2018 Macbook Pro Refresh FINALLY!

zamardii12

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Hot off the presses!

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018...faster-performance-and-new-features-for-pros/

  • Quad-core i5 standard on the 13" w/ TB, i7 optional
  • Six-core i7 standard on the 15", i9 optional
  • Battery capacity increased on both models (by 18% on the 13", 10% on the 15") while keeping the same form factor. They may have switched to terraced batteries
  • 15" switches from LPDDR3 to DDR4 memory, allowing it to have up to 32GB RAM. Extra battery consumption is to be expected, but I guess that's more than offset by the larger battery capacity.
  • TrueTone displays (both the main screen and Touch Bar)
  • 3rd-generation butterfly keyboard. They're quieter, feel a little less clicky, but their design is still very similar. Unclear if reliability has improved.
  • T2 chip offers secure boot, flash storage controller, encryption, and Hey Siri
  • Up to 2TB of flash storage on the 13", 4TB on the 15"
  • GPUs are Iris Plus Graphics 655 on the 13", and 4GB Radeon Pro 555X/560X on the 15"
  • New Apple-sanctioned Blackmagic Design eGPU with a 8GB Radeon Pro 580 for $699

New keyboard impressions:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/12/the-new-macbook-pro-keyboards-are-quieter-but-otherwise-unchanged/
 
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About time, but why do we need to get the 15" to go to 32GB of ram. We'll give the 13" twice as many cores but still only give it 8GB by default and limit you to 16GB total.
 
About time, but why do we need to get the 15" to go to 32GB of ram. We'll give the 13" twice as many cores but still only give it 8GB by default and limit you to 16GB total.

Looks like they are keeping the 13" with LPDDR3, only the 15" goes to DDR4, which I guess is allowing for the higher memory density. They seem to be offsetting the higher memory power requirements with the larger battery they fit in the 15". Someone at Apple I guess decided that whatever the runtime loss was by going to DDR4 on the 13" was too much with the smaller battery.
 
Looks like they are keeping the 13" with LPDDR3, only the 15" goes to DDR4, which I guess is allowing for the higher memory density. They seem to be offsetting the higher memory power requirements with the larger battery they fit in the 15". Someone at Apple I guess decided that whatever the runtime loss was by going to DDR4 on the 13" was too much with the smaller battery.

Yeah, it's a terrible decision on their part. My Late 2013 13" with 16GB of ram still has no upgrade path to more memory. I'm either stuck with the same amount of memory that I'm constantly using all of already with the 13" or I have to move to the 15" to get 32GB.
 
Waiting to hear about the keyboard, but I'm considering the 15 for myself, maybe dumping the gaming PC in the process.
 
Yeah, it's a terrible decision on their part. My Late 2013 13" with 16GB of ram still has no upgrade path to more memory. I'm either stuck with the same amount of memory that I'm constantly using all of already with the 13" or I have to move to the 15" to get 32GB.

Correct, but if you're going to complain about that, I would also say that being stuck at 4 cores is just as much a detriment. As is not having a dedicated GPU.
It's a balance between weight and performance for better or worse. Not that I'm disagreeing with you. I think we all wish we could get a 13" with a dedicated GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a hex core. I think we'd even also concede being willing to have slower options on both the CPU and GPU in order to still meet a specific thermal and power envelope. But it's not to be.

Apple has consistently made their Macbook Pro line clear cut for at least the past 8 years, so we live with the compromises or simply get a different system (or I guess complain, but my underlying point is there isn't much point in doing that as Apple has spelled this stuff out).
 
Correct, but if you're going to complain about that, I would also say that being stuck at 4 cores is just as much a detriment. As is not having a dedicated GPU.
It's a balance between weight and performance for better or worse. Not that I'm disagreeing with you. I think we all wish we could get a 13" with a dedicated GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a hex core. I think we'd even also concede being willing to have slower options on both the CPU and GPU in order to still meet a specific thermal and power envelope. But it's not to be.

They could have used the i7-8809G is they really wanted a dedicated GPU for the 13" but the GPU isn't important to me at all. Since I've been making due with 2 cores with Iris and 16GB of ram for 4+ years now, finally being able to double up to 4 cores and 32GB of ram would have been a good upgrade. Certainly would help with Fusion.
 
Is it immediately available? Seems like it is, I’ve been waiting for the refresh to order one.
 
A shame that they don't offer the 6-core in the 13"... I'd prefer that over 32GB.
 
Ordered a 13 inch for $29xx with taxes.

Nice. Once you get yours could you please please send a picture of your keyboard? I recently got my 2017 Pro with Touchbar back from Apple after going through the Keyboard Replacement Program and I am really curious if there is any way to distinguish between the 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen butterfly switches.
 
Nice. Once you get yours could you please please send a picture of your keyboard? I recently got my 2017 Pro with Touchbar back from Apple after going through the Keyboard Replacement Program and I am really curious if there is any way to distinguish between the 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen butterfly switches.

I will. My wife has the 2nd gen keyboard so I'll be able to look at them side by side.

