As a professional software dev/system architect using MacBook Pro's, I am excited about the new MacBook Pro. I'll miss the SD card for my amateur photography, but I'll live.<p>It's still got the 3.5mm for my headphones, with USB-C hopefully daisy chaining non Apple displays will finally become a reality, and thankfully my work has upgraded to using wireless technology for displaying screens in conference rooms (which works from OS X and Windows).<p>The new context sensitive function bar is going to take some getting used to, but I have been using Caps lock for escape for years now and OS X just got native support for mapping that.<p>Grabbed a USB-C to lightning cable while I was at it. Now I can just bring a single charger and charge either my Mac or my iPhone or both at the same time. I rarely use USB drives, so unfortunately I'll need a dongle for that, but it's not that big of a deal.<p>---<p>I am more sad that there was no announcement for the Mac Pro/Mac Mini. Also no Apple display, instead handing that to LG, so it looks like Apple is pulling out of the desktop market (I wonder how long the iMac will last).<p>---<p>Edit: There is one thing I will miss, and that is MagSafe. It has saved my laptop many a time in it's lifetime. I am hoping Apple builds a USB-C to MagSafe cable that provides the same functionality to save laptops from a tripping hazard.
What a whiney, content-free blog post. The author complains about removing the function keys, MagSafe, HDMI, SD Card and the escape key but doesn't give any examples of how they used those in the past or how those features' absence will cripple their workflow.<p>Here are my thoughts:<p>Removing the function keys and replacing them with the touch bar is a step up. The function keys have been annoyingly inconsistent on macOS for a few years now, most programs don't make use of them like they could because by default you need to use an awkward chord with the fn key.<p>The addition of the fingerprint scanner alone is a win, but having proper context sensitive keys will be huge for discoverability and ease of use.<p>RIP MagSafe - it was such a great design. I would have kept it and ditched a thunderbolt port, but that's just me.<p>Having HDMI built-in was pretty good for connecting to projectors, but HDMI doesn't support many screen modes and is pretty out-dated these days. Buy a $10 adaptor if you need it.<p>SD Card readers are also not used much these days. Buy a $10 adaptor if you need it.<p>Lots of people are moaning about the escape key like it is their favorite member of One Direction. My guess is that the escape key will be available (as a touch bar icon) in any application that actually needs it.<p>I am not in the market for a new MacBook Pro, but I can see the appeal.
I LOVE Apple products! I treasure Iphone and it's safe and fun ecosysten. I love the simplicity of OSX. I love the professional appearance of a Macbook Pro... as a user. Or as an observer even.<p>Because professionally, I've been on Windows, Linux and Android for years. And with Windows where it's at now, I've never been more productive.<p>Just can't seem to get that across to my Apple-friends and Apple-coworkers.
A maxxed out MBP costs €5000, which is $5447.95. And you can't connect your iphone, your iphone headset, hdmi, magsafe, sd-card or usb. And you don't get tactile escape keys or function keys. Or Nvidia. Or even an OpenGL implementation from this decade! This show is over :(
"I liked your products. You changed things. I'm stating as a fact they're worse without providing any evidence or opinions to back that up."<p>This is a low quality post.
I think there are a lot of legit complaints about the new announcements and lack of improvements, but this post seems pretty weak. Fn keys aren't really gone, they're just present in another form (the touch bar). The other complaint is just about ports. It's not so hard to have a dongle that has these ports, and just plugs into the new one. Sure, a little annoying, but it doesn't exactly kill your workflow.
I'm genuinely amazed every time there's an Apple keynote and people act this surprised. With every major new release Apple has been taking away legacy and pushing forward, often compromising compatibility.
FFS, they didn't remove the F-keys, you can still have F-keys if you want...and they made all the ports do everything. They removed the card reader. Whiny posts by people who didn't even pay attention are more annoying than Apple.
If you say (in effect) "The latest macbooks would mess with details of my high-end pro workflow...so I'm thinking of switching to Linux" you either live in the terminal or you're not really thinking this through.
I have two problems with the new keyboard/touch bar layout. One, the ESC key is not on the far left of the touch bar - it ignores the "Mile High Menubar" concept. Now instead of just reaching up and blindly smashing the top-most left-most key on the keyboard, I have to look down to find the ESC key that's close to, but not quite in, the upper lefthand corner of the keyboard area.<p>The other problem is that they left in the Fn key. Why would I need a Fn key when I have a touch bar? Maybe we can map ESC to the Fn key. :/
I've been noticing a trend toward linux among devs for a while now, so this will just hasten that. The lenovos are really sweet with linux, as an example, and I'm seeing them increasingly at programming events.<p>Apple has been moving it's product line towards catering to the idiocracy, anyways, so it's not surprise. Add to that the increasing loss of interest in iphone and devs moving to android, in spite of all it's problems, and you have a sea shift.<p>I think it's been an interesting dichotomy all along. There were the consumer apple products, and the professional ones. The professional products were used to build for the consumer ones. I think Jobs really understood the need to have a two pronged approach in this way. It seems that new management now is trying to unify it all, and the wind up is that apple will no longer be the cool dev's choice, and the result will be a rapidly declining ecosystem, offering, popularity, and, finally, revenue.
