My first laptop was the 2012 Retina Display MacBook Pro. I LOVED that thing. I am a student in theoretical physics, and need a computer that is up to long hours of heavy computation. The old mac has lasted me 8 years now, but its screen is now telling me it is time to retire the machine (it will cost a lot to replace). I enjoy Mac software as well, and the terminal application. So I got this new MacBook Pro as a replacement. I did have very high hopes for it, and was excited to see what 8 years of development has brought to the table.To be frank: 8 years has not brought all that much, at least from what I can notice with my daily computer activities (which include running/producing code, connecting to high performance computing clusters, writing papers, surfing the web), so my expectations were not met.I will say the screen is very sharp, more so than my previous computer. There is also a touch bar. The old macs have buttons rather than the touch bar. I am getting used to this, and am deciding I like this feature. The mouse pad though does not feel as good as the older version, despite being larger. It had a weird double click feel every time I press down. It feels cheaper than the older macs. It seems Mac has run away with trying to be intuitive to the user. They have gone so much so in this direction, that it is almost difficult to find/do what one would think are simple functions.It isn't as fast as I would have hoped either (seems about as fast as my old computer!). This was disappointing. The battery seems to last a while, which is good (5/5 for the battery).Overall it is a good computer. I do like my Mac, and it gets done what I want it to. However, is it worth the near $2500-3000 price tag? Probably not quite, although I did have very high expectations for what that $2.5-3K would get me. I paid that much for the 2012 Mac, which was DEFINITELY worth the price for everything it had and came with! This one was just a small step from that computer, yet charges the same amount. I would have wanted slightly better quality and more development for the amount I paid. I hope this computer, like its younger sibling that I now retired, will have a long and computationally productive life. If it lasts as long, it would be worth the price tag. I also have yet to fully utilize its 8-core processor, which I am excited to do.