One Day With A MacBook Pro 15-Inch 2016
Published: May 8, 2017
My office laptop was brought to the Apple store for repair last Friday. Today, I spent a full day using a spare.
The laptop I’m used to using is a 2014 model (pre touch bar). The spare is a 2016 model (including the touch bar).
Here are my initial thoughts on the latest iteration from Apple.
The Touch Bar
It sucks.
Multiple times throughout the day I accidentally tapped the touch bar triggering actions I didn’t intend to happen. Most frequently I touched a “button” that popped up a dialog with the message “Do you want to enable Siri”. No goddamn it, I don’t.
I also inadvertently tapped the “mute” button multiple times causing the music I was listening to to stop.
Additionally, as an occasional vim user, I found the lack of the real escape key very frustrating. Escape is available on the touchbar, but without having a “real” button, it feels ambiguous as to whether or not I actually hit the button.
Finally, overall I find the interface to be useless. I haven’t found one occasion. where I said to myself, “oh, that’s kinda cool”.
Where My Ports At
Seriously, no USB port? Many people have speculated that Apple is just scheming to get you to buy dongles. I just find it completely absurd that for whatever reason, they think their device is “too cool” for good old fashioned USB ports.
The Power Supply
On the subject of ports, why does Apple feel the need to change the way you connect the power supply on each interation of their product.
Also, I travel with my laptop everyday and I noticed that the power supply no longer includes hooks that allow you to wind up the cable, nor the little clasp at the end to neaten the wound cable up.
The Keyboard
I don’t like the keyboard either. The keys don’t depress as much as on the 2014 model. This is maybe something I’d get used to, but immediately, I dislike it.
The Display
The 5K display is crisp as hell and is the only thing I enjoy about the machine. However, I wouldn’t buy the thing just because the display is good.
Conclusion
As you can tell, I strongly dislike the 2016 MacBook Pro. All the computers and devices I’ve owned have been Apple since 2008, when my Sony Vaio crapped out on me. However, about a year and a half ago I abandoned my iPhone 5 and moved to Android, purchasing a Nexus 5X instead. I was immediately satisfied with the switch and am not planning to go back to iOS.
In terms of my personal laptop I’m still using an ancient 2011 MacBook Pro. I’m not planning to purchase a new personal laptop any time soon, but if and when I do, I’m planning to move to Linux.
Hi, I'm Max!