“There’s a lot of unease out there among Mac users. First, there was the lack of 2016 updates to any Mac model that wasn’t the littlest MacBook. The Mac Pro and Mac mini have languished for several years with nary an update,” Jason Snell writes for Macworld. “And MacBook Pro users were hungry for a new model — and fueled by constant rumors all year of brand-new laptops that were just over the horizon.”
“Then we finally got the new MacBook Pro, and it’s loaded with a lot of cool stuff, but…the reaction wasn’t quite what Apple might have expected from the hungry crowd of Mac users,” Snell writes. “I suspect that the long delay between major Mac announcements has made everyone a bit anxious about what might come next.”
“Apple’s Phil Schiller told The Independent that he was surprised by the negative reaction to the announcements. Maybe Schiller wasn’t aware of the undercurrent of concern and anger among Mac users who feel that Apple has deprioritized the Mac, and that the lack of updates to the Mac Pro becomes more frustrating with every passing day. (It’s been more than a thousand days now, by the way),” Snell writes. “Some of that concern and anger is reasonable, and some of it isn’t. But even the less reasonable reactions are Apple’s fault for letting it get to this point. The longer you go without Mac updates, the more time customers have to combine their anger and frustration with wishcasting about the product that will solve all their problems and make everything better.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: One more time: A new Mac Pro would do wonders for mollifying the professional Mac community.
If such a thing had appeared alongside the new MacBook Pro, many of the negative reactions currently littering the Mac web would have never happened.
But, as with many things under Tim Cook, there’s too much that seems to be a bit too little and way too late.
The Mac Pro is revolutionary, but Apple could really stand to, you know, update the thing once and awhile. Not doing so makes it look like Apple regards professional Mac users as an afterthought. Sometimes Apple, the world’s most profitable and most valuable company, still operates as if they have five guys from NeXT working around the clock trying to do all the work on a shoestring budget… (read more) — MacDailyNews, November 27, 2015
SEE ALSO:
The mainstreaming of Apple’s Mac – November 3, 2016
Complainers are focused the wrong things with Apple’s new MacBook Pro – November 3, 2016
Hands on with Apple new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar: Huge trackpad offers great palm rejection – November 2, 2016
Phil Schiller: Apple has more orders for MacBook Pro with Touch Bar than for any other professional Mac notebook ever – November 2, 2016
The debate is over: IBM confirms that Apple Macs are $535 less expensive than Windows PCs – October 20, 2016
The key mission of Apple’s new MacBook Pros – October 28, 2016
TIME Magazine: Apple’s new MacBook Pro Touch Bar is an inventive new way to get work done more quickly – October 28, 2016
Apple does touch right and, as usual, Microsoft does it wrong – October 28, 2016
IBT: Apple’s MacBook Pro Touch Bar is the coolest thing ever; will change the way we use laptops – October 28, 2016
Wired hands on with Apple’s New MacBook Pro: It’s a whole new kind of laptop – October 27, 2016
CNET on the new MacBook Pro: Apple’s amazing strip show reinvents the notebook – October 27, 2016
Hands on with Apple’s new MacBook Pro: Looks and feels so good it’s unreal – October 27, 2016
Apple debuts three new TV ads for all-new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar – October 27, 2016
Apple unveils groundbreaking new MacBook Pro with revolutionary Touch Bar and huge Force Touch trackpad – October 27, 2016
The only people who should be handwringing about this are actual users who would like to upgrade – or actual potential customers. All the rest of the whining is just noisemaking for the sake of being heard. “I know what Apple Should do and they’re not doing it, Waaaah!” It gets tiresome after awhile. My Mac Pro works fine. I’m going to get a new MacBook Pro – but there is more than a month wait time so I’ll wait until after Christmas to get one. The negative reactions to it are all clickbait.
Snell writes. “I suspect that the long delay between major Mac announcements has made everyone a bit anxious about what might come next.”
I suspect that anyone a bit anxious about what comes next from Apple – has no life.
If Schiller is surprised, then he’s been out of touch with real Mac users for too long.
Jon, I wish you were right, but you’re not. Myself and several other Mac users have been waiting to update. We’ve got the money to spend but we’re not going to blow top dollar on consumer fashion products.
Thanks to Apple’s horrible Mac mismanagement for the last 5 years, longtime Mac users have to decide whether to get the best value in performance and user upgradeability/versatlity/compatibility — that is unfortunately Wintel for an increasing number of businesses and pros — or choose an overpriced, underperforming Mac. 5 years ago the Mac was the best value out there. Those days have gone now that Cook & Co push iOS above all else.
