The Flagship MacBook Pro: A Symbolic End to Disastrous Mac Hardware Period

As I look at this new flagship MacBook Pro, I see it as the symbolic end of that disastrous period of Mac hardware. The keyboard is worthy of a flagship MacBook Pro, and I'm excited to see that Apple has taken steps to rectify some of the issues from previous generations. This release marks a new era for Mac hardware, one where professionals can trust that their machines will meet their needs.

The New Mac Pro: A Powerhouse with Endless Upgrade Options

If the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the symbolic start of this new era, then the new Mac Pro is the culmination of Apple's efforts to reclaim its position as a leader in professional hardware. Released in April 2018, after years of anticipation, the Mac Pro has finally arrived, and it's everything that was hyped up to be. While it's certainly expensive, for professionals in the market for a high-end Mac machine, this is the only option available. The new Mac Pro offers external upgrade ability via Thunderbolt 3, as well as access to PCIe slots, allowing users to add their own graphics cards, sound cards, capture cards, and even upgrade the RAM.

The Most Upgradable Mac Ever: Power and Flexibility at Your Fingertips

One of the standout features of the new Mac Pro is its incredible upgradability. With a 28-core CPU as an option, this machine can handle even the most demanding tasks with ease. Additionally, the MPX modules offer insane graphics capabilities, making this one of the most powerful Macs ever created. The level of customization and control available on the new Mac Pro is unparalleled, making it a dream come true for professionals who want to tailor their machines to their specific needs.

The Pro Display XDR: A Halo Product that Represents the Best of Apple's Innovation

Another highlight of this release is the Pro Display XDR, which can be paired with the new Mac Pro. This 6K, 32-inch display features ridiculous build quality and an insane contrast ratio and color reproduction. As a production monitor, it's designed to meet the demands of high-end film editing and other professional applications. The Pro Display XDR is available in both standard and nano-textured matte options, as well as a glossy option for an additional thousand dollars. While this display is certainly not affordable, I'm glad it exists, as it showcases Apple's commitment to innovation and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

Lessons Learned: Don't Rest on Your Laurels, Listen to Your Customers

As we look back on Apple's turnaround in the last three years, there are a few key takeaways. Firstly, don't rest on your laurels – keep innovating and releasing new products that meet the evolving needs of your customers. Secondly, listen to your customers – it was only by addressing issues like the butterfly keyboard on the 12-inch MacBook that Apple could reclaim its reputation as a leader in professional hardware. Finally, trickle down some of the tech from the high-end models to the lower-end ones – giving us affordable displays with good build quality and Macs that can be upgraded internally without breaking the bank.

The State of Mac Hardware in 2020: A New Era of Innovation

So, what do you think about the state of Mac hardware in 2020? Do you think Apple has done enough to address past issues or not done enough? Are you happy with the current lineup of Macs and their capabilities? Share your thoughts down below in the comments. And as a special treat, we're giving away an awesome Thunderbolt 3 dock from our friends over at Cliff. Simply head to our Instagram page, make sure you follow us, and leave a comment on that post related to this episode of Back to the Mac, and you'll be entered to win.

Special Thanks to Hyper for Sponsoring 9-to-5 Mac

We also want to give a huge thank you to Hyper for sponsoring this episode of Back to the Mac. Their Hyperdrive Gen2 is an incredibly powerful six-port hub that's perfect for your Mac or iPad Pro. Hit the link in the description to pre-order yours now, and take advantage of their special introductory offer.

