Apple Finally gave Pros what they've wanted in a High-End MacBook this week along with a lot more Power
On Wednesday we reported that the host of Fox Business news along with two industry analysts went gaga over Apple's new MacBook Pros on air. The host of the show, Liz Claman, began by stating: "Be still my heart, Apple's going retro bringing back the tactile keyboard and adding more ports to the MacBook Pro!" with one of the guests jumping in laughing and stating that "we're getting a headphone jack!" That was the reaction of most fans watching Apple unveil the new MacBook Pro this past Monday. Apple had finally broken down and decided to give pro users what they've been demanding for years – especially bringing back MagSafe.
Yesterday Wired revealed an interview conducted by Steven Levy with Apple's Senior Hardware Technology VP Johny Srouji to talk about the new M1 Pro and M1 Max which was interesting. For those who didn't watch Apple's Unleashed event, below is Srouji introducing the M1 Max.
Then late yesterday Mark Gurman posted his free version of his "Power On" newsletter and in it he reminisced about some of the great MacBook Pro releases over the years with a hard stop in 2016 when Apple delivered the most disappointing model to date.
Gurman wrote: "With that model, Apple disregarded its core audience for the MacBook Pro and attempted to go more mainstream. Instead of leaning in to professional users, Apple changed the definition of “pro” to anyone willing to spend top dollar for its products—even if that meant buying a device that jettisoned necessary capabilities."
For actual pro users, the 2016 MacBook Pro was a failure. Let’s recap the ways it irked customers:
- Apple shifted to the thinner butterfly keyboard originally found in the 2015 12-inch MacBook Pro. This keyboard was quickly found to be unreliable, prone to breaks and uncomfortable.
- The company removed the physical escape key, a must-have for programmers and other users who would normally buy a MacBook Pro.
- Apple replaced the physical function keys with the Touch Bar, which some customers found difficult to use. It was a hit to productivity and a solution without a problem.
- Apple removed key ports like the SD card slot and HDMI connector in favor of USB-C ports and clunky adapters.
- Apple removed MagSafe magnetic charging in favor of the USB-C port, which I am sure led to quite a few MacBook Pros crashing onto the floor.
Over the last five years, Apple slowly began to fix some of these problems of its own making. The escape key returned in 2019, and the keyboard was ultimately fixed. But this year’s new MacBook Pro goes further, finally addressing most—if not all—of users’ complaints.
Behold all the fixes Apple made this time around:
- It embraced a better blend of form and function, letting the new models get slightly heavier and thicker (look at the photo above) to accommodate better performance and larger batteries. This is what pro users want. If they wanted the thinnest and lightest Mac available, they’d get an Air.
- The Touch Bar is out. Instead, there are full-sized function keys for audio control, brightness, accessing search, turning on “do not disturb” and using dictation. Of course, the Touch Bar was conceived, in part, as a solution to Apple’s stubborn refusal to add touch screens to Macs. Perhaps one day Apple will add such functionality, but that could harm iPad sales.
- The ports are back! The SD card slot and HDMI port have made their returns. The bad news: The SD slot supports outdated transfer speeds of 250 megabytes per second, about a third of newer standards. The HDMI port is also a 2.0 connector, not 2.1, meaning it misses out on higher bandwidth for improved 4K video frame rates. These are very questionable decisions, but the ports are back at least. I guess Apple needs to save something for the M2 Pro and M2 Pro Max models.
- MagSafe is back—as “MagSafe 3”—and now we don’t have to worry about someone tripping over our cable at the coffee shop or at work. It’s about time.
Mark Gurman's Newsletter covers a lot more, such as the new AirPods 3 being a better value than the AirPods Pro, Apple lacking a vaccine mandate and more that you could review here.
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