I carry my 16-inch MacBook Pro almost everywhere I go and travel. I tolerate extra weight because it allows me to work and study from anywhere using the full power of Mac OS X. This computer is part of my identity. It can be a workstation, a typewriter, an image editor, a server, or a media server. You can connect it to your hotel TV or even a projector. I always travel with an HDMI cable. That’s the MacBook Pro experience and it brings me a little joy every time I accomplish a task. I have a config with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD, so upgrading would only make sense to choose the 64 GB RAM option and at least 2 TB SSD. It’s a great machine and it still works great. There’s no reason for me to upgrade because I feel like I started to push against RAM and storage limits only this year. I now carry an external drive with me with data for my Plex media server. It is also very expensive to upgrade, and I can’t afford it.
I don’t like that we have last-gen MacBook Pro with next-gen M6, and next-gen hardware with M5 Pro and Max. That’s just a bit confusing. How does the M6 compare to the M5 Pro? Does it mean that the M6 might be a better value, as it costs less and it has a higher version number? Certainly in some use cases. But where the new MacBook Pro with OLED screen shines is not the chip. It’s the higher contrast screen, non-glossy option, the weight reduction and the glowing Apple logo, of course. The latter is a clever nostalgia bait, and I think it works for me. I want it even though I can’t afford it.
I hope we will see a slow trickle down of the new display tech to all Pro models, and then Air, Neo. That should include touch. Yes, I think touch is a good thing. My kids tried to touch my screen sometimes. When I inevitably need to buy a computer for them, and if it’s a laptop, I want it to have a touch interface. What about me? I am already imagining myself using my fingers for drag and drop and maybe some image editing. I am not worried about screen marks. I already have to clean the screen often as it accumulates dust and keyboard marks. I might as well try using a touch interface in a moment, that feels like a fun thing to do.
