When Apple first announced the 2016 MacBook Pro I did a video over the top 5 letdowns
about the laptop based on what Apple showed us during the announcement.
Well now I have owned the 2016 MacBook Pro for about 3 months, and I'm here to share
my experience with you and give you an update about those letdowns that I was expecting.
Is it as bad as I thought it would be?
Stick around to find out and at the end of the video I'll let you know whether or not
you should buy it.
First, let's address the cost.
So many people including me were up in arms about the 2016 MacBook Pro being way overpriced
for what you get.
I bought the 13" Touch Bar Space Gray model with a 2.9 GHz dual-core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM,
and a 512GB SSD, which came out to be right around $2,000 US.
Let's put that into perspective.
At the time of this recording for $250 less on Amazon you can get a 2016 Dell XPS 13 with
a newer generation 3.5 GHz i7 processor, double the amount of RAM, same size solid state drive,
but a higher resolution display that's also a touch screen.
If you've seen my Dell XPS 13 vs MacBook Pro video in which both laptops have 6th generation
Skylake processors, you know that not all user experiences are created equally just
by basing it off of specs alone, but when you're talking about an exact dollar-to-specification
ratio, the 2016 MacBook Pro is certainly overpriced when it's compared to similar laptops in its
class.
The big question is: how well does it perform given its seemingly lower specs?
For me, the toughest task I perform on my laptop is editing 4K videos.
Since I use Final Cut Pro X, which is optimized for MacOS, it can export a 5-minute 4K video
in about 4 minutes on the 2016 MacBook Pro.
Now that's actually pretty impressive.
The lack of a dedicated GPU is its biggest hurdle when rendering videos but overall,
Final Cut Pro X works well enough for me to use the MacBook Pro as a video editing machine,
albeit not the greatest one.
Other than video editing, just like any other computer with a solid state drive, day to
day tasks normal tasks are handled with ease on the MacBook Pro.
Everything from web browsing to office applications are all fast.
There's no lag or stuttering when opening apps or having multiple tabs open in Chrome.
The cold bootup time is about 24 seconds which is longer than I expected, but with one of
the MacBook Pro's best new features, Touch ID, getting back into the laptop from sleep
mode is dang near instantaneous which is nice.
On the GeekBench tests which measures overall performance, my MacBook Pro scored a 7606.
LaptopMag.com tested two different models of the Kaby Lake Dell XPS 13, with the Core
i5 model scoring 7159 and the Core i7 model scoring 7915.
That means the 2016 MacBook Pro 13" i5 model falls right in between the i5 and i7 on the
Dell XPS 13, which is pretty good since the MacBook Pro has the previous generation CPU.
Overall, I think the 13" MacBook Pro is a perfect balance between mobility and performance.
As for the new features, the 2nd generation butterfly keyboard is extremely nice to type
on in my opinion.
I enjoy it very much, and the super large trackpad is a dream.
It's way better than any other trackpad I've used.
Battery life, for me, has been kind of average, nothing spectacular.
On a normal day for me which includes watching YouTube videos, streaming Spotify, browsing
the web, typing documents, it lasts about 7 hours on a full charge.
I do love how fast it charges from 0-100% in about 90 minutes when the lid is closed
though.
What about the coolest new new new feature of the MacBook Pro, the touch bar?
I called it a gimmick when I first heard about it, and honestly, it pretty much is.
It really is just a coolness factor for the most part.
Sometimes it is useful in native apps like Final Cut Pro which is nice for me because
I use that to edit, but for web browsing I use Chrome, and I'm not going to switch to
Safari just because it's optimized for the Touch Bar.
Given that the Touch Bar changes depending on what app is open, it's not easy to wire
your brain to use it.
If you want a quick way to message emojis it's great.
But other than that, the Touch Bar is overhyped and underused.
The other big change on the 2016 MacBook Pro is the port selection.
It only has USB Type C Thunderbolt 3 ports.
No USB-A ports, no SD card slot, no HDMI port, which is kind of a travesty given that it's
a model called Pro.
But hey, at least they remembered to put the headphones jack in.
Too soon?
So right out of the box you cannot connect any of your current USB-A devices or even
your latest iPhone which is crazy.
If you get the 2016 MacBook Pro, get used to adapters.
These Aukey USB-C to USB-A adapters are probably a necessity.
I'll leave a link in the description below.
On the bright side, USB-C with its universal design and incredibly fast transfer speeds
is certainly the way of the future and having four USB-C ports will be really convenient
when all devices go that route.
But right now, it feels unfriendly.
So is the 2016 MacBook Pro worth it?
Well we know it has an awesome design, it has a solid build made of high quality materials,
it has a fantastic display, nice sounding speakers, great trackpad, great keyboard,
good reliable performance.
But it is on the expensive side, it does lack the port variety, and it seems to have lower
specs than most of the other competitors in its class.
I think you should only consider buying it if you are: 1.
Okay with taking adapters along with the laptop wherever you go or if for some reason you
don't need a variety of ports.
2.
You absolutely want the Touch Bar and you think you would get use out of it.
3.
If you have a high budget and don't care about the latest and greatest specs.
4.
If you plan to keep this laptop for 5+ years.
If you don't meet all of those conditions but you still want a MacBook Pro, I would
suggest looking at a 2015 MacBook Pro.
I'll leave a link in the description below, sometimes you can find a really good deal
on a refurbished one.
The 2015 model will have older specs, but the performance will be similar to the 2016
model and you'll have a wider variety of ports, along with the MVP MagSafe connector, and
most of all you'll save some money.
So that is my conclusion on the 2016 MacBook Pro.
What do you think of this laptop?
Let me know in the comments below, and subscribe if you haven't already.
If this video helped you out make sure you give it a like and share it with other people
who might find it useful.
Thank you for watching.
My name is Andy.
I'll talk to you in the next one.