
Apple just told the world it has no idea who the Mac is for - uptown
https://medium.com/charged-tech/apple-just-told-the-world-it-has-no-idea-who-the-mac-is-for-722a2438389b#.3mb5olie9
======
brandur
The article's inclusion of this quote from Tim Cook comes pretty close to
summing up the whole situation:

“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really,
why would you buy one?”

– Tim Cook, talking about the iPad Pro

It's time to face the fact that Apple doesn't care about professionals and
never has. With the release of the original Intel MacBook Pro in 2006 they
created a near perfect computer that would come to dominate the market amongst
developers for the next ten years. What we don't acknowledge though is that
this was purely an accident. While Apple had intended to build nice hardware
and a stable OS, the Unix-y nature of the OS that that helped capture the
hearts of developers was never exposed in an intentional way.

What we're seeing with the new MBP is a regression back to the core Apple
value that are already so prominent on the iPhone and iPad: form over
function. Why have a headphone jack when you can make the bottom of the phone
more symmetrical and shave 0.2 mm off the case depth? Why do you need a
physical keyboard when the iPad's virtual one is just fine for writing emails?
Expect more of the same on future changes to the lineup.

~~~
eknkc
Given all the Apple bashing, I can not see a decent alternative being
mentioned? Everybody is furious about the new Mac, where does this expectation
come from?

I need a new laptop, my older MBP had some unfortunate accidents. I tried to
find a better one than the new MBP. I honestly could not. This new MBP seems
to be the best ever laptop I can buy at this moment. I guess it would be
better if it had 32gb ram option or a newer gen CPU. Still, nothing else seems
to come close.

If you don't agree, please help me with my decision:

    
    
      - Unix. Linux is fine though but I prefer macOS.
      - A high resolution display.
      - A good, large trackpad and good software support for that.
      - I can work with ~4-5 hours of battery life.
      - Something portable. Been carrying this thing all day every day.
      - Don't really care about graphics performance.
    

Any suggestions?

~~~
derekp7
Lenovo Thinkpad T460s can go 2560x1440 (so not super high resolution, but not
really bad either), 10 hours battery. Certified for RHEL 7.2 and Ubuntu 14.04.
For more portability, the X260 is good too (1920x1080 in a 12.5 inch screen),
and currently certified for Ubuntu 14.04. See
[https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd031426](https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd031426)
for certification information.

I've been using the X230 as my daily driver for a while, and it's held up
quite well running Fedora. The trackpad was a bit jittery, but that just
required a quick parameter fix in Xorg.conf (I don't think that is even
required anymore).

The only complaints, are that Lenovo has pulled some stunts before, mostly
with their non-thinkpad line, such as Superfish. Or the recent issue with a
Microsoft-specific release of one of their Yoga machines. But, stick to the
models on the Linux certified list, and it should be OK.

Other than that, it would be nice to get a 3k or 4k screen, but I'm having a
hard time seeing how that would be a big deal on a smaller sized screen. As
long as it is above 1080 vertical (I have issues with some IDEs default layout
on my current X230 with a 720 vertical resolution screen). But the newer
models are available with at least 1080.

~~~
eknkc
Wow these look god awful but they weight a lot less than the MBPs so that's a
huge selling point for me. Thanks for mentioning these.

However, after all those shady stuff they did, makes it hard to go for Lenovo.

~~~
op00to
I used to love Lenovo - I had a T40, T60, T420s, T440, and a T460. Each one,
in the first year I had them, were awful with Linux, but over time they got
better. Under Linux, no Lenovo matched the battery life, screen quality, build
quality, or touchpad quality of my MacBook Pro. They were usable, but nowhere
near as intuitive to use as my MBP. Example: Sleep, on the Lenovos w/ Linux,
is a crapshoot. There seemed to be a 50% chance that any time I pulled the
Lenovo out of my bag that it would be dead because it never really slept. I
never had this problem with any Mac laptop. Battery life, which is a similar
situation, also can't be compared. I remember once having to crawl around on
the floor under a table at a client site because my Lenovo was dying mid-
presentation. All the clients laughed because they had Macs, and only plugged
in at night to charge.

Windows is a non-starter for me, and even now Linux is just not well supported
enough for a daily driver laptop. I'll gladly remap caps lock to avoid the
certain bug-opening that comes with a Linux laptop.

------
makecheck
When Tim Cook was asked about the Mac after the iPhone event awhile back, he
said something like “stay tuned”. Well, unfortunately, post-Mac-event, I am
still “staying tuned” because I can’t believe that this is what they meant.
How can there be nothing else in the pipeline?

A new Pro computer and Pro presentation should look something like:

\- Sensible flexibility: while some “forward-looking” port like USB-C is
expected, there should also be at least one present-day port. No “dongles by
default” in a Pro.

\- Top-line option with significantly higher maximum memory than other
available machines, fastest processor options, and even “unnecessary” extras
like 16-core or whatever crazy stuff is available.

\- The entire presentation should focus on the damned Mac. I don’t _care_
about your Watch or your TV because I can look those stats up. I counted,
after HALF AN HOUR he started to mention the Mac. Come on.

\- Every demo should focus on PRO features. I don’t want to see a single
consumer item. Show me the crazy performance comparisons of years past. Take
the latest, greatest apps and make them scream on stage.

