(rock music)
- In their October 18th event, Apple will likely announce a brand new
full-size, full-power, big Macbook Pro.
It's been a long time coming mainly because of this thing,
this MacBook Pro from 2016. It was poised to take us to the next generation of computing
and we're still waiting. So, in this video,
I'm going to look back at this generation of Macbook Pro to demonstrate everything Apple needs to get right
for the new one to live up to the hype. And to fix the reputational damage
inflicted on the MacBook Pro brand over the past five years.
Let me explain where this is all coming from.
- There's a certain kind of person. - A couple of years ago,
Apple launched a new campaign to promote the Mac line
titled "Behind The Mac". The ads featured photos and vignettes
of some of the most famous and well-regarded creators in their fields
using their Macs to make the amazing things they make. It brought us into many of these artists setups.
And the one standout thing was that almost all of them were sitting behind a glowing Apple logo.
This is significant because there was no glowing Apple logo on MacBook Pros they were selling at the time.
The ads were airing in 2018. See, no glowing logo.
Clearly, many famous Apple users hadn't upgraded.
They knew what they were going to be losing. And so, they held on to their older Macs
for longer or bought the older generation while they still could.
And I don't blame them. I realize this is a MacBook Air, but
God! this was more convenient. And this keyboard was way better.
And how can you not like the glowing logo? Look at this. Look at this charger.
A little flip-up flaps to hold the cable.
MagSafe easily plugs in, has an indicator light on it.
This is way better. And watch this.
Should I try that with the MacBook Pro?
It's a loose port, okay? This 2016 MacBook Pro was a major departure
from what professionals were familiar with on their MacBooks.
It replaced the IO that they were comfortable with. And instead, highlighted a bunch of new features
and technologies that were promising at the time, but became issues later.
Like, the butterfly keyboard, the touch bar and the thinness.
The biggest harm to the reputation of the MacBook Pro
was the butterfly keyboard. It was first introduced on the single port MacBook,
a laptop that flew too close to the sun.
The butterfly mechanism was supposed to bring comfortable stable keys.
It was supposed to feel clicky and satisfying despite the short stroke.
It was supposed to usher in thinner designs from the Mac laptop line.
It was not supposed to miss or duplicate letters because of a speck of dust.
In 2017, Casey Johnson wrote in the outline how the keyboard was ruining her life.
And a year and a half later, Joanna Stern cleverly demonstrated
the unrepairable plate of a broken butterfly keyboard
in her mistake late in column. There's even still a class action lawsuit.
Many pundits accurately stated that the butterfly keyboard had a lasting impact
on the reputation of the MacBook. It took over four years and a repair service program
for Apple to change course and fix the keyboard two years ago,
which is much better. So, I expect the next MacBook to remain on course.
Though, could you imagine if they actually introduced and improved butterfly keyboard?
- [Man] No. - That'd be crazy.
Please don't. The attitude that bore the keyboard
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or through the link below. The thinness afforded by the keyboard
pushed Apple to Intel's thermal limits as well.
In their reviews of the bigger, more powerful MacBook Pros,
my colleagues at LTT found that these MacBooks can still get hot.
And there were a couple of versions that had issues with thermal throttling.
- We're at 100 degrees. To their credit, Apple did improve in these respects,
but there is only so far they could go. But the new MacBook Pro could be just as thin or thinner.
But it's not a problem because with last year's launch of the M1,
Apple has demonstrated they can get some great performance out of a small package.
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
with 10 or more cores that will run much more efficiently.
But then, there's still the issue of ports. On recent MacBooks, there's less and they're less usable.
The Retina MacBook Pro was convenient with two classic USB-A ports,
two Thunderbolts, MagSafe HDMI and SD card slot on top of the headphone Jack.
Seven ports that are really convenient for professionals. Need to get a photo off your camera?
Slot the card in. Need to hook up a projector? Plug it in.
Easy. But Apple wanted to push the world to USB-C and Thunderbolt.
So, all we got are these four ports.
They're capable of doing everything and plugging into nothing.
They can help put display, charge the laptop and do USB and Thunderbolt things.
But this was 2016 and nobody had a USB-C flash drive.
So, everyone who bought this, ended up having to live the dongle life
which is a constant nightmare of making sure you have the right dongles in the right bags
for the time that you need them and hoping they work. Even today, five whole years later,
the transition to USB-C has been extremely slow and increasingly confusing,
which is why rumors have me excited about the possibility that HDMI MagSafe and an SD card reader
might be making a return. Lastly, there is this touch bar.
Seemingly a gimmick, this narrow OLED touchscreen
replaced the function row above Apple's new butterfly keyboard
to provide application-based options to users, most of whom were largely uninterested.
Likewise, Apple removed the hardware escape key
much to the chagrin of app developers. Though, that one did come back.
Now, after having used this MacBook Pro with the touch bar,
I should note that I don't mind it. The fact that it's capacitive
does increase the cognitive load a bit. I'm touch typist, so I never look down
at the keyboard. But there are times when it's nice to have the function button close at hand
as opposed to hunting around and interface with a mouse.
Whatever the case, rumors are that it's getting axed.
And I might be a little sad about that. Also, no rumors that a touchscreen will replace it.
Sorry, not sorry. I remember when this MacBook was announced
and how unappealing I found it. But my feelings for the next one are much more optimistic.
There's a lot that has been fixed already and the rumors are promising.
So, tune into our coverage on the 18th to see if I get wowed this time around.
I'm hoping I will. Thanks for waiting to update to this Mac Address.
If you're one of the many who skipped over this Mac, give us a like.
And if you're someone who upgraded, why not subscribe?
In the comments, I'm curious of any of those who have one of these MacBooks regretted
or if everything has been just fine and it's just been me this whole time.