Live-Review // Brilliant, even without Touch? The new MacBook Pro laptops have arrived. The most striking new feature: a Touch Bar instead of function keys. Apple still offers a model without this novelty, and wants to target the "entry-level sector" – price: 1699 Euros ($1499). We already have a device in our editorial office and will share our results in this live review.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-Late-2016-2-GHz-i5-without-Touch-Bar-Laptop-Review.182374.0.html
Louis Rossman found a bug where wi-fi wouldn't work when a USB-C/HDMI dongle is being used. Can you confirm?
Does it still have optical digital audio output throught the 3.5mm jack? I coultn't find any information about it on the Apple website.
your review sounds as an excuse. screen is the same (but good tho), noise and heat is same, performance bearly increased by 3-5% (not even in comparsion list)... witcher with 20 fps beaten everything? really? keyboards was always awful on "pro"s .. i bet battery life is increased?. for 1700 euros (almost $1900)? sorry, but there are much better alternatives for that money. now score it 99% and i believe this is my last read of your "high-detailed" reviews
Then go buy alternative, you opinion is useless.
The Macbook Air is beating it in PCMark 8? Isn't that rather odd, given it has an older processor design and no higher of a TDP, and much slower storage?
And the 2200MB/s read speed is lower than the nearer to 3000MB/s some other sites showed, is there an SSD lottery again?
We also head 3000 MB/s on a newer CDM (see imbedded screenshot), we use the older 3.0 version as we got lots of comparison scores and performance depends largely on the used data that is used for the test.
The PCMark 8 scores also get worse with higher resolution, thats why the Air is leading the pack as it has no high resolution (Retina) display.
Well on its way to another useful, thorough review; a comparison of typing experiences would be very appreciated, to go beyond the usual "you might get used to it", this is what kills it for me, as well as the miserable ports; a comparison with the Thinkpad X1 Yoga Oled display would also clarify things for people who want the best.
It's 2016 and there are still people confusing a System with Hardware, MacOS brings value to the table in itself, the greatest hardware is irrelevant when held together by Windaz and flaky drivers. The best Mac option remains the previous gen retina Macbook Pro. That X1 Yoga with Linux might currently be the best of the best.
Up to now I do like the typing comfort of the new keyboard quite a lot. The first hours with it I was not sure if I like it and a bit slower than with the old keyboard, but now the old one feels inaccurate in comparison. Still want to use it a bit more before writing the final comment on it. But definitely no deal breaker for me, but also a bit of a initial phase you have to overcome.
Regarding the USB-C / Wifi bug, with our accessory (Kensington Hub, Anker Hub, cheap Type A dongle) we did not experience any issues so far, still looking into it.
Can You please test Blizzard games that support Metal API under macOS and than compare results with the same games on BootCamp?
Thanks for this thorough review! The details are worth the time to read, and I particularly like your dimensional footprint—I wish more sites would consider doing so; this is very important for those of us with limited desk space!
Hope you'll do a across-the-range benchmarking comparison between the MBP 13 (no-touchbar) and the touchbar models when available.
Question: Is is really possible to charge the MBP with the Anker PowerCore+? How much of the battery does a full MBP charge take? This could really give me greater flexibility on weekend trips!
Yes, its possible to charge the laptop with the PowerCore+, but I have not yet tested how often you can charge the device. Theoretically with some loss it should be 1.5x times or so (as the PowerCore+ 26800 offers 96.48 Wh and the entry MacBook Pro stores up to 54 Wh).
That display is quantum dot with blue leds? Measurments of contrast are done on maximum brightnes?
These live review are awesome. You can read the review before its finish
Please. Do it more.
Thank you for this review, it's a very good read.
Since revealed at the Apple event, this machine has been criticized a lot. However, I don't think it is because this is a poorly machine; in fact, this is one of the best quality product out there. It is the lack of creativity compared to what Microsoft has been doing lately, and the full adoption of the USB-C without any transition phase provoke the most loyal fans. The building quality and design of this machine is still top-notch.
Yet I still won't consider getting a macbook, no matter this base MBP, the one with touch bar, or the Macbook because of how clueless Tim Cook is regarding developing the roadmap of a company. I cannot see any vision in his product line management, and his presentation always bored me.
Microsoft may have some bugs and defects in their product, but Satya Nadella is clearly the better leader, and MS will keep going uphill while Apple may start to stagnate..
I finally could also reproduce the Wifi problem with an USB-C device attached. It only happens with a 2.4 GHz network attached in macOS. 5 GHZ (which is my default choice in the office) is without any problems so far (and thats why we did not find out earlier). As soon as a 2.4 GHz is attached, the ping to the router is unreachable -> no connection. Will look into it in more detail.
Another note on keyboard noise, the keys are rather silent if you press them slowly and keep your finger on the key. If you press it from a distance with some force, they can be rather loud (for non 10-finger users maybe an issue).
