2018 13” MBP purchased... should I keep it??

[ap123ap]

Picked one of these up on Saturday new from John Lewis UK for £1250.

2018 MBP 13", i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB, Space Grey

Since then, I’ve discovered the global issue with the keyboard and in all honestly, I’m feeling a little nervous about keeping it. Kept it sealed since Saturday (which has been painful)... The trouble is that there isn’t anything else that I fancy buying for this sort of price and have my heart set on a 13” MBP after playing with other windows based laptop.

So my question is, am I being paranoid, and should I keep it given the 4 year repair program or would you guys suggest that I take it back to the store and wave goodbye to it?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[HappyIntro]

It sounds like you have compared laptops and decided on the MBP. I'd say keep it! I believe it's got the extended keyboard warranty, so if anything does go wrong, you'd be covered. Otherwise are you willing to wait for an updated keyboard? There's no guarantee that the KB in the 13" will be updated any time soon. Time to crack the seal and enjoy your new machine.

 

[ascender]

I'd keep it. You've got a four year warranty on the keyboard and anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that the 2018/19 keyboards are more reliable.

If you need a laptop now, just keep it, use it and enjoy it. The current 13s are very nice laptops, very portable and reasonably powerful.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Sell it.

8GB of ram will be limiting in just 2yrs time. It may suit your purpose for now though. Remember ram is soldered, and right now the speeds that we’re seeing for RAM from Dell or HP units following the Intel Project Athena motherboard layout is phenomenal:

• DDR4-2933 (PC4-23466)
• DDR4-3200 (PC4-25600)

Current 16” MBP uses DDR4-2666 (PC4-21333) @ 1333mhz; while the DellXPS 13” 2-in-1 & this weeks launched 13” laptop have these faster 1600mhz ram chips.

I’m waiting on Apple n Intel to catch-up soon in mid to late spring.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Sell it.

8GB of ram will be limiting in just 2yrs time. It may suit your purpose for now though. Remember ram is soldered, and right now the speeds that we’re seeing for RAM from Dell or HP units following the Intel Project Athena motherboard layout is phenomenal:

• DDR4-2933 (PC4-23466)
• DDR4-3200 (PC4-25600)

Current 16” MBP uses DDR4-2666 (PC4-21333) @ 1333mhz; while the DellXPS 13” 2-in-1 & this weeks launched 13” laptop have these faster 1600mhz ram chips.

I’m waiting on Apple n Intel to catch-up soon in mid to late spring.

coreection on the Dell XPS 9300 (2020 model):

The Dell XPS 13 9300-series laptops are aimed at people looking for maximum performance in a rather unique 13.4-inch form-factor, so in addition to Intel’s Ice Lake CPU with built-in Iris Plus Graphics, they can pack up to 32 GB LPDDR4X-3733 of memory (1866mhz speeds)!

ram at these speeds are more expensive but the overall pkg is compelling yet just needs macOS.

 

[ap123ap]

Sell it.

8GB of ram will be limiting in just 2yrs time. It may suit your purpose for now though. Remember ram is soldered, and right now the speeds that we’re seeing for RAM from Dell or HP units following the Intel Project Athena motherboard layout is phenomenal:

• DDR4-2933 (PC4-23466)
• DDR4-3200 (PC4-25600)

Current 16” MBP uses DDR4-2666 (PC4-21333) @ 1333mhz; while the DellXPS 13” 2-in-1 & this weeks launched 13” laptop have these faster 1600mhz ram chips.

I’m waiting on Apple n Intel to catch-up soon in mid to late spring.

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at these machines as an alternative. My company uses dell machines and the tech team have suggested that motherboards and ssd’s have been prone to failure in the many they have issued, granted not to the scale of these apple butterfly keyboards though!

It does seem like the more sensible option though for future proofing.

 

[Ifti]

I'd say keep it. The RAM is only limiting if you are actually using it all in the first instance. People go for the latest and greatest speeds, but honestly the speed differences these days are like splitting hairs - most would not notice in day to day running of the machine.

I used a 2018 13" MBP for a year before I upgraded to the 16", simply because I needed a larger laptop. But I had absolutely no issues with the 13". In fact I actually quite liked the keyboard.....

 

[Dominus Mortem]

I think it depends on your turnover rate. If you plan to keep it 3 years of less, maybe keep this one. If you want a laptop that will hold you longer, wait for the 2020 MBP 13" and get it with 16GB of ram. I think people are right about that. 4GB was standard base for a long time, then 8GB was standard base and has been for a long time, but I think we're on the cusp of 16GB becoming the standard base. Software gets more sophisticated and takes up more ram as time goes on. 8GB will hold you today, but will your machine still run smoothly after two or three more major OS upgrades plus upgrades in software? What if you start using ram intensive software a couple years down the road?

