Apple laptops

[N80]

I think now more than ever Apple has lost its way.

[Chris_Brown]

Apple's future died with Steve Jobs.

[rdonson]

Yep, sell all your Apple stock and gear.  The end is nigh.  Microsoft shall rule all.   

[N80]

Yep, sell all your Apple stock and gear.  The end is nigh.  Microsoft shall rule all.   

As one who started with an Apple IIe (before the Macintosh), hung with Apple when their stock was $12 and has never owned a Windows computer I do not think I qualify as a Chicken Little. Yet I am no fanboy and do qualify as a savvy consumer. I'll buy the brand and gear that fits my needs. Since 1983 that has been Apple. In 2017 it may not.

[Chris_Brown]

Microsoft shall rule all.

I'm rootin' for Linux.   

[BrownBear]

I gratefully switched to Apple with the advent of the IIe as well, and have never seen a need to switch. Still don't.

I have found one thing that bugs heck out of me about the 13" MacBook Air I bought in April. It might help explain the USB3 instability issues I'm hearing about.  BOTH USB fittings on the machine are loose. It takes very little to partially dislodge a cord. I've tried replacements cords, both aftermarket and Apple, and they're all lose. Clearly it's the fittings on the Air rather than bad cords. There's no way I can use my Air for tethered shooting, short of a big old wad of duct tape to stabilize the cords.

Worse yet, every time a cord jiggles a little, Apple's accursed Photos program relaunches. If I buy another Apple, it will include a single-click option in System Preferences to shut of Photos. For me it's a downright rude imposition on users, and outside the "spirit" of Mac.

[rdonson]

George, I agree.  Everyone should seek out the gear that fits their need. 

I'm holding out for a new iMac with Kaby Lake to replace my 2011 iMac.  I'm not in dire need of a new MacBook Pro.  My mid 2012 RMBP currently meets my needs but I'm sure towards the end of 2017 I'll be looking to replace it. 

All this said, I don't think Apple has lost its way.   At least not yet.  They're a different company from the other personal computer makers and Microsoft.

I'm in a good position to be patient and I'm confident that both iMacs and MBPs will be upgraded to Kaby Lake processors in 2017 and there will be improvements.   Will they ditch USB-C connectors?  That seems unlikely.  For connectivity I currently use CalDigit Thunderbolt Stations on both machines.  I'd be surprised if CalDigit didn't see an opportunity for a Thunderbolt Station that supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connections.

Personally, I have no desire to return to the realm of Windows machines. 

[rdonson]

I gratefully switched to Apple with the advent of the IIe as well, and have never seen a need to switch. Still don't.

I have found one thing that bugs heck out of me about the 13" MacBook Air I bought in April. It might help explain the USB3 instability issues I'm hearing about.  BOTH USB fittings on the machine are loose. It takes very little to partially dislodge a cord. I've tried replacements cords, both aftermarket and Apple, and they're all lose. Clearly it's the fittings on the Air rather than bad cords. There's no way I can use my Air for tethered shooting, short of a big old wad of duct tape to stabilize the cords.

Worse yet, every time a cord jiggles a little, Apple's accursed Photos program relaunches. If I buy another Apple, it will include a single-click option in System Preferences to shut of Photos. For me it's a downright rude imposition on users, and outside the "spirit" of Mac.

Have you taken the MB Air back to an Apple Store?

It's not too difficult to neuter Photos on a Mac

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/12/28/how-to-stop-photos-mac-auto-launch/

[E.J. Peiker]

It's not too difficult to neuter Photos on a Mac

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/12/28/how-to-stop-photos-mac-auto-launch/

That only works until you format the card, then you have to do it again.  Every time you format a card, Apple interprets it as a completely new device.

[N80]

That only works until you format the card, then you have to do it again.  Every time you format a card, Apple interprets it as a completely new device - just one of many really badly flawed things in the Apple universe over the last couple of years.

Agreed. A disturbing trend of our-way-or-the-highway. Each iOS upgrade seems to give less and less choice. I want to turn all app sounds off. Can't. Don't want the clock background black. Too bad. Etc. etc. etc. Apps like Pages dumbed down to work across all devices. Aperture abandoned. Hardware that no longer captures my imagination. Feeling regret over my recent iMac purchase. I did not do enough research. My bad.

So I stick by my assessment that Apple has lost its way. That does not mean they can't find it again. They've been lost plenty of times before. But right now I do not get the impression that they still care about Macintosh. I know they do not care about the serious photographer or pro. And the last two iPhones (6&7) have been underwhelming.

What will be the 'next great thing'? I don't know. I would like for the next great thing to be Apple not assuming I'm just another fanboy/conspicuous consumer.

I have worked with Windows computers most of my working life. I don't like them. Quality seems hard to find. But I'm assuming you can find a well made Windows based laptop with more than one kind of port.

[NancyP]

I am hoping that my mid-2010 MBP hangs on for another year or so. Maybe I will find a refurbished mid-2015 MBP 16G with Radeon graphics chip. After I read the review by digilloyd, I went looking for a new mid2015 MBP with maxed out specs, all gone!Maybe the next iteration of the MBP USB-C (or operating system) will fix the stupidity and apparent poor performance, and by late 2017-2018, there should be plenty of peripherals without incompatibilities. Why o why didn't Apple think to make it easy to physically connect the new iPhone and the new MBP? Am I the only one who doesn't keep everything in the cloud? It is really discouraging to see that the new MBP does not seem to perform as well as the old MBP 2013 in Photoshop rendition speed per digilloyd/MPG. Apparently there are some good features in the new MBP, one of the very intriguing possibilities being possible external battery use, and hopefully that will be worked out - good for off-grid work.