No shiny OLED strip is going to make up for lack of performance and features, and there is absolutely no excuse for the cobwebs on Mac desktops. The value just isn’t there anymore, even with the $100 SSD price drops that Apple finally announced. Too little, too late. Cook owns this.
You can complain about the Mac desktop situation. But I do not understand why you state that the new MacBook Pros “lack performance and features.” Please be specific in your criticism.
The new MacBook Pro processors are fast Intel CPUs. The memory bus is extremely fast. The SSDs are fast and you have several options up to 1TB. The display appears to be world class. The four Thunderbolt ports provide maximum performance on any desktop or laptop along with superior flexibility in terms of connectivity and charging. The new TouchBar has received favorable reviews by many.
The complaints against the MacBook that I have seen posted repeatedly are:
1) Max 16GB RAM – according to one article, this is actually an Intel limitation. Also, there is the mitigating factor that the memory management has reportedly been improved in terms of efficiency. In addition, an SSD and Thunderbolt-connected external swap storage will go a long way towards addressing the needs of true power users. If that is not enough, then you should not be using a laptop.
2) Lack of User Upgradability for RAM, storage, etc. – That the way that Apple has chosen to go in terms of design. Apple has is reasons and you are free to disagree. But this is *not* a “performance or feature” issue, so your gripe does not apply.
3) Lack of integral MagSafe for charging – Apple is conforming to USB-C standards. I have read that there is a dongle charging interface if MagSafe is important to you.
4) Connectivity to new iPhones – I will admit that this situation is a bit odd. But get the necessary cable or adapter and move on. This is not worthy of a rant.
Your complaint regarding the long delay in updating the Mac desktops is valid. I have participated in the gripes to Apple (not only on this forum, but sending them to Apple directly).
Your highly negative outlook on Apple is, in my opinion, Chicken Little “sky-is-falling” crap. Too much bellyaching. It has gotten to the point at which I really don’t care if you move on to Wintel or Linux or not. I am just looking forward to the release of new desktop Macs hoping beyond reason that there will be a sharp decline in the complaints for a while.
Mel, the new MacBooks may be the best versions Apple has done, but Apple continues to fall behind.
Lack of performance: 16GB of RAM was an Apple choice, Wintel Makers offer up to 128GB of RAM in laptops
Lack of performance: consumer grade low power GPUs are the only options. Will not run multiple 4K displays at full speed. Not an issue with most users, but absolutely essential for current video work. Mac Desktops also behind here.
Lack of performance: battery life. Apple actually downsized the battery.
Lack of features: almost all of the connectors removed from the prior generation are just bad choices. Apple should have replaced TB2 with USB-C and kept the other ports on for one more generation. Just one USB-A port would have saved a lot of hassle for a lot of people.
Lack of features: no 17″ model.
Lack of features: no matte display
Lack of features: no Magsafe. Griffin offers the charging cable that Apple should have included in the box.
Lack of features: no user upgradeability of any kind
Lack of features: no locking slot
Finally: price. The most expensive laptop Apple currently makes is just not on par with the value that you get from other brands. They have partly closed the gap on build quality and features and design, while Apple has been busy pushing iOS on the Mac, yielding no real gains in performance versus the competition.
By the way, I am first and foremost a desktop user because we do serious modeling, audio, and video work. I still go to the old 2010 Mac Pro when i can. Some of the team uses trashcans. But since we have no choice but to rely on a lot of Windows programs, and Macs are no longer the best bang for the buck, things are looking different. We used to run Windows programs via Bootcamp or VM Fusion, but it looks like we’re going to be investing in Wintel machines. Not our preference, this is Apple’s choice. They aren’t supporting pro users like us. Apple’s GPU situation is just not even competitive across the board. It’s been bad for a while, and we could accept it for a few years, but now they’re losing sales.
By your reasoning you are not a power user and Apple is not a religion to follow blindly. People works at Apple.
For 3D content creation and for graphics the new top MBP 460M offers 1/3 performance from what is available today for PC laptops. 16 GB of RAM is just an entry level spec. Faster memory does not substitute quantity. And these are key performance components, not nice to have features.
And “yes” Apple could have choose 32GB of RAM. They just prioritized style and battery performance for every power user out there.
And why would prioritizing battery performance on a LAPTOP be a bad trade exactly? You want a laptop maxing out at 3 hours of battery life? Imagine how many would howl at that!
Fair question. The reality is that Apple just rolled out a series of computers that is so narrow in scope that it misses huge swathes of potential buyers. Apple’s choice.
