1 00:00:00,761 --> 00:00:04,923 (rock music) 2 00:00:04,923 --> 00:00:08,006 (rock music) 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,950 - In their October 18th event, Apple will likely announce a brand new 4 00:00:19,950 --> 00:00:23,140 full-size, full-power, big Macbook Pro. 5 00:00:23,140 --> 00:00:28,110 It's been a long time coming mainly because of this thing, 6 00:00:28,110 --> 00:00:33,220 this MacBook Pro from 2016. It was poised to take us to the next generation of computing 7 00:00:33,220 --> 00:00:36,543 and we're still waiting. So, in this video, 8 00:00:36,543 --> 00:00:40,940 I'm going to look back at this generation of Macbook Pro to demonstrate everything Apple needs to get right 9 00:00:40,940 --> 00:00:44,850 for the new one to live up to the hype. And to fix the reputational damage 10 00:00:44,850 --> 00:00:49,860 inflicted on the MacBook Pro brand over the past five years. 11 00:00:49,860 --> 00:00:52,453 Let me explain where this is all coming from. 12 00:00:55,230 --> 00:00:59,140 - There's a certain kind of person. - A couple of years ago, 13 00:00:59,140 --> 00:01:02,210 Apple launched a new campaign to promote the Mac line 14 00:01:02,210 --> 00:01:05,930 titled "Behind The Mac". The ads featured photos and vignettes 15 00:01:05,930 --> 00:01:09,710 of some of the most famous and well-regarded creators in their fields 16 00:01:09,710 --> 00:01:15,160 using their Macs to make the amazing things they make. It brought us into many of these artists setups. 17 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:20,900 And the one standout thing was that almost all of them were sitting behind a glowing Apple logo. 18 00:01:20,900 --> 00:01:25,870 This is significant because there was no glowing Apple logo on MacBook Pros they were selling at the time. 19 00:01:25,870 --> 00:01:30,350 The ads were airing in 2018. See, no glowing logo. 20 00:01:30,350 --> 00:01:33,460 Clearly, many famous Apple users hadn't upgraded. 21 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:37,360 They knew what they were going to be losing. And so, they held on to their older Macs 22 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,250 for longer or bought the older generation while they still could. 23 00:01:41,250 --> 00:01:45,950 And I don't blame them. I realize this is a MacBook Air, but 24 00:01:45,950 --> 00:01:51,318 God! this was more convenient. And this keyboard was way better. 25 00:01:51,318 --> 00:01:54,870 And how can you not like the glowing logo? Look at this. Look at this charger. 26 00:01:54,870 --> 00:01:58,480 A little flip-up flaps to hold the cable. 27 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,420 MagSafe easily plugs in, has an indicator light on it. 28 00:02:03,420 --> 00:02:05,533 This is way better. And watch this. 29 00:02:07,590 --> 00:02:09,540 Should I try that with the MacBook Pro? 30 00:02:11,350 --> 00:02:17,610 It's a loose port, okay? This 2016 MacBook Pro was a major departure 31 00:02:17,610 --> 00:02:20,960 from what professionals were familiar with on their MacBooks. 32 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,560 It replaced the IO that they were comfortable with. And instead, highlighted a bunch of new features 33 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,920 and technologies that were promising at the time, but became issues later. 34 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:34,290 Like, the butterfly keyboard, the touch bar and the thinness. 35 00:02:34,290 --> 00:02:37,510 The biggest harm to the reputation of the MacBook Pro 36 00:02:37,510 --> 00:02:42,620 was the butterfly keyboard. It was first introduced on the single port MacBook, 37 00:02:42,620 --> 00:02:45,790 a laptop that flew too close to the sun. 38 00:02:45,790 --> 00:02:49,620 The butterfly mechanism was supposed to bring comfortable stable keys. 39 00:02:49,620 --> 00:02:53,990 It was supposed to feel clicky and satisfying despite the short stroke. 40 00:02:53,990 --> 00:02:57,910 It was supposed to usher in thinner designs from the Mac laptop line. 41 00:02:57,910 --> 00:03:02,290 It was not supposed to miss or duplicate letters because of a speck of dust. 42 00:03:02,290 --> 00:03:07,420 In 2017, Casey Johnson wrote in the outline how the keyboard was ruining her life. 43 00:03:07,420 --> 00:03:10,670 And a year and a half later, Joanna Stern cleverly demonstrated 44 00:03:10,670 --> 00:03:13,900 the unrepairable plate of a broken butterfly keyboard 45 00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:18,260 in her mistake late in column. There's even still a class action lawsuit. 46 00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:22,660 Many pundits accurately stated that the butterfly keyboard had a lasting impact 47 00:03:22,660 --> 00:03:28,160 on the reputation of the MacBook. It took over four years and a repair service program 48 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,890 for Apple to change course and fix the keyboard two years ago, 49 00:03:31,890 --> 00:03:36,660 which is much better. So, I expect the next MacBook to remain on course. 50 00:03:36,660 --> 00:03:42,563 Though, could you imagine if they actually introduced and improved butterfly keyboard? 51 00:03:42,563 --> 00:03:44,229 - [Man] No. - That'd be crazy. 52 00:03:45,610 --> 00:03:48,820 Please don't. The attitude that bore the keyboard 53 00:03:48,820 --> 00:03:54,450 caused another problem, which I'll explain after introducing this video sponsor, Pulseway. 54 00:03:54,450 --> 00:03:58,680 If you need to manage all your desktops, servers, network devices and cloud infrastructure, 55 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,570 you can do it with Pulseway's iOS and macOS applications. 