Apple Event 2016-10-27 -- New Macs finally

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Kazukian

Platinum Member
Aug 8, 2016
2,034
650
91
Dragging a button from the screen to the touch bar looks slick, impressive
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
You'll also get quick type suggestions, much like iOS' predictive text keyboard and, should you require the function keys, you just have to hold down the Fn key to get 'em back

maybe im just old, but neither of those things are things I would be happy about

Users will also be able to customize their Touch Bar with specific shortcut keys that relate to specific features. For instance, if you wanted to have a screenshot button right in the keyboard

so the Print Screen button?
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,198
743
126
I am not impressed. An overdue hardware update. Meh.

Touchbar is too gimicky, a touchscreen/pen support would be more useful.

BTW: do we have proof that jony Ive is an actual human (or still alive)? I suspect he is a computer simulation. :)
 

JAG87

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
3,921
3
76
Wow, Skylake on all machines. No Kabylake MB refresh. No true MBA replacement.

Disappointing release, I'll probably wait for next year.
 
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
Wow that pricing. That's sad. The base 13" MBP was reasonably affordable before. Now it's $1799? The new $1399 model is significantly neutered over the old MBP too (only 2 ports).

Remember the old offerings? They offered reasonable lower priced options previously.

macbook_pro_13_2015_store.jpg
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Wow that pricing. That's sad. The base 13" MBP was reasonably affordable before. Now it's $1799? The new $1399 model is significantly neutered over the old MBP too (only 2 ports).

Remember the old offerings? They offered reasonable lower priced options previously

macbook_pro_13_2015_store.jpg

the top end Dell XPS 13 is only like 50$ more then this and its got an I7, 16 gigs of ram and a touch screen. and is all around a very nice device. tough competition
 

sxr7171

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2002
5,079
40
91
This gimmick was tried on Thinkpad X1. It flopped. But those are discerning business users. They wanted the function buttons back. But here I suppose gimmicks are good for this market.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,198
743
126
the top end Dell XPS 13 is only like 50$ more then this and its got an I7, 16 gigs of ram and a touch screen. and is all around a very nice device. tough competition

That only includes a 1080 screen, you need to +$300 for the 3200x1800 screen.

They spend 20 minutes on Apple TV, but still no 4K support?
 
Last edited:

Yakk

Golden Member
May 28, 2016
1,574
275
81
This gimmick was tried on Thinkpad X1. It flopped. But those are discerning business users. They wanted the function buttons back. But here I suppose gimmicks are good for this market.

Bling is bling. It's all in the marketing to make people want it.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,131
1,782
126
Hmmmm.... It is only CAD$55 (US$41) to upgrade my 2009 MacBook Pro to 8 GB RAM now. It seems PC3-8500 SODIMM prices have dropped a lot in the past several month.

Looking on Kjiji it looks like I'd maybe get CAD$400 (US$300) for this 7.5 year-old machine - 2.26 GHz 13" non-Retina with original battery, 4 GB RAM, and 250 GB SSD - so I'm tempted to keep it regardless if I get a new machine or not, esp. since I can (unofficially) install Sierra on it. I'd be hard pressed to find any Mac this pristine and functional (despite its age) for $400. And, I like its keyboard. It'd also just be cool to have a machine that could run Mac OSes all the way from 10.5 Leopard to 10.12 Sierra.

Anyways, only 7.5 hours to go.
I was in the Apple Store today and was playing around with the MacBook again. I think I might consider just getting the MacBook and forcing myself to get used to the keyboard.

It's hard to pass on the form factor. However Kaby Lake is a must and we will see what gets released in the afternoon.

Interestingly, the sales people there did not even know if they'd have new models to display or not.
So... I was thoroughly unimpressed by that keynote.

I was all set to order the Corsair 8 GB memory upgrade for my 2009 MacBook Pro, but according to reviews, Corsair still hasn't figured out how to support Macs properly. This was back in 2013 but many people with my model of MacBook Pro (2009 13" 2.26 GHz MacBookPro5,5) state that the Corsair CMSA8GX3M2A1066C7 SKU doesn't actually support it, even though Corsair claims right on their website they do. I've had problems with Corsair memory on Macs before though, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

It seems the best option is Crucial, but it's considerably more expensive, and even though ultimately it's not a big expense, it seems kind of a waste to spend $$ on a soon-to-be 8 year old machine. Maybe I should just stick it out with 4 GB until Apple releases the Kaby Lake Core i5 & Core i7 MacBook 12". Perhaps I'll install Sierra on my current MBP and see how well/poorly it does with 4 GB. I kinda want to keep it around since it is a great Mac troubleshooting machine, considering it supports booting Mac OS X all the way back to 10.5, but it's not as if I need 8 GB to troubleshoot other Macs.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,468
7,218
136
So if you hate touchpads & want to use a nice RF mouse, you have to buy a $19 adapter, stick it way out the side of the laptop, plug in say the Logitech Unifying receiver, and use it that way? Fo' real? And only on Skylake?

I grow more & more disappointed with Apple every year since Steve passed away. Love their OS still. But they keep doing dumb stuff...like from what I'm reading, the ATV search doesn't include Netflix or Amazon. Seriously??
 

sxr7171

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2002
5,079
40
91
I don't even think the OS is all that. I still use an iMac retina and it freezes, slows down and crashes more than Windows 10 at this point. You can usually find solutions to problems with some command line solution which beats regedit. But of late with Windows 10 I haven't needed to fix things. On Mac OS things sometimes need fixing.

Back around the XP/7 days I'd say OSX had an advantage but not really anymore. Imho the only purpose for these anymore is to pose at the coffee shop. Obligatory beard required.

Think "different" and all. Except is it still "different" when everyone is doing the same thing? And the murdering of English grammar like that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RussianSensation

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,198
743
126
I grow more & more disappointed with Apple every year since Steve passed away. Love their OS still. But they keep doing dumb stuff...like from what I'm reading, the ATV search doesn't include Netflix or Amazon. Seriously??

But they can't sell you anything by searching Netflix/Amazon! BTW, Tivo has had a unified search for a year+.
 

sxr7171

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2002
5,079
40
91
Also this is a good read.

https://www.google.com/amp/ventureb...-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer/amp/?client=safari


It's clear Apple isn't in the innovating or establishing a reputation phase anymore. They are clearly in the cashing in of their reputation phase. They'll milk you as much as they can. Nintendo is in the same boat. They love to sell you the same game 3-4 times over. Because fans are stupid enough to buy it that many times. Similarly Apple will sell you the same thing over and over as long as fans are stupid enough to buy it over and over again. The marketing is much more slick these days than it ever was. It used to appeal to tech nerds now it's just straight emotional appeal. I'd say Jobs was pretty darn slick but he had some line in the sand he didn't cross. Cook is willing to obliterate the line as long as shareholders keep seeing their shares grow in value. That's all he cares about. Jobs at least had some internal idea of a purpose for the company.
 
  • Like
Reactions: misuspita

jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
16,819
7,258
136
Wow, Skylake on all machines. No Kabylake MB refresh. No true MBA replacement.

Disappointing release, I'll probably wait for next year.

The Kaby equivalent chips aren't available. Apple could of course stealth bump the MBP once they do become available.
 

Yakk

Golden Member
May 28, 2016
1,574
275
81
I thought Microsoft's presentation was a Me Too affaire, but Apple's is really underwhelming.
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
117
106
IMO I think the new MacBook looks pretty awesome.

I don't have an Apple TV but I would definitely consider getting one just to get SSO.