\- The web site for a Pro computer should be free of animations, with a big
fat “Tech Specs” button in large print at the top that links to an ordinary
white paper and some performance comparison tables. (The Mac Pro web site has
always failed me; took forever to figure out what the thing could even do.)

~~~
benologist

        Show me the crazy performance comparisons of years past. 
        Take the latest, greatest apps and make them scream on 
        stage.
    

Problem is they decided two things and remain committed:

1) Touch has no place on PC screens

2) GPUs aren't that big a deal

Intel has only been able to make the slightest performance improvements for
years now, combined effect is now Apple get no 'free upgrades' invented by the
PC industry to integrate cause all the cool stuff coming out on that side is
touch, VR and AR.

~~~
72deluxe
Are GPUs not a big deal only because they refuse to release a modern OpenGL
version on macOS?

~~~
bmh_ca
Aside: I thought the OpenGL API antiquated, basically replaced by Vulcan.

Last I gathered Apple chose not to support Vulcan and instead went with the
Metal API?[1]

[1]
[http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4780...](http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=47801)

~~~
72deluxe
Yes this is precisely the situation. So instead of shipping Vulcan, macOS
comes with a really old version of opengl. I am not convinced this is ideal.

------
jonstokes
I've been reading (and editing and publishing) the same "When will Apple once
again start caring about high-end creative professionals who put serious
demands on their machines?" article for over a decade, now.

I mean, I agree with a lot of what's in this piece. But this idea of the Mac
as cutting-edge creative powerhouse with tons of horsepower under the hood is
a fantasy that dates back to the PPC/RISC days.

Every now and then Apple comes out with a new Mac Pro design, or the XServe,
or another new Mac Pro design, or manages to cram a leading-edge CPU or GPU
into one of their computers. But those rare moments of genuine high-end
leadership are the exception, rather than the rule.

All of Apple's innovation eggs are in the iOS basket now. All of them. And
before that they were in the "creatives who work out of Starbucks" basket.
They haven't been in the "I need to crunch serious numbers to make cool
things" basket since before the Cold War ended.

Apple has been a lifestyle brand for creative types and creative type
wannabes, and not the heir to, say, SGI, for a very very very long time.

~~~
symfoniq
I think this an accurate summation of the state of things. It just took some
of us longer to realize it than others.

Apple and I simply don't agree on what matters in a computer anymore. My
current MacBook Pro will be my last. I've purchased a ThinkPad and am
beginning to transition my work over to it.

My ThinkPad isn't the sort of machine that most people need or want, and
certainly not the sort that Apple is interested in building these days, but I
think it will meet my needs perfectly.

It already feels nice not needing a dongle just to plug in an Ethernet cable.

~~~
72deluxe
I think you're right, although I would say 2012 was still a good year for
devs, given Snow Leopard and the Macs they released then (my 2012 is the last
with all the ports and a DVD drive, for example). It was before the iOS
features were heavily pushed to OSX. I think it is very sad but I too am
considering migration of my life to a ThinkPad after this MacBook dies.
That'll be a really sad time for me because I don't fully understand
Microsoft's vision for the future, and certainly don't want to go back to
Linux (I grew tired of everything breaking all the time and incessant change
for no reason).

Out of interest, what ThinkPad are you looking at?

~~~
slantyyz
>> (my 2012 is the last with all the ports and a DVD drive, for example)

Don't forget that you can replace the RAM and HDD with commodity parts. And
you can also remove the DVD drive, drop in a cage and stick another sata drive
in there too.

~~~
72deluxe
I did indeed upgrade the RAM to 16GB. It is the top i7 model, so has the Intel
and nvidia GPU for graphics switching.d I am looking to upgrade the 750GB to a
1TB SSD as the only thing holding it back is the very slow disk bottleneck.
Having said that, it is a very capable machine and covers all my needs (I
record my band's gigs using the FireWire interface and an external audio
interface, and can burn the recordings to CD for my computer-shy drummer, who
is in his 50s), and it makes a good dev machine with OSX and Windows 10 on
bootcamp (and in parallels when under OSX). Although the only sore point about
it is the resolution, I cannot see an equivalent or replacement machine in
Apple's current offerings, which says an awful lot I feel.

------
jaredcwhite
"Apple doesn't care about professionals"

Everyone who states more or less this sentiment is stating an absolute and
speaking for an entire demographic when really they should be saying:

"Apple doesn't care about a certain type of professional who happens to think
just like me"

 _I_ am a professional: a web designer, a programmer, as well as a musician
and occasional video editor. I make a living using my MacBook Pro. I'm typing
on one right now. My life wouldn't be possible without a Mac to use for my
creative profession.

I _love_ nearly everything about the new MBPs and hope to get the 15" as soon
as funds are available. I think the Touch Bar is one of the most exciting UI
upgrades to macOS in a long, long time. (For reference, I like the Force Touch
trackpad but I almost never use the force part of it and think Apple's really
dropped the ball on that particular feature.) I can't wait until Logic Pro X
supports the Touch Bar, as well as other music apps like Ableton Live.

Even the fact that Xcode, Terminal, etc. have extensive interactions on the
Touch Bar is impressive. This, THIS is how you roll out a new integrated
hardware/software UI feature.

