4 ms·

Apple Kills the Best MacBook Pro in the World

32 points by miles 10y ago

blkhp19 10y ago
> New MacBook Pros so popular orders are backed up for weeks I really, really hope this "Apple is the devil" theme ends in the next few weeks. It's nauseating to see the same headlines multiple times a day on HN, all making the same ridiculous arguments. The reality is, this time next year, people (pros and causal users) are going to love the Touch Bar, and nobody is going to care about the Surface Dial. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.
- mikestew 10y ago
  I wrote in an earlier comment, "Apple released new stuff, quick, write a contrarian blog post!" I'd almost swear an entire industry has built up around this very sentiment. Seems to me that if Apple suffers from anything, it's the ol' Microsoft conundrum: "our competition is the previous version of Windows". My 2012 rMBP is chugging along just fine, running VMs and IDEs, and just being a general workhorse. Though I imagine I'll go against the grain and find the Touch Bar actually useful, I'm not dropping $2500 to find out. I'm not of the opinion that Apple is losing it, gone off the rails, or whatever the cool kids on Medium are saying. I just don't see enough of a jump to warrant spending more money. Which I imagine is a problem a lot of computer manufacturers are coming to grips with. And perhaps that's the source of the angst. Many, like me, were probably looking for a reason, any reason to go drop $2500 to replace their 3-4 year old laptop. The big announcement came, and no such reasons were given. Doesn't bother me, it's a tool not a toy. But I can understand some disappointment.
  - jrnichols 10y ago
    > I'd almost swear an entire industry has built up around this very sentiment. It certainly scores bloggers some ad revenue....
mancerayder 10y ago
I like all the bad press. I hope it impacts sales; that is the point, after all. We vote with our wallets, and since the new Mac Pros don't have what I wanted, it's in my interest to support as many 'counter votes' as possible. I was told by Apple implicitly, and by some defenders on places like HN explicitly, that my needs are irrelevant and an edge condition (card reader, magsafe, even [ and they almost never had these ] ethernet ports paint me as a Luddite). It doesn't help that they're not exactly being sold for bargain prices. If the sales go down, then Apple's strategy will be revised internally. If the sales go up, then Apple's strategy will be viewed as a success.
soyiuz 10y ago
Some numbers to consider: according to Apple's Q4 2016 financial report, Macs represent less than 10% of the company's revenues. Notebook revenues are also declining significantly (14% down from last year). I did not see the numbers by category, but suppose the Pro line represents (optimistically) 5% of company's revenues and declining. In this light, the company's decision not to dedicate significant resources to a declining segment of its lineup makes sense.
- acchow 10y ago
  But they dedicated significant resources to change the MBP dramatically...
- mancerayder 10y ago
  Also their share of the laptop market, contrary to what the in-placement ads in TV shows and movies where everyone has a Mac laptop would have you believe, is far behind their competitors (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.) who collectively also run Windows, which is far ahead of OSX in terms of adoption. So both in the OS space and in the HW space they have a niche market share. So, the question isn't whether it makes sense to continue the product lines, but whether their decisions will increase or hurt their market share and margins. I have a hard time believing they stopped caring about laptop sales. Those ads cost money, as does the R&D and all the rest of it.
aq3cn 10y ago
Censorship is at full speed. All the articles by this author about Apple have been removed and link redirect us to. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/ http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/ Does anyone know the story behind it?
- grzm 10y ago
  For me, that's a splash screen. Wait a few seconds and I have the opportunity to continue to the article by Ewan Spence. And here's a list of his articles: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/#b23e8d74ad9d http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/#b23e8d74ad9d That lists articles from Nov 3, Nov 2, and Nov 1, among others. Are there other articles you're aware of that are missing?
timbo1642 10y ago
It's time for Tim Cook to go along with the people responsible for the Mac computers and iPhones. Apple thinks they are helping by cutting out ports and pushing technology forward, but all they are doing is pissing people off. My iPhone 7 is a joke. I can't charge and talk at the same time or swipe credit cards anymore. Their whole pro line is a joke. My friend bought a $4000 Mac Pro with 256GB of storage, that's a joke. It also has old hardware and its priced about $1000 more than it should be. Apple could still make a healthy profit at $3000 for the same machine since its even overpriced at $3000. How is this a pro machine? Now with the macbook pro. Pros want ports. They are the ones that use them. Some pros even want more than 16GB of RAM which I feel is standard for non pros. I really hope things change because this is ridiculous.
- bitlax 10y ago
  Why would they change what they're doing if you're both still willing to buy their products?
- Grangar 10y ago
  You still bought an iphone 7 though. Vote with your wallet!
ksec 10y ago
Considering in 4-5 years time, the current MacBook Pro design will get an 8 Core 7nm Icelake, double or triple the speed of current GPU, 32-64GB Maxed memory, Over Gigabit 802.11ax wireless speed. And Even Faster SSD. Are every Pro's need for computational power inline with Moore's Law? It may not fit every Pro's need today. But it will in a year or two later. Those who uses VM are especially vocal about lack of 32GB memory, but how many % of Pro are in this camp? I see Macbook and the Macbook Pro very forward thinking. It was similar to MacBook Air when it first released. It was slow, expensive ultrabook. Everyone were wondering why would you WANT a ultrabook.