**Giveaway Details**

The Hyperdrive Gen2 is a 12-port hub that features USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. It's perfect for connecting your Mac or iPad Pro to external displays, peripherals, or storage devices. And with its compact design, it's easy to take on the go.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhow's it going guys and gals Jeff Benjamin with nine-to-five Mack this is episode number 17 back to the Mack and I got to tell you folks Mac hardware is healthy again that's the title of this episode up back to the Mack because remember it was just a few years ago where Mack Hardware seemed like it had no future but there has been a remarkable turnaround over the last few years and that's what we're going to discuss in this week's episode but of course we also have a giveaway in this episode so you definitely don't want to miss how you can win this Thunderbolt 3 dock from our friends over a cliff so stay tuned for that hit the subscribe button if you haven't already and then smash that like button oh I can't say it alright so let's get to the episode but first of all this word from our sponsor the hyperdrive gin to USBC hubs come with awesome features like 4k 60 Hertz video support or UHS 2 SD card reader support for super fast video and photo transfers to your Mac and then there's the incredible 100 watt USB power delivery and superfast USB 3.1 gen2 10 gigabits per second connectivity to your SSDs the hyperdrive gen 2 comes in a 6 12 and a whopping 18 port version with tons of i/o it's great for the MacBook Pro but it's also ideal for the iPad pro hit the link in the description to pre-order your hyperdrive Gentoo for a special introductory price special things to hyper for sponsoring 95 Mac on YouTube it wasn't that long ago when I had to ask myself the unthinkable question from the perspective of a Mac user what I truly have to start researching Windows machines yeah I know that sounds crazy but I was in that spot I know a lot of Mac users probably many people watching this episode were in that same sort of mind state because the future of Mac just seemed like it was at a daddy and it seemed like Apple didn't care about the Mac it seemed like Apple didn't care about professional Mac users the state of the Mac in 2016-2017 was extremely dire thankfully however Apple sort of woke up and realized hey this is a real problem and we have to fix it right now so it was I think April of 2017 they have that roundtable where they invited some journalists and they discussed the Mac they were very candid as candid as you're gonna be if your Apple right but they were somewhat candid about the state of Mac how they had dropped the ball the mistakes they made with the Mac Pro design and they even did something unprecedented for Apple at the time they actually pre announced to hardware products they pre announced the iMac Pro and they also pre announced the upcoming or at the time upcoming Mac Pro the modular Mac Pro so now fast for 20/20 a lot has changed in the Mac hardware space I mean it's almost unrecognizable compared to how it was back in 2016 early 2017 it went from basically what seemed like a dead end so now we just have this this wealth of choices for as much grief as people gave Apple's executive team for the direction or the misdirection of the Mac a few years ago and it was well deserved no doubt I mean they no doubt her that course from Mac users about the state of Mac hardware or the poor state of Mac hardware but I think that same team deserves credit for orchestrating what has been a really promising turnaround over the last few years first and foremost Apple had to do something that is an the admit that it was wrong admit that it was going in the wrong direction reverse course and really changed things and the executive team deserves some credit for that because they did pump the brakes they stopped and said hey we're going in the wrong direction let's turn around and let's do this thing over and that's what we've seen over the last few years with all these Mack releases it's been a really good thing to be clear it's not all daisies and roses Apple still has some ways to go to fix Mac hardware keyboards right but compared to 2016-2017 it's awesome so let's start with the very first product if you will that helped kick off this reemergence of Mac hardware before any new Mac hardware was released the e GPU or external graphics processing unit was really the first tangible evidence that Apple was trying to go in a whole new direction really trying to cater to professionals initially external graphics chassis support required workarounds within Mac West but eventually it became officially supported within the Mac OS beta Apple is partnered with a GPU maker SONET at WWDC they've also worked together with Blackmagic so now you can buy the Blackmagic EGP you and Blackmagic a GPU pro in Apple stores EGP use basically give the user the ability to add external graphics compute powers via Thunderbolt 3 just by plugging in a single cable so even if you have something really underpowered from a graphical perspective like a MacBook Air or a Mac Mini you can simply hook up one of these EGP you units and instantly have access to graphics compute power now it's not the same as having you know for long PCIe access but you might be surprised to find out how much an e GPU can help you from compute perspective you can see a definite difference when connecting an e GPU and editing video in something like DaVinci Resolve or even Final Cut Pro 10 this was really the first indication