Are there some issues? Sure, but what major upgrade doesn't have issues? I
still remember when Apple's iOS device lineup was a mess because some devices
used Lightning and others used the old 30-pin connector. Heck, the transition
to Intel itself was painful back the day...it took years to get the entire Mac
product line up to date with all the major software properly compiled.

The switch to USB-C/TB3 is huge...the capabilities and bandwidth of that
single type of port is staggering. (I'm still in awe that the new MBP can
drive not just one, but TWO 5K displays simultaneously.) Instead of being
upset with Apple's changes, we should be clamoring for them to upgrade their
other Macs (iMac, etc.) to USB-C as fast as humanly possible. Need a dongle or
two to get through the transition period? So what? I've needed dongles for one
thing or another at almost every stage of the Mac journey (FW-400 to FW-800,
anyone?)

Apple has not lost their way. Perhaps they've lost the willingness to push out
Mac hardware on a more frequent basis, which is a shame. But their ability to
innovate and come out with a great product when the time is right should not
be up for debate.

~~~
j2bax
Do you do a lot of your creative work right at the MBP keyboard/touchpad? I
can't imagine doing too much highly creative/productive work without an
external monitor and peripherals. I wonder if they will be building an
external keyboard with the Touch Bar.

~~~
jaredcwhite
I do a fair amount at a desk with external monitor/keyboard/trackpad. So, yes,
it will be interesting to see how the absence of the touch bar in that context
will feel after getting used to it on the MBP directly. I have a feeling I'll
want to get away from my desk more often. :)

However, I have no doubt Apple is working on a external version of this,
though after hearing about the complexity of this solution inside the machine
(using a variant of watchOS, ARM chips, etc.), I suspect this is a ways off.

~~~
majewsky
Putting whole operating systems into peripheral devices is not particularly
outlandish. The external keyboard on which I'm typing this has its own ARM
chip and memory to drive its programmable backlight. The engineers at Apple
will surely have designed the T1 chip and appendices to be easily
transplantable from an MBP into an external keyboard.

------
mancerayder
I've been reading the comments on this thread and others on HN. I'm equally
dismayed by the 'New Normal' with regards to Apple's offering, the bizarre
design decisions (remove the USBs on the base Macbook, 16GB max RAM on the new
Pros while Lenovo has been offering 32, the gimmicky top bar that will change
the world, etc.)

However, to keep in mind here is that for us techies (and for design folks)
Macbooks seem as standard as ranger boots in the military, but for the rest of
the world, it's a vicious fight for market share and Apple is near the bottom
of the 'big ones'. For one of the wealthiest companies in the world, Apple is
still behind HP, Dell, Lenovo, even Acer and ASUS in marketshare! [Source:
[http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/05/11/lower-macbook-
sale...](http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/05/11/lower-macbook-sales-push-
apple-down-to-sixth-place-in-laptop-marketshare)]

So, it's not a surprise that our needs are cast aside in the grander business
scheme of capturing wider audience by casting a wider net. There's no need to
psychoanalyze Tim Cook and pray for the Second Coming of Jobs. It's the
widening of the net that we're experiencing as pain.

~~~
leonroy
> So, it's not a surprise that our needs are cast aside in the grander
> business scheme of capturing wider audience by casting a wider net.

They just canned their cheapest notebook, the Macbook Air 11" and bumped the
price on their other models by a few $100. On top of that the only port on
their new notebooks is Thunderbolt 3.

What sort of mass market appeal are they going for exactly?

~~~
mancerayder
Maybe they are banking on the hope that enterprises that are already 'locked
in', will continue to purchase and refresh inventory with later models.

And trying to appeal to the wider audience with gimmicks like the touchbar at
the top.

Also, I have to say, how many of us, with our complaints, are going to bite
our lips and buy a new model anyway. I'm on the border, myself (although
refurb'ed has been a go-to for me for years in the Apple space).

Innovation has gotten pained across the board - a separate rant, a separate
disappointment for me was the new Pixel. I can't use it to replace my 5X
because it costs double and doesn't offer much hardware-wise, but the
'Assistant' is supposed to enter that other gimmick captivating the
imagination, the AI.

In Apple's case they're calculating that their changes will expand market
share and profitability. I don't have an MBA (the degree, not the discontinued
model of laptop) so my brain is too small to comprehend the greatness of the
decision-making in the design, but I'm guessing it has to do with the
'thinnest, lightest ever' and 'the stupid bar at the top' bulletpoints.

~~~
eeeeeeeeeeeee
I don't need a new laptop right now, but I was planning on ordering the 2016
model. After seeing what they offer and the substantial price increase, I'm
waiting. And if there isn't anything better in a year or two, I'm going to
start looking at PC laptops and switch to Linux.