However from the linked article (in this thread), the keyboards are virtually identical.
 
I will. My wife has the 2nd gen keyboard so I'll be able to look at them side by side.

However from the linked article (in this thread), the keyboards are virtually identical.

That's what I was thinking. People are saying it definitely feels immediately different in a good way, but the mechanism is the same likely.
 
I’m replacing a first gen i7. I believe I bought it 2011.
 
Not a bad option if no taxes. I got the headphones (promo) and Apple care.
 
I'm disappointed that they're pushing the TouchBar models so much.
 
I have a first gen 15" i7 Touchbar (late 2016?) and I can't see any possible reason to replace it. It's a 16/500 and it works awesome. No keyboard issues. So far.
 
On the iMac Pro, the T2 chip introduces an interesting problem, as it's completely impossible to "netboot" it (Netboot is Apple's version of PXE). Many enterprises, including mine, use Netboot to do installations of the OS on older Macs etc. That they are moving this onto laptops is going to really throw a wrench in the works, at work.
 
On the iMac Pro, the T2 chip introduces an interesting problem, as it's completely impossible to "netboot" it (Netboot is Apple's version of PXE). Many enterprises, including mine, use Netboot to do installations of the OS on older Macs etc. That they are moving this onto laptops is going to really throw a wrench in the works, at work.

As this type of proprietary hardware becomes more standard, this will likely render running future MacOS versions under a virtual machine nearly impossible. Niche crowd, I know. But still.
 
Serious thinking to get i7/32/512 in space grey; need to look deep in the wallet if i7/32/1024 is in ...

My current 16/256 is a bit too small these days with respect to storage and VM
 
I grabbed the 15" online the other day, with the i9, 32GB RAM, and 512GB SSD (don't need the storage as much anymore, so this will suffice; hell the 512GB in my 2017 is still half empty). Grabbed one of the saddle brown leather sleeves at the apple store here in Spain while on vacation this week, and I have to say it's really quite nice. I've got another premium sleeve from another brand that has aged/patina'd very nicely over the last 4-5 years, this seems right on par with that.

The i9 throttling seems to be a topic at the moment, so will have to see how that goes. Worst case, I just return it and keep on plugging away with my 2017, but we'll see what happens.
 
I'm pretty excited about the refresh, I'm probably picking up the 2.6/16/512/560x, going to swap out my servers for a simpler NAS solution and just... simplify stuff. Think I'll try and old out until Mojave ships on them natively.
 
Heavy cpu throttling with the 15" i9 has been discovered. I think that Apple should have a Macbook line up that's similar to the pro hardware then develop a true Pro lineup where the laptops are thicker so it can support better cooling.
 
Looking at some benchmarks it seems as though the GPU was hardly upgraded at all- anyone have any experience with it playing games such as overwatch in bootcamp?
 
Looking at some benchmarks it seems as though the GPU was hardly upgraded at all- anyone have any experience with it playing games such as overwatch in bootcamp?

There have only been mild improvements since the 2016 Macbook Pro. The GPU's are all based on the same hardware. Also, this isn't really a gaming machine, if you need Windows and gaming you'd be better served by spending far less and buying a gaming laptop.
If you need this for work and you occasionally game, I get that. But in that case I'd probably just recommend playing something in macOS that also isn't that GPU intensive.
 
There have only been mild improvements since the 2016 Macbook Pro. The GPU's are all based on the same hardware. Also, this isn't really a gaming machine, if you need Windows and gaming you'd be better served by spending far less and buying a gaming laptop.
If you need this for work and you occasionally game, I get that. But in that case I'd probably just recommend playing something in macOS that also isn't that GPU intensive.

I would game on an eGPU now that it’s supported, but being able to bring the laptop to a LAN party or vacation would be nice. I have a windows setup now, but would like to switch to MacOS, but am not at all interested in another desktop or AIO- now that six core mobile processors are available it would be a more lateral move from my current setup.

I bought my son a cheapo windows laptop that had a 1050 in it and it runs games amazingly well... it cost a fifth of what the new MacBooks cost and it’s a tough pill to swallow to think that the underlying hardware is inferior in some ways.
 
I would game on an eGPU now that it’s supported, but being able to bring the laptop to a LAN party or vacation would be nice. I have a windows setup now, but would like to switch to MacOS, but am not at all interested in another desktop or AIO- now that six core mobile processors are available it would be a more lateral move from my current setup.

I bought my son a cheapo windows laptop that had a 1050 in it and it runs games amazingly well... it cost a fifth of what the new MacBooks cost and it’s a tough pill to swallow to think that the underlying hardware is inferior in some ways.

It's a different mentality for sure, inferior isn't what I would call it (although the PC Master Race would). It just comes down to what sort of functions you want to do. The Surface Pro as an example is similarly priced to Apple since its inception, and it doesn't really contain gaming capability at all. But to have that form factor and do what it does it must cost what it costs.
The same is true for the Macbook Pro. If having a super fast GPU is necessary, then simply buy Windows based machines. I'm perhaps not telling you anything you don't know. But there are a lot of folks that don't seem to understand that no matter what piece of hardware you buy, there are compromises. Apple not withstanding. But Apple is unmatched in terms of size, weight, battery life, display quality (which is a really big one), SSD speed, and horsepower in a single package. There are other machines that are faster, there are other machines that are thinner. But not all of these checkboxes simultaneously. There is a reason why they are still often preferred for creatives (and of course native support of macOS, which certainly helps the proposition).