It's $200 American to get twice the ram. It's money well spent. If you don't need it you're not out a lot, but if you do you'll be grateful you made that move.

 

[faust]

coreection on the Dell XPS 9300 (2020 model):

The Dell XPS 13 9300-series laptops are aimed at people looking for maximum performance in a rather unique 13.4-inch form-factor, so in addition to Intel’s Ice Lake CPU with built-in Iris Plus Graphics, they can pack up to 32 GB LPDDR4X-3733 of memory (1866mhz speeds)!

ram at these speeds are more expensive but the overall pkg is compelling yet just needs macOS.

Oh boy! Such a yuge upgrade! I sure noticed the difference when I upgraded from 2133Mhz in my Core i7-7700k build to 3600MHz in my Ryzen 3700X build this past summer! Can't wait for the same marginal increase to come to my favorite personal computer laptop manufacturer! Let's all get ready to consume some more, everyone! WOOHOO! It's on!

 

[agaskew]

If this is one of those sold with eligibilty for the keyboard repair program already in place, take it back. It'll be in the back of your mind constantly...

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're worried about the keyboard, return it while you still can. Then wait for the 2020 13" model (but that won't arrive until May-June). The 2020 MBP will have the "new" scissors keyboard.

If you decide to keep it, you have the 4-year extended replacement program for the keyboard...

 

[darkmatter343]

Picked one of these up on Saturday new from John Lewis UK for £1250.

2018 MBP 13", i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB, Space Grey

Since then, I’ve discovered the global issue with the keyboard and in all honestly, I’m feeling a little nervous about keeping it. Kept it sealed since Saturday (which has been painful)... The trouble is that there isn’t anything else that I fancy buying for this sort of price and have my heart set on a 13” MBP after playing with other windows based laptop.

So my question is, am I being paranoid, and should I keep it given the 4 year repair program or would you guys suggest that I take it back to the store and wave goodbye to it?

Thanks in advance guys!

I vote for keeping it. First off, the keyboard is not really an issue, because if anything did happen, Apple will replace it for at least the next 3 years. I've had more family and friends purchase the 13" MBP 2017-19 then I have fingers and not one has had a keyboard issue.

The biggest thing you should be focusing on is MacOS vs Windows. I use Windows 10 for PC Gaming, but outside of that, I hate it. Even if you're someone who is OS neutral, I'd say keep the Macbook, and if you bought it for MacOS, same answer.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at these machines as an alternative. My company uses dell machines and the tech team have suggested that motherboards and ssd’s have been prone to failure in the many they have issued, granted not to the scale of these apple butterfly keyboards though!

It does seem like the more sensible option though for future proofing.

SSD failures could be attributed to the Windows image as well as how encryption is used. inquire with your IT team about that particular model if they've been tested, and if their looking into switching manufacturers. You could also see seek your company's vendor if they have discounted prices to sell to you directly. See about Apple from your company for potential discounts as well.

 

[JokerPower]

It really depends on what you’re doing. For example, I have an 13’ 2017 model with dual core and 8 GB RAM. I can live with that dual core if not running intensive tasks. The problem is with the RAM. It’s just not enough. Try open a bunch of tabs in Chrome/Safari, multiple documents in Word, several online messengers (Skype, Viber, Telegram) and you’re done everything becomes laggy, switching between apps takes so long..

And the ugliest part is that I can’t do nothing about it. I can’t buy additional memory and insert it. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard. The only way to get more RAM is to buy a new laptop. That’s Apple..

If your usage is almost the same as mine, just get rid of it. Buy something with 16 GB RAM or more.

I’ve upgraded my PC rig to 32 GB RAM because 16 is not perfect anymore.

I do believe 2018 keyboard should be better. In your case, I would wait for 2020 refresh. Butterfly keyboard is just not reliable, look how many revisions have been made. And they’ve dropped it with 16’ model. Same fate will be with the 13/14’ refresh.

Good luck with your choice!

 

[ap123ap]

Thanks for all the info guys and girls. I’ve decided to send it back and much to the dismay of many of you, I’m going to go with the latest release Dell XPS 13. Just over £1500 for the 10th gen i7, 16gb, 1tb, 4k 16:10. Seems like the most sensible thing to do given the keyboard issues and my budget...

 

[HappyIntro]

Wow, that's a nice choice - one of my pet peeves of Windows laptops is those 16:9 screens - I am seriously impressed that the new XPS 13 went to 16:10. Enjoy!