@Long time reader
Yes our measurements are done at maximum brightness level usually. Not sure about the display technology so far.
Hi Klaus,I love this Mac. I have 9-10 Hours battery life, play grid 2,dirt 3 40-50 FPS,1440x900,middle details.Please help: I can't make bootcamp work.
Quote from: Klaus Hinum on November 06, 2016, 22:09:29
Up to now I do like the typing comfort of the new keyboard quite a lot. The first hours with it I was not sure if I like it and a bit slower than with the old keyboard, but now the old one feels inaccurate in comparison. Still want to use it a bit more before writing the final comment on it. But definitely no deal breaker for me, but also a bit of a initial phase you have to overcome.
Interesting, thank you!
I get to like the new keyboard more and more the longer I use it. Regarding boot camp, we had some troubles with the first install where we created the ISO image from a bootable USB stick in macOS. When downloading the latest ISO with the media creation tool from Microsoft, everything went smooth with the Bootcamp assistant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYVjIjBMx6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXQKWijA4r4
WIll be interesting to see if the touch bar uses PWM.
I know Apple cares a lot about not using PWM in their products :)
Can someone explain me how it is possible that Apple presents new display as wide gamut DCI-P3 but it from your review we can see that it only cover 93% of sRGB? sRGB is included in P3 so this should be cover in 100%.
Some additional info on the USB and WiFi Issues:
It seems to be caused the interference issue between the USB 3 standard, which can emit noise in the 2.4 - 2.5 GHz spectrum, and the 2.4 GHz WLAN band. I'm seeing the same problems with my Surface Pro 4, when I am connected to a 2.4 GHz network and have data transferred from my external HDD. To me it is a shame that these problems even exist in in these "premium" products, and I need to say I'm very angry about that. Of course, connecting to a 5 GHz WiFi network solves the issue, but you don't always have the possibility for that. In my case, due to business reasons, I am living in a hotel for the next 7 month, and I am not able to use my external HDD and the internet a t the same time!
More info the the interference issue can be found here: http://uk.pcmag.com/networking-reviews-ratings-comparisons/13179/opinion/wireless-witch-the-truth-about-usb-30-and-wi-fi-interference (http://uk.pcmag.com/networking-reviews-ratings-comparisons/13179/opinion/wireless-witch-the-truth-about-usb-30-and-wi-fi-interference)
Did you really give this a score of only 82%, or is that a mistake? Because that's ridiculously low for an Apple device.
We had a problem in the rating system (set to Multimedia and missing some points in the chassis subrating). Rating is now complete and due to the -2% it misses the "Very Good" - mostly due to the missing ports.
Regarding color space, as color spaces are complex 3D bodies, the calculation is not that simple. We use Argyll to calculate the intersection, but its true that it nearly hits P3.
These are pro machines as Apple wants us to believe, so will you test them as PRO machines, we want to see how they fare when taken to the limit, try Prime95 and Furmark and all that heavy bench marks that will take the fluffy coats off these sticks of models called work horses (PRO). You did it with the ThinkPads do it with the "PROs"
https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/08/hands-on-late-2016-13-inch-macbook-pro-without-touch-bar-video/
"...low-end model has an Intel Iris 540, and features a power-sipping 15W TDP. In other words, don't expect this machine, whose dual core processor can turbo up to 3.1GHz, to run at high speeds for an extended amount of time."
Can somebody explain this to me? Does it mean the old processor is better? Does it mean it's just much better in complex tasks or what?
I saw that new processor have TSX instructions, and in theory - it should behave better for multitasking. Any input?
Did you ever figure out if the fan rattle is actually a defect or if it "can happen" on any MBP? I have this issue on my 15" MBP (late 2016), depending on how I move it and on the fan rpm. I'm pondering whether to return it or not.
Thank you so much for this awesome review !
Quote from: Redaktion on November 02, 2016, 23:20:16
Live-Review // Brilliant, even without Touch? The new MacBook Pro laptops have arrived. The most striking new feature: a Touch Bar instead of function keys. Apple still offers a model without this novelty, and wants to target the "entry-level sector" – price: 1699 Euros ($1499). We already have a device in our editorial office and will share our results in this live review.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-Late-2016-2-GHz-i5-without-Touch-Bar-Laptop-Review.182374.0.html
I forgot to quote you, sorry, well ... Thanks a lot ;D
The Display section is unclear in English-
QuoteOur initial evaluation of the color accuracy and the grayscale performance of the display reveals accurate results ex-works. We can measure a DeltaE of 2 (max. 2.6)...
I don't know what "ex-works" means. It is not common English word.
QuoteThe situation for the MacBook Pro 13 is much better in the DCI P3 color space
Compared to what? Wasn't the whole paragraph about the MacBook Pro 13?