I just think this is another sign that Apple either doesn't care about Mac or
they don't know what to do with it. It's felt like a second-class citizen to
iOS for a very long time.

~~~
mancerayder
Unfortunately I went from trigger-happy to hesitant, and re-thinking my
"Windows = Games, MacOS = Unix shell + Adobe" strategy. See, the problem is
that Adobe is the 'killer app suite' that forces me to use one of the
platforms. Linux is what runs on my NUC, cloud VPSes and places where stuff
serves stuff. Now, I'm re-thinking that strategy.

I'm thinking about Linux as a primary workstation, using the dreaded Gnome UI
on a regular basis. And fighting with driver issues. On the other hand, the
Thinkpad Linux support talk has me very interested because it sounds solid.

I wonder how many people are investigating other options at this point in
time. This is prime time for other vendors to continue to trounce Apple in
market share (see the link in my message above for those skeptical about that
claim).

I'm tempted to say, Apple doesn't know how to take the Macbook to the next
level, which is what they're constantly trying to do.

~~~
majewsky
> using the dreaded Gnome UI on a regular basis

I suggest that you also check out some of the other popular desktops (Plasma,
Cinnamon, Mate, XFCE), for example with live media.

------
3chelon
Almost as soon as I heard the sad news about Steve Jobs I feared this would
happen. It also coincides with the 15-year cycle that seems to happen in tech
and certain financial markets. Let's face it, Apple can't be top dog forever.
Google has lasted longer than it should have. And if I were Zuckerberg I'd be
concerned what's around the corner.

And without the visionary leadership of a Jobs, a Gates, a whoever, these
companies stop innovating and change into something else. At least this is the
second time round for Apple. But I fear that without Jobs there may be no way
back.

~~~
TekMol
When Steve Jobs died, Apple was worth $300 billion. Now it is worth $600
billion.

So far, not only did Tim Cook live up to the expectations in Apple under Jobs
(which would mean to keep the company value at the same level) but he even
overperformed 100%.

~~~
3chelon
I read somewhere recently that the exact same thing happened when Ballmer
inherited Microsoft. As others have intimated, profits != future growth. The
new owner can be very good at making money but will not tend to take risks,
and there's the problem.

~~~
eknkc
But I think Tim Cook is taking some risks, big ones even. That might backfire,
who knows.

------
binaryapparatus
This surely wasn't an event that deserves 'hello' line. Unless Apple starts
using 'hello' each year from now on it should be reserved for truly earth
shattering visionary events.

Touch Bar is ergonomic catastrophe. Tiny flat screen hidden behind the keys --
at the event all the people demonstrating Touch Bar had to stand, lean over
keyboard and crouch in order to use it. Doing that while sitting and doing
some serious work is usability nightmare.

~~~
FireBeyond
For added irony, the opening ad was all about accessibility. I would love to
see how the hell that touch bar is going to be a good accessibility
experience.

~~~
slantyyz
It took them about 25 minutes before they even started talking about Macs.

------
xenadu02
The whining and moaning about dongles is exactly what people said about the
original iMac and USB.

If you think Apple is going to make room for your old crusty ports when there
is a new standard you're crazy and haven't paid any attention to Apple at all.

Here's a question: When did HN lose the ability to appreciate awesome
technology? Thunderbolt 3 is awesome. The new MBP has four ports. Each port
can charge the laptop, supply 15w of power to devices, supports USB 3, a 5K
16bpp deep color display at 60hz (!!), and extends the PCI Express bus to
external devices.

Yes the transition period will be annoying.

Once we get there it will be amazing. TB3 is what I've been wanting out of a
connector for a long time. One sturdy, reversible, and universal plug that
handles everything in a backwards-compatible way.

~~~
renaudg
Thank you !

------
onedognight
Stockholm syndrome. That's what it is. If you have memorized that F5 is step
(over, into, who knows?) then congratulations, you have passed a test that no
one should have to take. Do you know about the slide rule or log tables? The
function keys are not a good interface to anything. Good riddance.

Now, what are the escape sequences to access the Touch Bar from the Terminal
so I can add some much needed usability to emacs/vi?

~~~
__david__
Now that you mention it, it would be very neat for something like htop to put
all its F-key interface stuff on nicely labeled toolbar style buttons on the
Touch Bar. That would improve the interface tremendously.

------
sickbeard
Tim Cook seems to be one of those CEOs who sits in his office doesn't
participate in the innovation process, while Jobs took a more hands on
approach to drive innovations to its ultimate form.

I can't imagine someone presenting this "touchbar" bullspit to Jobs and not
getting fired right away for such a dumb idea.

~~~
_red
Its hard to give a meaningful critique of Tim Cook as CEO online since you are
attacked either by the fanboys, shills, or haters.

However, I think its becoming increasingly clear that Tim is "not a product
development CEO". He is clearly, by far, probably one of the best COO's of the
last 100 years (yes, I'm totally serious).

Apple would've never had its rebirth if not for the duo of Jobs as product
visionary and Cook as executor. Sadly with Jobs passing, Apple is slowly
sliding back to the confused, overlapping, inconsistent product catalog circa
1998.

~~~
PKop
Relevant article[0] with same critique of Tim Cook (!= visionary product CEO)
and what that means for Apple

[0] [https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-
ball...](https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer-and-
why-he-still-has-his-job-at-apple/)

------
pazimzadeh
> At the iPhone event in September, Apple told the world that headphone jacks
> were dead because wireless headphones are superior — so why is there a
> headphone jack on the Mac?

Because Macs are much larger than iPhones, so the trade-off in battery
life/other components is less significant than on an iPhone.

------
hammock
Back when Steve Jobs was around, there used to be so much talk about how well
and tightly he controlled the media. Guaranteeing he would have many positive
stories out there on the day of launch. People would also talk about the
Reality Distortion Field. And Gruber would right some well-logicked defense of
criticism.

Where is the positive PR army? I did not see one single positive story about
the recent announcements, following a short Google search!

