“This reminds me a bit of when Steve Jobs was hawking DVD drives on iMacs when everyone wanted to rip and burn CDs; he then course corrected a bit later admitting the mistake,” John Kheit writes for The Mac Observer. “It also reminds me of how Apple was tone deaf to users asking for larger screens on the iPhones. Instead of listening, Apple gave us only a slightly longer 4″ iPhone 5 (assuring us we didn’t know what we wanted, that one handed use is where it’s at), rather than listening to our needs. In each case, Apple eventually bought a clue, course corrected, and was rewarded with far improved sales.”
“They’ve lost the plot that we don’t need thinner iPhones but more battery,” Kheit writes. “They’ve lost the plot that creative professionals don’t need powerful Mac Pros with video cards, storage and other feature expansion abilities, and have fed them a disposable trash can.”
“Microsoft’s Surface Studio is cool in theory and in hardware, but after playing with one, I think Apple dodged a bullet. First, outside the apps made/updated for the 28″ touch screen, Surface Studio with Windows 10 still has the wrong interface ‘recipe.’ This is much like Microsoft’s original Tablet PC was the right idea with the wrong implementation, and which was subsequently usurped by the iPad’s right recipe,” Kheit writes. “Multi-mode UI (e.g., voice, touch and desktop PC) convergence will occur. It’s not a question of ‘if’ but when, by whom, and with what recipe. TLDR; Apple, get your ass in gear and add touch to your computers or suffer the consequences; for reference, see blackberry [sic].”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Speciousness topped with a dollop of overbearing hyperbole.
Microsoft’s Surface Studio is a pricey gimmick that will be used by a handful of people (many of them paid to do so, à la the NFL with Surface tablets) while Apple’s Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pros will be in the hands of multiple millions of users within the first 90 days of availability.
And, oh, by the way: For all intents and purposes, the desktop is dead.
SEE ALSO:
Apple has numerous growth indicators, ignore the crowd – October 31, 2016
Apple doomsayers should look at the facts – October 31, 2016
Apple beats Street, services revenue grows 24% to all-time quarterly record of $6.3 billion – October 25, 2016
sounds like a pretty concise and on target critique to me – the article i mean….NOT the mdn take
Completely agree. My MacBook Pro is in need for an upgrade but I was underwhelmed with its specs. Don’t understand why the MacBook Pro needs to be forever thinner instead of providing what’s needed for pro users.
A bit of extra thickness could have got us a better memory controller to handle 32gb ram, maybe improved battery life and certainly a couple different ports instead of dongle-gate.
The pricing could have been sharper too but I’m happy to spread the cost over a few years.
Yes, I know, it’s great moving forward but I’m not convinced removing features pros need was necessary on the latest MacBook Pro.
@dr.sparemachinery, I agree. I was really looking forward to updating my 2013 model. I still will but without the enthusiasm expected. It will be def. better, faster, smaller than my MBP but not by much. I also have to invest in new USB-C adapters for my eternal drives, monitor, etc… Ugh…
Touch bar seems gimmicky but I’ll only know once I start using it. meh…
Well I think he is spot on and Apples refusal to see it rather than lead it as they should have pains me. I have seen MDN parrot its views on such various matters for years, done times it has been right but often it had been wrong like music streaming and even the penetration of Android which we were lectured was do different Ho the PC experience.
On touch I fear that the combination of touch screen and traditional input will eventually be the norm unless and until something bigger and better takes over, if there is such an innovation possible. Certainly till the sophistication of touch gets to a point where touch keyboards feel like real ones and the pre idiot of a cursor can be completely replicated. Apple seems to be looking at that endgame rather than this dual solution, but the trouble is progress getting there seems slow at best and there is no certainty as yet it can be acheived in the foreseeable future. And then of course you have to hope the developers decide to support iOS as they do the Mac, no sign of Adobe doing that as yet and that’s not helped by Apple shortsightedly abandoning much of its own pro apps to help force them to do so.
If the touch/trad combo gains traction in whatever form, then sadly the PC world may regain the high ground well before any potential Apple specialist tablet competitor can get there, and the PC status quo is sadly restored in the meantime rather than marginised. I agree the Surface studio seems a bit of a dead end beyond some top end pros where such a combo desktop is a better solution than two separate devices at least potentially. In all honesty it’s about drumming up excitement, mindshare and then taking aspects into lesser machines over the next 5 years. And of course the studio is unlikely to make them any money directly but it’s value is on-going interest in the PC platform expecially at the top end just as Apple looks to be shunning it. If Apple is doggedly going to refute touch as useful on the desktop and laptop screens, then it has to articulate a far better alternative than the touchbar promises alone. At the moment I cannot visualise one until you have can do it all as I describe. Yes finger marks aren’t ideal on screens but then the PC brigade used that as an argument against the iPad and where’s that argument now. So getting back to MDN I am not convinced their argument here will be a Deal breaker either, especially over the years as things, at least potentially improve. Let’s be honest MDN’s own solution of iOS tablet connecting to macOS keyboard would suffer the exact same problem.
