New Macbook Pro

[Stromkraft]

Really last post, this article: http://cdm.link/2016/10/apples-computer ... k-forward/

Great article and I agree with most of it. Though I think the strip will work better than what the author thinks. Over all a decent upgrade, if pricey. (Un?)fortunately these boxes still sell. Last quarter Apple sold 4.9 million Macs, of which I'd guess at least 70% were portables. That was with old technology.

[brockheth]

anyone know how it will run older software? I start at a music school in a couple months and a macbook pro is an admission requirement along with komplete, leodyne, autotune, pro tools, logic and ableton. will all of these run properly?

[Soarer]

Really last post, this article: http://cdm.link/2016/10/apples-computer ... k-forward/

Maaan I really dislike such negative reviewers! Didn't read it in detail but felt instantly how none of it made sense and was just overly judgemental and pessimistic.
I'm sure this Macbook will serve me extremely well in my music production.

as someone who has used Apple gear for a long time, i agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments in the article.

i think the touch bar thing—a tiny little touch interface where the functionality changes all the time—is a gimmick that is not well thought out.

another large negative is the ditching of all the old ports, thus requiring another load of dongles (and making useless my current bag full of dongles).

and the prices for someone who cares not for the extra gimmicks are very steep.

to me the new MacBook Pro is Apple's ultimate example so far of lots of change with very little actual innovation. it continues down the road of churning out shiny new things for the shiny consumer market.

A gimmick that is not well thought out? Did you see some of the videos? It looks very useful IMO and it instantly changes layout according to which app you use. It seems to be incredibly well thought out. This integrated with Ableton Live should be a very welcome addition. For just a simple example, you could choose to see all the actual tracks mute, solo or arm buttons instead of the F keys. Maybe one could customize it completely with M4L.
But maybe you think the iPhone, iPad and the original Lemur are gimmicks too.

I really welcome the addition of the 4 USB C ports that each supports all other ports and the power chord! Would you rather have the present usb, thunderbolt, display and power ports? Well you have all those in a single of the USB-C ports. Eventually the things we connect will have USB-C connectivity. Until then, yes, we will have to use a few adapters.

The price though, is really much too high, I agree to that.

[fishmonkey]

Maaan I really dislike such negative reviewers! Didn't read it in detail but felt instantly how none of it made sense and was just overly judgemental and pessimistic.
I'm sure this Macbook will serve me extremely well in my music production.

as someone who has used Apple gear for a long time, i agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments in the article.

i think the touch bar thing—a tiny little touch interface where the functionality changes all the time—is a gimmick that is not well thought out.

another large negative is the ditching of all the old ports, thus requiring another load of dongles (and making useless my current bag full of dongles).

and the prices for someone who cares not for the extra gimmicks are very steep.

to me the new MacBook Pro is Apple's ultimate example so far of lots of change with very little actual innovation. it continues down the road of churning out shiny new things for the shiny consumer market.

A gimmick that is not well thought out? Did you see some of the videos? It looks very useful IMO and it instantly changes layout according to which app you use. It seems to be incredibly well thought out. This integrated with Ableton Live should be a very welcome addition. For just a simple example, you could choose to see all the actual tracks mute, solo or arm buttons instead of the F keys. Maybe one could customize it completely with M4L.
But maybe you think the iPhone, iPad and the original Lemur are gimmicks too.

I really welcome the addition of the 4 USB C ports that each supports all other ports and the power chord! Would you rather have the present usb, thunderbolt, display and power ports? Well you have all those in a single of the USB-C ports. Eventually the things we connect will have USB-C connectivity. Until then, yes, we will have to use a few adapters.

The price though, is really much too high, I agree to that.

yes, i think it is a gimmick. it is far more limited than an iPhone or the other examples you gave. if it was a cheap gimmick i wouldn't mind so much, however it undoubtedly contributes to the steep price. i think the touch strip is the result of Apple feeling stuck between the touchscreen and passive display metaphors.

personally i think the MagSafe connectors are a good thing, and i'm not happy about losing that. a few adapters? as i said i already own nearly every adapter, most of which will again be obsolete.