~~~
ohstopitu
Almost everyone who actually used the product (tech journalists) have said
that they liked the touchbar. I've noticed the negative feedback loop
happening on HN and some parts of reddit - it was overwhelmingly positive
elsewhere - from Product Hunt to people in person.

I know why it's happening as well....a lot of us folks waited pretty long for
an upgrade and what we got...it was not what we wanted/hoped for and are left
stranded of sorts (do I continue and buy the new laptop? do I move to linux?
do I get a windows device? - such questions were never an issue before....want
a new device? get the latest macbook pro).

------
sambe
There are plenty of professionals buying Mac who are not the same customer
type as most of the professionals here. They can't touch type. Arguably they
have always been Apple's core market.

For ones saying they don't care about professionals, it's likely to remain a
strong, well-designed and productive machine. Maybe a few will leave the
walled garden due to this, but I think as many or more will appreciate it.

------
erikb
I bought a Macbook Pro in 2015 and I really, really had to train myself not to
touch the display, despite no previous laptop having a touch display in my
whole life. Don't ask me why, but the Macbook display already feels like it
should be touchable for years it seems.

~~~
devopsproject
I feel like the touchbar is going to make this worse. You will get into the
habit of touching it and since your hand is already near the screen....

------
exodust
All this "why isn't it better" foot-stomping. "Why isn't it as good as
Microsoft" more foot-stomping and perhaps even some sulking?

I don't really get the emotional expectations people drum up about what the
tech giants should or shouldn't be doing with new releases.

I like it when computers last years and years and fulfill a purpose for our
life and work-life. If your Mac is from all the way back in 2012, don't feel
bad! If it does what you need then keep it and ignore the latest product
releases this year. Next year might have something more to your liking.

~~~
gdulli
I think people waited a long time for a refresh of that product line and now
that it didn't pan out, they're frustrated because they don't know what their
next computer will be or if there even is one they'll like as much as what
they have now.

People don't suddenly need a new computer right now just because these were
announced, but will all these laptops from 2012 last until 2020 when the next
refresh might happen?

~~~
michaelcampbell
> People don't suddenly need a new computer right now just because these were
> announced,

Depends on the computer. I know of many people who, after declaring the iphone
6 the greatest thing ever, suddenly realized that they were completely useless
upon the arrival of the iphone 7.

------
Shivetya
Apple is turning into the dongle company. The number of devices they have that
require adapter cable or dongle just to use existing accessories if not
current products is astounding.

~~~
addicted
Maybe Apple is just a front org created by 3rd party accessories
manufacturers?

------
hyperion2010
The thing that is telling for me is that they didn't even look at the 2nd
generation thinkpad carbon [0] which also had 'adaptive keys' and was for
'pros.' Lenovo reverted in their 3rd and 4th generations because users did not
like it, and it was not as useful as the function keys.

Apparently Apple is like a child and can only learn from their own mistakes,
if at all.

0\.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=2nd+generation+thinkpad+x1+c...](https://www.google.com/search?q=2nd+generation+thinkpad+x1+carbon&tbm=isch)

~~~
hn_user2
I think Apple has a little more influence on application developers to gain
adoption than Lenovo does.

How many applications were modified to take advantage of the Lenovo adaptive
keys?

Now compare that to developers already playing with and releasing software
that makes use of the touch bar.

~~~
ashark
Part of it's not influence exactly, but more like _demographics_.

You're developing a Windows application. 0.1% of your users (or less) have
this Lenovo adaptive keys thing. How much time do you spend trying to support
it? Zero, obviously, unless you have some sort of special bundling deal with
Lenovo or something like that.

You're developing a Mac application. 5% of your users have the touch bar. The
number is growing every year. Users with lots of disposable income and a
willingness to spend it are over-represented in that 5% to a large degree. How
much time to do you spend trying to support it? Maybe some, and the chance
that you will grows rapidly as its adoption grows.

------
swasheck
My company-issued Lenovo X1 Carbon 2 has a touchbar. I hate it because it's so
poorly executed. If I want to use a Function key, I have to cycle through the
options to get to the Function key ... uhh ... functionality.

What's that? I need to disable/enable wireless adapter? Oh! Just cycle through
a few screens and touch the utility panel.

Oh no!!!! I forgot to mute my speakers and now I have to cycle through the
panels to get to my speaker mute button.

I can't really tell how Apple did theirs, but I sure hope that they did a
better job than Lenovo.

~~~
ghostly_s
The best 'feature' is when you overshoot the (horrific) backspace key and the
stupid utility launches on your screen. I think you can rest easy Apple's will
be far-better implemented than Lenovo.

------
oliv__
I feel like Apple is slowly stripping all of the small but delightful
"details" from their products: no more glowing apple logo (completely useless,
sure, but iconic at this point), no more magsafe (how many times have you
tripped on the cable only to realize it was all good -- thanks magsafe!)

To me, these "details" seem to be the little things that contribute to so many
people creating deep emotional connections with otherwise cold metal objects.

At this pace, not too long from now, cold metal will be all that's left.

