The Missing 16" MacBook Pro
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Not all pro workflows are gpu accelerated
Apple has recently updated its 15 inch laptop to a 16 inch model with updated components, the most important being its keyboard. After years of complaints and nagging by the tech community, the old butterfly keyboard is gone, replaced with a new “magic” keyboard.
This means for the first time in years, I can consider the MacBook line again. Taking a closer look at the MacBook line, I notice something missing which we had 4 years ago when I bought my current laptop, and no one seems to be mentioning. There is no 16" laptop without a discrete GPU.
To understand why I would complain about this it might be useful to mention my workflow. I write software, and compiling code isn’t GPU accelerated. That means over the course of the life of the device, I would make almost no use of the most expensive component of the device. I imagine this is the case for most software engineers.
It seems sometime over the last 4 years, Apple has decided to want a bigger screen, implied a graphics orientated workflow. I understand the inclination to do this, video editors, and photographers are almost certainly going to go for the larger screen device therefore this simplifies the product lineup but I don’t think that should force any pro who would like a big screen to also fork out for a GPU.
In addition, I think there is quite a large number of people that a 16 inch device without a dGPU would be ideal for, such as students, writers and Netflix watchers. With the improvement to the integrated graphics, I think these people would do just fine without it and could also do with a slightly cheaper device.
Some reviews have referred to the new MacBook as a developers dream but if the most expensive component is not very useful to a developer I wonder if we’d be better served by a cheaper price tag. But hey at least we have a decent keyboard now so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