[Tarekith]

I'm one of those who's been waiting patiently to update my current MBP as well, and I'm still a bit torn on the new one. On one hand the performance aspects are a serious upgrade, and I definitely would like a brighter display too. The larger trackpad is welcome too, since Apple is obviously using a lot more gestures in the OS now. I find myself running out of space on my current one all the time and trying to scroll on the aluminum body, doh!

The touchstrip is neat, I think it's actually pretty well done myself. Obviously the real issue is how many developers embrace that, and how long it takes them to do it. While I use the display brightness and volume function buttons all the time, the rest are largely ignored here so I'm fine with them adding something more useful to that space.

The price is expensive, but MBPs have always been expensive higher end laptops so I don't know why people are complaining about it. The configuration I would get in the new version is the same price as my current 2014 configuration is, so not a big deal for me.

The biggest potential deal breaker for me is the new keys. I really didn't like the ones on the new MacBooks last time I tried, and unless these feel better I'm not sure it's something I want yet. So most likely I'll probably wait to try one in the store before I decide to buy one.

Oh yeah, huge fan of the darker space grey version too, so that's a nice plus.

[fishmonkey]

The price is expensive, but MBPs have always been expensive higher end laptops so I don't know why people are complaining about it. The configuration I would get in the new version is the same price as my current 2014 configuration is, so not a big deal for me.

i guess it depends where you are. my current machine is what was a top-spec 2014 model. the closest spec machine from the new model range is nearly 40% more expensive than what i paid in early 2015 (about 10% of that is currency exchange related).

[Stromkraft]

I really welcome the addition of the 4 USB C ports that each supports all other ports and the power chord! Would you rather have the present usb, thunderbolt, display and power ports? Well you have all those in a single of the USB-C ports. Eventually the things we connect will have USB-C connectivity. Until then, yes, we will have to use a few adapters.

Aren't these Thunderbolt 3 ports? And you can connect USB-C to it?

See The Difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.

[Stromkraft]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is if Apple have fixed the glaring security concerns with ports in this new model. Possibility to insert malicious code without even logging in for example. I know USB ports were susceptible to this, but I know too little about Thunderbolt 3. Anyone knows more about this aspect?

[Stromkraft]

I've have a hard time deducting exactly which Skylake processors are in the Pro models — don't really care about the others — but the 2.90Ghz order option is likely the i7-6920HQ Processor as that is the only one fitting the bill.

[beats me]

yes, i think it is a gimmick.

Is it a gimmick when you choose a device in Live and the parameters appear in the top screen of Push for easy adjusting?

Developers are what is really holding back the tech. Microsoft’s approach seems to be fuck it, here’s a touch screen, not our problem if developers don’t embrace it. Apple’s approach is to give developers real potential examples in baby bites that should be easier to implement.

[fishmonkey]

yes, i think it is a gimmick.

Is it a gimmick when you choose a device in Live and the parameters appear in the top screen of Push for easy adjusting?

i don't think that's a good comparison. the Push is 100% integrated and dedicated to a single app, and the display shows you what the various other controls are doing.

personally i prefer keys with real tactile feedback. admittedly, apart from the Escape key, i don't use the other function keys very much.

my opinion of the touch strip is also partly based on the fact that i used my MBP docked a lot of the time, with external monitors/keyboard/trackball/controllers/etc...

[H20nly]

so just reading a few of the posts from today, i've seen several of the "missing" keys mentioned. Esc is the one that stands out the most to me. in the pics i've seen there is an Esc button... but i can't tell if its a virtual-ish button or a proper button?

which is it?

i am hoping it's not a virtual-ish button because when a computer does something that calls for that button you're already likely in a tight spot and the last thing you need is for the 'touch strip' to be frozen too.

i thought this article was a lot less doomy and gloomy than an earlier posted article on the topic;

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/28/why-a ... ing-to-do/

[fishmonkey]

i think you get a virtual Escape key in certain modes...

[steko]

http://www.macworld.com/article/3135735 ... h-bar.html

[steko]

https://eclecticlight.co/2016/10/28/its ... echnology/