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Another “Going Back” Review of the 2016 MacBook Pro
While I did purchase the 2016 MacBook Pro 13" model for my college-bound daughter, it was the non-touchbar model, that is the non-annoying model. The 2016 MacBook Pro is a 'fail', its plusses notwithstanding—never before have I been so dissatisfied with a new Mac that I returned it out of frustration on multiple fronts: ergonomics and performance and compatibility headaches, and very poor value.
Apple claims a hugely successful launch of the 2016 MacBook Pro, a claim that presumably is true, but one has to wonder why discounts up to $200 are already seen less six weeks after launch. That’s unprecedented for a Mac as far as I can recall.
Apple Insider writes in MacBook 2016 Review – It’s going back:
I simply couldn’t type accurately on the 13" MBP because of the over-sensitive trackpad and Touch Bar – which I constantly engaged with an errant palm graze or finger overshooting the keyboard. It’s distracting as hell to be typing away into a note, doc or email and suddenly “click” on the window of a background app and switching contexts. Then I’d have to figure out what I was doing, where my window went, switch back to it, and try to pick up where I left off.
Accidental and sudden context switches are productivity killers and at the end of the day, I need my MacBook to be a productivity machine, not a productivity killer.
These comments mirror my frustration with the touchbar as well as the comments in the film-makers’s review. I avoided trackpad issues in part because I connect and use a mouse intead of the trackpad but that won’t be the case on the road.
Boil this all down to its root: Apple design for both software and hardware have become productivity killers as in Apple Core Rot. That characterization is too kind really, but it is the essence of the problem. It is incredibly dismaying that Apple no longer understands elegance of design, which is productivity enhancing hardware and software synergy, not a repudiation of functionality in favor of thinner/lighter/ostensibly “elegant” design. Apple now designs old-West false-front stores—beautiful eye candy, new features that I’d pay to remove, and at the cost of functionality.
Below, the 2015 Apple MacBook Pro is a winner, and a top-spec model sells for far less than the 2016 MacBook Pro. Its plus and minus is lack of Thunderbolt 3. The 2014 model is also good, but just slightly slower.
