The MacBook Pro With Touch Bar (both 13-inch and 15-inch versions) arrived in late 2016 to a lot of mixed responses. Many thought the machine was overpriced and underpowered. Andy Vandervell from Trusted Reviews was disappointed after the announcement.
“Lately, Apple seems to be in a habit of making everything very inconvenient. From removing the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone to replacing every port on the new MacBook Pro with a USB Type C. Now I need an adaptor for my hard drives, phone charger and SD cards. It’s a pain in the arse, especially the loss of the SD card slot.”
Many have complained about the price of the new MacBook Pro. [Image by Daryl Deino]
The writer added that not only is the price too high, but the new MacBook Pro actually is a symbolic advertisement for the old one. Jacob Kastrenakes of the Verge certainly had mixed feelings about Apple’s latest high-end notebook as well.
“I may come off sounding quite critical of the new MacBook Pro, but the truth is that I really do like it. The hardware is incredible, macOS is a joy to use, and I don’t want to give up this screen and keyboard. It’s a fantastic laptop on build alone. But everywhere I look, it feels like this incarnation of the MacBook Pro is shooting for a future it can’t quite reach.”
Kastrenakes adds that in terms of combining thinness with power, battery life, and ports people use, the Pro isn’t quite there — but it’s close. He also thinks the device is overpriced.
To be sure, there have been some great reviews as well. Trusted Reviews revisited the 13-inch version after battery issues were fixed and gave Apple’s device four-and-a-half stars. CNET gave the 15-inch version four stars. And judging by sales, it seems as if the naysayers have been proven wrong.
According to PC World, shipments of the Pro have helped Apple stop their decline in the laptop market. The shipments don’t prove that the MacBook Pro is a blockbuster, but show that the device is selling far more than people thought it would, especially when Consumer Reports unleashed an anti-Christmas gift for Apple on Dec. 22.
“Apple launched a new series of MacBook Pro laptops this fall, and Consumer Reports’ labs have just finished evaluating them. The laptops did very well in measures of display quality and performance, but in terms of battery life, we found that the models varied dramatically from one trial to another.”
The article added that tests revealed as little as 3.5 hours of battery life, and as a result, the new MacBook Pro series became the first not to receive recommended ratings from Consumer Reports. Immediately afterwards, many critics called foul play and even accused Consumer Reports of providing “fake news.” However, a couple weeks later, Consumer Reports changed its tune.
Consumer Reports gave the new MacBook Pro a thumbs up after Apple provided a software update. [Image by Daryl Deino]
“Consumer Reports has now finished retesting the battery life on Apple’s new MacBook Pro laptops, and our results show that a software update released by Apple on January 9 fixed problems we’d encountered in earlier testing,” the publication revealed and added that with the updated software, all three MacBook Pros performed exceptionally well with one model even running 18.75 hours on a charge.
There is some good news if you own the new MacBook Pro and belong to the Microsoft Insider program. According to CNET, Microsoft has released a beta version of Microsoft Office with Touch Bar support. Otherwise, Touch Bar support should come during the first half of 2017.
Do you own any of the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar devices? If so, what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section.
[Featured Image by Daryl Deino]
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