“Using Apple’s new MacBook Pro is a little bit like test driving a BMW for the first time. Everything about it feels more refined, sharper, and faster than your old laptop.,” Lisa Eadicicco writes for TIME Magazine. “As the laptop’s name implies, the most significant upgrade is the addition of a thin horizontal touchscreen called the Touch Bar, which sits just above the keyboard, where the function keys once resided. The Touch Bar’s big trick is its ability to change functionality based on the software you’re using — it will show media controls in iTunes and editing buttons in Photoshop, for instance. It’s a welcome upgrade along with the new Pro’s upgraded keyboard, snappier performance and other enhancements. ”
“While I like the Touch Bar, there are plenty of ways Apple could improve it. Not every shortcut implementation is perfect just yet — it’s nice to be able to switch tabs more quickly in Safari, for instance, but it’s tough to distinguish between different sites on the tiny screen,” Eadicicco writes. “Nor does the Touch Bar accelerate the process of switching between apps. (Accessing the standard function keys, including the button to open Apple’s app-switching Mission Control interface, requires an extra tap when within an app.)”
MacDailyNews Take: Swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers. Done. Yes, it helps to understand the actual capabilities of the product you are reviewing.
“The new laptop’s trackpad is significantly larger than that of Apple’s previous efforts, which provides more room for gestures like pinch-to-zoom. Still, I found the bigger trackpad to be more of a hinderance than a benefit,” Eadicicco writes. “I keep right-click enabled on my Mac as my secondary click mechanism, so I often found myself accidentally right-clicking when I meant to single-click.”
MacDailyNews Take: User error.
The full, amateurish mess is here.
MacDailyNews Take: This reviewer doesn’t even seem to understand or appreciate the difference between macOS and Windows, much less what macOS can do, so take her conclusions for what they are: Those of an amateur Windows sufferer.
She also makes the same old mistake of being fixated on sticker price:
One man’s “expensive” is another’s “peanuts.” Just report the price and the reader can decide whether it’s affordable or not; the reviewer’s personal financial situation is meaningless when it comes to price. — MacDailyNews, September 14, 2016
SEE ALSO:
Forbes’ Moorhead reviews Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro: ‘An incredible laptop’ – November 14, 2016
Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro (non-Touch Bar) is the new MacBook Air and should be judged as such – November 13, 2016
Pro video editor uses Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar: ‘I love it’ – November 11, 2016
Early adopters appreciate the Touch Bar on Apple’s MacBook Pro – November 11, 2016
Why Apple’s new MacBook Pros don’t need 32GB of RAM – November 10, 2016
Apple’s MacBook Pro can easily run a ridiculous number of ‘pro’ apps simultaneously with 16GB RAM – November 5, 2016
Hands on with Apple new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar: Huge trackpad offers great palm rejection – November 2, 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
The debate is over: IBM confirms that Apple Macs are $535 less expensive than Windows PCs – October 20, 2016
And the fact that the review was as positive as it was and it’s still possible to improve on the review shows how good the new MBP actually is.
So when they say it’s like test-driving a BMW, they mean learning how NOT to use your turn signals and to drive like you own the entire road system.
Don’t worry, they’re not allowed out of the sandbox.
“User error.”
She’s clicking it wrong.
MacDaily News really is full of crap on this. Not all “user errors” are the fault of users. Often they are the fault of BAD DESIGN. Who knew that if you increase the size of a trackpad so that you CAN’T avoid touching it with your palms that you might accidentally activate it when you didn’t want to. Is this the fault of the user? No. It’s the fault of the idiots who put the trackpad in the way or who didn’t write the software to be smart enough to avoid the issue. Stop blaming users for all of Apple’s shitty software and hardware decisions. I’m largely an Apple fan, but they have been making a lot of questionable design decisions.
Like test driving a BMW for the first time…
“What BMW did you look at?”
-“The Blue one!”
BMWs these days are overweight, overpriced, ugly and are far from the ultimate driving machine. Before the Yuppies latched on to BMWs as objects of desire, they were taught, lithe sports sedans that were reasonably priced.
They have morphed into what they used to make fun of. The 4 cylinder BMW 3 series with a 1.8 L 4 cylinder engine was reasonably priced and sized. It has morphed into a midsize sedan that needs to go on a diet.
The thing about BMW is you can buy better but you cannot pay more.
How is being concerned about sticker price a bad thing? Computers should get cheaper, not ridiculously over-priced and under-featured. You don’t take away features people use, give them a feature people didn’t ask for, hike the price and then expect everyone to just LOVE IT. WDN has serious ant-consumer issues.