TouchBar MacBook Pro Reviews are coming in....and it doesn't look good

[79wjd]

Let's start with the bad: 

The battery is undersized, but it does not appear to be due to thinness or because they're much more energy efficient. No, it looks like it's because Apple was trying to hit a certain weight target. There is plenty of room for more battery, but for whatever reason (weight?), Apple chose to not put battery there. You could argue it's for heat-expansion, but there are plenty of other laptops (including other Macs) with densely packed cells. According to a few reports, the battery life is significantly worse than previous MBP models (according the the Verge, it's down to 5-6 hours (for the 13") from 10 hours in the previous-year model while the 15" is a bit worse, but not significantly so). That's a pretty significant decrease, and for me, is enough to not buy the new Mac. And all of this after Apple claimed that the reason for not using DDR4/32gb of RAM is because of power reasons... Apple has always been pretty accurate with their battery estimates, and so this is a pretty big let down. 

 

Number two, as rumored, the SSD is soldered down. Now, considering it's performance (and price) is similar to that of a Samsung 960, it's not too bad, however, if you look at it in the long run, it's bad considering SSD prices will continue to drop, but you won't be able to upgrade in the future, and thus you won't be able to take advantage of those dropping prices. Then there is also the concern of something going wrong with the SSD and you needing to replace the whole motherboard if you want to repair the system. Not to mention data retrieval is going to be a royal bitch. 

 

Now for the good: 

The trackpad ribbon cable runs on top of the battery, so replacing the battery should be much easier for a user to do.

 

There still hasn't been a teardown yet, these are just images from users who opened up their Macs and took a look inside, but things aren't looking all too good for now.... It's important to note, there are plenty of other good things, but they are also to be expected (excellent trackpad, surprisingly good keyboard considering, excellent display/ssd/touch bar/etc....)

 

 

 

Quote

I don’t know what accounts for the dramatic discrepancy, though. Apple was so sure that my five-or-so-hour battery life was wrong that it sent me a second 13-inch MacBook Pro unit to test out. But I got very similar numbers on it — closer to six hours on average — and that was while using fewer apps. Other reviewers I’ve spoken with tell me they’ve seen higher figures, around 7.5 to 8.5 hours, but I’ve only once cracked the seven-hour mark. Maybe my "typical use" is more demanding than others, but I doubt it. I think the battery life on this laptop is just low.

 

As with performance, the 15-inch model did better on battery. Nielsen got 6 to 7 hours during her typical use of the computer (which, she qualified, included watching a lot of videos at high brightness), while the laptop cut down to about five hours of battery when she was editing video. Those numbers are "basically the same" as what she gets on her older Pro; they aren’t amazing numbers, she said, but they aren’t bad either.

Source: https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/15/2016-macbook-pro-non-removable-ssd-small-batteries/

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/14/13616404/apple-macbook-pro-touch-bar-review-2016-13-inch-15-inch-laptop

[Froody129]

The MacBook "Pro" doesn't seem so pro. For me the only real benefit to MacBooks is having amazing battery life compared to others, now it has no attractions...

[PlayStation 2]

Damn, sucks that the battery life ain't looking hot.

[ultimatemythbuster]

5 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

The MacBook "Pro" doesn't seem so pro. For me the only real benefit to MacBooks is having amazing battery life compared to others, now it has no attractions...

For the short time I had a MacBook Pro 13" model, it was because it was the only computer that had really great build quality (ie. aluminum).  Since then, I've turned more into a ThinkPad enthusiast.

[Froody129]

Well this MacBook "Pro" runs Facebook and has a pretty Apple on the back, so it'll sell like hot cakes, never mind the insane price! 

[paps511]

When was the MacBook Pro EVER aimed at professionals...?

[Nowak]

2 minutes ago, paps511 said:

When was the MacBook Pro EVER aimed at professionals...?

10 years ago.

[pwn_intended]

7 minutes ago, Daring said:

10 years ago.

THIS.

MacBook pro's used to actually be better than their pc counterparts (sleek design, great battery life, actual GPU's, lots of connectivity with firewire, usb, Ethernet and display out)

Now they are aimed at the cool kids with their liberal arts degrees instead of the fine arts people like they were in the past. And plugging anything into them is considered to be punishable by death.

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, paps511 said:

When was the MacBook Pro EVER aimed at professionals...?

when they still offered a 17" model

[Curufinwe_wins]

Ifixit did a teardown if the regular 13 pro. tons of battery adhesive again.

 

Ffs apple.

[alexyy]

Apple don't care they already made their money, they will do exactly the same next year if it continues to make them money which it clearly is.