that Apple was taking professional 1/2 need seriously with official support for the e GPU with in Mac OS the GPUs are nice right but it was really the release of the iMac Pro in late 2017 that solidified apples desire to get back into good graces of professional Mac users in the iMac Pro lived up to its name it still lives up to its name it was a professional all-in-one computer it was super powerful had Intel Xeon processors you know you can get an 8 core base model or go all the way up to an 18 core model you have much more powerful graphic options you have more RAM and some really good machine for professional video editors graphic artists whatever the case may be but my favorite thing about the iMac Pro and probably still one of my favorite things about it today it's just how whisper quiet at all is compared to the regular iMac it is so much quieter and that's really to me one of the things I have value about the iMac Pro now the i/o Mac Pro for as good as it is it's a pretty specialized product not everyone has five grand laying around to blow on a on a Mac desktop so you're not going to have a lot of people buying it in volume like you would the MacBook Pro which is by far Apple's the most popular desktop computer so it was the 2018 MacBook Pro that really really started to get this ball rolling for Apple and although it did not address the terrible butterfly keyboard switches it did provide some much-needed CPU upgrades much-needed graphics upgrades and it also allowed for the very first time users to configure more than 16 gigabytes of RAM which was a big deal and despite the 2018 MacBook Pros flaws with the butterfly keyboard of course and with with the whole throttling issue it offered in a new way of thinking for Apple and his customers no longer what Apple wait and wait and wait to push out updates but now we get more regular spec buff updates and that's a very good thing for Mac users so we get that new MacBook Pro and I'm like man yes apples back there family back on their game but then we get the 2018 Mac Mini and then I'm like wow okay apples back for real the Mac Mini has just been updated and it comes in a Space Gray colorway with a six core i7 CPU option with ten gigabit ethernet as an option mind blown right but then you have four Thunderbolt three ports shared across two Thunderbolt three buses and then I'm like wow this thing is the most versatile Mac ever right at the time at least until the Mac Pro but this is the versatile Mac ever you can hook up all sorts of external Thunderbolt 3 peripherals to it it's not fast from a graphical perspective but you can always connect an e GPU right this machine provides a ridiculous bang for the buck even the RAM inside the 2018 Mac Mini is not soldered down so if you're brave you can actually go in there and upgrade the RAM yourself it wasn't the iMac Pro it wasn't the MacBook Pro it was the Mac Mini that really like shook me in like men apples back for real they're taking this stuff seriously and like the Mac Mini the the macbook air seemed like it was on hiatus forever I mean we didn't see a macbook air for years and then in 2018 here we go a new MacBook Air with that iconic teardrop design for the very first time the MacBook Air gets a Retina display that was the big deal now granted it's not the most powerful machine in the world but it's the cheapest laptop that Apple sells it comes with a Retina display it has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and it's already been updated since that released back in 2018 and I think it's a pretty good buy if you're just a casual users you know doing the internet stuff doing email word processing spreadsheets things of that nature so the next big release was the 2099 max specifically the 5k iMac these new iMacs feature quad core six core and even eight core I nine processors and after doing some testing I saw that Apple's 5k iMac actually bested the entry-level iMac Pro in some respects basically for half the price of an iMac Pro you get a 5k iMac that goes toe-to-toe with Apple's Pro Focus machine the granite doesn't do everything as well as the iMac pro for instance it's much louder than the iMac Pro but it does feature user upgradeable rim I actually was able to put a hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of RAM inside that 5k iMac check the tutorial for more details and then in mid 2019 Apple pushed out another spec bump this is actually after another respect bump that they did I think it was late 2018 or they they pushed out new Radeon pro graphics and I actually didn't even mention that but that just shows you how seriously Apple is taking this whole thing but this mid 2019 spec bump for the first time provided in eight core CPU inside an apple laptop it also addressed some of the primary concerns with throttling of the prior-year model so this was a really big deal this 2019 MacBook Pro really pushed the envelope as far as performance was concerned and then later in 2019 Apple issues an update to replace the entry-level MacBook Pro from 2017 that 13-inch model without the touch bar you remember that one so in 2019 Apple pushes out an update to replace that entry-level MacBook Pro with the $12.99 starting price this comes with the quad-core CPU it comes with the touch bar which is you know who cares about that but it also comes with touch ID which is awesome but this 1.4 gigahertz and that sounds puny right but it's a quad-core CPU the first time we've seen a quad-core CPU in Apple's entry-level MacBook Pro this is perhaps the greatest bang for the buck as