My current employer was the first ever to provide me with a Mac, were I so inclined. (I was.) I have always had to buy my own PowerBook or MacBook and figure out how to do things like make it work with Entourage or connect to the district’s Exchange server. When I started in the Summer of 2016, though, I found a MacBook Adorable on my desk. The Adorable’s size and portability were perfect for what I needed, which was walk around to different schools and observe staff members and sit in on meetings. When at my desk, I plugged it into a display and benefitted from the productivity gains you realize with a large screen. It really did everything I needed, if sometimes a little slowly.

Fast-forward four years and I decided to try out a 16“ MacBook Pro when the option to upgrade came up. I had taken to carrying my iPad Pro around with me everywhere, and as Flash has been phased out by many of our software vendors, I was able to use (just about) all of our educational software on iPadOS. With a portable 12” device capable of doing just about everything I might need to do when out and about, I figured, why not try something ostentatious?

Keyboard

I’m not one of those people who hated the butterfly keyboard on the Adorable, but I liked it a lot more conceptually than in actual usage. I had a 2013 MacBook Pro that I had bought for myself before coming into possession of the Adorable, and I very quickly found myself using the Pro when I was in the office because of the screen size and the keyboard. The Pro’s keys didn’t have the central stability of the Adorable’s, but they felt much better. The Adorable feels almost like you whacking on a touch screen keyboard: There’s a little key depression, but not much.

The Sixteen is quite possibly the best laptop keyboard I’ve ever typed on. The keys are centered and stable, but there’s a good bit of travel and an otherwise quiet and satisfying thunk when you depress a key. It is a much improved version of the keyboard I enjoyed on my 2011 MacBook Air and the 2013 Pro that replaced it. And you won’t disturb your officemates.

TouchBar

I like it. I wouldn’t so much were there not an escape key. I also could live without it. But it’s delightful to see what developers thought would make the best use of the tiny screen. In Excel, OmniFocus, and the Finder, there are thoughtful affordances built in. The TouchBar isn’t a reason to replace an older computer, but it is userful and an interesting rethinking of the function key row.

Screen

The Sixteen’s screen is glorious. Do you need it if you were happy with a 13“ screen? Probably not. But if you ever had a 15” PowerBook before the dawn of smaller screens, you cannot but help be transported back to that time. I had G4 Titanium and Aluminum PowerBooks in the early and mid-aughts, and while I never regretted moving to the (black polycarbonate) 13“ MacBook and later the Air and Pro, I do very much like this screen size. True, it’s luggable where the 13” is portable, but the Sixteen is still a boon companion on a jaunt outside of the office. It fits in my laptop bag, no sweat.

Other Stuff

• The speakers are loud and clear for laptop speakers.

• The trackpad is bigger than your iPhone. A lot bigger.

• Touch ID came and went on the higher end iPhones and iPads, but it’s here in spades on the Sixteen. Logging in with your thumb or unlocking 1Password is a welcome affordance, especially if you don’t have an Apple Watch to unlock your Mac for you. If your’e used to Face ID, it can feel like a regression. Likewise, it’s not useful in clamshell mode, which is pretty much how I use my Apple notebooks at work.

• It’s a beast, power-wise, for what I need. The only thing that I’ve done that’s gotten the fans blowing is recording an hour-long Google Meet.

• My unit does not like operating in clamshell mode when connected to my Dell 27" display via HDMI and an Apple Thunderbolt dongle. Displayport to Thunderbolt is fine, though.