56 00:04:02,570 --> 00:04:07,650 Use their out of box commands to backup files, reset user passwords or kill processes. 57 00:04:07,650 --> 00:04:12,520 And with power auto remediation, Pulseway can resolve things like low disk space 58 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,530 or high CPU usage. Try it for free today at www.pulseway.com 59 00:04:16,530 --> 00:04:21,930 or through the link below. The thinness afforded by the keyboard 60 00:04:21,930 --> 00:04:25,190 pushed Apple to Intel's thermal limits as well. 61 00:04:25,190 --> 00:04:28,700 In their reviews of the bigger, more powerful MacBook Pros, 62 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:33,480 my colleagues at LTT found that these MacBooks can still get hot. 63 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,920 And there were a couple of versions that had issues with thermal throttling. 64 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,770 - We're at 100 degrees. To their credit, Apple did improve in these respects, 65 00:04:42,770 --> 00:04:49,070 but there is only so far they could go. But the new MacBook Pro could be just as thin or thinner. 66 00:04:49,070 --> 00:04:52,360 But it's not a problem because with last year's launch of the M1, 67 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,580 Apple has demonstrated they can get some great performance out of a small package. 68 00:04:56,580 --> 00:05:02,510 And I think that's why we're really excited about the next MacBook Pro. Because, it's poised to have an even faster M1X chip 69 00:05:02,510 --> 00:05:06,160 with 10 or more cores that will run much more efficiently. 70 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:13,320 But then, there's still the issue of ports. On recent MacBooks, there's less and they're less usable. 71 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:18,010 The Retina MacBook Pro was convenient with two classic USB-A ports, 72 00:05:18,010 --> 00:05:23,240 two Thunderbolts, MagSafe HDMI and SD card slot on top of the headphone Jack. 73 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,650 Seven ports that are really convenient for professionals. Need to get a photo off your camera? 74 00:05:27,650 --> 00:05:31,420 Slot the card in. Need to hook up a projector? Plug it in. 75 00:05:31,420 --> 00:05:36,180 Easy. But Apple wanted to push the world to USB-C and Thunderbolt. 76 00:05:36,180 --> 00:05:39,650 So, all we got are these four ports. 77 00:05:39,650 --> 00:05:42,810 They're capable of doing everything and plugging into nothing. 78 00:05:42,810 --> 00:05:47,240 They can help put display, charge the laptop and do USB and Thunderbolt things. 79 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,640 But this was 2016 and nobody had a USB-C flash drive. 80 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,990 So, everyone who bought this, ended up having to live the dongle life 81 00:05:54,990 --> 00:05:58,950 which is a constant nightmare of making sure you have the right dongles in the right bags 82 00:05:58,950 --> 00:06:04,600 for the time that you need them and hoping they work. Even today, five whole years later, 83 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:09,690 the transition to USB-C has been extremely slow and increasingly confusing, 84 00:06:09,690 --> 00:06:15,340 which is why rumors have me excited about the possibility that HDMI MagSafe and an SD card reader 85 00:06:15,340 --> 00:06:19,200 might be making a return. Lastly, there is this touch bar. 86 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,270 Seemingly a gimmick, this narrow OLED touchscreen 87 00:06:22,270 --> 00:06:25,500 replaced the function row above Apple's new butterfly keyboard 88 00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:30,780 to provide application-based options to users, most of whom were largely uninterested. 89 00:06:30,780 --> 00:06:33,840 Likewise, Apple removed the hardware escape key 90 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:38,720 much to the chagrin of app developers. Though, that one did come back. 91 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,330 Now, after having used this MacBook Pro with the touch bar, 92 00:06:42,330 --> 00:06:45,710 I should note that I don't mind it. The fact that it's capacitive 93 00:06:46,660 --> 00:06:51,230 does increase the cognitive load a bit. I'm touch typist, so I never look down 94 00:06:51,230 --> 00:06:55,780 at the keyboard. But there are times when it's nice to have the function button close at hand 95 00:06:55,780 --> 00:06:59,090 as opposed to hunting around and interface with a mouse. 96 00:06:59,090 --> 00:07:02,120 Whatever the case, rumors are that it's getting axed. 97 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:07,580 And I might be a little sad about that. Also, no rumors that a touchscreen will replace it. 98 00:07:07,580 --> 00:07:11,690 Sorry, not sorry. I remember when this MacBook was announced 99 00:07:11,690 --> 00:07:16,470 and how unappealing I found it. But my feelings for the next one are much more optimistic. 100 00:07:16,470 --> 00:07:20,220 There's a lot that has been fixed already and the rumors are promising. 101 00:07:20,220 --> 00:07:24,970 So, tune into our coverage on the 18th to see if I get wowed this time around. 102 00:07:24,970 --> 00:07:29,330 I'm hoping I will. Thanks for waiting to update to this Mac Address. 103 00:07:29,330 --> 00:07:32,910 If you're one of the many who skipped over this Mac, give us a like. 104 00:07:32,910 --> 00:07:36,010 And if you're someone who upgraded, why not subscribe? 105 00:07:36,010 --> 00:07:40,590 In the comments, I'm curious of any of those who have one of these MacBooks regretted 106 00:07:40,590 --> 00:07:44,490 or if everything has been just fine and it's just been me this whole time.