[rc5150]

A) the device in question was provisioned by his employer, so it's not his laptop, ergo, the price is irrelevant. If he's not able to complete his work tasks on the device, then it's on him to communicate with his manager to procure a device that allows him to do so.

B) if the device was purchased by him, then the onus is on him to have researched the device's full functionality prior to the spending any amount in any currency.

C) "What Apple is doing is trying to squeeze even more profit out of all users who didn’t read the fine print."

Sounds a bit to me like the author of this blog is feeling a little guilty and self conscious about being apart of this subset of 'non-fine-print-readers'.

[eganist]

How does any of this detract from the absurdity that no MacBook Pro with the mainline M1/M2/M3 chips has been able to natively drive two external screens?

Being able to use two external screens is practically an expectation of any laptop at this point. I can understand the OP's point that this is ridiculous.

[ffsm8]

You're just able to buy a MacBook Pro with a non-pro CPU. This capability is definitely primarily for market segmentation (the power drain isn't a realistic argument in this scenario, as the user will almost always have power available when plugged into a display)

[bobsmooth]

>You're just able to buy a MacBook Pro with a non-pro CPU.

That doesn't strike you as misleading?

[M95D]

Nothing strikes me as misleading, because everything is misleading in today's world.

[hnbad]

Counterpoint: driving two screens is something a $500 Windows laptop could easily do years ago so Apple offering a "pro" MBP that can't do this is a surprising choice especially when other MBP laptops have been able to do so in the past at similar price points. That this is because the "pro" laptop actually uses a mobile chip just means it's misleading advertising by using the established MBP brand to sell a completely different product.

You should generally assume your customer is an idiot and while it is legal to take advantage of customers being idiots, it's still deliberately abusive and not something Apple is known for doing given its reputation.

His criticism is valid: this is not a product matching what customers are used to from the MBP product line and it's even labelled as "pro" suggesting more capabilities not fewer (though of course this is technically correct relative to the non-pro version of the same model). He doesn't feel "a little guilty and self conscious", he feels scammed and taken advantage of. Was it a scam? I don't think so, but it was (deliberately or unintentionally) misleading advertising.

[ctippett]

Absolutely agree with your first point. If this machine is such a detriment to OP's productivity, surely their time would be better spent communicating this with their IT/procurement team over making a public blog post.

[refulgentis]

The idea that you can't share an opinion on something unless you paid for it doesn't hold much water, for me.

Sure, he can bug the IT department for a different one.

Is he allowed to write about it if he got it as a gift? 20% off open box?

TFA lays out a ton of reasons why this is a particular problem beyond personal griping, ex. the cheaper MBA has a workaround that was promised to also land for the MacBook Pro, months ago, and it still hasn't.

[xlii]

It’s an interesting question you’re making.

If I’d got a 85” TV as a gift, should I complain about the fact it has 2 HDMIs instead of 6 I require? Such TVs are usually expensive so I could argue it should have 6 ports but then there’s some kind of compromise design is making.

I’d argue that having 2+ external monitors is not a standard cohort of users, and I’d check support before buying (in fact, numer of HDMI ports is one of the main parameter I check in TV contest). Yes, it doesn’t support that, it’s not a secret though.

Should it support? I, personally don’t care. Some people care. For those who care it’s design flaw, for those who don’t it’s not.

[AndrewOMartin]

It's not called a MacBook Standard Cohort though.

[xlii]

With tongue in cheek one could say it’s also not called Macbook 3D ;)

[tonynator]

It's on Apple to not sell a substandard product with missing features, and it's on Apple fanboys to not buy them. Neither will realistically happen.

[spacedcowboy]

Nah. Apple tells you what you're getting for your money in plain old English in white and black. If you don't read it, that's on you.

M3 Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz

M3 Pro Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI One external display supported at 8K resolution at 60Hz or one external display at 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI

M3 Max Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at 1 billion colors and: Up to four external displays: Up to three external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI Up to three external displays: Up to two external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or one external display with 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI

See also: American Airways absolutely refused to fly me first class when I only bought a cattle-class ticket. No, I didn't read any of the fine-print, but my ticket cost a load of money. American Airways need to fix their substandard product.

[refulgentis]

*stares at article*

I think Apple may have said something else.

*clicks "promised months ago"*

"Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that a software update for the 14-inch MacBook Pro will gain the ability to drive two external displays with the lid closed. The feature will work identically to how it works with the new M3 MacBook Air."

[spacedcowboy]

I mean, those are direct quotes from the current Apple.com website [1] under 'Tech Specs' about halfway down. The same information, in more wordy form is on the overview page (the default page for the MBP)

[1]: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

[refulgentis]

Correct

[tonynator]

A better analogy would be American Airways deciding to make economy stand instead of sit. And then a bunch of brainwashed American Airways consoomers continuing to buy and support the company because they're really good at marketing.

[lofenfew]

What a stupid response. I imagine you were among those who flagged this post as well. "ergo the price is irrelevant" the price is relevant for other people considering purchasing macs. "then the onus is on him to have researched the device's full functionality prior to the spending any amount in any currency" god forbid he help others in their research. "Sounds a bit to me like the author of this blog is feeling a little guilty and self conscious about being apart of this subset of 'non-fine-print-readers'." A subset maybe, but not a proper subset given nobody bar nobody reads every dot of fine print before every purchasing decision. What was the point of this comment?