MacBook Pro - page 52

If you’re itching to get your hands on a new MacBook Pro — and your fingers on its new Touch Bar — the wait will soon be over.

Reviews are out for Apple’s controversial new MacBook Pro, which adds innovations like the Touch Bar but ditches a variety of ports in favor of USB-C (and adds a hefty price tag to boot).

So what do the early reviews make of Apple’s new pro laptop? In a nutshell, that it’s futuristic, but maybe not an entirely successful device for present-day users. Check out some of the pros and cons of the laptop’s most talked-about features below.

This week on The CultCast: Early reviews show the new MacBook Pro is a video-editing powerhouse; Apple’s massive interest in augmented reality; rumors of a jet white iPhone; AirPods to finally start shipping; new dongle discounts; and, is Apple still developing an electric car?

This episode is supported by CultCloth, the best way to keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean. Check them out at CultCloth.co and for a limited time save 20 percent with code JetBlack.

The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar might be Apple’s fastest-selling Pro machine to date, but a lot of fans are far from happy with it.

It’s thinner and lighter than its predecessors, and it boasts the fastest storage we’ve ever seen on a Mac. But it’s also a lot more expensive, and it’s missing traditional USB-A ports that the vast majority of us still rely on every day. The SD card slot is gone, too.

But, does it really deserve all this criticism? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we debate the new MacBook Pro and whether Apple messed up this year’s refresh.

Apple’s launch of the new MacBook Pros prompted a surprisingly virulent backlash — one that can be explained by “catastrophe theory” in mathematics.

Normally, reaction to Apple’s new products is remarkably consistent. Apple loyalists are pleased, the wider public approves and the tech press cynically dismisses the new products (because they hold Apple to a higher standard than the rest of the industry).

This time, it was different. There was a very loud and very negative reaction. The negativity came not from the tech press, but from the most loyal and ardent Mac enthusiasts. The very people who evangelize Apple products and who are deeply invested in the whole ecosystem were the ones most vocally expressing disappointment, frustration and outright anger.  

So what exactly happened? What was so bad about these new machines to provoke this reaction?

As best as I can tell, the answer is nothing at all.

The new MacBook Pro isn’t even in our sweaty palms yet, and already it’s not only broken Apple’s previous pro notebook records, but also generated more revenue than any other notebook released in 2016.

Demand for the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is so strong that even Apple was apparently surprised by the orders.

According to a new report, Apple has boosted supply chain orders for the new laptops after “not initially [being] very aggressive.”

The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is one step closer to shipping for those who got their order in early. Some customers have noticed that their credit cards were charged by Apple today, which means the first wave of shipments is coming.

Apple might be the biggest company in tech, with revenues that make eyes water every quarter, but even some fans think it’s getting a little boring in Cupertino.

Following last week’s big MacBook Pro event, Apple has delivered everything it had planned for 2016. We’ve had upgrades to iPhone, Apple Watch, and the 12-inch MacBook; brand new AirPods (though those aren’t shipping yet); the diminutive iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

But was all that enough, or could Apple have done more? None of these releases were really that revolutionary, and investors are still waiting for Apple’s next big thing. So, is it true? Is Apple really boring now?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over these questions and more!

This week on The CultCast: Get out your pitchforks — we’ll tell you why a lot of folks are very unhappy with the new MacBook Pros. Plus, we compare the MacBook Pro’s performance to older models and similarly priced machines; Apple calls it quits on external displays; and the end of an era — one of Mac’s most iconic features gets retired.

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. Casper’s American-made mattresses have just the right amount of memory foam and latex, and people everywhere love them. Learn why and save $50 off your order at casper.com/cultcast.

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro is a stunning feat of engineering, but it isn’t without its fair share of compromises. These shortcomings get showcased in the parody ad below, which pulls no punches when highlighting all of the $1,799 notebook’s nasty flaws.

We’ve got the very first discounts on the new MacBook Pro, plus deals on older iPhones and Apple Watches (in case you don’t feel like dropping $2,000 today).

You’ll find these bargains and more in this week’s best Apple deals.

Apple’s new Touch Bar looks like the coolest innovation since trackpads, but there’s just one problem: You must buy a brand new MacBook Pro to get it.

