly and easily view, use and move data in the form microscopy images, DNA sequencing data and fluorograms, excel files, pdfs, WORD docs, PowerPoint files, manuscripts, figures, slideshows and presentations, etc. etc. So when my $3000 machine has Siri and a touchbar but crashes when I try to copy a 4.5 MB microscopy image file between two folders, won't let me copy and paste from one piece of critical software to another without saving and opening in a separate program in between, etc., etc., I get upset. I feel I am trying to help people, and people like Tim Cook and Bill Gates should be trying to help me help them and you. But they're not. They're not improving the computer and my ability to advance my work with it, but instead making it more of a consumer product for people to watch movies, play games and set cooking timers (no attack intended). It's because it's all about making money and nothing else, and I think it's stupid and it sucks.
As far as other options, I've got the best desktop Dell makes and am not a fan of the machine or Windows 10. The new MBP was supposed to be my stable and reliable machine. I've looked at the Surface and XPS, but the same things apply. There was a golden age when Jobs made some really wonderful machines, and I guess I'm mad at Apple for letting that legacy go in favor of never ending mass consumption.
Obviously we'll never agree on what is a "gimmick" and what is/will be a useful feature as I have found many uses for things you don't seem to have therefore our opinions can never meld, that's the way of things of course. We need different opinions in the world.
As for the troubles you are experiencing with your system, I certainly feel sorry for you. But not everyone is going to have the same experiences that you are having. My system, though it's early days but it's been stress tested already as I always do, experiences none of the symptoms you're having. For instance, earlier I transferred over almost 200GB of data between drives and I did something I've very rarely done in my computing history, I watched it happen because I've never seen such blisteringly fast file transfers.
And that's the trouble, out of millions of systems there's going to be tens of thousands of them with problems. Have you taken your system into the Apple store for a diagnostic test. It may be there's a faulty component causing less than optimal performance.
I wish you had the same experience I've always had from my Apple computers. Their reliability and the robustness of the operating system are two of the main reasons I always end up sticking with Apple ever since I made the switch from Windows systems. I can imagine your frustration, it must be agonisingly annoying. But we're not all having the same experience.
I thought you said you’ve read my posts? There are only a few in addition to the ones between you and I in this thread. But it sounds like you really are the biggest fanboy, or that you work for Apple. You apparently didn’t read anything that I wrote, and you’re still simply trying to twist what I’m saying around and not making anything approaching a counterargument of your own.
I’m sure your tests were very impressive, and, well, transferring 200 GB of data onto some sort of drive and that you were impressed by the speed…well, that’s the kind of sensible and, um, “convincing” counterargument as to it being a stable and useful design that I was making fun of you for in your other posts.
I thought you might realize that people use different machines for different purposes. And I guess I had hoped that, when I said I am working with microscopy images and huge genetic databases, you might stop for a second and realize that your CAD software might not be the most demanding or important test for the quality and stability of Apple’s top of the line computer. That you instead make excuses and want to diagnose my machine as having hardware issues from across the Atlantic makes it appear that you are the biggest and silliest Apple fanboy ever. Sure, there is going to be a certain small percentage of machines with defective parts or manufacturing. But there’s also a huge difference in what people do with their machines and the performance that’s needed, and you’ve already said that you think it’s awesome you can use yours as a cooking timer.
It’s getting to the point where I see we don’t have a difference of opinions so much as you lack an argument and simply have unsupported opinions. You should read my other post where I talk about DACs and DAPs and how Apple used the worst components available in the iPod…even if you personally thought it really sounded great. I also had a 17” MBP before the the 13”, and I have owned lots of iPhones and other Apple products over a very long time (I’m guessing since before you were born). But, again, you can only think and see things from your limited perspective and consequently project and assume that I am basing my comments on one or two machines like you are, and not decades of knowledge and experience.
As I said in my last post, Jobs used to make computers that were great for people in high tech fields like myself, and people like you liked them too, as they also ran egg timers and allowed you to view Youtube. Now that Apple has the name recognition and market share, Cook knows they can make a lot more money by making products directly for consumers/workers like you, by not having to include features that would make them work well enough for people like me. And while you childishly brag about copying data to a hard drive and timing bread and claim my computer must be broken, I won’t be able to develop the drugs to keep your mom and dad alive. For a second I thought this might be a worthwhile, or at least useful, conversation….but you just want to “win” the internet.
Your abundant display of childishness would suggest you may consume more pharmaceuticals than develop them, honestly it's so petty and frankly boring. "Your a fanboy" "you must work for Apple" that's what I'd expect from a poorly read 11 year old. Not from someone who claims to have a modicum of intellect.
What it boils down to is you have a problem or you have an issue therefore the entire world must also share your opinion. Because you're right and everyone else is wrong. It's impossible for anyone to actually like a product for what it is and what it does, or to have a system which doesn't display the same issues you have.
You can't comprehend that something as commonplace as dragging a file between two locations might actually work as it should for other people. No, you can't perform such a simple task and therefore no one else can. You are incapable of accepting that technologies which, for example, offer a high level of security are anything other than a gimmick.
