Could anyone tell me why there is a three-microphone array built in to the touchbar? My privacy-sense is tingeling like crazy over this.
MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
61–70 of 93 posts
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#62Could anyone tell me why there is a three-microphone array built in to the touchbar? My privacy-sense is tingeling like crazy over this.
Well microphone arrays are directional. Is that the question? It allows an app to home in on the speaker, avoiding background noise.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#63I will copy very interesting question from ifixit: > How do you do a power rest if the machine hangs? Before you held down the power button for a few seconds. Would that work with a touch ID button? Any ideas?
They do also say in the article about the Touch ID button: "That button also doubles as the power button, so fixing a power button may be a more costly affair than it once was."
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#64can anybody tell me why Apple didn't try harder to max out the battery?? apparently the 15" version has even more unused space: https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/15/2016-macbook-pro-non-removabl... if this is really a compromise to hit some weight target I will have to join the "Apple don't care about the Pros anymore" camp...
I can see the marketing storyline: 3.0 pounds sounds cooler than 10+h battery life. Because: 10 hours = 1 working day = enough
Except that you only get 10 hours browsing the internet, so unless your work consists of reddit and hacker news you can't really meet that target and I think most professionals would prefer more.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#65This is really an iPad running MacOS, with everything soldered on, zero upgradeability and near-zero repairability. That's the antithesis of a "professional" machine. I wonder if we'll see a similar trend with the mac pro if Apple doesn't decide to scrap it completely. We run quite a few mac pros and macbook pros at work, so this has us thinking hard.
Why is upgradability inherent in professional? I've never worked somewhere that upgrades work machines. Every couple of years we get new ones.
I work at one of the largest game developers in the world, and we regularly update our desktop workstations - with better GPUs, more ram, I've recently had yet another 1TB SSD installed. The 6 core/12 threaded Xeons are good enough and they don't need upgrades, but everything else is a fair game.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#66This is really an iPad running MacOS, with everything soldered on, zero upgradeability and near-zero repairability. That's the antithesis of a "professional" machine. I wonder if we'll see a similar trend with the mac pro if Apple doesn't decide to scrap it completely. We run quite a few mac pros and macbook pros at work, so this has us thinking hard.
Why is upgradability inherent in professional? I've never worked somewhere that upgrades work machines. Every couple of years we get new ones.
Did they ever do repairs?
Upgradability also includes repairability. If you have a fleet of Dell Latitudes or ThinkPads, for example, you give users a "new" one for a broken one, and you can often repair it by swapping in parts from other broken ones.
SSD upgrades are simple, and you can also upgrade laptops that come with 4GB up to 8, 12, 16 or sometimes 32GB depending on what the user needs.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#67This is really an iPad running MacOS, with everything soldered on, zero upgradeability and near-zero repairability. That's the antithesis of a "professional" machine. I wonder if we'll see a similar trend with the mac pro if Apple doesn't decide to scrap it completely. We run quite a few mac pros and macbook pros at work, so this has us thinking hard.
Why is upgradability inherent in professional? I've never worked somewhere that upgrades work machines. Every couple of years we get new ones.
I do not believe Apple will ever release another expandable/upgradable computer - mobile, laptop, or desktop.
We've accepted that Apple will never have expandable storage on an iOS device, but are still mourning the loss of it in Macs.
The desire for upgradability is driven by cost - either to get around Apple's cost-gate to get a larger RAM/SSD for lower cost, or to avoid Apple's cost-gate to upgrade later rather than buying a new device.
Apple has had great success with the luxury goods model: premium price for the base item, additional premium price tiers for incremental improvements.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#68I'm wondering what necessitates the second fan. The 2016 function keys MBP only has one fan.
A TDP that's almost twice as much (28W) compared to the one fan model (15W) does that for you.
Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#69Re: MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown
#70This is really an iPad running MacOS, with everything soldered on, zero upgradeability and near-zero repairability. That's the antithesis of a "professional" machine. I wonder if we'll see a similar trend with the mac pro if Apple doesn't decide to scrap it completely. We run quite a few mac pros and macbook pros at work, so this has us thinking hard.
There is a lot to be annoyed with on the new MBP, but upgradability has not been a feature for Apple across almost all product types (including "Pro" models), for many years. This is not news. It's not the antithesis of a professional machine just because you say it is.