720p Camera on 2016 MBP, why?

[OVERTASK]

For the life of me I do not understand why a laptop with 4 USB-C ports has a 720p Facetime Camera, probably exactly the same part used on the last gen MBP

Not that I plan to use it excessively, but I assume a "Pro" machine should provide an appropriate level of video conferencing for those that need it.

 

[southerndoc]

A 1080i/p camera would cost more, which would lessen Apple's profit margin.

 

[T5BRICK]

a "Pro" machine

"Pro" is marketing BS. It doesn't mean anything anymore and it hasn't for years.

Either way 720p is fine for videoconferencing. You can buy an external one that meets your needs and is likely way better than what is built into a laptop screen.

 

[OVERTASK]

"Pro" is marketing BS. It doesn't mean anything anymore and it hasn't for years.

Either way 720p is fine for videoconferencing. You can buy an external one that meets your needs and is likely way better than what is built into a laptop screen.

Naturally you could buy it extra along with all the dongles, but would putting a frontal Facetime Camera even from one of the old iPhones be that cost prohibitive on a 3K laptop?

 

[dallas112678]

Naturally you could buy it extra along with all the dongles, but would putting a frontal Facetime Camera even from one of the old iPhones be that cost prohibitive on a 3K laptop?

The question is why would they bother putting a better camera on it when they already took away and significantly underpowered so many other aspects of the MBP? If they had the "courage" to be so "bold" to do all the things that they did, putting in a 720p camera wouldn't be nearly at the top of their list of boldness.

 

[OVERTASK]

The question is why would they bother putting a better camera on it when they already took away and significantly underpowered so many other aspects of the MBP? If they had the "courage" to be so "bold" to do all the things that they did, putting in a 720p camera wouldn't be nearly at the top of their list of boldness.

The courage to innovate next year seems like the only reason

 

[baypharm]

I recall a time so long ago when the first 720p televisions came on the market. They were referred to as EDTV. Enhanced Definition. Not as good as full high definition. Eventually the marketing brainiacs dropped the moniker and simply called it high definition. More BS.

For Apple to charge $4500 for a maxed out MBP with these and other shortcomings is atrocious.

 

[Floris]

720p iSight is the 16GB limit twin brother

 

[xmonkey]

Because of the limited space in the display housing. It's very thin. I don't think it's about cost at all.

 

[Bending Pixels]

'splain to me why you really NEED a 1080p camera for video conferencing?

 

[Rafterman]

For the life of me I do not understand why a laptop with 4 USB-C ports has a 720p Facetime Camera, probably exactly the same part used on the last gen MBP

Not that I plan to use it excessively, but I assume a "Pro" machine should provide an appropriate level of video conferencing for those that need it.

Because no one wants to see your grill up close at 1080p?

 

[iizmoo]

'splain to me why you really NEED a 1080p camera for video conferencing?

How many web conferencing platforms can even do 720p @ 30 frames per second? Without being all pixelated and frozens and all sort of other problems?

 

[OVERTASK]

How many web conferencing platforms can even do 720p @ 30 frames per second? Without being all pixelated and frozens and all sort of other problems?

Skype
[doublepost=1478203949][/doublepost]

Because of the limited space in the display housing. It's very thin. I don't think it's about cost at all.

We won't know until we get a teardown of the display housing, but I assume they used the same part as before. Camera technology has improved to get a better sensor that is smaller into that same space.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Sheer greed. They didnt have to compromise on this but they did anyway.

 

[xmonkey]

We won't know until we get a teardown of the display housing, but I assume they used the same part as before. Camera technology has improved to get a better sensor that is smaller into that same space.

Has it?

 

[OVERTASK]

Has it?

iPhone 7 frontal camera
Dimensions:
6.8 mm x 6.0 mm x 4.3 mm

Not sure about the dimensions on the display enclosure, but it seems like it would fit

 

[maerz001]

At least they didn't use the 480p from the rMB

 

[OVERTASK]

At least they didn't use the 480p from the rMB

That would have been courage

 

[xmonkey]

iPhone 7 frontal camera
Dimensions:
6.8 mm x 6.0 mm x 4.3 mm

Not sure about the dimensions on the display enclosure, but it seems like it would fit

Perhaps. I feel like the subtle taper at the top of the display casing makes it more difficult than it already is and I'm almost positive the display casing is thinner than the iPhone to begin with. Hard to know without someone asking Apple directly I guess.

My gut feeling is that if they could make it 1080p they would so they could tout it as an upgrade to help try and justify the price increase from the past model.

 

[sniffies]

1080p camera is too cumbersome.

 

[zhenya]

iPhone 7 frontal camera
Dimensions:
6.8 mm x 6.0 mm x 4.3 mm

Not sure about the dimensions on the display enclosure, but it seems like it would fit

Not even close. The iPhone 7 is probably more than twice as thick as the lid on the MBP. The rMB has a 480p camera for this reason.

 

[OVERTASK]

Not even close. The iPhone 7 is probably more than twice as thick as the lid on the MBP. The rMB has a 480p camera for this reason.

Yes, but the frontal camera doesn't go the entire depth of the iPhone 7 so I fail to see your point.

 

[myscrnnm]

I recall a time so long ago when the first 720p televisions came on the market. They were referred to as EDTV. Enhanced Definition. Not as good as full high definition. Eventually the marketing brainiacs dropped the moniker and simply called it high definition. More BS.

For Apple to charge $4500 for a maxed out MBP with these and other shortcomings is atrocious.

I'm sorry, but that statement is BS. 720p has always been marketed as HDTV. The differentiation was made with 1080p by marketing the latter as Full HD. The EDTV branding was applied to televisions capable of displaying 480p (the resolution of DVDs). SDTV is 480i.

 

[danniexi]

The FaceTime camera is primarily used for video conferencing. Good luck finding a widely used platform that does 1080p at 30fps with DECENT latency. Facetime, Hangouts, etc. usually transmit at 720p to keep the latency under 150ms. It is ideal to keep that latency down for a better/fluid than to transmit a 1080p feed which stutters/lags. I'm pretty sure Skype can do 1080p, but then again, all parties must be under ideal network connections in order to have a decent experience, which most of the time doesn't happen.

One can argue for those who do Twitch any other broadcasting medium, but most broadcasters have a dedicated web camera anyway to provide the best feed quality (webcams are always better than the laptop) while still being able to manipulate camera angles and what not (without having a fixed point of view like a laptop camera).

I guess the one and only type of users who would really benefit the 1080p camera would be selfie junkies (don't they use their cell phones anyway?) or Photo Booth users in which... well. yeah.

Apple does their market research. They will outweigh the benefits as well as drawbacks of each and every component that goes into their products. A 720p is perfectly fine for a laptop webcam and will be for a very long time until a better infrastructure is widely available to take advantage of a better camera.

 

[macintoshmac]

A 1080i/p camera would cost more, which would lessen Apple's profit margin.

And heaven help Tim if Phil joked with him about finally doing away with 720p and putting the 5mp iPhone FaceTime camera on the $2000+ MacBook Pro.