It seems inevitable that Apple will eventually bring the Touch Bar to all Macs, so a concept artist created a mockup of what that may look like. It looks like a Touch Bar on a new Magic Keyboard would be even more incredible than on the MacBook Pro.

Take a closer look:

Almost all of Apple’s own applications will support the MacBook Pro’s new Touch Bar when it starts shipping in a couple of weeks, but not Logic Pro X. Instead, users will have to wait until early 2017 for compatibility, according to a new report.

A few people were surprised to see a 3.5mm headphone jack appear on Apple’s new MacBook Pro laptop, just weeks after the company very publicly discarded the port for its new iPhone 7.

But according to Phil Schiller, speaking in a new interview, it’s not an example of inconsistency on Apple’s part. Instead, it speaks to a much deeper philosophical question on Apple’s part about the difference between mobile and non-mobile devices.

The iPhone 8 may not be the only Apple product that gets an OLED upgrade next year.

Apple is reportedly testing new displays for next year’s MacBook Pro and is exploring the use of OLED, which offers lower battery consumption, brighter colors and sharper contrasts.

Apple just barely revealed its new MacBook Pro, but rumors about the next-generation model are already giving fans something to get excited about in 2017.

The next MacBook Pro will supposedly come with a much-lower price tag, according to one of the most accurate Apple analysts in the biz, Ming-Chi Kuo.

By now, you’ve probably heard that the new MacBook Pro doesn’t automatically play Apple’s iconic startup chord when you power it on.

While not met with the same hostility as the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack on iPhone 7, the change definitely upset some people. Especially since the sound serves a useful purpose: It indicates that diagnostic tests have been successfully run and your Mac is working as it should.

With that in mind, nobody would blame you for wanting to restore the iconic audio cue on your new MacBook Pro. But how do you do it? Follow our simple steps to find out.

Apple is getting a lot of stick for failing to give users a 32GB RAM option onthe latest MacBook Pro — but there’s a good reason why 16GB is the most you can get.

It’s also the reason Apple needs to start designing its own processors for the MacBook family.

A teardown of the new entry-level MacBook Pro reveals it to be one of Apple’s least upgradeable laptops.

The good news? Even the Touch Bar-free model includes some nifty upgrades. The bad? From proprietary pentalobe screws that make opening the case unnecessarily difficult to the RAM soldered to the logic board, this isn’t a laptop you’ll be able to upgrade easily.

A new interview with Jony Ive sheds light on his team’s thought process as they created the new MacBook Pro and its innovative Touch Bar.

Ive addresses the history of the Touch Bar project, touches on his rationale for ruling out a touchscreen Mac, and explains why thinking different is easy — but doing so is only a small part of the innovation battle.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro has arrived with its exciting OLED Touch Bar, giving users a brand new way to interact with macOS. It’s the closest we’ll get to a touchscreen on a Mac — at least for the foreseeable future — but is it a suitable replacement?

The Touch Bar is already supported by all of Apple’s own apps, and the company says developers are quickly adapting their own software for it. It’s only going to get more useful over time, but would a Mac touchscreen be even better?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the Touch Bar and whether it can help macOS users forget all about touchscreen computers.

This week on The CultCast: Happy? Disappointed? Downright pissed off? Don’t miss our “Hello Again” Mac event reactions! Plus: Pros and cons of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar; and the two big omissions in Apple TV’s new TV app.

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Apple’s magical new MacBook Pro hasn’t even shipped yet, but that hasn’t stopped one developer from creating the first Touch Bar fart app.

iOS developer Hung Truong churned out his new app, TouchFart, just hours after Apple released a new build of Xcode needed to make apps that support the new Touch Bar. Even though he hasn’t gotten to test it in a real-world scenario, you can watch TouchFart in action in a simulator.

The days of Apple making its own stand-alone displays for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are dead.

Apple revealed a new 5K 27-inch Thunderbolt 3 display during its “Hello Again” keynote yesterday, only instead of being made by Apple, the company partnered with LG to create the monitor. And according to people who talked to Apple at the event, there are no plans to ever make an Apple display again.