As for neutering Photos, I have become accustomed to just quitting Photos on each launch - 1 action.

[rdonson]

Scroll down for the global solution to Photos on the Mac.  This is what I did when Photos came out and it's worked like a champ.  As with all trips to TERMINAL make sure you enter things exactly as shown

https://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/prevent-photos-app-mac-osx

[davidgp]

I'm in a good position to be patient and I'm confident that both iMacs and MBPs will be upgraded to Kaby Lake processors in 2017 and there will be improvements.   Will they ditch USB-C connectors?  That seems unlikely.  For connectivity I currently use CalDigit Thunderbolt Stations on both machines.  I'd be surprised if CalDigit didn't see an opportunity for a Thunderbolt Station that supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connections.

OWC already released a thunderbolt 3/usb-c station... I'm quite sure CalDigit, Belkin and others will follow closely...



http://dgpfotografia.com

[N80]

OWC already released a thunderbolt 3/usb-c station... I'm quite sure CalDigit, Belkin and others will follow closely...



http://dgpfotografia.com

Right. Pay top dollar for a sleek Apple laptop. Spend more money on a brick to make it functional.

[NancyP]

Well, it all depends. If I upgraded every year or two, I would be using a PC. The 3 Mac laptops I have owned have lasted the 6 to 7 years between upgrades and were "retired" in working condition. The PC laptops at work tend to be more fragile.

[N80]

Agreed. I have gone through 3 Dell laptops in 9 months at work. Junk. My first MacBook only lasted 4 years. But my current MacBook Pro is a 2008 and runs Capture One 9 reasonably fast. So I can't complain.

[rdonson]

An interesting post that may allay some fears....  Kaby Lake likely to come to MBP lineup

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/11/30/kaby-lake-suitable-for-macbook-pro-said-to-debut-at-januarys-consumer-electronics-show

[kers]

An interesting post that may allay some fears....  Kaby Lake likely to come to MBP lineup

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/11/30/kaby-lake-suitable-for-macbook-pro-said-to-debut-at-januarys-consumer-electronics-show

indeed, maybe it is better to wait before buying this 2016 Macbookpro...

Kaby Lake features the same CPU core and performance per MHz as Skylake. Features specific to Kaby Lake include:

Increased clock speeds across all CPUs models (increased by up to 300 MHz)
Faster clock speed changes
Improved 14 nm manufacturing process
Improved graphics core
200 series chipset (Union Point) on socket 1151
Up to 16 PCI Express 3.0 lanes from the CPU, 24 PCI Express 3.0 lanes from PCH
Support for Intel Optane Technology


OPTANE technology appears to be very interesting if we believe Intel...

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/non-volatile-memory.html?wapkw=optane

[Hans Kruse]

I got the 2016 MBP and here are my impressions so far:

Better display with higher color gamut which shows side by side with a 2015 MBP (both calibrated using Spyder 4).
The speakers are much improved. 
The fingerprint scanner is nice to have like on an iPhone.
Smaller form factor and lighter which is nice.
New touch bar is really nice and I look forward to more apps supporting it.
USB and thunderbolt dongles have worked without problems with USB drives, thunderbolt drives and USB hub.
My Dell 32" 4K monitor did not work via the thunderbolt adapter, but the Apple thunderbolt display does. So now I use an HDMI adapter for the Dell. This is only a short term solution anyway as I want to order the 5K LG monitor as soon as it can be ordered in Denmark. The HDMI adapter will be needed for my projector on my workshops.
I'm moving to a USB-C only environment soon anyway. The dongles were needed to make the transition and all worked without any issues.

My previous MBP was the 2015 15" 2,9Ghz 1TB SSD model. The 2016 is the 2,7Ghz Radeon Pro 4GB GPU and 1TB SSD.

Using Lightroom there are some significant differences. When generating 1:1 previews on the 2015 model and on the 2016 model, the performance was 23:05 minutes on the 2015 and 3:25 minutes longer for 262 files (5Ds R and D810 in a mix). The 2015 MBP started the fan at full speed almost immediately and continued for the entire generation. The 2016 MBP was quiet all the way through. Slower due to the slower clock speed and some other factor which is unknown to me. In general the 2016 MBP is very quiet. It will start the fan when editing in Lightroom, but stops again quickly. The performance is snappy when editing 50MP 5Ds R files (I ordered the biggest GPU because of Lightroom rather than the faster CPU). So a very nice difference to the 2015 MBP where the fan noise had annoyed me. It will be remained to be seen what difference getting the 5K monitor will make relative to the 4K monitor.

It is not because of general performance that an upgrade to the 2016 MBP makes sense. It is all the other factors mentioned. I really like that Apple took the step to USB-C for all ports. They are so much nicer than the old fashioned USB plugs. The LG 5K monitor will drive everything including charging through a single cable! I have ordered one new desktop drive and one portable drive USB-C. I needed more space anyway. The older drives will be backup drives.

I don't think a 2015 15" MBP instead of the 2016 MBP is a good choice!

All in all I cannot see the downside of the 2016 MBP. It is a very nice laptop and in my case it is my only machine. I think Apple did an excellent job on this one.

[NancyP]

There's some rumor that the late 2017 MBP will have a 32 G RAM option. Unclear if Kaby Lake lower power chip will be available for Apple until fall.