32 points by miles 10y ago

> New MacBook Pros so popular orders are backed up for weeks I really, really hope this "Apple is the devil" theme ends in the next few weeks. It's nauseating to see the same headlines multiple times a day on HN, all making the same ridiculous arguments. The reality is, this time next year, people (pros and causal users) are going to love the Touch Bar, and nobody is going to care about the Surface Dial. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

mikestew 10y ago
I wrote in an earlier comment, "Apple released new stuff, quick, write a contrarian blog post!" I'd almost swear an entire industry has built up around this very sentiment. Seems to me that if Apple suffers from anything, it's the ol' Microsoft conundrum: "our competition is the previous version of Windows". My 2012 rMBP is chugging along just fine, running VMs and IDEs, and just being a general workhorse. Though I imagine I'll go against the grain and find the Touch Bar actually useful, I'm not dropping $2500 to find out. I'm not of the opinion that Apple is losing it, gone off the rails, or whatever the cool kids on Medium are saying. I just don't see enough of a jump to warrant spending more money. Which I imagine is a problem a lot of computer manufacturers are coming to grips with. And perhaps that's the source of the angst. Many, like me, were probably looking for a reason, any reason to go drop $2500 to replace their 3-4 year old laptop. The big announcement came, and no such reasons were given. Doesn't bother me, it's a tool not a toy. But I can understand some disappointment.
- jrnichols 10y ago
  > I'd almost swear an entire industry has built up around this very sentiment. It certainly scores bloggers some ad revenue....

mancerayder 10y ago

I like all the bad press. I hope it impacts sales; that is the point, after all. We vote with our wallets, and since the new Mac Pros don't have what I wanted, it's in my interest to support as many 'counter votes' as possible. I was told by Apple implicitly, and by some defenders on places like HN explicitly, that my needs are irrelevant and an edge condition (card reader, magsafe, even [ and they almost never had these ] ethernet ports paint me as a Luddite). It doesn't help that they're not exactly being sold for bargain prices. If the sales go down, then Apple's strategy will be revised internally. If the sales go up, then Apple's strategy will be viewed as a success.

soyiuz 10y ago

Some numbers to consider: according to Apple's Q4 2016 financial report, Macs represent less than 10% of the company's revenues. Notebook revenues are also declining significantly (14% down from last year). I did not see the numbers by category, but suppose the Pro line represents (optimistically) 5% of company's revenues and declining. In this light, the company's decision not to dedicate significant resources to a declining segment of its lineup makes sense.

acchow 10y ago
But they dedicated significant resources to change the MBP dramatically...
mancerayder 10y ago
Also their share of the laptop market, contrary to what the in-placement ads in TV shows and movies where everyone has a Mac laptop would have you believe, is far behind their competitors (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.) who collectively also run Windows, which is far ahead of OSX in terms of adoption. So both in the OS space and in the HW space they have a niche market share. So, the question isn't whether it makes sense to continue the product lines, but whether their decisions will increase or hurt their market share and margins. I have a hard time believing they stopped caring about laptop sales. Those ads cost money, as does the R&D and all the rest of it.

aq3cn 10y ago

Censorship is at full speed. All the articles by this author about Apple have been removed and link redirect us to. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/ http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/ Does anyone know the story behind it?

grzm 10y ago
For me, that's a splash screen. Wait a few seconds and I have the opportunity to continue to the article by Ewan Spence. And here's a list of his articles: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/#b23e8d74ad9d http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/#b23e8d74ad9d That lists articles from Nov 3, Nov 2, and Nov 1, among others. Are there other articles you're aware of that are missing?

timbo1642 10y ago

It's time for Tim Cook to go along with the people responsible for the Mac computers and iPhones. Apple thinks they are helping by cutting out ports and pushing technology forward, but all they are doing is pissing people off. My iPhone 7 is a joke. I can't charge and talk at the same time or swipe credit cards anymore. Their whole pro line is a joke. My friend bought a $4000 Mac Pro with 256GB of storage, that's a joke. It also has old hardware and its priced about $1000 more than it should be. Apple could still make a healthy profit at $3000 for the same machine since its even overpriced at $3000. How is this a pro machine? Now with the macbook pro. Pros want ports. They are the ones that use them. Some pros even want more than 16GB of RAM which I feel is standard for non pros. I really hope things change because this is ridiculous.

bitlax 10y ago
Why would they change what they're doing if you're both still willing to buy their products?
Grangar 10y ago
You still bought an iphone 7 though. Vote with your wallet!

ksec 10y ago

Considering in 4-5 years time, the current MacBook Pro design will get an 8 Core 7nm Icelake, double or triple the speed of current GPU, 32-64GB Maxed memory, Over Gigabit 802.11ax wireless speed. And Even Faster SSD. Are every Pro's need for computational power inline with Moore's Law? It may not fit every Pro's need today. But it will in a year or two later. Those who uses VM are especially vocal about lack of 32GB memory, but how many % of Pro are in this camp? I see Macbook and the Macbook Pro very forward thinking. It was similar to MacBook Air when it first released. It was slow, expensive ultrabook. Everyone were wondering why would you WANT a ultrabook.