Considering upgrading my 2013 13" MBA....

W

W.Feather

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Whats everyones real every day usage for these new mac book pro's like? Is that touch bar worth shit? I'm looking to mainly do web browsing, some light gaming, add in some parrallels for some windows software (Work) that I would be looking to do.....Ill be on a trip next month so im kind of interested in upgrading and grabbing one of those big ass USB-C charger banks possibly as my long haul to NZ doesnt have power for my seat.


Side note , how annoying is not having a mag safe on it? I love the gen 1 mag safe i've got now...
 
Any thoughts? Looking to pickup this weekend more than likely with that best buy ~150 or 200 off normal.
 
W.Feather said:
Any thoughts? Looking to pickup this weekend more than likely with that best buy ~150 or 200 off normal.
Click to expand...

I think more or less what you read in a review is what you'll get. I haven't had a lot of time using a touchbar MBP, just casually here and there.
But considering that there is no choice, the decision to either get one or not get one is more or less about whether or not you want to be in the macOS ecosystem or not. Which more or less has always been the case.

The common criticisms of course are the lack of physical button f keys and that the new butterfly switch keyboard has really short, non-tactile switches. Also the display still isn't 4k, and USB-C isn't ubiquitous enough for some people's tastes. Lack of magsafe is irritating for some, but losing it has made certain setups more "clean". Such as having displays and eGPUs that can both charge and effectively dock the machine with a single cable. Whether or not that is a good tradeoff for you depends on your usage case.

Other than that, it's as solid a MBP as there ever has been. With the added benefit of being a perfect candidate for an eGPU, if you also happen to want to use the single machine as a desktop replacement from time to time. It's more lightweight and travel ready than ever. And generally macOS has continued to get better and better with each iteration. If you need a mobile macOS device, it'll serve you well. Just make sure to max out the RAM (16GB) and get at least a 512GB SSD, otherwise you'll be hurting for space and probably hitting a RAM limitation in some apps for the next few years. i7 is nice to have if you use apps that need the threads, but I would say for most isn't as important as the other two things.
 
I've been a Macbook user for a while (since they were Powerbooks). There have only been two cases where I've noticed a big jump in performance when upgrading:

The jump from PPC to Intel was pretty big, and the jump from HDD to SSD was huge.

Apart from that, day to day use (not encoding video, not crunching , just modest word processing, spreadsheets, occasional VMWare for Windows, and web/email use), I would be hard pressed to tell you if the Macbook I was using was circa 2008 or 2017.

Sure, they've gotten faster, and a few features here and there, and went to unibody and all... but not been a whole lot of difference generation over generation, apart from those two big leaps.

Just saying, in case you were thinking the new Macbooks would blow you away with better performance or something: they won't. It's exactly what you have now, with some fancy function keys. OS X is still OS X, pretty much no matter what's running it - and I don't mean that in a negative way - it's what I consider one of OS X's strengths.

If you've bought into the USB C universe, I could see it being a worthwhile leap. If you haven't, then be prepared to do that as part of the cost of this upgrade cycle. I have a 2012 15" right now, i tend to upgrade every 3-4 years (usually the first blip after AppleCare runs out), not really impressed with the 2017's, or the USB C ecosystem, enough to jump on it yet. But if my current laptop burbs, I'd pick one up without hesitation.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
I think more or less what you read in a review is what you'll get. I haven't had a lot of time using a touchbar MBP, just casually here and there.
But considering that there is no choice, the decision to either get one or not get one is more or less about whether or not you want to be in the macOS ecosystem or not. Which more or less has always been the case.

The common criticisms of course are the lack of physical button f keys and that the new butterfly switch keyboard has really short, non-tactile switches. Also the display still isn't 4k, and USB-C isn't ubiquitous enough for some people's tastes. Lack of magsafe is irritating for some, but losing it has made certain setups more "clean". Such as having displays and eGPUs that can both charge and effectively dock the machine with a single cable. Whether or not that is a good tradeoff for you depends on your usage case.

Other than that, it's as solid a MBP as there ever has been. With the added benefit of being a perfect candidate for an eGPU, if you also happen to want to use the single machine as a desktop replacement from time to time. It's more lightweight and travel ready than ever. And generally macOS has continued to get better and better with each iteration. If you need a mobile macOS device, it'll serve you well. Just make sure to max out the RAM (16GB) and get at least a 512GB SSD, otherwise you'll be hurting for space and probably hitting a RAM limitation in some apps for the next few years. i7 is nice to have if you use apps that need the threads, but I would say for most isn't as important as the other two things.
Click to expand...

Hmm thanks. Ive pretty much talked myself into it, considering most of what you posted there ..... Now its 13 vs 15" ..... probably going to end up with the 15" 16gb + 256gb (I have that now on my MBA and dont even use half of it, anything additional I can add a thin flash drive to when it comes to that).

Thanks for the input guys
 
W.Feather said:
Hmm thanks. Ive pretty much talked myself into it, considering most of what you posted there ..... Now its 13 vs 15" ..... probably going to end up with the 15" 16gb + 256gb (I have that now on my MBA and dont even use half of it, anything additional I can add a thin flash drive to when it comes to that).

Thanks for the input guys
Click to expand...

The 512GB SSD is a tad expensive to say the least, but if you can swing it, it's worth it. I have a 2013 MBPr with 256GB/16GB/i7, and by far the most irritating part is being limited to 256GB. I have to carry around externals anyway for work (photography), but still, it hurts convenience a lot. I never have more than 30GB free, which I suppose is "enough", but I can fill that in one photo session (I tether while shooting in a studio setting).

So, I admit that if you don't have a big data usage case, it probably matters less. But you do want to use parallels or some other virtualization software, and I can say that requires a decent amount of space.

As another aside, I'd also make sure to check Apple's refurb section. I usually buy from refurbs in order to save money (they come with the same Apple care warranty, and you can buy the extended 3 year if you want. Apple refurbs are essentially new). It does require some level of patience though as obviously you can't configure the machines, and they often won't have the model or year you want. But if you wait long enough you can find everything from a base level machine to a fully maxed out one.
https://www.apple.com/us-k12/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro
 
Picked it up. thanks for the input.....this keyboard will take some getting used to I think lol.
 
Brian_B said:
...I would be hard pressed to tell you if the Macbook I was using was circa 2008 or 2017.

Sure, they've gotten faster, and a few features here and there, and went to unibody and all... but not been a whole lot of difference generation over generation, apart from those two big leaps.

Just saying, in case you were thinking the new Macbooks would blow you away with better performance or something: they won't. It's exactly what you have now, with some fancy function keys.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree with you here. I'm not a regular Mac user and I can tell a distinct difference between my wife's 2011 and her 'new to her' 2015. The 2015 definitely has a snap to it that the 2011 doesn't.

And the keyboard is a huge factor. I think the idea was to try to mimic typing on the ipad so you can use as little force as possible, and they pretty much have achieved that. But it is a completely different typing experience that you'll either hate and never get used to, or love and adapt to wonderfully. This is an important factor since a lot of real work gets done via the keyboard.
 
Wow, soldering to the board would be just planned obsolescence in an industry that moves as fast as computing. If this concept worked, then netbooks would be mainstream today as well as non-upgradeable 'all in one' pc designs. :meh:
 
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