As for battery life: Apple once again shaved off a couple millimeters, which nobody asked for, instead of answering the call for people who work remotely and truly need a 10 hour PRO machine. Okay, fine, Apple realizes that most people are urban dwellers an they can do their thing plugged into the wall all the time. Fine. (So since you’re going to need to find power at some point during your day, why not give users an ethernet port? Faster and more secure than any wireless, and those are already installed in most every office desk in the world.)
But okay, Apple made it’s choice: Pro isn’t really about being highest possible performance and versatility and durability out of the box. It’s now fashion compromised too. Okay, so could Apple find in its hear the ability to make an uncompromised laptop, maybe a 17″ model with matte screen and all the bells and whistles? That would silence a huge amount of the criticism amongst heavy duty mobile users.
Some of us are sick of Apple choosing to put forth one middle-of-the-road product, then arrogantly tell everyone it’s the best thing ever, and you really don’t need anything more. There was a time when Apple was demonstrably at or near the top of performance at any price. Not anymore.
Finally: desktop Macs are in a horrible state. Whoever is managing that lineup needs to get axed now. A logical person would have expected the Mac to have 3 lines of laptops and 3 lines of headless desktops, but instead Apple royally screwed the pooch on laptop market positioning, and on the desktop it really only offers all-in-one iMacs. The mini and the Mac Pro are criminally neglected and the much-desired mid range Mac is AWOL.
Thanks for nothing Cook.
Hi Mike
As for many things it is a matter of balance. Mostly the new “top” MBP is out of it. The rest may not be that compromised.
A “top of the line” MBP should prioritize the performance for all mayor components. CPU, GPU, RAM, HD, screen and connectivity. The RAM amount and the GPU choice in this 2016 top MBP are still entry level requirements for mayor professional applications. This is a mayor design flaw and not some visionary accomplishment or some new direction.
With 32GB of RAM you could run 2-5 demanding applications at the same time for hours. This adds a lot of synergy to your work. With 16GB you are limited to 1 (one) mayor application. It is a mayor issue.
A few years ago some portables could be used at full performance for even less that an hour. It was bad. But today the battery performance is not such a big problem, so why keep it as the top priority, conditioning the RAM amount, and also a mediocre GPU choice on a “top” MBP.
On top of this Apple also prioritized the form, the “style” making the MBP line thinner. Again, this mostly affects the “top” MBP because it carries the flag for performance optimization.
All of this together is wrong considering Apple also upped the price.
help me get this mis-guided leader removed – https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple
Well said. I doubt anyone batching about these new machines has actually, you know, used one. Like I said before I picked up the 13″ base model the other day while waiting for my 15″ to come in and have been impressed with the performance. The storage really is so much faster than everything else it make a world of difference, and even this base model is able to render graphics projects and video 2x faster than my 2012 MacBook Pro. I can’t wait to see what the 15″ can do. Also as fare as the price complaining goes, every pc manufacturer that uses quality components for construction, and uses these exact components (high end i7 skylake chips, the fastest memory, m.2 full spec ssd’s, etc… ) is in this exact same price range. The new surface systems are more expensive than MacBook pros, and razer’s laptops have almost the exact same configurations, cost the same or a bit more, and somehow don’t get any scrutiny. This is nonsense and wreaks of the double standard applied to apple or anyone who actually tries to push things forward. Here’s for all the people complaining: use a new MacBook Pro, then form your opinion. You’re acting like those idiot android people who hate Apple for some nonsensical reason and don’t even attempt to move into the future with the rest fo us. When my MacBook Pro is connected to many peripherals it’s sitting on my desk anyway so what’s the bfd about getting a thunderbolt dock and plugging everything into that, and have Inc one cable attached to your laptop? It’s not. And it’s much easier to deal with, and since the type c connector will be around for a long time, that dock will be able to last through multiple machines. I’m stating to get sick of all of this bitching when it’s not warranted with these new machines.
Truly a Voice of Reason! Welcome to the sliver of moderation left in this forum.
That’s convenient for you to say. Thanks for the empathy for those in different situations. It’s a bigger world out there than just you. Glad you’re happy but many of us are not and have been waiting far too long. If Apple can satisfy everyone then why the heck not?
Peterblood:
You are one of the last few Tim Cook fanboys on earth. Unfortunately the only prizes you win are those for being, naive, ignorant and reprehensibly annoying.
We all know exactly who and what Tim Cook is and what he’s done to a once great company. Tim Cook is nothing more or less than a greedy, lazy, severely incompetent, on-the-job gay rights activist.