So all that said, eGPUs and external monitors are just as, if not more, portable than other mATA systems. So if that's an option for you then there are worse ways to spend money. Not viable for a vacation perhaps (unless you like to roll gear heavy on vacation and perhaps have custom cases to carry all your specialized hardware), but more than viable for a LAN. Otherwise you can continue to support a second gaming laptop, that like you say has something like a 1050/1060 in it. Midlevel laptops that do 1080p with a mid level graphics card are often had for around $1k. Not bad if you have to scratch an itch with any regularity.

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EDIT: Grammar, spelling. (I'm sure there are still other errors I've missed...)
 
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But Apple is unmatched in terms of size, weight, battery life, display quality (which is a really big one), SSD speed, and horsepower in a single package. There are other machines that are faster, there are other machines that are thinner. But not all of these checkboxes simultaneously.

I would say the Dell XPS 13 is the closest for me. In fact, I watched Dave Lee's recent update to his Macbook review and even he recommended the XPS 13 but again I think it was with ecosystems. Most people who have Macs already have a iPhone, iPad, or both. I have always hated using MacOS, and I am still getting used to my Macbook Pro 13 I bought. I will admit however I didn't buy my Macbook Pro 13 new, but it was in mint condition from Swappa. The same day I received it I had to take it into Apple because the N key failed, Apple took it for 3 days before I got it back and I basically have a new condition Macbook now with a brand new battery, keyboard, and top half. I paid $1,250 and I think that's relatively fair for it. The same laptop brand new would have been $1800 and there is no way in hell I would have paid that premium for this thing. Even after getting the Macbook I was thinking of selling it and getting the Huawei Matebook X Pro because it's as close to a perfect laptop one can get at this moment and is still tempting from time to time to get, but I am pretty happy with the Mac as of this moment so I don't think i'll be trading in.

The thing I can mention that I really like about Macs is how well all the Apple products talk to each other. A good example is the other day I was looking in my Notes app for something on my iPhone, and when I looked down at my Mac I saw the same Notes icon pop into existence on the left of the Dock and I was totally surprised that I could view the notes from my iPhone on my Mac with literally no setup. It was very cool to witness. Another cool thing I really wish Windows had is the ability to reply to text messages on my phone through the OS. Being able to do that on the Mac is very convenient.

The downsides I have found from moving from a Windows laptop to a Mac is the incredibly small selection of apps available from the Store. For instance there is no Netflix app for Mac, Spotify, Facebook Messenger... Netflix would be great to have so I can download and watch stuff on the go, but as it stands I can only used a web-based client I found on the store. It's better than nothing, but the lack of apps that I was used to having on Windows is frustrating.
 
The downsides I have found from moving from a Windows laptop to a Mac is the incredibly small selection of apps available from the Store. For instance there is no Netflix app for Mac, Spotify, Facebook Messenger... Netflix would be great to have so I can download and watch stuff on the go, but as it stands I can only used a web-based client I found on the store. It's better than nothing, but the lack of apps that I was used to having on Windows is frustrating.

Spotify has an app.
https://www.spotify.com/us/download/other/

Netflix to my knowledge doesn't. Facebook for whatever reason isn't integrated into Messages (it used to be. So I'm uncertain if it's a Facebook issue or an Apple one). Messages pretty much had every MMS API at one point (I used ICQ and AIM through it as an example, and I did use FB messenger on it). I personally don't find that that stuff bothers me, but I get that we're probably very different users.

EDIT: A quick Google search showed some 3rd party FB apps. Not sure if any of them are good or not.
 
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Facebook won't work because they shut down their chat API a few years ago for what should be obvious reasons (they're an advertising company that survives or thrives through eyes on its content and so doesn't want those eyes accessing its content via other means, such as, a third party app). That said, there are 3rd party Facebook apps for OS X but they aren't from Apple.

The Netflix issue sounds like a very use specific concern. Nothing wrong with that, but if you had the choice between an easy workaround or a difficult one, which would you be willing to choose? There is an elaborate method to downloading Netflix apps to your MacBook. *But* if you're willing to consider a more seamless method that might seem unorthodox I have a suggestion (often converts most prominent concerns are addressed through revisualizing their workflow patterns; keeping in mind that Windows often has half a dozen or more ways to achieve the same result, people should not be surprised or agitated there also exists other ways of doing things in OS X, too). In this case, the simplest way to obtain your goal, provided you have an iOS device, is to use the Netflix app on your iOS device, download the movie(s) you want for your trip, and then stream them from your device to your MacBook via Airplay. Advantages and disadvantages to all methods you have on your plate, but this is one viable way to do what you say you want to do.
 
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