MBP 15" 2016 with touch bar - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
So I just got my new MPB yesterday. The 15" with Touch Bar and Touch ID.
Quite simply, this is an amazing piece of tech. Everything works great EXCEPT I have already noticed a few glitches. Nothing major, but it might make some people a little annoyed.
1. THE KEYBOARD. The keys are larger and flatter (lower in profile) than my previous MBP (2012 model). They are also closer together. This makes it slightly harder to type on than a normal keyboard. Although I am getting used to the new feel, it still isn't as nice in my opinion. The more critical issue is the NOISE! It is louder than all other laptop keyboards that I have used. First I thought it was the table that I was working on, but even if I move the MBP on my lap and type, it still has a loud click/echo noise on each tap of a key. My first thought is that if an entire conference room or classroom is full of these models and people are typing, it could be really loud in the room!
2. POWER BUTTON HIDDEN. Some people think there is no physical power button. Actually it is under the finger print sensor. Rather than gently placing your finger on the sensor to use the Touch ID, you press it harder and it clicks. It took me awhile to figure this out on my own since there was no documentation that I could find on how to do a hard reset.
3. THREE FINGER DRAG IS BROKEN. I contacted Apple and they acknowledged it is a known issue until a new build of Sierra comes out. I'm even using the latest public beta and it doesn't work yet. So if you rely on dragging items with 3 fingers on the trackpad, you'll have to wait. It works 20% of the time (if you're lucky).
4. TOUCH BAR. Although this new feature is simply amazing and can be quite useful in some scenarios, currently VERY FEW 3rd party applications support it. When Adobe implements this in CC, I might actually use it. For now, it seems like a gimmick more than anything since most of the icons that dynamically appear with a few of the Apple programs are no more than repeats of icons already on the screen or keyboard shortcuts that you probably know. It doesn't seem intuitive to keep glancing down at the row and then move your hand from a mouse, Wacom tablet or even the trackpad to then press an icon or shortcut on the touch bar. Will have to see how this plays out over time.
5. SOUND/SPEAKERS. Seems very close to the volume/quality of the speakers on my 2012 MBP. Nothing spectacular here.
6. TOUCH ID. This is really useful as you would expect. Saves a lot of time from having to type in my password ever time I install something, etc. Just a quick touch with my finger and done. Seems a little faster than the Touch ID on the iPhone 7.
7. SCREEN. Also no different from the 2012 MBP Retina. It does seem "slightly" brighter at the highest setting. But the glare, angle of view seem to be the same when I compare them side by side.
8. PORTS. This is the worst part of the system. I do miss the SD card reader and the USB 3 ports. Having this stupid dongle is a pain and gets in the way. I realize the intent of Apple on doing this, but it is definitely an inconve
until all peripherals move to USB-C. A real downer for sure.
9. POWER PLUG. Another downside. The lack of a MagSafe power plug is making me nervous as my kids (and dog) frequently tripped over the power cord as it tore away from my MBP 2012...which always survived fine with the MagSafe. Now, with a VERY tight USB-C power connector plug, I'm afraid my laptop may not survive a trip over the cord in the future. Again, I think Apple discontinued the MagSafe because of issues with connectivity, but I'd prefer it again over this USB-C power connection.
10. BATTERY LIFE. About the same as my MBP 2012. A full charge says just over 3 hours which is about what I got from using the battery from 100% down to 10%. I was simply working on documents, doing a little downloading of application updates and transferring files. I did NOT play any videos or music, nor did I do any graphics work which would have triggered the Radeon card to kick in and use more juice. Rather, the Intel HD graphics stayed on the entire time. Bottom line: I expect 2 hours to be the span if doing any heavy video editing or graphics work using battery power.
11. TRACKPAD. Aside from the bug with the 3 finger drag feature, the new trackpad does feel different than the old models. It is also MUCH larger (about twice the size) of the 2012 MBP. The force touch is not as intuitive but I'm sure I can get used to it. I did have to disable the Force Click and haptic feedback option in preferences as it made it very difficult to click and drag things around on the desktop and into the dock.
12. VALUE. Some would scoff at the price tag for what you get. For me, I live and breathe on this machine to do my work so for me it was worth the extra money. I use a Windows Dell laptop at work and of course prefer MacOS any day and this laptop takes full advantage of the new features in Sierra. Yes, I could buy two Dells for the price of this MBP but I waste a lot of time with driver conflicts, crashing, incompatible utilities, and frequent lockups with Windows 7 Pro (we aren't allowed to use Win10 at my office yet).
CONCLUSION: I like this better overall than the 2012 model (not counting the improved processing power of course). But, I'm not sure I can honestly say that I "love" it better. It truly is an upgrade worthy of making if you do graphics work like myself, but it will be more difficult to move the laptop from my home to office with the lack of the legacy connection ports. I'll have to buy additional dongles for each location if I don't want to gather them up and get a larger laptop sleeve/bag.
MacBook Pro, iOS 10.1.1, MacBook Pro 15 with Touch Bar