His reign as CEO has been tumultuous, rife with myriad mistakes and blatant acts of anti-comsumer specific GREED. AAPL is in a shambles as investor flee the brand like it’s the Titanic. His products are so horribly locked down and condescending to consumers that they are nothing short of being reprehensible.
So you, King Mel, and all the other remaining Apple fanboys are the new minority. Welcome to the new MDN. The people are now awake!
I have been critical of Apple as well, so take a flying leap off a deep chasm (the usual) anonymous troll. The joke is you.
Suck it, anonymous poster. It wouldn’t surprise me if you were some snot-nosed, self-righteous “young adult” whose biggest challenge in life has been running out of iPhone charge during a concert.
If you have not been using Macs for 34 years and experienced the dark ages of the mid- to late-1990s, then you do not have the chops to understand the “fanboy” term, much less use it. You clearly don’t get it – Apple advocates calling each other “fanboys” is a total misuse and corruption of the derogatory term coined by the Wintel establishment against Apple and its customers. Your casual use and misapplication of the term just shows that you are not one of us…you are just a Wintel thinker in anonymous Mac clothing, so to speak.
Just because you post on this forum does not mean that you “belong” or speak for the rest of us.
Thanks for calling me out, turd. You are welcome for the spanking.
Well said KingMel.
every business enterprise has elements that must cater to a few even at the expense of breakeven. cinderellas castle at disney world does not make a dime but is essential to the customer experience. I’m not sure tim cook et al understands that pro users and whiners alike form a critical asset for long term success
Mr. Cook, are you listening???????
are you HIllary Merkel?….uh, then no.
You must be joking, botty. That is probably your lamest attempt *ever* on this forum for attaching a political twist to a post.
Very, very poor…
Well, Melvin, any time you are critical of my comments, I always consider it a badge of honor…I print-out all of them, frame them, and hang them next to my toilet. I have yet to suffer from constipation since.
“Free at last, free at last! Thank Melvin Almighty, I’m free at last!”
I’m surprised you have time for that, considering you suck Trump’s dick, 24/7. Way to go, Botty! I’m impressed!
Wanted a screaming fast new Mac Pro with matching display. You know, the kind that did gigaflops in circles around our Wintel brethren. That’s not going to happen. I want a love affair with my Mac again. Instead, I settled for my iMac which works, looks sexy and is dependable but there’s no passion. It’s all about passion.
Not only is the iMac a poor performer for intense GPU and number crunching, it makes multidisplay computing a pain in the ass.
Studies have shown that for many users, display area is on of the biggest productivity enhancements you can get. But Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that making displays that match the iMac design ethos is just too much work. The Mac Mini can barely run multiple high-definition displays, and the Mac Pro is also far behind with 3 year old GPUs, high price, and lack of upgradeability.
You would think that Apple employees themselves would be asking why it’s so hard to get a desktop Mac that kicks ass in the graphics department, offering comprehensive connectivity to drive any display — HDMI, Displayport, or USB-C.
your posts are excellent and speak for people like me who need power GPUs etc. and I have little to add.
“display area is on of the biggest productivity enhancements you can get”
agree 100%
people who have not used big monitors or multiple monitors set up don’t know what advantages they are.
I have a MBP as well as 12.9 iPad Pro for personal use so i’m not dissing them but I when I am able I spend my time with my two big monitors (one a Cintiq) connected to a Mac Pro (upgraded Cheese Grater).
With big monitors you can have various apps open at the same time and having them NOT buried behind each other, you can have reference materials, manuals, client instructions like emails etc open on another monitor etc. Saves huge amounts of time. Every person I meet I tell them ” get a MULTIPLE MONITOR setup if you want a speed boost” … unfortunately they are no macs today that really has the power to it adequately for HIGH END work like complex graphics . The D700 cylinder maybe but for thousands $ it has one third the GPU speed of a mid range $600 PC video card.
“You would think that Apple employees themselves would be asking why it’s so hard to get a desktop Mac that kicks ass in the graphics department”
Jony uses Cheese Graters as shown in this pix from end 2015 I’ve posted before (maybe they have upgraded cards that the trashcan can’t use ? ) …
Probably those cheese graters they are still using are for some TitanX or Quadro cards from NVidia.. you know… real power user cards, for real 3D design work.
http://www.nvidia.ca/object/quadro.html
Still work in the Cheese Graters.
AMD is consumer trash. Which is suitable.. for the Trash Can.
You do realize that the trash can pro’s can drive 6 4K monitors at once right? For example ours are connected to thunderbolt 2 docks for peripherals and drives, with 4 27″ 4K displays, and one 1080p reference monitor for color correction on the finished project. The only reason you need Nvidia is for cuda acceleration, and we don’t use adobe première for editing, just like most professional design houses. Final cut, Avid, Renderman, that’s what people use. For 3D work, autodesk & maya + motion for graphics and Compressor for export. And in those applications the amd cards are more than adequate since they leverage OpenGL and now metal, which is excellent at those tasks.
