Back in October, Apple released a new version of the MacBook Pro (MBP).
Looking at the October released MBP, it's a gorgeous laptop. What's not to love. And timing couldn't have been better, because my MBP logic board on my 2012 model had just died and I was already looking for an upgrade. Apple announced the changes and my immediate reaction was this isn't the laptop I was hoping for. The larger trackpad, 1 the lack of ports, 2 or the thinness of power mantra 3 just didn't resonate with me.
When you compare the two laptops, the striking difference everyone notices is in the ports.
The 2015 MBP had a variety of ports - Thunderbolt, USB 3, SD Card, HDMI, etc. The 2016 MBP had 4 identical ports - USB C. As I kept looking at the new MBP, I still had this gut feeling that the new MBP was a step backwards. The trackpad and the power were there, but that wasn't the core issue. The ports were an issue, but that wasn't it alone.
Something struck me when I was sitting at my desk going over some pictures from a recent vacation. 4
My normal workflow for post processing of pictures is:
- Collect photo's from SD cards.
- Import photo's into Lightroom.
- Tag and sort photo's.
- Post process photos.
- Create albums.
With the TouchBar MBP, there would be a slight difference:
- Get SD Card dongle.
- Collect photo's from SD cards.
- Import photo's into Lightroom.
- Tag and sort photo's.
- Post process photos.
- Create albums.
It's the first step that changes everything. I'm not focused on my post-processing, I'm focused on making sure I have the right dongle to start the process. The new MBP shifts the focus on how I'd have to do my work. The focus is decentralized from my workflow and from my tool... the MBP. The whole purpose of a MBP is to have a mobile work experience. Needing to remember if I have the right dongles with makes me lose focus on what I'm working on. Is that a subtle point, yes. But any distraction from the work I want to do is still a distraction that makes me less effective in the work I want to get done.
And that subtle shift in focus is a very big problem for creative and professional users.