My New 16" Macbook Pro
November 2019: I got myself a brand-new 16" Macbook Pro for Christmas! Not really for Christmas, really just because it became available. I am not normally a product reviewer, I’m just a software engineer who uses my Macbook Pro for work. I just thought I would share my first impressions.
First, why did I purchase it? I have been using a mid-2015 15.4" Macbook Pro (henceforth I’ll just say Macbook, but I always mean Pro) for two and a half years, and I was mostly happy with it. My main complaint was being stuck with 16GB of memory. You see, I work mostly in Linux using VM’s under VMware Fusion, and they can be pretty memory hungry. In fact, I work full stack on Web applications, and it is not so much the app itself, as it is the Chrome browser wanting a lot of memory. Thus I give my VMs 10GB but I can only run one at once, which is a big pain. So I was chomping at the bit to get a Mac with more memory. (But it wasn’t annoying enough to make me sit at a desk with a desktop computer! I work from my couch—good for my sciatica.)
If the new Macbook had come out with more memory but still with the problematic butterfly keyboard, I would have has a really tough decision to make as to whether to get it. Fortunately, Apple went back to the scissors keyboard with the new model, so the decision became easy.
64GB memory available? I’m there! Giant SSDs? Great! I can keep all my 100–200GB VMs on my machine instead of swapping them to external SSD. 2TB? 4TB? 8TB????? I went for 4TB because that was plenty for me, and I just couldn’t justify another $1,200 for 8TB. Total cost, with AppleCare: $4,984, direct from Apple. Yes, that’s a lot for a computer, but it is a professional tool that will make me more productive and less frustrated. With a 6-figure salary (very low 6-figure, I work for a start-up), I can afford it. What’s that you say? Won’t my company pay for it? The last time I changed jobs and had to take all my personal stuff off my company Macbook and turn it in, I resolved to always personaly own my computers in the future.
Ok, so the Macbook arrives in the mail 3 days ahead of its scheduled arrival, as Apple likes to do. (Which would piss me off if I missed delivery because I was out of the house, but it pleases me a lot because I work from home.) How did it go?
As usual, the unboxing was impressive because Apple puts so much care into the packaging. Then I used Migration Assistant for my first time ever, migrating my old Mac to my new one. It took 2 hours (over wifi) and worked like a charm. …Except, then I could not log in: It would not take the new password I set up, or the password of the migrated account. Maybe I should have used the same password, don’t know if that would have made a difference. Anywho, I’m the type of person who hates calling tech support, so I googled around for an hour until I solved the problem with Command (⌘)-R into a terminal. (I was stymied for a while because the recovery screen graphically offered four apps but no terminal. I finally realized I could get the terminal through the menu bar.) That allowed me to do resetpassword, which let me set a new password after I entered my Apple ID. From then on, everything worked like a charm.
My most pleasant surprise was how snappy the new machine is
Now, a listicle of how the new features affect me me me.
64GB memory and 4TB storage. What can I say? They are here and they are fantastic!
Performance! My most pleasant surprise was how snappy the new machine is, especially when opening apps. I didn’t expect much, going from 2.6Ghz i7 to 2.3Ghz i9 (both with 4.8Ghz turbo), but probably going from i7 to i9 makes a big difference. (I guess I should have gone for the i9 on the old one.) But 25% more cores and 33% more cache don’t hurt, either.
16" screen size. The was my second most pleasant surprise. I didn’t think this would feel much different, with the resolution going to only 3072x1920 from 2880x1800. But it feels like a lot more space.
Keyboard. Feels pretty similar to the old model. Something is a little different because I’m making a few more typos that usual, but I’m sure that will go away as I acclimate to the new keyboard. I’m glad they made the esc and power buttons physical, but I don’t know, maybe virtual would have been fine. I guess people complained about it, though.
Touch ID. The fingerprint touch ID is integrated in the power button, and it works really quickly. It is much quicker and more forgiving than the one on my iPhone 6. I love it! Now I don’t care how often my screen locks, because it is so simple to get back in.
Touch bar. I was pretty skeptical about the touch bar that replaces the row of function keys. But it turns out to be somewhat useful, definitely more useful than the function keys ever were for me. The app-specific functions seem pretty weak so I use it permanently expanded, that is, with buttons of my choice across the full width. Here is a good Medium article about it.
Trackpad. The significantly larger size is nice, but doesn’t seem any different to me. I guess it will be useful every now and then when I need to move the mouse a long distance. The new trackpad has Force Touch, but the only benefit I’ve found so far is I can force-touch a word in most applications to get the look-up pop-up. I’m sure I’ll find more handy uses as time goes on. (Please let me know your suggestions in the comments.)
Battery life: Surprisingly poor… That’s on me (and Google).
Battery life. Surprisingly poor. Reason? Those big VMs — usually running Chrome—chew it up. That’s on me (and Google). I just have to work with the latop plugged in, which I am used to doing anyway. But…
I miss my MagSafe power connector! Fortunately, that was easily remedied with an inexpensive adapter.
USB-C. My first encounter with USB-C! I rarely use peripherals, usually just external SSD for back-ups. So, with a simple USB-C-to-USB adapter, no problem for me. One surprise was that the included USB-C power cable is considerably fatter and stiffer than the old one. I guess this is mostly because of higher charging amps, and not so much because USB-C.
Trivial sh*t. No biggies, but…
- I got space gray. I was skeptical about it, but, fortunately, it turns out I like it. In addition, it is good that it easily distinguishes it from my old Macbook. (I could have gotten an $888 credit if I traded in my old Macbook, but it is still a pretty damn good laptop for $888, and it may be life-saving to have as a backup in case the new one ever needs to go into the shop, heaven forfend!)
- The Apple logo on the back of the top no longer lights up. Awwww, that seems a shame.
- The power adapter did not come with the AC power-cord cap, only the direct-prongs cap. That’s okay with me because the power-cord cap from the old Mac still works, but jeez, Apple, really?
- It runs a little hotter on my lap than the old one, and so I’m a little more paranoid about blocking the vents when using it on my lap, which I do all day.
- Finally, waking up on opening the lid is confusing. I really don’t know if this is new but it never bugged me before. Anyway, depending on the settings of some system preferences and how long the computer has been sleeping, wake up could take just opening the lid, or touching the trackpad, or clicking any key, or clicking the power key, or recognizing my fingerprint (though maybe not ever some of those). I just need to figure out how to set it up a way I like and then get used to it.
In conclusion, I’m really happy with my new toy—uh, I mean, my new tool. I suppose this means I’ll get laid off this year, and never work again (as it is time for me to retire!)
Addendum November 2020
A year later, and just a couple of follow-up points: After about 9 months, charging the Macbook Pro started to get flakey. At first it seemed like the (third-party add-on) mag-safe connector was at issue, but things soon became critical. I tried resetting the SMC and all that kind of advice, but no good. I purchased a new charger, figuring that it was the most likely cause outside of the computer itself, but no help. The charger did not come with a cable, so I purchased a new USB-C cable direct from Apple so I knew it would be right for charging the system. That was the problem! With the new cable, the old charger and the mag-safe work fine. I haven’t found this mentioned anywhere online, so I thought I’d document it.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that my typing error rate still seems higher than it was on my old Macbook. Maybe it’s just me getting older, or maybe there is something about the new keyboard that I don’t seem to be adapting to. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this.
I still love love love the machine!