Look, your favorite YouTube person may use premiere and drone on and on about the power of Nvidia cards for DirectX and cuda and how important gaming is… guess what? those things aren’t important at all. If you want to go play video games, great. Go get a machine designed for it, but don’t make the rest of us succumb to the nonsense.
If you have a cuda workflow, I understand why you need those cards and I sympathize with you. But I would take a look at getting off of premiere and using final cut or avid. That said I wish they would update the gpu’s to something from this years line and have a 22 core option. Also the retina iMac could use a new GPU although it does perform exceedingly well in rendering.
Oh and for the person who complained that apple prioritized battery life earlier: when you’re out on a shoot the single most important thing is that your machine makes it through the day without having to be plugged in since a typical day is easily that long.
Before you guys complain about the laptops, go use one. They’re ridiculously fast. You’ll be impressed.
No.
Both AMD and Nvidia have consumer level and professional series GPUs. Don’t mix things because it gets more complicated.
There are GTX commercial Nvidia cards. Professional Quadro, Tesla, etc GPUs and graphic processors. And AMD has commercial cards and also FirePro professional GPUs.
The AMD dual cards on the Trash Can were very nice in 2013, today they are very outdated.
“Top” MBP and iMacs today use mediocre GPU. Apple uses medium performance parts on top machines.
The problem is not with AMD, the problem is with Apple who should try their best to provide the best tools available on their top line of Mac machines. So I ask you, do you think it is fine to pay close to 3K for a top MBP with a medium commercial GPU option? Don’t mix things because you are not doing anyone a favor.
Now for 3D content creation there are applications like Octane, Mental Ray (for Maya 2017) and other rendering engines that use CUDA language and they require Nvidia cards. Besides, it is not a secret Nvidia is the leader in professional performance and feature implementation in the graphics industry.
But also there are some other applications emerging like the Allegorithmic suite that take advantage of CUDA language from Nvidia. Also Marvelous Designer and Daz3d. All excellent and very popular 3D applications these days that runs better on Nvidia GPUs.
I am using all these with an Nvidia card on my iMac from 2013 but mostly taking advantage on a PC with a powerful Nvidia GPU. But I want to work with all them in one system with an up to date top Apple Mac. As most users complaining here and on most Apple forums.
Sure you can run 6 4k displays, at 30Hz, with limited bandwidth.. I agree. The Trash Can wasn’t even top of the line hardwarewise when it came out. DOA GPU (except for FCPX users) and an ecosystem of adaptors no one wanted.. hence the lack of sales and slow disappearance.
It looks like Apple is loosing touch with it’s user base. Schiller seems to be lost for what the MAC community wants in a laptop. Also the iPad is not a complete replacement for the laptop let alone a desktop. Apple needs to get back to what it did best, sell quality Macs.
Other than maybe the pricing, I don’t see anything about the new MacBook Pros that warrant complaints.
As for those wanting updated Mac Pros, the majority will probably still complain even if they were updated and will continue to do so until they get PCI-e slots again. But as we have seen, even three years of bitching and moaning isn’t going to get Apple to give us PCI-e slots again. Continuing to bitch and moan is just plain annoying at this point.
Believe me, unsympathetic complaining about the “bitching & moaning” are MUCH more annoying.
Believe me. I can sympathize. I’m a former Mac Pro owner. But what has 3 years of complaining gotten you? Stop bitching and do something about it.
There are options:
1. Switch to another OS.
2. Build yourself a hackintosh.
3. Live with the machines that Apple builds.
And contact Apple directly regarding your complaints. If you want action, then repeating your gripes on this forum is not the way to initiate change.
I agree on that point.
About letting Apple know we are dissatisfied anyway.
I agree with connecting with Apple directly
but ALSO complaining on blogs
when Apple finally took action on the Mac app store by moving Schiller on it (over Cue I believe) it was due to blog complaints. The developers said they had complained numerous times to Apple directly and were ignored and they stared writing in blogs, that got Apple’s attention.
SOMETIMES i suspect Apple management feel they can bury individual complaints but they get embarrassed when it goes out into the wild.
I’m already aware of my options thanks. The next iteration of the Mac Pro will tell me what I need to know and action I need to take. You will have to suffer the slings and arrows of my (and others) “bitching & moaning” until then. I don’t think that’s too much to ask since the MP is a pivotal part of my Mac life and the current design not something I like.
