When Apple announced the new 16-inch MacBook Pro I tried to resist buying it for as long as I could but eventually, I caved and placed an order for one towards the end of December. I had a 13-inch MacBook Pro from late 2016 and although I didn’t really have any issues with it, I did feel it had become redundant. I have a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a new 13-inch MacBook Air for work, so having a 13-inch MacBook Pro as well didn’t make any sense. On short weekend trips I’ve gotten into the habit of just taking my iPad and for anything longer I’d rather take the slightly lighter MacBook Air. Since I was using my MacBook Pro mostly while sitting on my couch in front of the TV, I decided size wasn’t as important for a couch computer and went ahead and ordered the new 16-inch.
My first laptop ever was a 2001 12″ Apple iBook and since then the largest laptop I’ve ever owned or used had been a 13″. I always went for the smallest size possible since they were usually cheaper and also because they were more portable. So you can imagine the look on my face when I first put the 16″ MacBook Pro on my lap and opened it up. It was HUGE! I mean I had played with a display model at Xcite and Gait before ordering one, but in a large store on a large table it didn’t feel that much bigger than my 13″. On my laps, it was a completely different story and I honestly hated it right away and regretted buying it.
Now that I’ve been using the MacBook Pro for around a month, I have gotten a lot more comfortable with the size. I wouldn’t say I’m in love with it just yet, but at least it’s become a lot more bearable. There has been a lot of hype online about the new 16-inch MacBook Pro with a lot of reviewers calling it the best laptop Apple has ever made (sorry but the old-school 12″ PowerBook takes that spot), and although there are a lot of positives with the new design, I did face some issues.
First the good stuff and if you’ve read any review already you’ll know there are two things everyone has been talking about, the redesigned keyboard and the speakers. I never really had any problem with the previous keyboards, but I do know a lot of people hated it. The newly updated keyboard is better that’s for sure, there is more key travel so it feels softer to type on and its also quieter. I’m actually on my iMac right now typing this post and the keyboard feels similar to the one on the new MacBook Pro, that’s how good they’ve managed to make the new MacBook Pro keyboard feel. The second big change is the speakers, many people are calling it the best speakers you can get on a laptop, I don’t know about that but I can say that yes the sound on the 16-inch MacBook Pro sounds lightyears better than on my 13-inch. Side by side the difference is night and day but even if you don’t have another laptop to compare the sound next to, you’ll still clearly notice the difference. The sound is fuller and there is now bass which on the previous MacBook Pros didn’t exist. But this also brings me over to the negatives.
The speakers aren’t loud. I haven’t seen anyone mention this yet but the new speakers seem to be limited in volume to avoid distortion? I have this issue with Bang & Olufsen speakers, they tend to limit the volume below the maximum so to avoid any distortion that may occur. But then again maybe because the new MacBook Pro speakers sound larger than they actually are, I expect them to go louder? I don’t know but I noticed this volume issue because of how often I’ve tried raising it only to find out it’s already on maximum. The second issue I have with the new MacBook Pro is the heat. It’s winter right now so the temperature is nice and cool in my apartment but I’ve already noticed the laptop gets really warm on the underside. I would be just watching youtube videos and the laptop would get uncomfortably hot on my laps. I never had that issue with my other laptops and I’m worried in the summer it’s going to annoy me a lot. Finally the battery life. Before my 13″ MacBook Pro I had the older generation MacBook Air and I would easily get 8 to 10 hours of battery life. With the 13″ MacBook Pro that dropped down to around 4 hours and now with this 16″ I think I’m getting around 5-6. The problem is Apple says I should be getting 10+ and they used to be really accurate with their estimates but I can’t seem to ever get there.
Overall though this is a pretty well-rounded laptop. I got the entry model 16″ and it’s plenty fast for me and comes standard with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. I’m not comfortable with the size just yet but that’s understandable since for the past 20 years I’ve only been using the smallest of laptops. One advantage to the large size is that it’s now making my 13″ MacBook Pro feel a lot smaller and lighter which has made me consider keeping it but I’m not going to. The keyboard touch bar is still there and if you hated it before you’re still gonna hate it but if like me you like the touch bar then you’re gonna like it even more now since they’ve made the ESC button an actual key and separated it from the touch bar. For those wondering why I ordered the MacBook online instead of getting it locally, it’s simply because I wanted a US keyboard without the Arabic letters and also because it would come out cheaper than buying it locally. If you’re thinking of upgrading your MacBook then you can’t go wrong with the 16”. If it’s too big for you then you might want to hold out a bit because rumors are Apple is gonna release a new 14” one to replace the current 13”.