~~~
72deluxe
Oddly, some of those details that they are stripping off are features. This
removal of features slims out their laptops and will see me disappear from
their user base, so their customer count will also slim. It's insane.

------
dirtbox
I started designing on a Mac II in the late 80s during the emergence of
desktop publishing and over the years it became the defacto designer's tool. I
have no idea what happened, but apple forgot where they came from and have
completely lost touch with their creative roots. That MS have swooped in and
delivered what has to be the most exciting design tool I've seen in over a
decade only punctuates how bad things have become at Apple.

I can see them hemorrhaging all but their most hardcore customers in the next
year.

~~~
slantyyz
>> Apple forgot where they came from and have completely lost touch with their
creative roots.

I get what you're saying, but Apple has evolved. Back then, Apple was a niche
company. Now they are a mainstream company, enjoying the profits of their
success.

I know it's not pleasant to hear, but they don't need the creatives any more.
Or developers. And that's fine. You can always speak out with your wallet. I
didn't like the direction they went in and changed to Windows, but I wasn't
reliant on any one thing in the Mac ecosystem. I still have no problem
recommending Macs to certain types of users though.

~~~
addicted
I don't understand how you can recommend a Mac to anyone anymore.

As you point out, Apple changed, and users who were the mainstay of the
company were abandoned. That's Apple's right. But what makes you think the
users you are recommending the Mac to won't be the next class of users Apple
will abandon? And especially with Apple's increasing focus on iOS, the entire
Mac line is probably at risk.

If this were a Dell you were recommending, and Dell decided to quit the
computer market, the person you recommended to would switch to an HP and
largely have a similar experience. Not so much with Macs, where switching
means leaving the ecosystem altogether.

At this point the only people I can recommend Macs to are those who are
completely invested in OSX. If you're new to the Mac I will actively dissuade
you, because you're putting a lot of money to enter an ecosystem whose future
has not looked more uncertain in over a decade.

~~~
slantyyz
Yes, but I also know a lot of people who don't use function keys or need the
extra ports. Apple still has good build quality, and the out of the box
experience is still first class.

Most non-technical people I know might use Windows at work, but most of them
can do everything they need to with Safari, iLife and iWork. I may be a
Windows user now, but I still don't think anything can compete with Apple for
the "normal" user. I haven't seen any free software bundles that even come
close to iLife and iWork in terms of power or usability.

A well equipped Mac today should be powerful enough for a "normal" user for at
least 5 years. Who knows what tomorrow brings? I am pretty sure a Mac can
address a "normal" person's current needs for that time frame very well
though.

------
wppick
I think the new MacBook pro is actually a really great move... it was just not
sold properly.

-USB-C can replace HDMI -Touch bar uses watchOS -The touch bar is actually much better than full touchscreen since lifting your arm up all day to the screen is much more effort and will smudge your display. They didn't sell the possibilities of a dynamic portion of your keyboard

-I'm not sure about removing the magsafe port, but I'm sure I won't miss it once I get used to not having it

~~~
freehunter
I feel like I'm the only one who likes Magsafe in theory but hates it in
practice. Setting my laptop on my lap, it ends up pushing the charger against
my leg and unplugging it. If it's sitting beside me and I lift it up to put it
on my lap or desk, it commonly unplugs just from the weight of the cable
pulling down. But when I trip on the cord and it tries to pull straight
outward, I've had my laptop tumble to the ground before the cable unplugged.

It's great to think that it can unplug itself instead of damage the machine,
but in practice I find myself wishing I could get something that just plugs in
like normal, or breaks away like an old Xbox cable (i.e., straight out instead
of up or down).

------
programminggeek
Bizarrely, it's almost to the point where Microsoft is making better computers
than Apple.

~~~
treve
And Dell! XPS13

~~~
endemic
What bizarre alternate reality am I living in where a Dell is being considered
an alternative to Apple hardware? Even crazier: I feel the same way.

~~~
dingaling
Something bad happened to Dell corporate laptop design after 2008. Up until
then, every Latitude D4xx or D6xx that I had used was rock-solid and easy to
maintain and upgrade. Solid magnesium-alloy chassis and case nearly
indestructible.

Around 2010 they started segmenting their product line much more and design
quality fell through the floor. We briefly had some 'small business' Vostro
laptops with sharp edges that hurt when you typed, and Latitude E<something>
on which you couldn't open the lid without holding the base.

The old Latitude Ds just kept working...

Recently, possibly as a result of the share buy-back, it sounds like they've
found their feet again and I'm willing to give the XPS or Precision a try.

------
bcheung
It definitely feels like Apple is concentrating on the amateur market. I
wouldn't say it is geared towards pro users. What they showed would be great
for the kind of people who buy the air. Personally, I don't care how much my
laptop weighs or how big it is as long as it fits in my backpack.

The touch strip is great for scrubbing, that part I liked, but pro users do
not use contextual menus like that. They know all the keyboard shortcuts.
Scrolling through photos, sliders, scrubbing, timelines, all good use for the
touch strip. Menus, not so much.

In Photoshop, why would I go through menus to get to the control to change the
brush size when I can just press '[' or ']'. And if a person was really a pro
they would have a pen with pressure sensitivity already that allows them to
change opacity, size, etc by pressing harder.

The DJ demo interface looked extremely cumbersome. It's a great alternative if
your controller breaks but there's a reason physical sliders and knobs exist.
They are easier to use. If you're a professional DJ you are going to use a
dedicated external controller. Great if you want to tinker or are an amateur,
but not for a professional.

------
tmaly
I think Apple should have followed one of the important mantras in the startup
space: Talk to your users. Everyone who owns an MacBook most likely has an
apple account with an email. They could have conducted customer development
surveys to get a better idea of what features users like the most or use the
most.

