MacBook Pro 16-inch

Can’t believe there isn’t already a topic for this?! :open_mouth:

I can’t wait to get one. Physical Escape key. Inverted T arrows. Magic Keyboard style keys. Count me in!

2 Likes

I’d get one if I had as much dosh as the rest of you seem to have. It would be ideal to replace my Mini and Macbook. But, at those eyewatering prices… sadly no.

Potentially keen for next year’s 14” MacBook Pro

Glad they’ve gone back to a keyboard that is reliable and will probably feel a lot better. Also glad for the inverted T.

Wish there was a non Touch Bar version… Every time I’ve used one its frustrating as putting the volume up and down is extra clicks and looking down where on my normal keyboard, I can adjust brightness, pause/play music, skip forwards. and backwards, mute/volume up and down without having to look.

I can’t help think that when I eventually need to replace my current machine, its going to be a downgrade in many ways, plus insanely expensive to match the internal SSD I have (2TB) and then to future proof it to last as long as this one has, it will be eye-watering-ly dear.

So the “new” MacBook Pro 16" has completely replaced the 15" (which was really a 15.4"),

The screen res is up ever so slightly from 2880 x 1800 (double 14480 x 900) to 3072 x 1920 (double 1536 x 960) which I would likely continue to run at a scaled 1920 x 1200 anyway. I’ve never noticed any blur while using my 2013" MBP 15" at that res, but then I also have old eyes. The GPU moves from Radeon Pro 560X to the Radeon Pro 5500M which now supports high res outputs. It look to be the same CPU’s as the outgoing 15", also the same ports, same camera. The speakers are apparently better and the battery supposedly lasts longer (after all it’s significantly larger going from 83.6wh to 100wh).

Yes they are trying a new keyboard, this wouldn’t be news except for the suck-fest that has been the keyboard for the last few years… even then we all live in hope at this point until it’s proven more reliable.

And that’s probably the biggest reason I’m typing this on a Dell XPS right now. I couldn’t justify the $4,100 the then-current MacBook Pro 15" was going to cost me.

And really, this is simply the next evolution of the MacBook Pro. Yes it’s nice to see an escape key and re-re-revised keyboard (and I think I’d prefer a non touchbar model too), but what else is magical? I understand why they released this with very little fanfare.

I will say that the base model now meets my minimum (and probably recommended) spec; 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM and is slightly cheaper (than last time I looked at one) at “only” $3,799. Adding in virtually any options and that soars over $4k very quickly…

We can get back to playing the configurator game where choosing the i9 version and bumping the CPU up the one notch they provide ($320) and moving to 64GB RAM ($1,280) you’re at $6k!!
Go all out and grab the Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB RAM ($160) and add in the eye wateringly expensive 8TB SSD ($3,520) and the very cheap looking AppleCare+ ($449) you’re maxxxxed out MacBook Pro 16" wont give you very much change from just set you back a cool $10,128.00 (with free shipping :wink: ).

Don’t get me wrong, I still think the MacBook Pro’s are the best-built machines around. The XPS I currently have is built well enough, but I miss my keyboard and trackpad from my old 2013 MacBook Pro 15". But then the Dell also has USB A ports, an SD card reader and a HDMI output. I do use them all, HDMI being the least used and only when travelling. There are a range of Windows only tools that I was previously using in a VM that I can now run natively too, so even after 10 years on MacOS I’m honestly not too fussed to be on Windows 10 (although there are plenty of things I do miss).

If I had a current Mac I’d buy the right cables (like this one and this one and this card reader or maybe just a little docky thing) so I didn’t have to use adaptors. The reality is that most of the time I’d get by with nothing but one of these USBC/USBA memory sticks it’s just a pain to not being able to grab and use anyone’s memory stick when they hand it to you.

I checked out the specs after getting an email.
Hmm, my current MacBook Pro r owes me nothing is doing everything I require it to do for me.
I could get one but have no need at this time.

I may think about updating in a year or two when the latest Bigger Better Newer model hits the scene and the current “gotta get one” is two grand cheaper.

Al

I was a long time MacBook Pro owner and user through several generations but I shifted to using a MacBook Air and then last year a 12 inch MacBook (because retina) with zero regrets.

The reason I owned MacBook pros was for the extra ports and once Apple removed the extra ports the extra cost of the Pro range was no longer justified for me, if I’m going to have to carry dongles then I might as take advantage of the lighter weight.

My next Apple laptop will (unless they change the range before then) be the new version of the Air because Apple deleted the MacBook and the new Air has a retina screen now.

The current ‘Pro’ range are… irrelevant to most people now so I’m not surprised at the lack of a thread start shrug.