far as math books are concerned it's about $200 more than the MacBook Air but if performance is something that matters to you maybe if you're editing the occasional video or maybe if you're doing a lot of video editing this is actually a fairly capable machine that can handle quite a bit all right so here we are the 16 inch MacBook Pro 2019 finally released with a fixed keyboard yes Apple abandons the butterfly switch keyboard and adopts or I should say RIA dops the scissor switch mechanism that is just so much better to type on yes it features a slightly larger display yes it features slightly higher resolution yes you can configure up to 64 gigabytes of RAM yes it has a pretty insane 6 speaker system but none of that stuff really matters when compared to the keyboard the keyboard is the standout feature with the 16 inch MacBook Pro finally we have a keyboard that's actually nice to type on in an Apple laptop go figure and although Apple still has a long way to go to get this keyboard and all of its other laptops this is the start this is the flagship MacBook Pro with the keyboard that's worthy of a flagship MacBook Pro I see this release as as the symbolic end of that disastrous period of Mac hardware now we as Mac users can look towards the future with with full confidence that Apple's not want to make this mistake again if the 16 inch MacBook Pro release is sort of the the symbolic into a disasterous era of Mac hardware then I see the new Mac Pro as the start of a new era remember it was way back in April of 2018 that Apple pre announced that new Mac Pro and now we finally have it and this new Mac Pro is everything that it was hyped up to be obviously it's very expensive but if you're a professional you're in the market for a pro Mac machine this is it now I used to label the Mac Mini as the most versatile Mac in Apple's lineup but that's obviously been supplanted by the new Mac Pro with the new Mac Pro you not only get external upgrade ability with Thunderbolt 3 but you also get access to PCIe s you can add your own graphics card you can add sound cards you can add capture cards you can even upgrade the RAM there's all sorts of things you can upgrade with this machine it is the most upgradable Mac ever and by far the most powerful Mac ever you can configure this thing with up to a 28 core CPU you can add just insane graphics via those MPX modules this thing is an absolute beast the last thing we're going to talk about is the pro display XDR again sort of a halo product mac pro display companion it's a 6k 32 inch display features ridiculous build quality insane contrast ratio and color reproduction this is a production monitor that people would use to edit feature films it features both a glossy standard option in a nano textured matte option for an extra thousand bucks and of course that stand is an extra thousand bucks as well and while this display in the Mac Pro are certainly not what I would call affordable I'm glad they exist because hopefully some of that technology will trickle down into other products that are more affordable so here's what I hope Apple takes from this whole experience basically three things number one please don't rest on your laurels don't like feel like you've made this amazing turnaround and then just let up off the throttle like keep going keep innovating keep releasing new products keep pushing out spec bumps the whole nine yards okay so don't let up off the throttle number two and perhaps most importantly listen to your customers like it was back in 2015 when people were complaining about that butterfly keyboard on the 12-inch MacBook I think it was 2015 somewhere around there if you would have listened then you would have had this whole fiasco where people at the Oscars are calling out your keyboards okay so number two please listen to your customers and then finally trickle some of that stuff down from the higher end to the lower end give us an affordable display with good build quality give us a Mac that we can upgrade internal components that doesn't cost as much as a Mac Pro hey Apple and then give us that 12-inch MacBook back I love that form factor maybe with an ARM processor and of course with a better keyboard folks what do you think about the state of Mac hardware in 2020 what do you think about this turnaround that Apple's made in the last three years do you think they've done enough do you think they've not done enough are you happy with the current state of Mac hardware let me know down below in the comment section and also don't forget it wouldn't be a back to the Mac without an awesome immaculee to give away we're giving away this Thunderbolt 3 dock from our friends over at cliff and one of the cool things is that you can install an nvme SSD inside this dock so that means you not only get additional io but you get lots of extra storage as well so if you like to win this dot head over to our Instagram page I'll leave a comment on the post related to back to the Mac episode number 17 and make sure you follow us on Instagram as well and that's it there's nothing else to it I make it super simple and super easy for you guys just because we appreciate our viewers very much if you feel like it please hit the like button if you appreciate this video and also subscribe if you haven't done so already let me know what you guys think down below in the comments this is Jeff with nine-to-five Mac special thanks to hyper for sponsoring 905 Mac YouTube of course hyper makes the hyperdrive gene to a ridiculously powerful six twelve or eighteen port hub for your