Yesterday we reported that the new MacBook Pro lineup will be housing a proprietary SSD which is also hard to remove. One thing we do want to clarify, we failed to mention, is that the entry level MacBook Pro 13″ will not have a proprietary SSD. It’s the higher end MacBook Pros (with TouchBar) that will have the proprietary version which may not matter to many Mac buyers anyway. As one comment in our previous article mentions, which I agree with, most Mac users aren’t looking to upgrade their machines beyond what Apple provides. If you’re a gamer you’re likely going to be building or looking at PC hardware because that’s where the most value for gaming lies, but I stand by my comment that some users would like the option.
Now that we have some clarification, these new proprietary SSDs may not be all that bad because it seems they’re super freaking fast. Before you go all Hulk on me, probably not super freaking fast for high-end gaming but super freaking fast for what Mac users use their machines for. Many Mac users are content creators such as videographers, photographers, graphic designers and professionals like that. I use my Mac for Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, After Affects, Photoshop not gaming.
The 2016 13-in. MacBook Pro’s specs claim it has sequential read/write speeds of 3.1Gbps and 2.1Gbps per second, respectively. The new 15-in MacBook Pro ups the write speeds to 2.2Gbps, while the reads remain the same as the 13-in. –Computerworld
The new MacBook Pro does smoke the competition when it comes to its flash storage. It transfered about 5GB worth of files in just 10 seconds, which translates to 508.9 megabytes per second. –LaptopMag
So while these new drives are proprietary they seem to be performing really well, well enough for what most Mac users will be using them for. As I also stated in my previous article, companies like OWC have made replacement SSDs in the past for Mac and there’s no doubt they’ll do the same for this round. It may take a few months to a year for the market to see those drives but they should appear at some point. It’s also fair to point out another metric from Laptop Mag’s review of the 13″ MacBook Pro quoted below.
On Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance, the 13-inch MacBook Pro scored 7,053. That’s above the ultraportable category average of 6,618, but below the mark posted by the $1,099 Dell XPS 13 with a 7th-generation Core i5 processor (7,287). Powered by 7th-generation Core i7 chips, the $1,300 HP Spectre x360 (8,147) and $1,200 Lenovo Yoga 910 (8,102) also outpaced the MacBook Pro. –LaptopMag
No laptop is perfect and many people complaining about the new MacBook Pro lineup probably never had intentions to ever buy one anyway. I’ll be picking up a 15″ MacBook Pro in the next month or two and will have my review up as soon as I spend some time with it. Not having an upgradeable SSD doesn’t bother me but I certainly understand that it would bother other people.
What do you think? Do you need to have an upgradeable system? Or are you happy with what you initially order? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.computerworld.com/article/3136714/data-storage/apples-new-macbook-pro-may-be-the-worlds-fastest-stock-laptop.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Computerworld[/button] [button link=”http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/macbook-pro-13-inch” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: LaptopMag[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
