Tech news irritations- Apple Macbook Pro

Ryan Hammoud
Dec 8, 2016
5 min read

Photo credit: apple.com/macbook-pro/

With the recent Apple release of the 2016 Macbook Pro and Macbook Pro with Touch Bar, many techies have decided to voice their opinions and dislike towards them.

So here is my angry rant about those angry rants.

I have been, and still am, a big fan of the LinusTechTips Youtube channel for quite a while now. However, during the initial week post Macbook Pro release, most of my tech news personalities, like LTT, have been insulting Apple. It was like the whole tech world paused for a week to insult Apple. UPDATE: This happened during The WAN Show, the week of the release. Since then, Linus has released his full video review of the Macbook Pro, where he fairly reviewed and critised the line-up. Overall, if you want a Macbook Pro, have the money, and like the Apple ecosystem, it is a must-buy! I highly recommend his review linked below:

*Windows-fanboys vs Apple-fanboys...calm down. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I personally use a Late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 13-inch, but I often use Windows 10 via Bootcamp, and am looking to build my own rig*

This is in no way attacking LinusTechTips, as I do think they are the BEST Tech Youtube channel out there today. They just happened to share the opinions of the masses and may have even enabled the outrage of those who despise Apple.

During the WAN Show, where they spoke about the release, they constantly made fun of the fact that it was called the Macbook Pro, when there is nothing 'Pro' about it. My initial thoughts about this were:

Do you really care that it is called the Macbook Pro? Since they mentioned that if it was called Macbook, then it would be a lot better. Does that really make sense? They already have a line called Macbook, and it doesn't really fit in with that laptop's aestethics. I don't recall people complaining about the iPad Pro's name, despite the fact that I have literally never seen the iPad Pro being used for "professional" uses. (Sure it has the Apple Pencil and you can draw and sketch on it, etc. But has anyone ever really used the iPad Pro as their MAIN "professional" use machine? Video editing? Music creation?)
People make fun of it for it's lack of I/O and ports. But seriously? Apple took the same stick about removing the CD/DVD drives off their Macbooks, and people were saying "Oh why would you pay so much money and not have an ethernet port, or a DVD drives?!". People who bought the DVD-drive-less Macbooks, quickly realised that they never use them, and they were not incredibly necessary. USB Type-C, Thunderbolt 3, is enough I/O for any typical laptop user. Yes, yes.. "But then I have to carry around so many dongles and it just adds more stuff I need to worry about!" Um.. No. You need to carry ONE more thing around. A little 'dock/dongle/adapter' which you can plug into your Macbook USB Type C port, and will give you an HDMI output, a USB 3.1 (or 3.0 not sure) Type A port, an SD card reader, and another USB Type C port. (Pictured on the left is the 'USB C Hub, HooToo Shuttle 3.1 Type C Hub with Power Delivery for Charging, HDMI Output, Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports' from Amazon.co.uk. Photo credits to Amazon.co.uk. Click the image for the link.) This specific USB C Hub by HooToo, might be on the pricey side, at £59.99, however, I am sure there are cheaper ones available, with the correct ports that you may need. Just do your research.
People have been insulting the specs of the new Macbook Pros, stating that it has a costs an astronomical amount for mid-range specs. I do agree. On paper, the cost of the new Macbook Pro is enormous. I think they should have kept the pricing scheme the same as the previous generation Macbook Pros. But I think this was a world financial issue, with the GBP falling to it's lowest value in many many many many years (Thanks Brexit!). The specs are also not top-shelf, as would be expected at this price point. But that's exactly what Apple is and has been for many years. You don't get the best specs, or the value for money. What you do get, is quality and thus a very high customer satisfaction rating. You get software and an OS that is heavily integrated with the hardware to create something that just works. No issues. No headaches. I feel like casual (not hardcore gamers or some other super niche market that requires insane hardware) PC owners who have never owned a Macbook Pro, need to live with one to understand. As a former Sony Vaio, gaming rig owner, and Windows 10 user (via Bootcamp), I know Window's little quirks and issues that annoy me. For example, with the updates. I was once gaming, using Windows 10, when suddenly, my screen went black. The game disappeared. And I waited until a Windows is now updating screen appeared. WAS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO DO THIS WHILE I WAS USING MY COMPUTER? Just do it in the background or when I'm asleep. Just because I didn't use my psychic abilities to alt+tab out of my game to know that the notification came up asking me to delay the restart OR ELSE it would restart if I did nothing. Anyway, I still use Windows despite it's scaling issues with high resolution monitors, because games clearly run better on the OS, and I genuinly think the OS is prettier. I like Mac OSX better, because I can multitask efficiently (despite lack of a nice split screen system that Windows has), and it just works, and doesn't get in my way, with warnings that I need to scan my PC or having something tell me that the application is already running, when it clearly shouldn't be (cntrl+alt+delete, end process motherfucker)
Why, oh why?? Why are people comparing Adobe Premier on cheaper high spec laptops versus Adobe Premier on a Macbook Pro? OBVIOUSLY the higher spec laptop will win. But honestly, who would buy a Macbook Pro to use Adobe Premier? Use Final Cut Pro X. Because Final Cut software is properly integrated with the Macbook's hardware, Final Cut out-performs Adobe Premier and embarasses it. Stop that stupid comparison.

Sadly I have yet to get my hands on using the Touch Bar, and I right now, I think it's uncessary. However, it has potential. In the future, software developers could take advantage of it. It is not revolutionary. It is not the next big thing. It may have been over hyped by Apple, well... because it's Apple. Yes it's expensive. Yes the specs aren't the best. But it works, and it works well. I have never seen a laptop with a better trackpad and keyboard than a Macbook. I think one of the top of the line laptops in the Windows ecosystem is the Razer Blade line-up. Linus Sebastians personal choice laptop. And well...let's just point out that the design is classic Apple, with much better specs (at a similar price range and without the nice MacOSX software integration). See photos/article below.

People think that Apple has changed. Sure, it has. But it still is very much, classic Apple.

Photos: Macbook Pro Retina vs Razer Blade. Credits to laptopmag.com. Click image for link to article.