"Pro" or not "Pro"
Friday, June 15, 2012 at 10:20PM 
Lots of discussions on the web and Twitter about the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.
Every review I've seen have gushed about how stunning the screen is, but there's an undercurrent of dissent about Apples new flagship product.
in order to build the slimmest and lightest form factor, Apple have gone down the route of using bespoke components and removing upgradability.
The new MacBook Pro with Retina Display has been given a Repairability Score of 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair) by iFixit, which has drawn many comments of it being "the least fixable computer ever" due to the build approach taken by Apple. RAM soldered onto the motherboard, battery glued in, all sorts of build techniques Apple have adopted to build to a new spec of size and performance.
This lack of upgradability has made many commenters question if it deserves the "Pro" name.
It is true that there are no user upgradable parts or no exchangeable battery, in fact, the new MacBook Pro should be considered a sealed unit, specifically designed for power and portability.
The new MacBook Pro is the most powerful laptop Apple has ever produced. It's also arguably one of the most flexible and extendible laptops, due to its connectivity.
Dual USB2/3 ports, dual Thunderbolt ports, HDMI port, Analog & Digital audio out, SDXC Card slot, full wireless connectivity via WiFi and BlueTooth.
Need wired Ethernet, there's an inexpensive Thunderbolt to gigabit Ethernet adaptor.
Need FireWire? Again, a new Thunderbolt to FIrewire adaptor is (will be!) available.
Memory and Processor? Takes a full 16GB of RAM and the latest quad core processors. 16GB RAM and Quad core processor in a laptop for goodness sake!
Storage? 256GB or 512GB as standard, or pay the extra to get a whopping 768GB.
Want to capture hours of full res video? Connect a Thunderbolt drive or array of drives working at lightening speed.
No, the reason for disagreement over the "Pro" name is that you're locked into the initial configuration of the machine that you buy. As a side note, It looks like you may be able to use a third part upgrade to the SSD drive, but no RAM upgrade is possible.
Much gnashing of teeth that you can't buy a machine with minimum RAM and then upgrade using cheaper 3rd party RAM. This may have been a valid point back in the day when Apple RAM was ridiculously expensive, but to max out the RAM to 16GB is just $200.
So go with the configuration that's going to last you for the next few years when you buy. Considering most "Pro" users will be buying the machine for business use, surely this cannot be an issue?
How soon would you want to upgrade to more than 16GB RAM in a laptop anyway?
In my humble opinion, the true meaning of a Pro machine is performance, flexibility and expandability.
For the new MacBook Pro, performance is a given.
Flexibility and expandability is delivered in spades via the inclusion of USB3, Thunderbolt, HDMI, etc. Whilst Thunderbolt is still in it's infancy, we'll see tons of specialised outboard equipment becoming available over the next year or two.
As far as I'm concerned, the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display is a true Pro machine, no question.
Update - Christine Warren has done a great piece over on her blog along the same lines but with an interesting analogy to cars - well worth a read! Screw Upgrades: The New MacBook Pro IS the Future
Reader Comments (6)
To me this sounds like what people said when the iPhone and iPad came out. Remember people we concerned that you can't replace the battery in those devices too? I for one am happy that we are moving towards more "appliance" type computing devices. Buy AppleCare and if anything goes wrong take to Apple and have them fix it.
I *do* think Apple needs at least one computer that is expandable, and that would be the Mac Pro. Too bad the upgrade was so meager - let's hope they have something nice come early next year.
Thanks Don. I ordered mine day 1 (to arrive in about two weeks). After reading some of the articles I started to question my decision. I priced out the upgradable 15" MBP (with hi-res no-glare display) and a third party 480GB SSD. It would cost more than the Retina model, would be heavier, would not have the Retina display and only have 8GB RAM (although it would have a CD/DVD). I could wait for the price of the third party SSD to come down, but that would come at the expense of the machine's performance... no thanks.
I did mention this on twitter, but it does depend on how a pro user is defined, I would deem you Don a pro user yet you use an 11" Air as a production machine. A developer may need only so much power but want the detail from the screen. Now I understand that some may feel the inability to improve at least the ram means that a machine cannot be called a pro machine. But I do think that moving forward Apple see the adaptability that Thunderbolt gives a user for attaching accessories is one of the pro part of their machines.
Most people even pro uses tend to get the most power at the point of purchase, and I wonder if this is what Apple have seen. I also think that they are keen on keeping an eye on sales from the different sectors that they sell to. The fact that they have not yet moved completely over, indicates to me that this is a test bed. They will sell bucket loads of them, but Apple will keep an eye on what sectors are buying.
We have come from a world where upgrade ability was needed on an annual basis, but I've seen that slowly disappearing as we get close to reaching machines with enough power to do 'most' jobs.
I'm thinking of upgrading to one of the new Airs, I'll sell my old one, Apple products hold their value incredibly well over any other computer I know of, this may not last forever but it does enable an upgrade to the latest machine easier than just 'topping up' your old machine.
Don't take this as a defence for Apple not to have machines that can be upgraded, but I do wonder if we are getting to a stage where Apple sell one product which has the max amount of power that they can install from the start.
I tend to agree Don I also see this as a pro machine, as I said it all depends how one defines a pro user.
One last thing I am still confused by the adding of a HDMI port, personally I go for another (possibly 2) Thunderbolt ports, and sell an adaptor for HDMI like they have for Ethernet, the reason behind my thinking is to go with the power of Thunderbolts and adaptability, and a HDMI port can really only do one thing.
I was going to end this with 'made on a Mac' but I'm on my iPad, deemed a toy by many at the start, but now used by many power users as a real device. 😉
Let's see now. Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro. These are the "pro" apps that Apple produce. Then there's Adobe's Creative Suite. Hmmm, what do you know. Two of Apple's and one (or more?) of Adobe's have been updated at launch to take advantage of the super-high resolution graphics and I think everyone will acknowledge that these products will run really well on the new machine.
So, if all the pro software runs really well – and is practical, thanks to oodles of RAM and Flash – then yes, of course it is a pro machine.
I'll not be buying because I'm only 8 months into ownership of my first MacBook Pro which has an SSD boot drive and fires up Photoshop CS5 in about 3 seconds.
And reference the upgrade path for Thunderbolt I mentioned.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresschassis.html
If you have to pay 2500$ for a laptop 200$ is quite a lot to add to. Furthermore in 2 years time (when you would want to upgrade if you had 8gb of ram) they would cost 50$. I think apple could have done better but they choose this route so they can get the extra $. Just because there is a pro tag it doesn't mean only pros would want to buy this piece of hardware. And all of this when we talk in dollars. Why don't we check the euro or pound prices and upgrades and you will see they cost much more.