Mac or iPad pro hit the link in the description to pre-order your hyperdrive gn2 right now for a special introductory price and extra things to hyper for sponsoring 905 Machow's it going guys and gals Jeff Benjamin with nine-to-five Mack this is episode number 17 back to the Mack and I got to tell you folks Mac hardware is healthy again that's the title of this episode up back to the Mack because remember it was just a few years ago where Mack Hardware seemed like it had no future but there has been a remarkable turnaround over the last few years and that's what we're going to discuss in this week's episode but of course we also have a giveaway in this episode so you definitely don't want to miss how you can win this Thunderbolt 3 dock from our friends over a cliff so stay tuned for that hit the subscribe button if you haven't already and then smash that like button oh I can't say it alright so let's get to the episode but first of all this word from our sponsor the hyperdrive gin to USBC hubs come with awesome features like 4k 60 Hertz video support or UHS 2 SD card reader support for super fast video and photo transfers to your Mac and then there's the incredible 100 watt USB power delivery and superfast USB 3.1 gen2 10 gigabits per second connectivity to your SSDs the hyperdrive gen 2 comes in a 6 12 and a whopping 18 port version with tons of i/o it's great for the MacBook Pro but it's also ideal for the iPad pro hit the link in the description to pre-order your hyperdrive Gentoo for a special introductory price special things to hyper for sponsoring 95 Mac on YouTube it wasn't that long ago when I had to ask myself the unthinkable question from the perspective of a Mac user what I truly have to start researching Windows machines yeah I know that sounds crazy but I was in that spot I know a lot of Mac users probably many people watching this episode were in that same sort of mind state because the future of Mac just seemed like it was at a daddy and it seemed like Apple didn't care about the Mac it seemed like Apple didn't care about professional Mac users the state of the Mac in 2016-2017 was extremely dire thankfully however Apple sort of woke up and realized hey this is a real problem and we have to fix it right now so it was I think April of 2017 they have that roundtable where they invited some journalists and they discussed the Mac they were very candid as candid as you're gonna be if your Apple right but they were somewhat candid about the state of Mac how they had dropped the ball the mistakes they made with the Mac Pro design and they even did something unprecedented for Apple at the time they actually pre announced to hardware products they pre announced the iMac Pro and they also pre announced the upcoming or at the time upcoming Mac Pro the modular Mac Pro so now fast for 20/20 a lot has changed in the Mac hardware space I mean it's almost unrecognizable compared to how it was back in 2016 early 2017 it went from basically what seemed like a dead end so now we just have this this wealth of choices for as much grief as people gave Apple's executive team for the direction or the misdirection of the Mac a few years ago and it was well deserved no doubt I mean they no doubt her that course from Mac users about the state of Mac hardware or the poor state of Mac hardware but I think that same team deserves credit for orchestrating what has been a really promising turnaround over the last few years first and foremost Apple had to do something that is an the admit that it was wrong admit that it was going in the wrong direction reverse course and really changed things and the executive team deserves some credit for that because they did pump the brakes they stopped and said hey we're going in the wrong direction let's turn around and let's do this thing over and that's what we've seen over the last few years with all these Mack releases it's been a really good thing to be clear it's not all daisies and roses Apple still has some ways to go to fix Mac hardware keyboards right but compared to 2016-2017 it's awesome so let's start with the very first product if you will that helped kick off this reemergence of Mac hardware before any new Mac hardware was released the e GPU or external graphics processing unit was really the first tangible evidence that Apple was trying to go in a whole new direction really trying to cater to professionals initially external graphics chassis support required workarounds within Mac West but eventually it became officially supported within the Mac OS beta Apple is partnered with a GPU maker SONET at WWDC they've also worked together with Blackmagic so now you can buy the Blackmagic EGP you and Blackmagic a GPU pro in Apple stores EGP use basically give the user the ability to add external graphics compute powers via Thunderbolt 3 just by plugging in a single cable so even if you have something really underpowered from a graphical perspective like a MacBook Air or a Mac Mini you can simply hook up one of these EGP you units and instantly have access to graphics compute power now it's not the same as having you know for long PCIe access but you might be surprised to find out how much an e GPU can help you from compute perspective you can see a definite difference when connecting an e GPU and editing video in something like DaVinci Resolve or even Final Cut Pro 10 this was really the first indication that Apple was taking professional 1/2 need seriously with official support for the e GPU with in Mac OS the GPUs are nice right but it was really the release of the iMac