My new MacBook Pro impressions in Taipei

A few days ago I was finally able to see the new 2016 MacBook Pro in Taipei's Syntrend IT mall, and had a brief hands on experience. Given all the negativity in the tech press when the new laptops were announced and shipped, I was pretty positively surprised, when I saw them in real. The design is amazingly beautiful! Right next to them were the old Retina MacBook Pro's and boy did they look "old" and outdated. These new MacBook Pros are a work of art, that's for sure. Images don't do them justice, you need to see them in real to admire the design. Another concern was the new keyboard, but after typing with it for some time, I was also pleasantly surprised, it's actually quite nice, much better than the MacBook keyboard, which I can't stand. The screen is amazing, so is the Trackpad. The only negative would be the lack of SD card port. As a hobby photographer, I would really miss it, but then again I'm already used to a dongle that I use together with my iPad Pro and my iPhone. I would probably get used to it.

2016 MacBook Pro ("15)


The new "15 MacBook Pro.

The keyboard turned out to be a highlight.

The prices are hefty (USD 2466 and 2870 for the two configurations).

2016 MacBook Pro ("13)

The 13" MacBook Pro without Touch Bar.

The price is equal to USD 1478 as of today.

All in all these are some great laptops, and if I needed one, I would probably consider the "13 version. Right now my iMac serves me well, so I will pass, but I'd definitely recommend this new MacBook Pro to anyone just based on my brief hands-on experience, and my several years as a Mac OS user. At the end, it's the OS that does it for me, not primarily the hardware.

You can find Taipei's Syntrend Mall here (Google Maps).