[MUSIC]
What's up?
Brian Tong here and welcome to the Apple Byte for everything good and bad inside the world of Apple.
And this week it's all my reactions to Apple's new Macbook Pro key note and like we normally do let's start off with these smaller announcements and build our way up in the big stuff.
Because, I promise I'll be gentle.
Now Apple TV finally got some love in the form of a new app called TV because that won't be confusing at all.
The app is gonna be useful to find shows you want and to be able to pick up where you left off easily when your on an Apple TV or an iOS device.
Now not every service or channel with an app would be a part of it.
Like Netflix or Amazon which is a big deal.
But look deeper this app discovery is nice but it's also the result of Apple's failed attempt to get their own TV streaming service.
You still need to pay for your own cable or pay for HBO Now and Hulu separately to take advantage of this.
Now the TV app could have been a new revenue stream, a new business but they couldn't do it over the course of years because they wanted too much from the studios, the networks and now Apple doesn't have the TV streaming service while other rivals do.
And they're actually good.
So you know what?
That's a bad apple.
All right, on to what we were all waiting for, the new MacBook Pros.
These guys are powerhouses and if you're in the market to upgrade you should be more than happy with their performance.
Big gains about 50% in processor performance, roughly twice as fast graphics and 100% increase in flash performance.
A better performing screen at the same retina resolution.
But Apple made a point not to mention the resolution at all.
And let's not forget that design.
If anything is going to stand out, it's how sleek this is compared to any previous Macbook Pros.
And yes, there are plenty of other sleeker, non-Apple laptops out there.
Now it's going to be a great laptop, but the flagship feature, the touch bar.
This isn't the first Changing bar we've seen.
The Lenovo X1 Carbon had it two years ago.
But Apple just decided to go all out with that idea.
Now, I'm going hold my judgement until I actually use it for an extended period of time.
But how much are you actually going to use it?
I don't think anyone knows right now.
Sure, it's really nice eye candy, and it's super responsive.
I can see myself using it for some of the more basic apps.
But how much easier will it actually make doing things?
Now when they demoed Final Cut Pro to use a single finger to scroll through the project while staring directly at the touch bar?
No.
Like, no one edits video like that, and they won't.
And you know what?
That was a bad apple too.
[SOUND] And let's just stack up what makes more sense from a creative standpoint right now.
Apple Touch Bar, or that insane Surface Dial that works on that insane Surface Studio from Microsoft that blew away anything Apple announced.
That's just real talk.
Now only time will tell if the Touch Touch bar ends up being good, great, or just meh.
And what about that price point?
MacBook Pro's basically went up $200 at every price point from the previous generation.
Let's see how the audience feels about that one.
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah that's a sad Apple.
And lastly remember this is loaded with four USB-C Thunderbolt ports You know what that means?
We going dongle.
We going dongle.
Look, you want back all the ports and connectivity you lost I did the math.
A USB adaptor costs $19, a Thunderbolt 2 adapter for hard drives cost 49 Bucks.
USB-C to Lightning to connect your phone or iPad costs 25 bucks, and a USB-C to ethernet adapter costs 35 bucks.
And, if you want the MagSafe connector that they took away from you, Griffin Technology has that covered for you with their BreakSafe for another 40 bucks.
So, let's add on roughly another $170 worth of dongles on top of that.
Hold up, hold up.
I just wanted to check in with out audience again.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC]
Yeah I feel you on that.
So what should Apple's new campaign for new MacBook Pro be?
How about this?
Just dongle it.
Or how do you like them dongles?
Or there's a dongle for that.
And the crowd favorite on my Twitter, think dongle.
All right, all jokes aside, it's a nice upgrade.
It's going to cost you, and I'm not in the market to get a new laptop right now, but there have been times in the past where Apple really made me want to get a Macbook Pro when I didn't need one.
But you know what, this Wasn't one of those times.
Now there's also a really expensive 5K display in a partnership with LG that you can buy if you have lots of money too.
And let's not forget the letdown of no new iMacs, no new Mac Mini updates after two years, and no new Mac Pros.
Remember, it was Phil Schiller who once claimed.
Can't innovate anymore, my ****.
And that Mac Pro haven't seen an update for over three years now.
All right, that's gonna deal for this week show.
We'd loved to what you thought.
You can email us at theapplebyte@cnet.com or tweet me @Braintong and I will include you thought in next week show.
Thanks so much for watching we'll catch up all next time for another byte of the apple
