April 27, 2016

Let me start by describing my current daily driver:

1. MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
2. 2.6 GHz i7
3. NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
4. 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
5. 512 GB SSD

My usual peripherals include:

1. Two Acer K272HUL 27" monitors
2. Coredy MDA1920 (for powering my third display)
3. AULA RGB LED Mechanical Keyboard
4. Razer DeathAdder Chroma Mouse
5. Logitech C920 1080p Webcam

As you can probably gather, my setup is geared towards productivity (specifically web development), which is why Apple and OS X are logical choices for me (aside from the aesthetics).

I've been waiting a real long time to buy a new rig (probably longer than I should be). The SSD and more than recommended 16 GB of RAM certainly helped make work bearable—but it's just not enough. Storage was always an issue until I built a NAS for infrequently accessed data, and even with an SSD I find myself drooling over the M.2 performance boosts, but that won't happen with this board.

Development begets a task-switching-heavy workflow, think: write code, view in the browser, fix code, view in browser again, commit and deploy in the terminal, update the Jira task, etc. So for this, a multi-monitor setup is a big win in my book. Unfortunately, with my current MBP, I'm stuck with two native monitors, and I fudge the third by using a shitty CPU powered display adapter. Seriously, the monitor powered by the Coredy is purely for Slack and Terminal (since they repaint at a low rate)—like don't use this adapter to watch a video, or your MBP will begin to sound like a 747 taking off. Yes, I know, the newer Retina MBP will support two monitors. But, one of them will be limited to 1080p due to HDMI, where's the 4K/5K support?

On the subject of screen real-estate, can we have a real reason other than lack of market demand for the removal of a 17" model? I realize the company is trying to make everything compact, but a good portion of people who use your hardware and operating system are content creators (who truly value a few extra pixels).

Know your [MBP] audience, you know, the people willing to shell out 2.5-3K once every couple of years.

My work is almost entirely remote, meaning Google Hangouts is a huge part of my job, and so is having a proper webcam. Seriously, Apple, even your current models have a crappy webcam and the audio is a joke. Although the audio part can be solved with a headset or even the EarPods.

Enough with the harsh words, I love you Apple, I truly do. During WWDC this year, do us all a favor and debut the MacBook Pro refresh we've all been waiting for, and use these suggested specs:

• 17" and 15" screen sizes, drop the 13"—who uses that, honestly
• Reduce the bezel for these displays; you have the technology
• Obviously, give us the Skylake architecture
• Four Thunderbolt 3 ports (and before you stomp your feet, think about the possibilities here: eGPU, more than three displays, high-speed storage)
• 1080p webcam
• 16 GB of DDR4 RAM; minimum! If you're going to solder my RAM to the board, at least give me enough to work with. A 32 GB option would be nice too.
• A decent graphics card, I'm not asking for desktop class (hence the desire for more Thunderbolt), but something with 4-8 GB of GPU RAM would be swell.

Anyways, I don't expect much from their actual release. In fact, I'm willing to bet they will cripple the new model to make it the Thinnest MacBook Pro ever™. Keep taking my fun coupons, Apple.

Sigh.

P.S. DO NOT get rid of the MagSafe 2 port.