John Gruber’s take on the new MacBook Pro and the overall state of the Mac

This is a bit of a long post, too multi-faceted to do it justice with a few call outs. But this one paragraph resonates big time:

To me, an iPad in notebook mode — connected to a keyboard cover — is so much less nice than a real notebook. And the difference is more stark when compared to a great notebook, like these MacBook Pros. There are advantages to the tablet form factor, but no tablet will ever be as nice as a notebook as these MacBook Pros. I also prefer MacOS over iOS for, well, “doing work”. I think I’m more productive on a Mac than I am on an iPad. I can’t prove it, but even if I’m wrong, the fact that I feel like it’s true matters. I always feel slightly hamstrung working on an iPad. I never do on a Mac (at least once I’ve got it configured with all the apps and little shortcuts, scripts, and utilities I use).

I love the idea of the Touch Bar, happy to have more functionality on my Mac. But the key element that keeps me on my Mac is the idea of a pointer I can leave in place. I move my mouse cursor to a spot and it stays there, marking time, at that exact same location, until I move it. Selecting and manipulating, copying and pasting text is another element I find superior in macOS.

I love my iPhone and iPad, use both every day, but for creating content, nothing compares to sitting down at my Mac.