Is Apple leaving the Mac’s pro users behind?
With the arrival of the new MacBook Pros, some are wondering if there are too many cons in Apple’s Pros
Apple’s recently released new MacBook Pro line-up was the kind of dramatic redesign that usually excites its community of users, but reaction to the two new 13-inch models and the 15-inch model has been mixed.
The new models are smaller in volume, thinner, and lighter than their predecessors – the 13-inch model is thinner than the MacBook Air, even. They have updated processors with more powerful graphics chips, and new brighter screens with the wide color gamut seen in the iPhone 7 and Retina iMacs. And they have the Touch Bar – a touchscreen strip that replaces the function keys above the keyboard, offering controls depending on the context of the app you’re in. (The low-end 13-inch model on p64 includes a row of function keys still.)
It’s an impressive redesign, bringing elements of the 12-inch MacBook and iPad Pro designs into the
notebooks. But it has high-end users asking questions about some of Apple’s decisions.
HIGH-END HOPES
The new MacBook Pros are limited to a maximum of 16GB of RAM, for example, due to the use of LPDDR3 RAM, which is a low-power memory type, to extend the Pros’ battery life. The 16GB restriction is a limitation of the Intel chips Apple is using, but if Apple had opted to use DDR4 RAM, it could have offered a 32GB option – but battery life would have been lower. For most people, 16GB is much more than enough RAM… but Macs have never been about just the majority’s needs. For high-end video and image-editing pros, or developers working with many virtual machines, 16GB can be very limiting. Similarly, it includes only Thunderbolt 3 ports for connectivity. These are very flexible, powerful ports, but pros with existing accessories they rely on will require adapters. Apple did cut the price of adapters to mitigate this, however.
These changes come on top of Apple having not updated the Mac Pro for over 1,000 days, the Mac mini for over 750, and forcing high-end apps to either dumb down or leave the Mac App Store due to technical restrictions placed on apps there. Each problem isn’t the end of the world in itself, but when viewed as a whole, it leaves pros wondering if Apple really gets them still.