1 Like

That’s a very interesting way of looking at it that I never considered. I always wanted the largest screen I could and had one of the 17" models before it was discontinued.

I went through a period for a few years where I was using the laptop as a laptop so the larger screen was more important, but I’m back to having a desk and a dock again so as long as the machine is powerful enough the smaller form factor is far less of an issue for those times I’m away from home (where the computer is more about emergency fixes to something remotely or (more often) for taking photo’s off the camera (and even that is less often these days with modern iPhone cameras).

I ordered one to replace my 2016 15. Looking forward to it.

A 14” MBA would probably be the perfect upgrade for me in 2-3 years’ time. Just wish they had a USB-C port on each side instead of two on the left and none on the right. That’s a rather stupid design.

1 Like

Yes… I confess I wonder why they did that, seems and odd choice.

I’d guess it’s to do with space constraints but that’s just a guess.

" I always wanted the largest screen I could and had one of the 17" models before it was discontinued."

I have the last model 17" that I use occasionally and it is still my favourite to actually use even though it’s dated.

IMO: They don’t make 'em like they used to.

Al

2 Likes

Amen.

Yeah, thank goodness for that. Imagine if we had G5s… in 2019!

2 Likes

16"+ Apple notebook computers:

17-inch Powerbook G4 (discontinued Apr 2006)
2003 - Jan & Sep
2004 - Apr
2005 - Jan & Oct

17-inch MacBook Pro (discontinued Jun 2012)
2006 - Apr & Oct
2007 - Jun & Nov
2008 - Feb
2009 - Jan & Jun
2010 - Apr & Oct
2011 - Feb & Oct

16-inch MacBook Pro
2019 - Nov

Btw the MacBook Pro 16 dimensions are the same as my 15 - I can use the same case. But the display is noticeably larger, and the keyboard is amazing and much better.

Very similar, but not the same, but as you said, a 15" case should be fine for a 16" MBP.

15-inch: 1.55cm x 34.93cm x 24.07cm, 1.83kg
16-inch: 1.62cm x 35.79cm x 24.59cm, 1.95kg*

*Interesting observation: Apple states all measurements (HxWxD and Weight) for all MacBooks to two decimal places, except for the weight of the 16" MacBook Pro. Apple reports the weight as 4.3 lb or 2.0 kg, but 4.30 lb = 1.95 kg, and 2.00 kg = 4.41 lb. Very odd.

Much like theoretical price barriers, items tend to be $1.95 or $1.99, because the perception is that the price is much cheaper than it really is if it were advertised for $2. Why would Apple report the 16" as weighting 2.0kg when 1.95kg sounds better? I suspect that the weight is under 2.0kg but for some odd reason they have decided to go with just 1 decimal place, hence have rounded up.

1 Like

Hello,

It had been many years since I have looked at or posted at appletalk.

I have a specific question I hope someone can answer, and also some guff about why I bought it and what I think if the new 16 inch.

My specific question is that I have not used the new touch bar before and I do not like it. I would like to control the volume using keystrokes only, for example control + arrow up or arrow down (but they seem to be assigned to mission control by default). What do I need to do to do that? When I use system preferences to assign the touch bar to function keys, the function keys as they used to work do not work the way they used to do.

I have been using the macbook pro 2015 model, but its speakers got bust, and it had other little problems, and my eyesight is getting worse, and I wondered if I could get a bigger laptop (I used to have a 17 inch mbp), and one that could play games reasonable. So I was looking at windows laptops (thinking I would use a linuxy os anyway, because my analyst has officially written me a letter that says I would go insane if I had to use windows again). I looked at the market but felt uneasy because most of them looked ugly, would run hot, or where just copying macbook pros, and I had doubts about how well they were built. Then I heard rumours of a new 16 inch with new gpus, so waited and got this very expensive machine.

I think the new keyboard is better than the 2015 keyboard. It is precise, stable, and easy to use. The trackpad is a little finicky. The screen is brilliant, and the gpu runs games I want. I am one of those who ditched microsoft in the late 1990s and have owned practically every apple laptop since then, and each one has been better than the last (I missed the post 2015 models), and this continues that trend. So I would disagree that apple does not make them as they used to. This is a well crafted machine.

I have not used the thumb print authentication button. I am uneasy about giving my biological data to the web.

The only problem is that catalina dumps 32 bit apps. So I have replaced provoc (a flash card app for learning languages), with anki. Also I cannot run old games using crossover (but there seems to be news that crossover will fix that). Also other old apps I use are stuffed.

In any case, it is good to see that appletalk is well alive. I have been asking occasional questions at whirlpool but I think my questions were too trivial to justify meaningful replies. This might be the case here as well!

Regards,

Jikzik.