anchor.diff:  
   I want to talk to some of the FUD that has led to a number of complaints, but first there are certainly a few areas where Apple could have done better and helped curb some of the unrest.
   
  -1. *No iGPU-only option for the 15" model*. Apple built expectations starting with the 2012 release of the Macbook Pro with Retina display that there would be a number of price tiers making the computers more accessible depending on your choice of compromises. Providing a 15" Macbook Pro without an AMD graphics option available could have helped extend that entry level 15" model price downward.
  +1. *No iGPU-only option for the 15" model*. Apple built expectations starting with the 2012 release of the MacBook Pro with Retina display that there would be a number of price tiers making the computers more accessible depending on your choice of compromises. Providing a 15" MacBook Pro without an AMD graphics option available could have helped extend that entry level 15" model price downward.
   
   2. *No compatibility aids in the box*. One USB-C -> USB-A dongle wouldn't have been the end of the world. It'd bring out of the box compatibility for the iPhone, your current external drive, and that one flash drive still attached to your keychain. Of course the quantity of complaints for _shipping a computer that comes with a dongle to be useful_ would be just as bad as _I can't use anything without buying a dongle_ but I digress... 
   
   3. *Not refreshing the Mac Pro at the same time (or earlier)*. Intel is a significant issue here. There aren't any hex-core Skylake-based Xeons out right now and there are zero Kaby Lake Xeons of any kind. But Broadwell has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadwell_(microarchitecture)#Server_processors[tons of configurations, target="_blank"] and this machine should have been updated when those became available. Yes, the GPU story would be incomplete as it would still have been stuck in the 28nm generation, but we wouldn't be 1000+ days since an update with no product to pitch towards people eager to spend even more money for even more computer.
   
  -4. *All Touch Bar equipped Macbook Pros should ship with 16GB of RAM*. They just should. These are supposed to be pro machines, the prices went up. The 13" machines shipping with 8GB is unfortunate.
  +4. *All Touch Bar equipped MacBook Pros should ship with 16GB of RAM*. They just should. These are supposed to be pro machines, the prices went up. The 13" machines shipping with 8GB is unfortunate.
   
   
  -I'm not going to include the SD card here. The _it's not a pro laptop_ crowd should really take a look back at the history of the Macbook Pro and the issues that were made large in the past...lest we forget the removal of Firewire and https://rubenerd.com/macbookpro-expresscard/[the ExpressCard slot, window="_blank"]. The prevailing argument of the time being that going from an ExpressCard slot to an SD card slot was a downgrade unlike other legacy port eliminations in the past. Now we're back to a port that lets you connect a number of multipurpose things instead of providing a single use and that's apparently the worst, too. Yes, Compact Flash has largely gone away in the interim and was a driving factor for flexibility being important, but the result is bemoaning the return of options.
  +I'm not going to include the SD card here. The _it's not a pro laptop_ crowd should really take a look back at the history of the MacBook Pro and the issues that were made large in the past...lest we forget the removal of Firewire and https://rubenerd.com/macbookpro-expresscard/[the ExpressCard slot, window="_blank"]. The prevailing argument of the time being that going from an ExpressCard slot to an SD card slot was a downgrade unlike other legacy port eliminations in the past. Now we're back to a port that lets you connect a number of multipurpose things instead of providing a single use and that's apparently the worst, too. Yes, Compact Flash has largely gone away in the interim and was a driving factor for flexibility being important, but the result is bemoaning the return of options.
   
   image::/images/macbooks/expresscard.jpg[]
   The dongle you put *_in_* your computer (source: buysku.com)
  
positive.code: 
  *I really don't want a touch screen laptop*. The Touch Bar is just the right amount of touch interactivity without a sea of fingerprints and arm-raised ergonomics.
  
  Apple's 15" Macbook Pro is basically opening the door to the future I want. Just 3-4 weeks to wait...
negative.code: = The state of Macbooks
  :hp-image: /images/macbooks/macbooks.jpg
  :hp-tags: Apple, MacBook Pro, MacBook, AMD, Intel
  :linkattrs:
  
  Over the past year, I distinctly recall a palpable frustration with Apple's lineup. Not much had changed tangibly in years and lots of people with lots of different needs were all devouring the rumors waiting for their specific needs to be solved. It was basically a perfect recipe for disappointment and oh has there been disappointment. Unfortunately the need to have top tier gaming performance, be able to run high-teens numbers of VMs, last all day on battery, have both old ports and only new ones, and more just can't all fit into one system. Not even a line of systems.
  