If you think i enjoy complaining think again. The whole point is we should never come near this level of complaining about upgraded Apple product. They seem to have no problem coming up right on schedule with iPhone updates. They need to be as motivated with the Mac line as well. And not every upgrade needs to be a paradigm buster.
Exactly. Pro users would have been delighted with just major speed and RAM bumps with top end GPU options.
Touch bar: nice! Going to all USB-C: Temporarily inconvenient but will reduce complexity a lot in the end. Nicer colors: wonderful!
BUT if the processing power options are not close to competitive those nice touches become worthless to many of us.
TLDR: Nice Mac does not equal Nice Pro Mac.
If you walk in to a restaurant and don’t see a single thing you like, are you going to complain everyday or are you going to:
1. Go to another restaurant.
2. Cook something yourself at home that’s perfectly suited to your taste.
3. Just order the least offensive item on the menu to curb your hunger.
Right, 1- Go to another Mac supplier. Gee who else makes Macs? No one.
So bitching at Apple is the only choice we have.
– It is Apple’s fault for removing all past ports on the new laptop instead of overlapping for one year with USB-C.
– It is Apple’s fault for not updating the Mac Pro for almost three years.
I hate being put in a position of explaining this lack of product or bizarre laptop to clients that want a pro workhorse laptop or desktop. It sucks.
I do not agree, peterblood71.
We’re upset because we’re the root and we’re not getting much water. All things Apple grows from a strong Mac base.
The stronger the foundation, the more solid the fruits that grow from that tree.
Fruits: iphone, the ipad, ipod, Watch, TV
iCloud: the branches
iTunes: the bark
Mac: the root & the soil
I know Tim, Johnny & Phil are busy juggling a lot of balls… but don’t ignore the foundation please.
Tim isn’t juggling the ball, he’s dropping it.
Hes juggling his buddies balls Too distracted to manage the direction of Apple
Surely you are exponentially more diddling with your own balls while looking at the hair-netted ladies resulting in distraction & ineffectual management of your own work.
All we need now is a new iMac line up in which all the useful ports have been removed in favour of a string of USB C ports and the price hiked a couple of hundred dollar and the year can definitely be labelled as the worst since the retun of Steve Jobs.
I used to be a Mac Evangelist. I switched when OSX went beta. (System OS was.. meh, like dos, in the time of Dinosaurs). From windows XP. It was great. I owned every model of Laptop from the G4 Powerbook all the way to the 2014 15inch Macbook Pro. I worked on an maintained every other model since then, from the lowliest eMac all the way up to to a maxed out 12 core 5,1 and Trashcan… I love them. This new Macbook Pro is nothing but a gimmick.. Ports aside (TB3 and USB 3.1gen2 are nice to finally have, a year after every other PC Manufacturer has already implemented it.) Too little. Too Late. I no longer recommend Macs to people. We will run our fleet of 5,1 Mac Pros until they die, and then switch to HP. Unless Apple releases a proper workstation class system instead of an overpriced fashion item. Maybe in 2017/18 we’ll look at the Laptops again.. For now, we will continue to use what we have in our fleet until the dongle fiasco is sorted out. There is very little gain in upgrading to these, except for social status and bling factor. Thats not good business, and a waste of capital for users like us.
While it’s understandable that some users are getting tired of waiting for something “brand new” from Apple. A majority of us really don’t care. Yes, it’s great to see new and exciting things from Apple, but honestly, I’ve had my iMac for seven years now and it still runs great and really have no plans to upgrade – at least for not a couple of years yet.
I agree that Apple has let the Mac line lag in some areas, but I’m willing to bet they’re working on moving to something new. This isn’t the first time Apple has been disenchanted with their CPU supplier, but it may be their last. I think Apple may either be designing their own x64 based CPU or they’re working on a powerful ARM based CPU to replace Intel.
Apple getting out of the display business might be a signal that they’re probably also getting out of the “headless” computer market as well. Within the next few years expect to see Apple’s Mac line-up consolidate; MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro (with the possibility of iMac changing to just “Mac”). And the release of a serverOS for installing on generic ARM or x64 based equipment – or at the very least a set of Linux/AIX based services for supporting Macs in the workshop/enterprise.
So a power user doesn’t mind that “Pro” macs are no longer pro performance.
That is not surprising. You are mistaking your needs for everyone else’s needs. People who’s work requires fast hardware and lots of RAM don’t appreciate not being given ANY viable option from Apple after years of waiting.
Nice Mac does not equal Nice Pro Mac.