[Arri]

Are you getting your battery life numbers from theverge? I read on Reddit that the Verge's methodology is flawed (65% brightness, which can vary across laptops) rather than measuring the actual nits from the screen like anandtech  ars technica does. 

 

I'm still debating on whether or not to get the new MBPs. The more reviews I see, the more I want to get a 2015 MBP and the only thing really holding me back is the new screen.

[79wjd]

10 minutes ago, Arri said:

Are you getting your battery life numbers from theverge? I read on Reddit that the Verge's methodology is flawed (65% brightness, which can vary across laptops) rather than measuring the actual nits from the screen like anandtech does. 

 

I'm still debating on whether or not to get the new MBPs. The more reviews I see, the more I want to get a 2015 MBP and the only thing really holding me back is the new screen.

I actually forgot to take brightness into consideration since the 2016 Mac does get brighter (although only by 25%~ iirc, but battery life to brightness level might not scale linearly)....either way, I was focusing on the Verge's 2015 vs. 2016 comparison. 

[Arri]

20 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

I actually forgot to take brightness into consideration since the 2016 Mac does get brighter (although only by 25%~ iirc, but battery life to brightness level might not scale linearly)....either way, I was focusing on the Verge's 2015 vs. 2016 comparison. 

oops, not anandtech, ars technica. Anywho, Ars was able to get 16hrs of web browsing on the 13" MBP non-touch. They then admitted that their battery life test isn't reflective of real world use and promised a better way but to put in perspective the MBA did like 13hrs on that same test.

[VerticalDiscussions]

 

[SansVarnic]

ROFLMAO .....

 

 

 

*still laughing*

 

 

 

 

*2 hrs later still laughing*

 

 

 

OK that just happened. Apple keeps finding ways to screw people daily with their products.

I am still waiting for Apple to start failing again so they can attempt to bring Steve back a second time and then realize that "oh crap" he really is dead and Apple dies this time around. /s

[BuckGup]

4 hours ago, paps511 said:

When was the MacBook Pro EVER aimed at professionals...?

The last time they made the 17inch. Most pros used it as a second monitor as 17inches was big enough to do photo work and such on. It also had, DVD drive, ethernet, audio in and audio out, mini display port, 3 USBs, and either a firewire port or similar.

[Magnetorheological]

4 hours ago, pwn_intended said:

THIS.

MacBook pro's used to actually be better than their pc counterparts (sleek design, great battery life, actual GPU's, lots of connectivity with firewire, usb, Ethernet and display out)

Now they are aimed at the cool kids with their liberal arts degrees instead of the fine arts people like they were in the past. And plugging anything into them is considered to be punishable by death.

They should've just renamed the MacBook Pro the "MacBook Uni"... At this point, I don't think Apple gives a crap about the professional market anymore, as this seems much more profitable to them.

 

The current Mac Pro itself hasn't been updated either, and it traded the nice, utilitarian design of the old Mac Pro for a fashionable garbage can design. 

[SSL]

It's always the same. Apple comes out with some new overpriced gimmick and there is a great wailing and gnashing of teeth; especially amongst the "tech community".

 

You Hillary sheep need to get over it and move on. How many decades has this been happening already? Let Apple run themselves into the ground, or not.

[captain_to_fire]

Which means I might get the 2015 refurbished MacBook Pro.

[iamdarkyoshi]

12 hours ago, Froody129 said:

The MacBook "Pro" doesn't seem so pro. For me the only real benefit to MacBooks is having amazing battery life compared to others, now it has no attractions...

My chromebook has amazing battery life (running WINDOWS 10!) and it doesn't cost a price premium...

[Froody129]

5 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

My chromebook has amazing battery life (running WINDOWS 10!) and it doesn't cost a price premium...

That's my point, why some $2k on a facebook machine with bad battery when you can a chrome book?

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, Froody129 said:

That's my point, why some $2k on a facebook machine with bad battery when you can a chrome book?

Because after throwing ten chromebooks out the window in frustration I will have spent more than just buying a Mac. 

[Bouzoo]

8 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

I actually forgot to take brightness into consideration since the 2016 Mac does get brighter (although only by 25%~ iirc, but battery life to brightness level might not scale linearly)....either way, I was focusing on the Verge's 2015 vs. 2016 comparison. 

Before jumping to conclusions, I would wait for more reviews and ignore The Verge like they never published it. And every Apple review and news article should be treated the same when it comes to Verge. They are in a class of its own. 

[79wjd]

5 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

Before jumping to conclusions, I would wait for more reviews and ignore The Verge like they never published it. And every Apple review and news article should be treated the same when it comes to Verge. They are in a class of its own. 

I always withhold judgement until I see multiple reviews/sources of anything. But I do still pay attention to singular sources and do take it into account.