It was late 2016. Phil Schiller stood on stage and called the new design "bold." Everyone else called it a gamble. If you were a creative professional back then, you probably remember the sheer whiplash of seeing the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro for the first time. It was thinner than the old 13-inch model. It had that glowing (and polarizing) Touch Bar. But it also killed the MagSafe charger, the SD card slot, and the USB-A ports we all used every single day.
Honestly, it felt like Apple was trying to drag us into the future before we were ready.
You’ve likely heard the horror stories. The "butterfly" keyboard that died if a single speck of dust looked at it funny. The "Flexgate" display cables that would fray just from opening the lid. But here’s the thing—underneath the controversy, this machine was a massive shift in how Apple thought about mobile workstations. It wasn't just a refresh; it was a total reimagining that, for better or worse, defined the next five years of the Mac.
The Butterfly Effect: Why the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro Keyboard Failed
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The keyboard. To make the chassis so incredibly thin—just 15.5mm—Apple ditched the traditional scissor-switch mechanism for a "butterfly" switch.
It felt clicky. It felt stable. It also broke. A lot.
The problem was the travel. With only 0.5mm of movement, there was no room for error. If a tiny crumb got under a key, the whole mechanism would jam. You’d type "apple" and get "appple" or nothing at all. It got so bad that Apple eventually had to launch a massive Keyboard Service Program, covering these machines for four years after purchase.
Even today, if you’re looking at a used 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro, the keyboard is the first thing you check. Most units have had their top cases replaced at least once. If the one you’re looking at feels "mushy" or some keys don't register, run away. Fast. It’s a design flaw that couldn’t be "fixed" with software; it was a physical limitation of trying to be too thin for its own good.
Heat, Throttling, and the Intel i7 Reality
Inside that slim aluminum shell, Apple packed some serious heat. Literally. The base model shipped with a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (6700HQ), while the top-end custom configuration could hit 2.9GHz.
On paper? Fast. In reality? The thermal management was sweating.
Because the fans were redesigned to be quieter and the internal volume was reduced, the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro struggled with "thermal throttling." When you were rendering 4K video in Final Cut Pro or exporting a massive Lightroom catalog, the clock speeds would often dip to keep the chip from melting. This was the era of Intel's 14nm process stagnation, and Apple was trying to build a "Pro" laptop around chips that just ran too hot for such a tiny space.
The Touch Bar: A Solution in Search of a Problem?
Then there was the Touch Bar. This was supposed to be the "killer feature." It replaced the physical function keys with a multi-touch OLED strip that changed depending on the app you were using.
In Photoshop, it showed brush sizes.
In Safari, it showed tab previews.
In Word, it showed... well, mostly things you could do faster with a keyboard shortcut.
Most pros found it distracting. You had to look down at your fingers to change the volume or brightness—something we’d all been doing by muscle memory for decades. Plus, they removed the physical Escape key. For developers using Vim or anyone who relied on that key for navigation, it was a genuine nightmare until macOS allowed for remapping the Caps Lock key. It was a classic case of Apple's "form over function" philosophy during the Jony Ive era.
Dongle Life and the Thunderbolt 3 Revolution
We take USB-C for granted now. In 2016, it was a revolution that felt like an inconvenience. The 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro arrived with four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack. That was it. No HDMI. No USB-A. No MagSafe.
The tech world erupted. "Donglegate" became a legitimate news cycle.
However, looking back with some perspective, Apple was actually right about the port. Thunderbolt 3 allowed for 40Gbps data transfer and the ability to drive two 5K displays from a single cable. It was the "One Port to Rule Them All." The issue wasn't the technology; it was the timing. The ecosystem wasn't ready. If you bought this laptop in 2016, you probably spent an extra $100 on adapters just to plug in your mouse and thumb drives.
The Display Was (and Is) Genuinely Incredible
If there is one area where this machine still holds up, it’s the screen. This was the first MacBook Pro to support the P3 wide color gamut.