Don’t forget that 8 or 9 years ago an Apple-approved touchscreen version of the MacBook was introduced: the ModBook.
I had one. It worked as designed and was popular with graphic artists. At the time I was doing a lot of scrawls of chemical and math equations, and rough sketches of lab equipment. It served that purpose well, and there was a good app for recognition of cursive handwriting.
But most of my work was best done with the ModBook upright on a bookstand, using a Bluetooth keyboard. The ergonomics of touchscreen for text entry, spreadsheet entry or database work is simply lousy. Really, really lousy!
That’s why I got Apple’s cover with keyboard for my 12.9″ iPad Pro. I still do my heavy duty work on my 15″ MacBook Pro. 🙂
I want touch on my 65″ LCD TV because it would be really cool like a Microsoft product, and it would force me to get up off the couch like that awesome Microsoft Kinect, which unfortunately has gone the way of the Zune. People just don’t recognize the innovative brilliance of Microsoft, the fools.
Apple’s Touchbar is a pricey gimmick that will be used by a handful of people (many of them paid to do so, Dorks on Apples TV and streaming show.) while Microsofts Surface touch will dominate 3d and animation studios by the end of the year.. IE, the Pro’s who do pro graphic design.. the original customers Apple targetted.. Back in the day. Not the snobby bloggers who know how to use a text editor and wordpress.
This seems like pretty good analysis. While I would have loved an updated Mac Pro (finally stopped hoping and bought a used 2013 Mac Pro today), Apple’s non-iPhone/Watch business is no longer a priority. It’s unfortunate, but it’s been a long time since Apple was willing to make incremental updates to most of its product. How hard would it be to put newer ports and components in an existing iMac or Mac Pro once a year and change the form factor every 3 years? It’s not a question of ability, it’s a question of interest. The stock market wants proof of future growth potential and Apple has calculated where that’s going to come from.
I am very, very sad to admit that Icannot defend Apple’s strategy here as I always do. I don’t give a damn about thin, a damn watch, or car/ I am a Creative Pro who needs more than a MBP. There are many of us, far more than MDN realizes- if Apple loses that market as well as education then the future doesn’t look so bright. I’d hate to go Windows- right now I refuse to, but I fear that’s where the next generation will be at. Apple and Microsoft will switch places. And that’s Not cool.
After hemming and hawing over the weekend I canceled by MacBook Pro. $3200 is to costly to be buying dongles. Stupid of you Apple. They are not listening to users.
“I can’t afford a $25 multi-adapter for my $3200 laptop.”
Dongles are for PCs. What you’re referring to are adapters.
I knew somebody who bought an all in one HP desktop that had a touchscreen when the Windows 8 came out.
He never used the touch screen. It was just too inconvenient to reach up to the monitor while you’re sitting at your desk. The keyboard and mouse are much closer.
Except the desktop isn’t dead especially for people who need real performance. As pretty as the new macbook pros are they don’t nearly the juice that I need to get work done.
So you are in mainframe… Heu, quantic calculation… Heu, 3D modeling…Heu, gaming…
Sorry Sir, you are looking at the wrong computer for your needs…
Step aside…
MDN = CLUELESS.
I have no need for a laptop, an iPad meets my mobile needs.
Why should I pay extra to get a compromised machine when it will just sit on a desk?
I’m still waiting for a a Mac that’s a suitable replacement for my Mac Pro 2008, which at 22″ thin and 46 lbs light has more memory than the new laptops, but is short on ports and drive bays (I have 20+ TB of external storage).
MDN has become the Paul Thurott of the Mac world.
Apple has been emphasizing form over function instead of form AND function, and that’s not good design.
Apple builds not only hardware, but platforms. The Touch Bar is a platform, and Apple hopes new and upgraded apps will take advantage. We’ll see. Also, I think the Touch Bar represents an early foray into grafting iOS utilities onto hardware. We could see it in keyboards, trackpads, routers, and IoT devices down the road. As for the people whining about the new MBPs, c’mon, did you really want Apple to reinvent its iconic laptops? Ultimately, I think, not if you were in the market for a laptop. These are slick machines, and the Touch Bar could offer new value over time much greater than a row of Fkeys. I mean, go ahead and get a Surface Pro if you want to pay as much and run Windows 10.
I love everything I own by Apple and thats almost everything in
I’m running a Macbook Pro late 2013 15″ i7 Retina 16gb ram 1TB SSD (top of the range when released) it matches my top spec iMac on my desk they are pretty much the same machine in different form factors and both would compete with the basic mac pro (dustbin) quad core and thats the problem .
There was a time when the tower was always way ahead of the laptop.
The fact Apple can make such a small Laptop and iMac compare with the basic Mac pro workstation is an achievement but we are at the limits now on MacBooks and iMacs and the Mac Pro could easily surpass those limits and thats the issue.
