Opinion post: Tried a 2016 Macbook Pro, Returned it

[kwickone]

Hey all, wanted to share my experience as some of you might be of similar mindsets. Let me know your thoughts or questions.

I am a technology person and a gadget freak. I have primarily had Windows devices, but have played with Linux in the past, and own an iPhone and iPad. Relevant to this forum, my current device is a Surface Book with Performance Base.

Every once in a while I get "device envy". That happened recently and I purchased a 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I really enjoy my iOS devices, and see lots of Macbooks in the wild, so I figured...must be great, right?

Well, long story short, I returned the MacBook. Below are the things that made my decision:

• Touch Screens are a requirement now! You don't realize how much you use the touch screen until you are on a device that does not have one. I kept trying to scroll or touch the MacBook screen. Argh!
• Side note: the Touch bar was neat for fingerprint login...other than that, I never used it.
• Microsoft Office, especially Outlook, is not nearly as full featured and smooth as on my SB.
• Much like on the iPhone, it makes sense to have your email, calendar, contacts synced with the native MacBook apps. This makes certain apps, like Messages, just work better. Well, the native Mail, Calendar and Contact apps don't work well with Outlook.com. It can only sync email...not calendar or contacts. It boggles my mind that iOS can do it, but not Mac OSX.
• No easy uninstall for Programs (vs Apps). Apps work just fine. Install and uninstall no problem. But if you install a Program outside the appstore, it is a crapshoot to uninstall. Some programs some with uninstall scripts. Some don't. This lead to lots of leftover files in the OSX filesystem due to lack of Program management feature.
• Not a great "dock/hub" solution that I could find. With my SB, I have the Surface dock. While not perfect, it gave me two external monitors, Ethernet, audio out, and USB. I found no equivalent for the MacBook Pro with Touchbar. I saw one that was to be released soon...but it was like $400. So I used multiple dongles for all those needs. That was a pain.
• Screen...yes, the screen. While Apple touts its "retina" screens, when side by side with the SB, the SB screen was much more sharp and pleasing to look at.

Those were the primary reasons I returned. There we some good things about the MacBook Pro:

• Messages app. If you use an iPhone, that is a REALLY great integration! Being able to get texts and type them on a full keyboard is GREAT!
• Parallels to run Windows. Parallels is a 3rd party virtualization platform to run Windows on Mac. It worked GREAT and had good integration to share resources between the OS's.
• USB-C. It has 4 USB-C ports! I used those ports for power, display out, Ethernet, and other needs.

Anyway, it was good experience, but had to return to keep my sanity :winktongue:

Let me know your comments or questions if you have any!

 

[metllicamilitia]

I have a Lenovo Yoga and rarely use the touch screen, I prefer the mousepad on my MacBook actually. It’s really intuitive and is basically a touchscreen under your fingers. MacBooks aren’t for everyone, I agree with that. It just better suits my needs than Windows. I do have to use Windows for work and don’t mind using it, I just prefer the flow of macOS to Windows. I also don’t use stock Apple apps except for Messages. It’s nice to hear the viewpoints of others though, thanks for sharing. I love reading why people don’t like particular products or ecosystems.

 

[jerrykur]

Just curious, but what things in Outlook did you find missing?

I have an Office 365 subscription so I have Outlook on everything (phones, iPad, MacBook, Win 10 desktop) and find I can do anything I want from any platform.