The Compromise backtsory.
It is December 2016, the new Macbook Pro –a refresh, was launched in the October Apple event. The Macbook Pro followed what Apple had recently done with the new Macbook(the 12 inch Macbook no more today, RIP!). Apple had moved away from providing different ports on its laptop lineup and there was only a single port type - USB C. USB-C is looked as a weclome move from Apple, famous for its proprietary adapters.
Another move was to introduce a new keyboard termed “Butterfly keyboard”. Retrospectively, this was a move even Apple never should have made. But at that time, it was done to even slim down the form factor of Macbook Pro.
It is 2017, I recently had decided to buy a new laptop for work. I needed a Macbook as that is the preferred hardware for the work I do. I really thought about buying the new 13” Macbook Pro, but there was too much confusion about the Macbook Line up as whole at this time. Just to do a roll call, at this point Apple was selling a 11” & 13” Macbook Air, 12” Macbook, 13” & 15” Macbook Pro older versions and finally the newly launched 13” & 15” Macbook Pros. There were already news about battery issues, keyboard issues, not all USB-C ports working for charging, etc. I thought it would be wiser to wait and see what happens with the line up and wait for newer refreshes. The word dongle was already being used too much.
One thing I had learned the hard way in tech, is never buy first generation hardware, the later generations are always better/cheaper and manufacturers often use 1st generation products to test the waters and improve upon the products in later generations (case & point the 12” Macbook). So I ended up buying a 2015 13” Macbook Pro in Jan 2017.
DejaVu Moment.
Fast forward to 2019, Apple now has a streamlined Macbook Product line up, you can buy a 13” Macbook Air, 13” & 15” Macbook Pro, there is also for the first time a 16” Macbook Pro. My decsion to wait turned out just fine. I managed to stay away from the keyboard issues, battery issues, thermal throtteling issues, display issues, toucbar issues, etc. :D
One other thing that had become the norm is Dongles and USB C hubs. It had become a must have accessory with your Macbook lineup as Apple had not brought any other port back, USB-C was the only port. I dont understand how a laptop that is advertised as “Professional” cannot have a basic HDMI port or memory card slot. But that is the Macbook world we are in today.
I was again looking for a new 13” laptop for my work, the 2015 Macbook Pro had lasted me 3 years and even today it is a work horse. The only problem I had with it is that it had slowed down and 8GB was not enough for my tools.
I should clarify that I really like the form factor of 13” Macbooks and not a fan of 15” so the newer, just launched 16” Macbook did not attract me at all, there is a talk of 14” Macbook in 2020.
The Pruchase.
So I bought a 2019 13” Macbook Pro,
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 Quad-Core
- 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
- 256GB SSD
- 13.3” 2560 x 1600 IPS Retina Display
- Integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
The review.
Here is the review,
1. Performance
Apple for the first time has quad core processors, and they really do make a difference. Along with the 16GB RAM, I hardly find any wait time or loading time across any app that I use. Softwares I use include, PHPStorm, Chrome, Safari, Firefox along with Zepln, Slack, Terminal, Sublime or VSCode all this at the same time. There is also sporadic usage of Adobe lightroom, PhotoShop & XCode. So far I have never experinced such speed across any laptop or PC I have used before.
2. The Dongle life
I had to bite the bullet and embrace the new life of dongles. I spent a lot of time to go over my daily work routine to figure out wether I should buy multiple dongles or a single USB C hub. There are dongles for everything you can think of, each individual dongle is not expensive but then you have multiple things to carry with you. A USB-C hub on the other hand has all the ports in a single hub but is expnsive. After lot of delibreation I decided to buy a USB-C Hub from ESKA. It has 2 year warranty and it had all the ports I needed, including SD Card slot and a ethernet port. :D
3. Keyboard
I am not buying that this keyboard is flawless, even after multiple iterations, there are still issues in the keyboard. So I also bought a keyboard cover to protect from dust particles, apparently they can bring down a $2000 laptop. #SadLife Apple’s quality control department should seriously introspect.
I miss the old keyboard though, the chicklet style keyboard had nice travel and feel. Also I am hating the noise this new keyboard makes. Thankfully, I have to type on this keyboard only when travelling and when not at my desk. Otherwise my setup involves a external keyboard so I dont have to endure this on a day-to-day basis. I do like the Touch ID though, biometrics was long pending feature.
4. Trackpad
I saw some reviews that said the new larger trackpad was buggy or too large, I however find it very nice to use. It has excellent accidental palm rejection and is very accurate. Again my setup involves a external mouse, but whenever I use trackpad I love it. Easily best trackpad on the planet.
5. Touchbar.
I did not like this one bit, lets call spade a spade, this ia a gimmick and completely unncessary, over engineered solution that no one asked for.
I would have have been happy had Apple instead focused on better keyboard.
I hate that there is no escape key. Apple corrected this in the new 16” Model, it has a physical escape key.
6. Display.
The Display is top notch, no complaints here. I have always maintained, Macbook’s Retina display are the best in the segment, the next best probably is Dell’s XPS.
The newer panels were even brighter than my older model, upto 500nits. Even better color reproduction, 25% more colours than sRGB, also now equipped with true tone technology to automate adjusting of white balance based on light around.
7. Speakers.
The new design of Macbooks have front facing speakers, they certainly do make a differnece. I see notably better sound quality than my earlier 2015 Macbook.
8. RIP Glowing Apple logo.
I dont know what made apple ditch this, but I always liked the glowing Apple logo on my Macbook, this mirror finish just doesnt look right. Maybe it will grow on me as I see it everyday. Still, that glowing Apple logo was cool.
9. RIP Magsafe charger.
I understand that Apple wanted to use the USB-C port also to double up as a charging port, but why could not they have created a newer version of Magsafe adapter which works with USB-C, especially I see cheap adapters avaialble on Amazon which add a Magsafe like magnetic adapter to your USB-C port? When Apple spent so much time & effort into the touchbar & keyboard, surely they could have engineered a solution for MagSafe.
10. A better webcam.
The webcam is still 720p from a 1 Mega Pixel sensor :(, for a premium laptop expected better.