~~~
dasil003
Nah, Apple doesn't have to talk to their users. All the feedback they could
possibly want is already out there in blog/podcast/twitter form. Their problem
is that strategically they underestimate the importance of influencers and
power users. Being the market leader makes a company think they just have to
satisfy the masses, and they lose the train that in order to satisfy the
masses they need to have the best apps, and to have the best apps they need to
have developers, and to have developers they need to satisfy power user needs.

Apple is at a dangerous juncture right now. They're still holding on to people
like me simply because of the shittiness of Windows and Linux overall
experience, but once I actually make the jump and sort out the little
annoyances and get my workflow set, I'll probably never come back to Mac/iOS.
The ecosystem is sticky, but it won't attract new developers the way it's
going.

~~~
slantyyz
>> the shittiness of Windows and Linux

I made the switch to Windows, and while it doesn't have the same polish as OSX
in many areas, it's pretty good. Even with my OSX muscle memory, it only took
a few days to get used to some of the unfamiliar new stuff (to the point where
using OSX now feels a little foreign to me).

There are things in Windows I hate, but there were things in OSX that I hated
too. If you use Windows 10 without too many preconceived notions, it's
actually pretty good. It's definitely way better than XP, which was the last
Windows OS I used prior to switching to Mac. I don't get many crashes etc.,
and my workflow is pretty much the same as it was on Mac. I use Cmder as my
Terminal replacement, but at some point, I'll use that new Linux stuff they
built into the Anniversary Edition of Windows 10.

~~~
addicted
I like Windows 10 and have been using it regularly for a few months with no
problems at all. I recently used an old laptop which still had Windows 8
installed (maybe 8.1?) and that device was nearly unusable. What a disaster.
Constraining the entire Desktop to an app may have been the worst decision I
have ever seen in a tech product.

~~~
slantyyz
8 was pretty bad. 8.1 was a lot better.

------
OJFord
I think if you don't have a Mac, great, there's nothing _wrong_ with the new
ones per se (assuming you didn't want to come in at the lower price point they
completely eliminated).

After so long, though, this really needed to be an upgrade machine for
existing Mac users... and maybe it is, but it's not a compelling one. It's
certainly not one at a good price.

I was hoping to upgrade my 2013 MBA - but there's now nothing directly
comparable, nothing sub-£1K. My options now seem to be (a) hold out for new
Macbooks (non 'Pro'), (b) buy a refurb MBP, or (c) switch to a Lenovo or
something and stick Linux on it.

The only thing stopping me doing (c) is identifying a laptop which I can stick
Arch on and have all the hardware Just Work™ with decent battery life and sane
fan usage.

~~~
kogepathic
> The only thing stopping me doing (c) is identifying a laptop which I can
> stick Arch on and have all the hardware Just Work™ with decent battery life
> and sane fan usage.

Check out the Dell Latitude series. I've got an E6230 (by now quite old) and
everything just works. I also get 6 hours of battery life in Arch on the 6
cell battery (which itself is a few years old). The fan is off pretty much all
the time unless you're doing something heavy like compiling or gaming.

I've also heard good things about the Dell XPS 13, although I'm not keen to
drop that much money on a laptop!

------
Bud
This is a foolish article, through and through.

Let's examine this silliness:

 _The thing is, I can’t figure out who this is for other than those who are on
really old machines. Myself, and everyone else, seems to be wondering what,
exactly, is the selling point of this upgrade. I have a MacBook Pro 15 " from
2013 and it’s still going strong and the majority of the time it’s plugged
into a large display for creative work, coding or whatever._

Um, the selling point is that it's more than twice as fast for graphics and
many operations, jumps forward TWO GENERATIONS in CPU, has much faster
storage, is significantly smaller and lighter, etc. In other words, it's more
of an upgrade than the MBP line has had in several years.

 _Touch Bar is a great example of this. First, it feels like an excuse to not
just add touch to the Mac in the first place. While Microsoft is busy letting
you touch the entire display, Apple’s making you look down at your keyboard to
interact instead — bizarre._

That's because being able to touch the entire display is stupid and does not
work ergonomically unless you are holding the device IN YOUR HANDS, which
doesn't work for a laptop, obviously. Apple examined this idea and rejected
it. On purpose.

Then the article gripes about there being two versions of the 13" MB Pro and
asking why they don't call the non-touch-strip version the MB Air. The obvious
answer is that there is _already_ a MB Air, which is a different model and
still for sale.

