The new MacBook Pro 2016 is here. It’s gorgeous and powerful, but it’s a MacBook that I do not want to buy — yet.
Typing that was quite difficult for me, but let’s go back a few years to understand my position on how I perceive this new MacBook Pro. Over the course of my life, I have been an avid PC user. For years, I have been custom-building my own PCs to run all my applications and give me the smoothest gaming experience. Self-taught photographer, Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator user, my PCs that I have built were loaded with plenty of RAM and the latest CPUs and GPUs to satiate my need for oomph. In 2013, due to circumstances around my living arrangements and priorities, I decided to invest in a 13″ MacBook Pro and that my gaming would be confined to consoles (let’s face it: MacBooks are not meant for gaming, so stop telling yourself otherwise). Ever since that investment, I have been devoted heart and soul to my MacBook Pro, and immersed myself completely into the Apple ecosystem (even got myself an Airport Extreme). My MacBook Pro is beautiful, elegant, fast, and gave me what my PC couldn’t, despite the more powerful hardware: a solid, fluid user experience that streamlined my creative workflow.
The newest MacBook Pro throws that inconvenience out window.
That’s not to say that the MacBook Pro 2016 is not powerful. On the contrary, actually. It does what I need it to do quite well, and then some. The problem isn’t the performance per se, but everything I would need to do to get it to do my business.
The new MacBook Pro’s design philosophy raises many questions about what Apple thinks of Pro users
When Apple spoke of removing the 100 year old phone jack from the iPhone 7, the backlash was strong, and I noted in my review that the ecosystem will eventually mature to accommodate Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack. Apple, however, did supply a convertor right out of the box, making the transition smoother. While you can’t use the EarPods shipped with the iPhone 7 on any other device, you can use any headphone with the iPhone 7 — provided you don’t lose the $9 dongle.
The problem with the MacBook Pro is much bigger, and significantly more expensive than $9. It is not only a dongle problem, mind you, but a design philosophy that is changing the perception of what a MacBook Pro is, what it does, and to whom it is catered for.
Apple wants to herald a new era of how we interact with technology, but the approach is too alien at the moment as the USB-C ecosystem is still immature. It is not an inexpensive machine, either — after all, the MacBook Pros are the pinnacle of Apple design — so there’s the added cost of setting up the MacBook Pro for proper use on top of the machine cost, depending on what kind of MacBook Pro user you are. The USB-C dongles come in various costs based on whom you choose to buy it from, but the hassle involved in buying these dongles and keeping track of them is in contrast to Apple’s “it just works” mantra.
Apple removes a 100 year old technology from the iPhone, yet keeps it on the MacBook Pro
When Apple spent a considerable amount of time justifying the removal of a 100 year old piece of technology, why did they choose to keep it on the MacBook Pro? A valid answer is that DJs would be using their professional headsets that are not (yet) lightning or USB-C connectors. With that in mind, why did Apple remove the SD card reader then? Or the HDMI port? Are they implying that DJs are more important than photographers and graphic designers?
Not only is this logic strange, but the non-pros who buy a MacBook Pro because they can afford to will have to deal with the headphone jack issue provided they own an iPhone 7. The EarPods with the lightning connectors become useless, so you’ll have to either carry two headphones, or one with a 3.5mm jack and use the adaptor on the iPhone 7.
Apple could have avoided this had they introduced the iPhone 7 with USB-C instead of lightning. Yes, people will still complain, but it will make Apple’s own devices compatible with one another, as well as a wider option of headsets since some already ship with USB-C. Instead, you would have to daisy-chain your iPhone to your MacBook Pro with USB-A to USB-C dongles.
As you can see, the most basic set up of EarPods, iPhone, and MacBook Pro is already confusing, and expensive since the dongles are not cheap (unless you buy cheap ones off Amazon and hope they won’t ruin your devices).
Now, my workflow as a hobbyist photographer involves SD cards and an HDMI cable, both of which no longer have ports. I would need to buy a new SD card reader (because I chucked mine away a long time ago — why would I carry it if I had an SD card slot?) and I would also need a USB-A to USB-C to connect it. I would also need an HDMI-USB-C adaptor, or get Apple’s Multiport Adaptor to connect the HDMI as well as my new SD card reader. I’ll probably have to get two more USB-A to USB-C dongles as I connect my external hard disks and iPhone.
My MacBook Pro is already becoming a tangled mess.
One of the selling points of my 2013 MacBook Pro is that I did not need to buy or carry any dongle; everything was right there on my MacBook Pro and I could just connect anything to it (well, almost anything).
Apple is doing away with all ports like it did with floppy disks and disc drives
Here’s the thing. USB-C is a superior port, and I understand why Apple wants to adopt it as the all-in-one solution for our technological mess. And only Apple has the clout to force this change in the market; with such a massive accessories ecosystem, Apple can effectively shape the market however it pleases and others will follow. It did so with floppy disks, with disc drives, and even Flash. And with every one, it was met with dismay and frustration.
This time is no different, but it’s much more significant because of how our lives are wired around USB-A. It’ll take a while for the ecosystem to adapt, and we will look back and say Apple was right — and that the MacBook Pro 2016 was the one that brought about this change — but right now the dongles are expensive, the set up impractical, and the MacBook Pro is already a luxuriously expensive device.
What’s more, though, is that the “Pro” label is making a pro’s life more inconvenient, rather than streamlining it. If I am a photographer looking for an upgrade, not only will I have to contend with expensive hardware, but also expensive add-ons to have a basic setup, which I may forget to bundle with me on my travels, or lose at some point. It is just frustrating.
