The Worst Apple Product in 25 Years?-?The 2016 MacBook?Pro

I started buying Macintoshes in the late 1980ies, and I have bought dozens of them over time. I still remember my first Macintosh: a double-floppy Mac SE with a 70 MB internal Rodime disk.

In January 2017, I started working on a new project, and given that my 2013 MacBook Air was showing signs of aging I decided to go for the then-new Apple MacBook Pro. I don’t recall what made me skip the most important Apple rule — never buy the first generation of a new product—, but it happened.

Sixteen months later, I do regret the decision to waste almost $ 3,000 on the worst Apple product in 25 years.

My top ten of the most frustrating learnings are:

1. The useless touch bar — now I have to click at least twice to dim the screen or turn the sound off.

2. Both lower edges of the screen are turning yellow; I believe it has something to do with glue they are using.

3. I am working in three different places, and I could not continue using my available MagSafe power supplies. (Add another $ 250 to the equation.)

4. The 2016 MacBook Pro is slow. I would like to add memory, but I cannot do so.

5. The battery life rarely exceeds 4.5 hours — and I am neither watching videos nor compiling code.

6. Adapter hell — I have spent at least $ 200 on buying or replacing lost adapters.

7. I cannot make use of the USB hub and power supply in my Cinema display at home anymore.

8. The USB C ports start going baggy. Most problems are caused by Apple adapters, by the way. (Touch the Thunderbolt adapter for the Cinema display slightly, and the screen goes dark.)

9. The command and the control keys are on strike: sometimes they work, sometimes they do not. Too bad, I cannot join the class-action suit. Speaking of the keyboard: it is the noisiest one I can remember, too. (How could you sacrifice a working keyboard design for making the MacBook Pro probably 1 mm slimmer? Whoever made that decision should be sentenced to DOS 6.23 for life.)

10. Touch ID: dead in the water after less than three months. (I restart my MacBook probably once a week.)

By the way, my 2013 MacBook Air works still fine. It is my preferred companion whenever I organize a meetup or workshop or when I give a talk at a conference.

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