I have to agree on all points. As a vim addict losing the ESC key is bad, although I've been trying to re-learn to use ctrl-[ instead which is more ergonomic anyway. Touch bar for volume, brightness, etc. is going to take some getting used to.<p>As for losing the ports -- seems like a great opportunity for someone to come up with an all-in-one usb-C to SD, HDMI, VGA, DVI, USB3, etc. Wouldn't need to be very big or expensive...<p>Even so, the old macbooks and macbook airs with SD slots could be "upgraded" with a low-profile SD card that is left in all the time. This series of macbook pros appears to be completely bereft of renegade upgrade opportunities.<p>I use a mac now, and like the tight integration with ipad and iphone, but unless they come out with a better macbook that restores some of what has been taken away my next laptop will likely be running Linux.
I am really concerned about where the whole mac train goes.<p>It is so clear they did not consider touch-typists when they designed touch bar. They could have used textured glass to cover it, or aligned its keys to 0-9 row, or added haptic feedback, or at least kept 2 options for keyboard as they did with 13 inch model.<p>Seeing Craig Federighi when he tried his best to show the demo was hilarious. Is it how they see professionals working in the next decade? It turned out that Microsoft has better understanding of it. At least is see Surface Dial being used.<p>I can cover that ugly "MacBook Pro" branding by duct tape. I can buy dongles for SD/HDMI and magsafe-like USB-C cable. But... the whole story of giving up on professionals seems to be unforgettable.
I agree. I have no plans on upgrading my MacBook Pro (2015). I'm very forgetful, so I know that I'd lose any adapter dongles due to the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports replacing everything else.<p>Well, it makes it easy to save a few thousand dollars this year.
Can anybody recommend a good laptop to replace my current macbook -<p>I would like 17inch screen, and runs Ubuntu ... bonus for NVidia GPU - I deep learn in the cloud but having a GPU to test on would be great.<p>Anybody know of this mythical unicorn?
I'm pretty ambivalent about everything but the usb ports. I get they its an overloaded standard and probably needs a replacement, but its a lot to give up in the name of progress...
I can't wait to have a macbook pro with unlimited energy and slim as a piece of paper... (read I'm pretty sure the next upgrade is gonna be a "batteryless" laptop)
> function keys, MagSafe, HDMI, SD Card AND the Escape key<p>I'm an HDMI guy too, SD cards are great, and MagSafe has saved my bacon more than once. But the function keys are being transformed into something a bit more interactive and app-specific, and if you need Escape in a terminal emulator, Ctrl-] has been around just about forever.<p>I think Apple's doing something new and interesting with function keys.<p>(But I agree, I'm not sure I agree with their all-in strategy on Thunderbolt/USB-C either.)
I think that a cellphone with one button was also a mistake but I've never been a fan of Apple... I wish cellphones still had a slide out keyboard...
While I appreciate USB-C, it's still too early to go USB-C only, especially on a "professional" laptop. And, the transition to lightning headphones is a glaring example of the left hand SOMEHOW not being aware of what the right hand is doing.<p>Plus, the touch bar sucks. Compensating with indentations and force touch could have made it an amazing and useful tool.
Google trends "macbook alternative" and "macbook windows" shows clear spike after the announcemenet.<p><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&q=macbook%20alternative,macbook%20windows" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.co.uk/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&q=mac...</a>
Apple only cares about impressing Apple newbies who walk into their stores, and this laptop is a prime example of that attitude. They haven't given half a damn about power users, enterprise users, or developers since Steve died. It's all about the bling now.
Serious question: how will us vim users get by w/o physical escape key? If it's just a touch in the same position as old physical key, I think it'll be fine (may actually be nice, as it will _feel_ different, for a very special key).
I never thought I could move to a touch only phone because I do a lot of "proper" typing on my phone, which is why I stuck to my Blackberry until my first iPhone which was a 5 (yes that long). Which is to say, I don't think we will miss the tactile escape and function keys. And same goes for dedicated HDMI port and microsd card slot (seriously how often does one use the latter)<p>Remember when apple got rid of the floppy drive and then the disk drive? Do we still complain about those?<p>Headphone jack on iPhone is a different concern, since bluetooth headphones are still not as ubiquitous and having something else to charge a headache.<p>But none of these concerns (except for maybe the absence of Magsafe) is really a dealbreaker.
"it’s not like I can buy laptops with MacOS (which I’m completely addicted to) from someone else." <- No, you can. Just check Microsoft Surface Pro running macOS ;)
I see a lot of comments about apple getting rid of USB. Thats not exactly true at all. They have removed the USB-A ports and replaced them with the updated USB-C ports. Which also double as charging ports, thunderbolt ports, and HDMI (with a dongle yes). I think its dishonest to say they did away with USB because they haven't they have done away with the port you are used to. Doesn't mean USB is gone. Its still there with a better connector!
If your a professional using your computer all day, then you shouldn't be using the crappy built-in keyboard or crappy built-in display in the first place. The Macbook is your computer - add the display and keyboard and mouse that make you productive.