Episode Summary
Executive Summary: The episode opens by acknowledging the 2016 U.S. election results and then largely shifts into a deep dive on Apple’s new MacBook Pro, Touch Bar, USB-C dongles, external displays, and the future of the Mac lineup. The hosts debate Apple’s design choices, the economics and ergonomics of adapters, the possibility of an iMac Pro or ARM Macs, and whether Apple is exiting parts of the pro hardware market.
Main Topics: Election acknowledgement and return to normal programming: The hosts briefly address the shock and frustration over the 2016 U.S. election, choosing to acknowledge it without dwelling, and deciding to proceed with a regular tech show as a temporary reprieve. Touch Bar impressions and desktop ergonomics: They discuss Touch Bar behavior, including touch-sensitive areas beyond the visible display, and compare a simulated Touch Bar on iPad to the real thing. They tentatively like the feature but worry about ergonomics on desktop setups. Mac Pro uncertainty and the iMac Pro hypothesis: A long debate centers on whether Apple has effectively killed the cylindrical Mac Pro, replaced it with an all-in-one pro machine, or may reimagine the product as an iMac Pro with stronger internal hardware and better thermals. USB-C/dongle transition and Apple accessory pricing: The hosts analyze Apple’s temporary price cuts on USB-C adapters and LG 5K displays, arguing that Apple is responding to criticism but also trying to preserve margins and justify its port transition. External displays, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort constraints: They explain why 5K displays required multi-stream DisplayPort tunneling over Thunderbolt 3 and why DisplayPort 1.3 alone would not solve everything, highlighting Apple’s technical workaround. ARM Macs and long-term platform shifts: The conversation revisits the idea of Apple moving Mac hardware to ARM, with the hosts weighing performance gains, developer impact, Windows compatibility, Thunderbolt licensing, and changing Intel process advantages. Mac cloning and outsourcing hardware roles: They discuss nostalgia for the Macintosh clone era and consider whether Apple might partially outsource high-end hardware or peripheral categories, as it already appears to be doing with displays and accessories.
Key Arguments: A regular show was preferable to a political discussion because the hosts and many listeners needed a temporary break from election news. The Touch Bar seems conceptually useful, and Apple has already built broad software support for it, but its desktop ergonomics may be awkward because it changes the user’s focal distance. Apple’s new MacBook Pro design externalizes complexity into dongles and adapters, which may be less reliable and more expensive than internal ports, especially for display and Ethernet use cases. The temporary discount on Apple’s adapters looks like damage control and PR management after criticism that the USB-C transition was a money grab. The Mac Pro’s problems are not just market size; Apple changed the product in ways that alienated pro users, and the current cylinder appears to have reliability/thermals issues, especially GPU failures. A hypothetical iMac Pro could satisfy many pro needs if Apple preserves adequate cooling, Xeon-class or strong desktop CPUs, ECC RAM, and a high-end GPU. ARM Macs are becoming more plausible because iPhone chips are rapidly approaching or surpassing some Mac performance levels, though software compatibility and developer workflows remain major hurdles. Apple’s current strategy shows it is willing to outsource parts of its hardware stack (e.g., LG displays, Belkin accessories), which makes some kind of partner-based pro hardware model seem less impossible than before.
Data Points: Election date: Night of November 9th, 2016 - The recording immediately follows the U.S. presidential election. Touch Bar simulated device size: 9.7-inch iPad Pro used for testing - One host ran a Touch Bar simulator on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro as a stand-in for the real bar. Touch Bar real-estate estimate: About 10–11 inches long - Hosts estimated the actual Touch Bar length from photos. DisplayPort 1.2 capability: Up to 4K at 60 fps at 10 bits per component - Used as the baseline constraint before discussing 5K display workarounds. DisplayPort 1.3 capability: 5K at 60 fps at 8 bits per component - Explained as insufficient for Apple’s preferred 5K workflow. Thunderbolt 3 leftover bandwidth: 10 Gbps remaining - After tunneling two DisplayPort 1.2 streams, Thunderbolt 3 still has bandwidth for other traffic. LG 5K display price after cut: $974 - Apple temporarily discounted the LG 5K display until the end of the year. LG 5K display prior price: About $1,300 - Referenced as the previous sale price before the temporary discount. USB-C to USB-A adapter price: $9 - Temporarily discounted from $19. USB-C to Lightning cable price: $19 - Temporarily discounted from $25. Mac Pro 8-core configuration price: $7,300 - Compared against a similarly configured Dell workstation. Mac Pro 12-core configuration price: $8,800 - Referenced in the discussion of high-end workstation pricing. Comparable Dell workstation price: $5,400 - Used to illustrate the Mac Pro’s premium relative to PC hardware. Mac Pro GPU issue: Frequent GPU failures in the cylinder design - The hosts describe a known reliability concern with the 2013 Mac Pro. Betterment scale: $1.5 billion managed for over 180,000 customers - Sponsor-read statistic during the episode. Eero update count: 12 app updates since launch - Sponsor-read statistic about Eero’s product development.
Pivotal Quotes: "we wanted to acknowledge that it is a thing and it happened and we're upset. But otherwise, carry on." — Host: The opening explanation for why the show briefly acknowledges the election and then returns to normal programming. "it's kind of a weird compromise. Like they almost got it to go edge to edge, but not quite." — Host: Describing the Touch Bar’s partially touch-sensitive blank area near the left edge. "if this thing is truly either dead or postponed or on hold or whatever, to try to convince them that I don't think that's the right move." — Host: Explaining the intent behind the Mac Pro article and the discussion of Apple’s pro hardware strategy.
Implications: Listeners are encouraged to expect a painful but temporary transition to USB-C, continued debate over Apple’s pro hardware commitment, and a future where ARM Macs or iMac Pro-style machines may become more plausible as Apple reshapes the Mac line.