As for using a system to its full capabilities, try creating a complex 3D structure, if you can, if not I'm sure you'll be able to source one on the internet and then tell me just how unimportant computational power is when you're dealing with complex objects, textures and lighting. In fact if you actually truly understood the technology you wouldn't have to. You would know that it's an extremely demanding process.
If your system is riddled with problems so severe that they cause issues with such minor things, why haven't you done something about it, it's clearly not operating within normal parameters. The obvious choice would be to have the system checked or replaced. No sensible person would keep a brand new computer that struggled to do something as basic as moving files around.
I've seen many changes in technology in my almost four decades of using, working with and creating it. Rather than pointlessly complaining about something you don't like, don't understand and can't change. I manage to move along with those changes and adapt to them, or to avoid the ones that are truly useless. Much like this conversation, melting a glacier with an icicle would be a better and frankly more interesting use of my time.
That was another big, general, off-topic post. But I'm glad you brought up 3D CAD to make my point.
Look up Digital Deconvolution Microscopy sometime. It's a process whereby the computer analyzes a large stack of high resolution microscopy images at the same time. By comparing the images at different focal points along the Z- axis the software is able to determine which pixels in which frames are in focus, and which are out of focus pixels bleeding over from the focal points below. It then removes the out of focus pixels from each image in the stack to generate higher resolution images with better signal to noise. It also allows you to combine the stack of high resolution microscopy images into a three dimensional projection of whatever the images are of, usually cells or subcellular processes, and spin and observe the high resolution three dimensional objects along whatever axis you want. Then there's software that takes a protein sequence consisting of hundreds of amino acids and compares it to the x-ray crystal structures of a number of similar proteins and determines how the chemical interactions of all the amino acid side chains would affect their positioning and the three dimensional structure of the protein in question. I'm sure big chunks of this software is based on CAD software. But while I remember playing with CAD software on the earliest PCs, the molecular modeling software is just now becoming available on home computers. So while CAD is essentially a drawing program the molecular modeling and digital deconvolution software is adding analysis of huge databases and massive amounts of computation about thousands of simultaneous chemical interactions. And this is becoming old stuff.
AutoCAD was released in what, 1983? So how many of those forty years have you been doing CAD, and how much longer are you going to think your work and the machine that runs your CAD software are by definition high tech and bleeding edge state of the art? And what seem like silly questions and arguments without support are why I thought you were in your 20s. My machine doesn't have issues copying 200 MB of data to a hard drive, timing bread and would probably run your CAD software just fine. But it does run into major issues with hundreds and hundreds of similarly named and sized microscopy files, or when doing things that require a fully functional state of the art computer.
Again, because you think CAD is state of the art and because your machine runs CAD, you're the one that assumes nobody is doing anything that requires something more, and that the new MBP is a great machine.
You're just being obtuse now, if you think complex 3D modelling is anything at all like CAD in the early days then I really can't explain how you could hold any position that requires an iota of intellect. How can I make this easy for you, let's see, ever seen Terminator, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, a recent video game, something that wasn't made aroutthe same time as pong? Just some of the most simple things I could think of to try and explain to you what 3D modelling is.
So just before I hit the ignore button because frankly the next thing I'd say to you would get me banned. I'll say this. Not that may years, until my injury forced me into doing something else I was an engineer in the semiconductor industry for quite a while.
Now, at no point have I claimed that there's nothing that requires more power than 3D modelling software. You're just being a numpty. But my point stands, go and download something as simple as Fusion 360 or better yet, Maya. Then do something actually complex in it, not draw a little box or make a rough basic house shape. No make something beyond that, let me see what would suit your comprehension, ah, that big harry chap from Monsters Inc. remember to do the hairs, the lighting and the transparency at the very least. You'll quickly discover that for any complex scene the MacBook Pro, or any other laptop for that matter is completely useless.
So no, although 3D modelling can significantly outpace what a MacBook Pro is capable of it is not the most demanding thing on the planet, but your sheer ignorance, lack of knowledge of modern computing and utter inability to comprehend or understand these facts is what makes me doubt you're little more than an irritating child with a Wikipedia page open. Goodbye.
Hi Rob
A few days in and I have to say I absolutely love my new MacBook!
The keyboard is possibly the best I've ever used on any computer: it's incredibly light touch but gives great positive feedback. It's definitely a refinement of the rMB keyboard and is more positive in feel
I'm used to low profile keyboards after my rMB and the magic keyboard on my iMac: if you like them you'll love the new keyboard, if you don't you'll probably hate it
I went for the 3.1 i5 as it was only £90 more than the base one, but I'm not sure it's really any different in real world use. I was tempted by the i7 but when I checked the specs on CPU comparison sites it didn't seem enough faster to justify the cost addition.
There's no getting away from the fact that it really is expensive but I think it's worth every penny: it's absolutely gorgeous and a joy to use and will hopefully give me years of service!