It was 67% brighter than the 2015 model, hitting 500 nits. If you’re a photographer, the color accuracy on the 2016 model was a revelation. Even by 2026 standards, a well-maintained 2016 Retina display looks better than most mid-range Windows laptops sold today. The contrast ratio was bumped significantly, making blacks look deeper and colors look punchier without being oversaturated.
But then came "Flexgate."
Repair experts like Louis Rossmann famously highlighted how the ribbon cables connecting the display to the logic board were just a bit too short. Over hundreds of lid openings, the cable would fatigue and tear. You’d get a "stage light" effect at the bottom of the screen or, eventually, a total blackout. While Apple fixed this in later iterations by lengthening the cable by 2mm, the 2016 models remained vulnerable.
Performance in the Real World: 2016 vs. The Modern Era
How does it actually run today?
If you’re doing basic web browsing, Slack, and some light photo editing, the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro is surprisingly capable. The Radeon Pro 450 or 455 GPUs (with 2GB of VRAM) were decent for their time. You could even spec it up to a Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB.
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- RAM: 16GB was the standard (and the maximum). Apple took a lot of heat for not offering 32GB, claiming it would destroy battery life.
- SSD: These were some of the fastest drives on the market at the time, reaching sequential read speeds of over 3Gbps.
- Speakers: Honestly? They still sound great. This was the year Apple moved to high-dynamic-range speakers that were directly powered by system voltage. They are loud, crisp, and have a surprising amount of low-end for a laptop.
But here’s the reality check. A modern M2 or M3 MacBook Air will absolutely destroy this machine in almost every benchmark while staying completely silent. The 2016 model’s fans will ramp up just by opening a few heavy Chrome tabs. It’s a relic of the "Thinness at all Costs" era.
Buying a Used 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro: A Checklist
If you’re considering picking one up on the used market because the prices are dirt cheap, you need to be careful. It’s a high-maintenance machine.
First, check the cycle count on the battery. These units are nearly a decade old. If it’s original, it’s likely swollen or holding about 20 minutes of charge. Replacing the battery is a nightmare because it’s glued into the top case.
Second, look at the screen under a bright light while it’s off. Check for "staingate"—where the anti-reflective coating starts peeling off in ugly patches.
Third, and most importantly, test every single key. Type a long paragraph. If you see any double-letters or missed strokes, that keyboard is on its way out. Since the repair program has ended for most of these units, a keyboard failure basically means the laptop is a paperweight unless you want to spend $500+ on a repair.
Why It Still Matters in Mac History
The 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro is a polarizing piece of tech. It’s the laptop that forced the industry toward USB-C. It’s the laptop that taught Apple that professionals actually do care about ports and keyboard reliability.
Without the failures of the 2016 design, we never would have gotten the "redemption" models of 2021 and beyond. Apple had to go too far into the future to realize they’d left their core users behind. It was a beautiful, flawed, ambitious experiment that didn't quite land the way they hoped.
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Actionable Steps for Current Owners or Buyers
If you currently own a 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro, or you're about to buy one, here is how you keep it alive and useful:
- Keep it clean: Use a can of compressed air on the keyboard regularly. Even a tiny bit of debris can kill a butterfly switch. Do not eat over this laptop. Ever.
- Manage the heat: Use an app like Macs Fan Control to ramp up the fans earlier than the default macOS profile. This prevents the chips from hitting 90°C+ and might extend the life of the internal components.
- External SSDs are your friend: The internal SSD is soldered. You can't upgrade it. If you're running out of space, buy a cheap NVMe enclosure and use one of those four Thunderbolt ports.
- Check the OS: Note that Apple has dropped official macOS support for the 2016 models. You'll need to look into tools like "OpenCore Legacy Patcher" if you want to run the latest versions of macOS, but do so at your own risk as it can affect stability.
- Dongle strategy: If you're still carrying five different adapters, just buy a dedicated Thunderbolt 3 dock for your desk. It turns this machine back into a "Pro" workstation with one cable.
The 2016 model wasn't the "best" MacBook ever made. Not even close. But it was definitely the most influential. It forced us to change how we worked, even if we went kicking and screaming.