Apple could have circumvented some of these issues by either keeping their ports (and maybe limit the USB-A to one if they’re so inclined), or bundle the Multiport adaptor with the MacBook Pro out of goodwill, just as they have done with the iPhone 7 3.5mm dongle. By bundling in the Multiport adaptor, Apple would have been acknowledging that this is a big change and would be respecting the professionals by giving them the adaptor to help them with the transition.
In the middle of this mess arrives the TouchBar, Apple’s answer to a 45 year old technology, that replaces the tried-and-true function keys to an adaptable, evolving display bar. On paper, it’s quite nifty. Why have keys set in stone when you can change and adapt them to the needs of the software you’re using? It’s an ingenious idea, and while the initial implementation is still in its infancy, the future is promising as developers take advantage of it.
In all honesty, I am actually a fan of the TouchBar. It’s beautiful to look at, and in some applications, I did appreciate the functionality and ease it provides. In particular, whenever I am closing a document, the saving options are mirrored on the TouchBar for a quick tap rather than an endeavour of finding the cursor and moving it to the centre of the screen. This is probably the most useful feature the TouchBar has offered me, along with quick jumps between dates on the Calendar app. Audio and screen brightness controls are nifty, too, but they’re just quicker with physical keys and you need to re-train your muscle memory to access them. Scrolling through a YouTube video with the TouchBar slider never fails to impress.
Other implementations are downright strange. For example, while writing a document on Pages, I can highlight a piece of text and then select the formatting from the TouchBar. It is cool at first, until you realise your vision constantly jumps from the screen to the TouchBar, and that you swipe through the TouchBar left and right to find the right formatting, when they are just there on the screen in front of you.
It’s more intuitive to touch the screen than look down and find what you need on the TouchBar
The fact that the TouchBar exists signifies that Apple is not making a touch-screen MacBook Pro anytime soon — perhaps that is because they do not want to cannibalise on the iPad Pro, which they’re selling as a “laptop replacement”. But the key learning from the iPad Pro (and the regular iPad and the iPhone) is that touching what is directly in your vision is more intuitive than breaking the line of sight to find out what functions are displayed on the TouchBar. Having tested and reviewed Windows laptops with touch-screens, I find the TouchBar a bit odd in some scenarios. Why would I edit a videoclip on a tiny strip of display when the entire thing is right in front of me on the 15″ screen, but I cannot directly touch it right there? It’s quite baffling that I would ignore a 15″ screen to work on a tiny display above my keyboard.
Besides, if you’re a pro user — the alleged target of the MacBook Pro — you’d know all the keyboard shortcuts for the apps you’re using, eliminating much of the TouchBar functions.
The design approach that is still familiar is the look and feel of the MacBook Pro, and it’s simply the finest, sexiest, most mind-boggling piece of hardware you’ve ever seen to date. This is Apple at its best, and the MacBook Pro is a testament to Apple’s care in hardware design. It just looks stunning. The screen is vivid, gorgeous, and supports the wide colour gamut that’s shipped on the iPhone 7 and the 5K iMac, so expect deeper reds and darker blacks.
The TrackPad is an olympic size swimming pool. It’s one of those things you never really need to be this massive, but what the heck, why not. I never, ever thought I needed more travel space with my 2013 MacBook, so that extra space on the 2016 model did not add any value to my daily use, but it was not detrimental anyway. The keyboard is just fantastic. Many have had gripes with it, but after typing a few sentences, my brain registered the nuances of the new keys and soon I started to appreciate the keyboard. The stereo speakers sound incredible, too; I haven’t thought of watching videos or listening to music off my MacBook without headphones, but those speakers make me want to reconsider.
Overall, the MacBook Pro is a well-engineered machine, except for the absence of MagSafe which I will never be able to get over.
In the performance department, while it’s using an older Intel processor, it’s still a very solid performer. I had no trouble going through various apps and in processing my photos on Lightroom and Photoshop. You don’t even need the super-intensive processing power for other functions such as word processing and internet browsing, but for my core photography uses, I found no problems with the performance.
Here is where the dichotomy lies. The MacBook Pro sells itself as the best-in-class laptop for all your professional needs. At the same time, it strips away your important ports, forcing you to invest in expensive dongles, which you may forget or lose. It adds a TouchBar that attempts to add useful functionality, but it’s likely that you either know the shortcuts or find yourself disrupting your workflow as your eyes shift back and forth between your screen and the TouchBar. That it is dynamic is also a curse since you cannot rely on muscle memory to reach the same area for a function you desire. For all of this inconvenience, Apple is charging you a premium, without the ability to upgrade your hardware components, and the current USB-C ecosystem is yet to mature.
It seems as though the world is not ready for the new MacBook Pro, but Apple ships it anyway
I do see how Apple wants to disrupt the market and create a world for the USB-C. Unlike the iPhone, where it is aimed for the masses and the disruption is a $9 affair, Apple may have chosen the wrong product line for its USB-C era. The MacBook already ships with USB-C, so they could have updated the future MacBook Air, and the ecosystem slowly shifts. Users would have still griped and complained, but it’s likely that that user base would need one USB-A to USB-C dongle for their problems to have been solved — your students and casual entrepreneur at a cafe. By choosing the MacBook Pro, Apple frustrates its hardcore audience of various input needs. Yet by doing this, Apple would put even more pressure on the ecosystem of vendors who want to monetise quick to alleviate those frustrations, setting in motion faster shifts.
The MacBook Pro seems to have lost its identity amidst all of this change. It doesn’t seem to have been made to address the needs of professionals; it appears to be a more expensive MacBook which a display bar. My personal 2013 MacBook Pro is ageing, and despite all the great things about the 2016 MacBook Pro, it’s too disruptive for my everyday work to justify the purchase. It’s a beautiful, luxurious piece of hardware, but one that I am not buying right now.