 _The event also left Apple with a ton of bizarre loose ends. At the iPhone
event in September, Apple told the world that headphone jacks were dead
because wireless headphones are superior — so why is there a headphone jack on
the Mac? Even worse, Apple has delayed its wireless headphones which were
supposed to change the world._

No. Apple did not tell the world that headphone jacks were dead. Apple told
the world that they couldn't justify putting one in the iPhone because of its
form factor, which is of course entirely different. And no, Apple's wireless
headphones were not "supposed to change the world". Lastly, if AirPods are not
ready to ship, they aren't ready to ship and it would be obvious idiocy to
ship them.

 _Why can’t you plug the Lightning headphones that come in the iPhone box into
the new Mac?_

Why can't you plug basically ANY headphones shipping today into the vast
majority of amplifiers shipping today, which have 1/4" jacks, without using an
adapter?

 _Why doesn’t the iPhone come with the right cable for the new MacBook Pro?_

Obviously, because Apple hadn't shipped a single USB-C product at the time the
iPhone 7 was released, so it would be idiotic to give folks a USB-C cable. In
addition, the writer is too stupid to figure out that the release of a new MB
Pro doesn't mean that everyone magically and instantly upgrades. You have to
think about supporting the hardware base that is already out there.

 _Why doesn’t Apple make a screen that properly works with its own devices?_

Because that's not judged to be a challenge worthy of Apple's resources and is
just as well handled by third-party manufacturers who can do it cheaper.

 _How do I charge my Lightning cable mouse?_

You flip it over and go get coffee for 5 minutes every month or two, you
obtuse wanker.

 _Why remove the HDMI port, a standard that’s still incredibly popular for
plugging into TVs?_

Because the machine is now too thin to fit an HDMI port in the side, and
because Apple is pushing wireless means for this purpose (AirPlay).

 _Why remove the SD card, a popular slot for… creatives using cameras?_

Because at some point, you have to make choices. We don't have parallel ports
and 9-pin serial ports anymore, either.

~~~
WillKirkby
> Obviously, because Apple hadn't shipped a single USB-C product at the time
> the iPhone 7 was released, so it would be idiotic to give folks a USB-C
> cable.

Except for the Retina MacBook released in April 2015 which has a single USB-C
port and nothing else?

~~~
Bud
You're right; I had forgotten about that. I think the argument is still
generally valid, though. By far, most of the installed base is still on USB-A.
So you have to default to that cable for a while longer.

~~~
jedberg
In the past their stance was "we'll support the new thing and you can get an
adaptor if you have the old thing". And in that case, every iPhone 7 should
have shipped with a USB-C cable and then you'd have to go out and get a USB-C
to USB-A adaptor. _That 's_ how you drive people to move to USB-C, like they
did with USB-A back in the day.

~~~
Bud
You're forgetting, though, that that would require a new USB-C charger to be
designed, as well. Which perhaps wasn't ready yet.

------
raarts
I am very disappointed with the new lineup: no more magsafe, no more 12 hrs
battery, much higher price, and no 16GB Ram for the MBA to fall back to. And a
touch thingy I didn't ask for to replace my trusty function- and escape keys.

I will probably still be buying a Mac PRO, but it's different now: this time I
feel Apple knows I've got nowhere to go, and they're strong arming me into
buying the new machine.

This is a very different feeling from being really enthusiastic about my
machine, telling everybody they'll have to pry it out of my sing hands.

This time I feel like I'm being treated like a consumer instead of a customer.

------
thescribe
As a long time Apple user this was a mix for me, and I was really hoping for
something as good as the MacBook Pro. I really do care about having a nice
screen and high quality key switches, so it was nice to see those get an
upgrade. I just don't care about weight, If it weight ten pounds but was more
powerful I'd still carry it, I don't see why they make them lighter instead of
improving airflow. I don't want touch screens, they are such a big negative
for me. I still love MacOS and the development ecosystem from it, but it is
getting so much harder to justify.

------
op00to
The only thing that really bums me out about the new MacBook Pro not having
regular ol' USB ports is that I'll need a dongle for my Yubikey. That sucks,
but not enough for me to really give an actual shit.

------
Skunkleton
Anyone have specifics on what processors are in the 13" model? It looks like
it might be one of the U skus. Not very pro...

~~~
malensek
I believe you are correct, the base model with touchbar has a i5-6267U.

------
amaks
Apple product line is a huge misaligned mess right now. Not surprising
considering articles like [http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/25/why-tim-cook-is-
steve-ball...](http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/25/why-tim-cook-is-steve-
ballmer/).

------
aq3cn
I like few things about macOS, is there a reliant way virtualise it?

If I make switch to Linux, I really don't want to lose my digital purchase in
iTunes or Mac App Store or iBooks.

------
oliversl
I press F4 every day, read that again, every day to launch apps.

------
sarreph
It is incredibly dangerous for Apple to begin to 'navel gaze' (look back) at
its history for inspiration. Bold moves - at the helm of Jobs - used to have
purpose behind them other than making their machines 'look pretty' and appeal
to the coffee shop demographic as the author astutely pointed out.

~~~
ghostly_s
Why shouldn't they appeal to this 'coffee shop demographic' you seem to look
down upon? That's likely a larger share of Mac profit now than traditional
'Pro' users. They should be appealing to both, but I wouldn't fault them for
looking to the coffee shops first.