How about ‘booing’ instead of clapping at every hardware introduction Apple makes in one of their ‘special events’. Phil, onstage, expects raucous applause with anything and everything Apple introduces. Why not let him know in person, as a group?
Lets be honest the reception was hardly rapturous was it, polite applause isn’t exactly what one expects at a Mac event. You might have thought that they might have got the message but they were too busy clapping their wrists off sat in the front row thinking I SEE NOTHING like Manuel from Fawlty Bloody Towers.
Jason Snell, can someone please give him a job at Apple, he has it spot on and how dum do you have to be in Ivory Towers 1 Infinite Loop not to actually see just how true what he has said is? Maybe it does need an outsider to see the damn obvious.
The criticism of those of us criticizing APPLE for not designing a new expandable Mac Pro reminds me little of those who criticized many of us who said APPLE needed to offer a 4″ iPhone.
We were told we didn’t know what we were talking about because “everyone” knew that all iPhone users really just wanted a large screen iPhone.
Well, lo and behold, APPLE comes out with the SE and the demand was there. In other words, there was/is a market for a small iPhone. (By the way, don’t stop now. Make sure there is a 4″ iPhone 8.)
APPLE, you are missing the boat. Design a new Mac Pro with a drop down side allowing users to stuff it with additional cards and memory to their heart’s content. Come on, it’s just not that hard and we know it. Get off your high horse and admit you screwed up with the trash can. Design a work horse people can turn into an even bigger super computer than the trash can. Come on. Geez.
Before that people were criticizing posters here who wanted a phone larger than a 4″ screen as being Samsung followers.
If customers don’t complain loudly when their supplier misses the mark for them, how is the supplier going to know.
I wrote directly to Apple with the specifics of my complaint. As a creative professional and long time Mac user, I have been left with no upgrade path because of the lack of any high-end spec options in their new “Pro” laptops.
But forums like this also get heard by Apple. The louder we are the more likely Apple will listen and (1) release a larger iPhone (check!), (2) re-release smaller iPhones too (check), (3) produce Pro Macs again (waiting….)
The problem here is how Cook and his bitch Ive see the world. What is “fabulous” to them is the shape and color of the box, not the performance and function of the machine.
Time for new leadership at Apple. The company has lost the ability to see true innovation.
one problem with Jason Snell’s argument is that Apple is ‘is going to make product decisions that appeal to the vast majority of those users. ‘
if this new strategy (I guess for the last three years or so) was working then we would see an UPSWING of Mac sales and gaining market share. Yet by basically abandoning Pro machines, making RAM stuck and upgradable, taking ports off (too quickly to ease transition pain), SLOW UPDATES etc we see Mac sales which has OUTPACED PC sales for MANY YEARS decline so that it now LAGS the general (shrinking) PC sales rate and this for the last few quarters.
This proves that the strategy is flawed.
NOTE: some time back when Mac Pro users complained (about lack of GPU upgradability etc ) many of the Mac Book Pro etc uses said “shut up, your are NICHE.. ” but now the MBP users are complaining as they are now its THEIR TURM to be in the firing line as the laptops become more expensive (like the Cylinder was more than the Cheese Grater) as features are removed too quickly (some reviewers say the new MBP is a SUPER Mac Book AIR not a MBP ).
people you have to voice out before YOUR product (iMac ?) is
next.
Note : I have Mac Pros, MBP and 12.9 iPad Pro.
Well said, Dave. I am afraid that the Mac will get worse before it gets better with the current leadership at Apple. Long dry spells between jarring updates what offer significant compromises is no way to treat customers.
I just see across the board Apple is coasting.
Our office is evenly split between Wintel PCs and Macs. Most use Mac Pros or Dell workstations, though many have moved to laptops. The tide is very definitely going in the Windows direction. Performance and versatility and cost are dominating factors. Our IT guy is open minded, but the numbers don’t lie. Apple just isn’t trying hard enough anymore with its Macs.
iPads are used by some for lightweight clerking and note taking, but not much. Several tried and went back to laptops. I don’t see the iPad as ever being a Mac replacement, not even a Surface replacement for that matter. Even the graphics artists here shun iOS tablets.
Blackberries and Androids have about 40% of the phone share here, iPhones take up the rest. But absolutely nobody bought a new iPhone 7. Market share breakdown has been stable for a while too — not as easy to get people to switch phone platforms as you’d think.
If I was Apple, I would be happy with iOS profits and concern myself with more effort resurrecting the several important product lines at single digit market share. Lose those and people will start to question if you are just an iPhone maker with no other talents to offer.
people keep quoting this:
” would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done”
THING IS… that was in 1996 when Apple had been run by incompetents for years and the Mac was dying.