Pro in late 2017 that solidified apples desire to get back into good graces of professional Mac users in the iMac Pro lived up to its name it still lives up to its name it was a professional all-in-one computer it was super powerful had Intel Xeon processors you know you can get an 8 core base model or go all the way up to an 18 core model you have much more powerful graphic options you have more RAM and some really good machine for professional video editors graphic artists whatever the case may be but my favorite thing about the iMac Pro and probably still one of my favorite things about it today it's just how whisper quiet at all is compared to the regular iMac it is so much quieter and that's really to me one of the things I have value about the iMac Pro now the i/o Mac Pro for as good as it is it's a pretty specialized product not everyone has five grand laying around to blow on a on a Mac desktop so you're not going to have a lot of people buying it in volume like you would the MacBook Pro which is by far Apple's the most popular desktop computer so it was the 2018 MacBook Pro that really really started to get this ball rolling for Apple and although it did not address the terrible butterfly keyboard switches it did provide some much-needed CPU upgrades much-needed graphics upgrades and it also allowed for the very first time users to configure more than 16 gigabytes of RAM which was a big deal and despite the 2018 MacBook Pros flaws with the butterfly keyboard of course and with with the whole throttling issue it offered in a new way of thinking for Apple and his customers no longer what Apple wait and wait and wait to push out updates but now we get more regular spec buff updates and that's a very good thing for Mac users so we get that new MacBook Pro and I'm like man yes apples back there family back on their game but then we get the 2018 Mac Mini and then I'm like wow okay apples back for real the Mac Mini has just been updated and it comes in a Space Gray colorway with a six core i7 CPU option with ten gigabit ethernet as an option mind blown right but then you have four Thunderbolt three ports shared across two Thunderbolt three buses and then I'm like wow this thing is the most versatile Mac ever right at the time at least until the Mac Pro but this is the versatile Mac ever you can hook up all sorts of external Thunderbolt 3 peripherals to it it's not fast from a graphical perspective but you can always connect an e GPU right this machine provides a ridiculous bang for the buck even the RAM inside the 2018 Mac Mini is not soldered down so if you're brave you can actually go in there and upgrade the RAM yourself it wasn't the iMac Pro it wasn't the MacBook Pro it was the Mac Mini that really like shook me in like men apples back for real they're taking this stuff seriously and like the Mac Mini the the macbook air seemed like it was on hiatus forever I mean we didn't see a macbook air for years and then in 2018 here we go a new MacBook Air with that iconic teardrop design for the very first time the MacBook Air gets a Retina display that was the big deal now granted it's not the most powerful machine in the world but it's the cheapest laptop that Apple sells it comes with a Retina display it has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and it's already been updated since that released back in 2018 and I think it's a pretty good buy if you're just a casual users you know doing the internet stuff doing email word processing spreadsheets things of that nature so the next big release was the 2099 max specifically the 5k iMac these new iMacs feature quad core six core and even eight core I nine processors and after doing some testing I saw that Apple's 5k iMac actually bested the entry-level iMac Pro in some respects basically for half the price of an iMac Pro you get a 5k iMac that goes toe-to-toe with Apple's Pro Focus machine the granite doesn't do everything as well as the iMac pro for instance it's much louder than the iMac Pro but it does feature user upgradeable rim I actually was able to put a hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of RAM inside that 5k iMac check the tutorial for more details and then in mid 2019 Apple pushed out another spec bump this is actually after another respect bump that they did I think it was late 2018 or they they pushed out new Radeon pro graphics and I actually didn't even mention that but that just shows you how seriously Apple is taking this whole thing but this mid 2019 spec bump for the first time provided in eight core CPU inside an apple laptop it also addressed some of the primary concerns with throttling of the prior-year model so this was a really big deal this 2019 MacBook Pro really pushed the envelope as far as performance was concerned and then later in 2019 Apple issues an update to replace the entry-level MacBook Pro from 2017 that 13-inch model without the touch bar you remember that one so in 2019 Apple pushes out an update to replace that entry-level MacBook Pro with the $12.99 starting price this comes with the quad-core CPU it comes with the touch bar which is you know who cares about that but it also comes with touch ID which is awesome but this 1.4 gigahertz and that sounds puny right but it's a quad-core CPU the first time we've seen a quad-core CPU in Apple's entry-level MacBook Pro this is perhaps the greatest bang for the buck as far as math books are concerned it's about $200 more than the MacBook Air but if performance is something that matters to you maybe if you're editing the occasional video or