It was the "Hello again" event in October 2016 that changed everything for Apple's laptop lineup. Phil Schiller stood on stage and introduced a machine that was, quite frankly, a shock to the system. People hated it. People loved it. Looking back now, the Apple MacBook Pro 2016 was arguably the most controversial computer the company ever released, and it’s basically the reason the current MacBook Pros look the way they do today.
If you bought one back then, you were a pioneer. Or a guinea pig.
The 2016 model wasn't just a spec bump. It was a complete teardown of what a "Pro" laptop was supposed to be. Apple killed the MagSafe charger, which everyone adored. They killed the SD card slot, which photographers needed. They even killed the glowing Apple logo. In their place, we got four USB-C ports and a thin strip of glass called the Touch Bar. Honestly, it felt like Apple was trying to force us into a future we weren't ready for yet.
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The Butterfly Keyboard Mess
We have to talk about the keyboard. It's the elephant in the room.
The Apple MacBook Pro 2016 introduced the second-generation butterfly mechanism. It was loud. It was clicky. It had almost zero travel. But the real problem wasn't the feel; it was the reliability. A single speck of dust could—and often did—render a key totally useless. You’d type "apple" and get "appple" or nothing at all. This led to massive class-action lawsuits and a repair program that lasted for years.
Keyboard failures became the defining legacy of this era. Casey Neistat and other tech influencers documented the struggle of having to send a $2,000 machine in for repair just because the "B" key stopped working. It was a mess. Even though the 2016 keys felt more stable than the 12-inch MacBook that preceded it, they were fundamentally fragile.
If you’re looking at a used 2016 model today, check those keys. Seriously.
Why the Touch Bar Was a Weird Bet
Then there was the Touch Bar. It replaced the physical function keys (F1-F12) with a multi-touch OLED strip. On paper, it was brilliant. It changed based on the app you were using. If you were in Final Cut Pro, you saw a timeline. In Safari, you saw your tabs.
But in reality? Most pros just wanted their physical Escape key back.
Muscle memory is a powerful thing. When you're coding or editing, you don't want to look down at your keyboard to find a volume slider. You want to feel it. The Touch Bar felt like a solution looking for a problem. While some creative professionals found niche uses for it—like scrubbing through video or picking colors in Photoshop—the average user mostly used it for emojis. It was a high-tech gimmick that added cost without adding much value for the majority of the "Pro" audience.
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USB-C and the "Dongle Life" Era
Apple decided that the future was Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C). They were right, eventually. But in 2016, the world was still running on USB-A, HDMI, and SD cards. This gave birth to "Dongle Life."
You couldn't even plug your iPhone into your MacBook Pro without buying a separate adapter. Imagine spending $1,799 on a laptop and then realizing you couldn't plug in a thumb drive. It felt like a slap in the face to the core user base. However, there was a hidden benefit that people often overlook: you could charge the laptop from either side. That was actually kind of life-changing.
The bandwidth on those ports was insane for the time. 40Gbps. It meant you could run two 5K displays off a single machine. For high-end video editors, that was a massive deal, even if they had to carry a bag full of adapters to make it work.
Design, Display, and the "Flexgate" Issue
The hardware itself was beautiful. It was thinner and lighter than the "Retina" models that came before it. The Space Gray finish was sleek. The trackpad was absolutely massive—so big that palm rejection had to do a lot of heavy lifting to keep you from accidentally moving the cursor while typing.
The screen was another story. It was the first Mac display to support the P3 wide color gamut. It was 67% brighter than the previous generation. It looked stunning.
But beauty had a price. The "Flexgate" issue eventually surfaced, where the thin ribbon cables connecting the display to the controller would wear out over time. This caused a "stage light" effect at the bottom of the screen or, in some cases, total display failure when the laptop was opened past a certain angle. iFixit was vocal about this being a design flaw, noting that the cables were integrated into the screen, making a simple repair incredibly expensive.
Performance Specs at a Glance
Instead of a boring table, let's just look at what you actually got inside these things. The 13-inch started with a dual-core Intel Core i5. The 15-inch models jumped to quad-core i7 chips.
- 13-inch (No Touch Bar): 2.0GHz dual-core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD. This was the "MacBook Air" replacement that nobody asked for.
- 13-inch (With Touch Bar): 2.9GHz dual-core i5, four Thunderbolt ports instead of two.
- 15-inch: 2.6GHz or 2.7GHz quad-core i7, 16GB RAM, and dedicated AMD Radeon Pro 450 or 455 graphics.
The 15-inch was a beast for its time, but it ran hot. The thermal management struggled with those Intel chips under heavy load. If you were rendering 4K video, those fans would spin up like a jet engine.
The Legacy of the 2016 Redesign
Why does this machine matter now? Because it forced Apple to listen.
The backlash to the 2016-2019 era was so loud that it eventually led to the 2021 MacBook Pros, which brought back the HDMI port, the SD card slot, and MagSafe. It also brought back real function keys. In a way, the Apple MacBook Pro 2016 was a necessary failure. It pushed the boundaries of minimalism too far, and the resulting snapback gave us the best laptops Apple has ever made.
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It also introduced Touch ID to the Mac. That was a win. Being able to log in or pay for things with a fingerprint was a huge quality-of-life improvement that we now take for granted.
Buying One in 2026: Is It Worth It?
Honestly? Probably not.
Most of these machines are now "Vintage" or "Obsolete" in Apple's eyes. They don't support the latest versions of macOS. The battery is likely shot. The keyboard is a ticking time bomb. Unless you are a collector or you find one for under $150 in perfect condition, you’re much better off with a base model M1 MacBook Air. The jump from Intel to Apple Silicon was so massive that a 2016 Pro feels like a calculator compared to even the cheapest modern Mac.
However, if you do own one or are forced to use one, here is how to keep it alive.
Actionable Steps for 2016 MacBook Pro Owners
- Keep it clean. Seriously. The butterfly keyboard is allergic to crumbs. Use a can of compressed air regularly to blow out the keys while holding the laptop at a 75-degree angle. This is the official Apple-sanctioned method to prevent key sticking.
- Check your battery cycle count. Go to "About This Mac" > "System Report" > "Power." If you're over 1,000 cycles, the battery is likely expanding. This can put pressure on the trackpad and internal components. Get it replaced if the "Service Recommended" warning pops up.
- Use a USB-C Hub. Instead of five different dongles, buy one high-quality powered hub (like those from Satechi or CalDigit). It reduces wear and tear on your individual ports.
- Mind the hinge. Because of the Flexgate risks, avoid opening and closing the lid aggressively. Treat that display cable with respect.
- Manage the heat. Use an app like "Macs Fan Control." You can set the fans to kick in earlier than Apple’s default settings, which keep the laptop quiet but dangerously hot. Keeping the internals cooler will extend the life of the logic board.
The Apple MacBook Pro 2016 was a bold, flawed experiment. It was a beautiful piece of industrial design that forgot that "Pro" users actually need to get work done. It remains a fascinating chapter in tech history—a reminder that sometimes, "less" is just less.