Apple allowed me to have power of the basic Mac Pro in a mobile laptop (I’m thankful) it feels like that was their goal but they seem to not be looking to push the potential of computing any further just refine their hardware and software in iMac’s and laptops.
With a laptop Apple are at the cutting edge in refinement and power available from intel chips at this time but with a Mac Pro there is so much more to open up (via expandability) but Apple seem to act like the iMac and MacBook pro will do all that we need.
Apple remind me of BMW in that they refine refine and refine their cars so perfectly that if you don’t fit in the seat (which is like a custom cockpit) then you best get a different car.
Everything Apple do seems to be about refinement now days which for the laptops has been awesome, but now I look at the new MacBook pro and for the money and tiny speed bump, I don’t see any need to upgrade. the function keys thing is not enough to warrant the price hike.
My late 2013 is to me still hitting the cieling and i need more power this new Mac Book pro docent offer enough for the price.
This is the trick Apple are missing because based on the new Macbook Pro I’m still at top speed on my late 2013 laptop.
To get more money from me I need to see more power and if you can’t deliver that due to laptop restrictions thats fine but you’re missing a massive second computer purchase for hardcore users by not introducing a seriously more expandable MacPro tower , faster ram and bigger SSD expansion capabilities (which we can over time upgrade (soldered parts is killing the upgrade cycle as the price is too high for a fixed unit so we make do with older machines and wait for something with more value to incrementally upgrade when we need to)
The mac Pro offers more multi threading but with out the ability to expand it with different options you are hemming our creativity. The limit of 4 cores on the laptop and iMac is at its peek.
Hardcore users buy laptops and towers so until there is a serious upgrade on the laptop (this is not one to me) you could offer more oomph in a new killer Mac Pro tower an still get my money.
I would buy a Mac pro to replace my iMac if it went beyond what 4 cores and 16 gig and offered real world improvements.
I passed on the first Gen Mac pro because i bought into the Apple ethos about the iMac being capable and its has been but we are at the limits now with iMac and Macbook pro
Only the MacPro can go further and if Apple make it I will buy it and so will other creatives and hardcore users
Its time to get your core supporter back on side and sing your praises once more as all i read about now is disillusions power users and they are your champions the melennials who just buy iPhones don’t have the deep vested interest and love for what made Apple great and they will drop you like a stone if all your geeky fans start talking up and moving to (UGH can say their name) power users are the foundations of Apple, the voice of Apple and the secret sales team of Apple and we are disillusioned with Apple even though their new products are still great they are just not what we are waiting for and what we know is possible.
I’m just waiting for the new MacBook Pro. No not the one announced last week, the next one that fixes the lack of memory. C’mon Apple – 16gb is far from enough for real pro users! Photoshop needs a minimum of 16gb!! Guess that will be in another 3 years…….
Next year Apple will just remove the number keys row and the arrow keys. In favour of multi programmable screens.
Then in 2019… just remove the keyboard. “How quaint!”
Please help build this campaign to remove Tim Cook as CEO – https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple
OK dilemma time, I was a bit underwhelmed by the new pro models, especially in light of the competition, but like most apple users I have pre ordered the 15inch to replace my aging 17inch early 2011. But here’s the problem have I made a mistake I bench marked my laptop with geek bench and got 3212 single core & 9281 multi!!! I have seen the 13 inch scores which have been posted and there is very little difference!!!! I know the 15 will be faster but how much? I know in the real world these do not mean much but they do allow a basic look and what we are buying. I ran the black magic test and yeah the new 13 blows my ssd away by nearly 10 x. at nearly £2800 other option start to look tempting ( not the ms sp seen it don’t like it more a iPad on steroids with windows 10.)
NO. There is no reason for Apple to add a touch screen to MacBooks. If people want that sort of stuff, go buy an iPad and toss on a keyboard. √Done. Apple got it right.
The suckage that is the Surface is not going to be UNsuckage by making a Mac equivalent.
As for the battery vs thinness in iPhones contention, battery wins for me! Hello Apple! More battery already!
The desktop is NOT dead.
Many pro users much rather use a desktop for many reasons:
1. Expandibility and power: Add memory, hard drives, redundance, security, more devices, multiple screens…. you name it. A desktop provides more choice.
2. Bigger screens (and many of them). Yes! Some of us need them.
3. Keyboard and mouse. For people spending MANY hours using the keyboard, an ergonomic keyboard is much netter for our wrists than the laptop keyboard. Same with the mouse. A good ergonomic mouse is better than the trackpad to many of us.
So, no, there IS a place for the desktop. And whomever thinks there’s not is really narrow minded.
Windows 10 is currently on more than 400 million computers, about 23%. All versions of OS X are 2.74%. Windows 7 48.38%.
https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0
Desktops are not dead if you have serious work to do. A stack of MacBook Pros cannot do what a single Xeon Workstation in the same time frame.
Some of us use more than Facebook.