maybe if you're doing a lot of video editing this is actually a fairly capable machine that can handle quite a bit all right so here we are the 16 inch MacBook Pro 2019 finally released with a fixed keyboard yes Apple abandons the butterfly switch keyboard and adopts or I should say RIA dops the scissor switch mechanism that is just so much better to type on yes it features a slightly larger display yes it features slightly higher resolution yes you can configure up to 64 gigabytes of RAM yes it has a pretty insane 6 speaker system but none of that stuff really matters when compared to the keyboard the keyboard is the standout feature with the 16 inch MacBook Pro finally we have a keyboard that's actually nice to type on in an Apple laptop go figure and although Apple still has a long way to go to get this keyboard and all of its other laptops this is the start this is the flagship MacBook Pro with the keyboard that's worthy of a flagship MacBook Pro I see this release as as the symbolic end of that disastrous period of Mac hardware now we as Mac users can look towards the future with with full confidence that Apple's not want to make this mistake again if the 16 inch MacBook Pro release is sort of the the symbolic into a disasterous era of Mac hardware then I see the new Mac Pro as the start of a new era remember it was way back in April of 2018 that Apple pre announced that new Mac Pro and now we finally have it and this new Mac Pro is everything that it was hyped up to be obviously it's very expensive but if you're a professional you're in the market for a pro Mac machine this is it now I used to label the Mac Mini as the most versatile Mac in Apple's lineup but that's obviously been supplanted by the new Mac Pro with the new Mac Pro you not only get external upgrade ability with Thunderbolt 3 but you also get access to PCIe s you can add your own graphics card you can add sound cards you can add capture cards you can even upgrade the RAM there's all sorts of things you can upgrade with this machine it is the most upgradable Mac ever and by far the most powerful Mac ever you can configure this thing with up to a 28 core CPU you can add just insane graphics via those MPX modules this thing is an absolute beast the last thing we're going to talk about is the pro display XDR again sort of a halo product mac pro display companion it's a 6k 32 inch display features ridiculous build quality insane contrast ratio and color reproduction this is a production monitor that people would use to edit feature films it features both a glossy standard option in a nano textured matte option for an extra thousand bucks and of course that stand is an extra thousand bucks as well and while this display in the Mac Pro are certainly not what I would call affordable I'm glad they exist because hopefully some of that technology will trickle down into other products that are more affordable so here's what I hope Apple takes from this whole experience basically three things number one please don't rest on your laurels don't like feel like you've made this amazing turnaround and then just let up off the throttle like keep going keep innovating keep releasing new products keep pushing out spec bumps the whole nine yards okay so don't let up off the throttle number two and perhaps most importantly listen to your customers like it was back in 2015 when people were complaining about that butterfly keyboard on the 12-inch MacBook I think it was 2015 somewhere around there if you would have listened then you would have had this whole fiasco where people at the Oscars are calling out your keyboards okay so number two please listen to your customers and then finally trickle some of that stuff down from the higher end to the lower end give us an affordable display with good build quality give us a Mac that we can upgrade internal components that doesn't cost as much as a Mac Pro hey Apple and then give us that 12-inch MacBook back I love that form factor maybe with an ARM processor and of course with a better keyboard folks what do you think about the state of Mac hardware in 2020 what do you think about this turnaround that Apple's made in the last three years do you think they've done enough do you think they've not done enough are you happy with the current state of Mac hardware let me know down below in the comment section and also don't forget it wouldn't be a back to the Mac without an awesome immaculee to give away we're giving away this Thunderbolt 3 dock from our friends over at cliff and one of the cool things is that you can install an nvme SSD inside this dock so that means you not only get additional io but you get lots of extra storage as well so if you like to win this dot head over to our Instagram page I'll leave a comment on the post related to back to the Mac episode number 17 and make sure you follow us on Instagram as well and that's it there's nothing else to it I make it super simple and super easy for you guys just because we appreciate our viewers very much if you feel like it please hit the like button if you appreciate this video and also subscribe if you haven't done so already let me know what you guys think down below in the comments this is Jeff with nine-to-five Mac special thanks to hyper for sponsoring 905 Mac YouTube of course hyper makes the hyperdrive gene to a ridiculously powerful six twelve or eighteen port hub for your Mac or iPad pro hit the link in the description to pre-order your hyperdrive gn2 right now for a special introductory price and extra things to hyper for sponsoring 905 Mac\n"