AFTER THAT when he fully took power again at Apple ..
Jobs went gangbusters on the renewal of the iMac, from the colour plastics to the ‘Lamp Shade’ iMac to the current shape
and he mastered did incredibly difficult transitions to OSX (completely different base than OS9) and from PowerPC to Intel
demonstrated Macs over and over again in presentations often ‘shootouts where Mac Pros bashed Wintel PCs on photoshop ‘ etc. The Cheese Grater Mac Pro was a masterful design.
ran HUGE number of Mac Ads, one NEW Ad EVERY MONTH (66 different ads over 4 years during the Mac/PC guy campaign). Mac Marketing dwindled after Cook became CEO to near nothing and Apple seemed to lose interest in the Mac.
regardless of his 1996 quote Jobs didn’t abandon Mac.
Lots of people say that because Mac Pro sales might be ‘low’ Apple should let it die off i.e do the ‘Bean counter’ thing.
Here’s my 2 cents which I posted before :
— Over the years Apple pushed Macs hard at pros (actually it was the graphics pros that kept Apple alive during the dark ages due to it’s superior graphics capability . ) , so there are many pros who HAVE INVESTED A LOT in hardware, software (3D, graphics, video etc software ). These people LISTENED TO APPLE’S SPIEL THAT APPLE WAS COMMITTED TO PROS so now to abandon them leaves a big sour taste.
tim Cook always talks about doing the ‘honourable thing’ , about helping ‘minorities’, is this honourable? isn’t minorities who are CUSTOMERS just as important as outsiders?
2) unlike the iPod which can in many ways be replaced by iPhones (even used iPhones) there is no real substitute for cutting edge Mac Pros, see my post above about GPU speeds.
3) its the ECO SYSTEM. If you can’t get machines for your top end you might then think of changing your laptops etc as well as you want to sync. For a healthy eco system you need pro machines
(Look at my post above on Ive’s studio : apparently even Apple is using old Cheese Graters. )
4) Content Creators, high end users are very influential in spite of their smaller numbers. Professionally they are influential , writing blogs, talking at conferences etc. Even on a neighbourhood or family member it’s the power user that everyone comes to for buying advice.
5) The Mac Pro is MADE IN USA. For various political reasons (look at the presidential candidates criticizing for Apple not manufacturing in USA and the Ban Apple China goods crusade ) can Apple afford to let it die? In a TV interview a few months ago Tim Cook was asked about USA manufacturing, he DID NOT mention the MP perhaps realizing how dated it was . Too bad. The PR alone with USA Mac Pro is worth tens of millions $.
6) Tech usually trickles down from High end to rest of product line. That’s why besides the PUBLICITY gain for having the BEST, car manufacturers often have a high end Sports or Racing line.
7) I don’t think TOWER MP is going to lose money . R&D costs should be minimal.
Macs in General make money . Last three quarters (that I’ve followed) Macs made more money than iPads and more than TWICE the other products category which among many things includes the Apple Watch in spite of NO ADVERTISING.
Look at aapl stock being less than the S&P average, the stock being pummelled by investors saying that Apple is ‘dangerous’ as it’s a ONE PRODUCT iPhone company, healthy Mac line is crucial.
Apple’s long silence about upgrades to its Mac line is not sufficient evidence that they are not working on it. Which is more likely, that Apple has decided to treat the Mac line in a lesser manner, or that consumers are impatient? Apple will release new Macs when they feel that the user experience is hightened with new technologies at an acceptable price point, and when the hitting-the-wall of the chipsets will improve. Just because Mac lines can be upgraded based on latest technologies doesn’t meant that they should. Any company can upgrade. The trick is to do it right. Be patient.
Here’s the real problem. Dongles. Too many fucking dongles. Too much extra shit to pack along just to hook stuff up. Apple is lost again.
REMOVE TIM COOK!!!! Sign this please, we are half way there… https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple
I have TONS of friends in LA, Nashville, NY and Chicago that create the content Apple is trying to appease it’s eco-system. The major music industry. The motion picture industry. The TV industry. The graphic/media industry. One CONSISTENT thing discussed among the pro users, WHERE IS A NEW MACPRO??? Like the user above said, without the top end of your eco-system, forget the bottom end consumers. Tim Cook is a terrible CEO. I think I need to create a website pointing out all the misses this guy has had and how unfocused he is at his job. Every single person I come across in the the industry is very pissed off at Apple, and how it treats it’s pro users. Please help raise awareness to get Tim removed as a CEO so someone with better vision can do the job for us. https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple