Apple Releases macOS Sierra 10.12.3 With Graphics Fixes for 2016 MacBook Pro

MacRumors, making the daring predictions.

Here's a little behind the scenes look at the decisions we make... I added that because I don't like to end posts with blockquotes (it looks funny) but I didn't really have much else to say about 10.12.3. I do expect 10.12.4 alongside iOS 10.3!

Apple, what are you doing these days?

Swimming in the money vault...

[MEDIA=youtube]NBRrCY5uhWY[/MEDIA]

Safari still kills entire system on specific websites, with intel 4600 GPU. Apple, what are you doing these days?

Admittedly no version of OSX has been perfect. However, I do not recall any of this being an issue with such as Snow Leopard.

People like to paint a grass-is-greener picture of Snow Leopard, but it's not as though that version was perfect. There were eight point releases for it, one of which (10.6.3) needed a "Supplemental Update" because its original release had some issues.

Here's a random assortment of things fixed in Snow Leopard point releases:


* Addresses an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
* Addresses an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
* an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account
* resolves an issue that causes the keyboard or trackpad to become unresponsive
* Improves reliability of Ethernet connections.

There were also weird off-shoots like the "Snow Leopard Font Update". Which, incidentally, included PDF-related fixes.

You'd think something like DVD playback and Ethernet connections would be rock-solid by the seventh major release of OS X. But alas. They weren't.

Perhaps someone could explain how that once working fine no longer does several versions later?

Well, regressions generally happen when code is modernized, optimized, or for other reasons replaced by an equivalent. In this case, Apple appears to have tried to unify some of the PDF code between iOS and macOS. One positive effect of this is that you can now print to PDF from any iOS app (though the UI to do so is bizarre ('https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/18/how-to-print-to-pdf-from-iphone-and-ipad-ios-10/')). The negative effect is lots of breakage ('http://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/12/21/more-macos-preview-pdf-trouble/') in the meantime.

macOS Sierra 10.12.3 will likely soon be followed by another update, as Apple has been committed to regularly making updates to the operating system since its September release.

MacRumors, making the daring predictions.

I just returned my 15" MBP (stock, low-end 2016) after 13 days because I had numerous issues, including Touch Bar freezes, spontaneous reboots, and this lovely screen of colored static on multiple occasions (which doesn't appear to be listed as an issue or one that's fixed):



I hope this update fixed similar issues for others, but I've decided to wait until the next hardware rev before I buy a new 15". I ordered a base 2016 13" (no Touch Bar) cheap at Best Buy this weekend, and I'll use that for now... if I decide it's worth the risk to open it. This 15" was the first Mac I've ever returned after opening it. I'm really disappointed in the number of issues I had over a relatively short period of time using it doing pretty much nothing but software development. These were, in my opinion, pushed out of the factory way before they should have been.

I get that OS updates are needed and that new hardware isn't going to be perfectly supported all the time, but come on. It sounds like, even after this OS bump, there are still going to be a lot of people with issues, and I had far too many different problems on a new system that I barely stressed. I miss the old days when they really did just work.

Wonder if this will help battery life...

Though, if it's anything like WatchOS 3, it could double/triple battery life on the new MBP but people around here would still find reasons to complain about it.

People like to paint a grass-is-greener picture of Snow Leopard, but it's not as though that version was perfect.

Thats because the grass was greener and it still is. Snow Leopard offers so much more by offering less, a lot less. No iOS infiltration, Fast and rock solid stable. OS X 10.6.8 was when the platform was at its pinnacle. Snow Leopard is vastly superior to any other release on older Macs.

iOS infiltration has all but killed the Mac platform.

Safe Mode not working is a bad sign.
See if this reveals anything: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731

Phew. Step one on that link - disconnect all external drives (I have 3). Logged right in. Thank you.

Add the time remaining battery indicator back!