Apple Launches 2018 MacBook Pros: 8th Gen Core, Up to 32GB of RAM, Third-Gen Keyboard, Quad-Core on 13-Inch and More

Out of the shadows …

It seems clear who the 'pros' are and who 'wishes/fantasizes to be a pro' (read: enthusiast) in this discussion.

A pro needs to get things done, an enthusiast likes to play with pro hardware and compare spec charts.

I am sure there are 'pros' who will not find these satisfactory. They adapt and continue to produce. For those that are actually working in a 'pro' capacity the price of any extra (RAM, SSD, etc) is a cost factored into the business.

The enthusiast crowd, however, will go on ad infinum as to how Apple (or Intel or AMD or Microsoft) are jerking the world around denying them the UnobtaniumBook, snarking about the last 9.5% of performance that is probably required less than 1.86% of the time.

Having just spent a 18 months trying to go to PC including a $4000 Threadripper workstation … short of long renders I am still to this day more productive on a 2013 rMPB.

Nothing I just said is new info.
 
BigMcGuire said:
I'll give that to you. I agree with your post. I liked my MBA 11' 2015 keyboard better. That said, I have gotten used to my 2017 MBP keyboard, it did take some effort. :p

I'd use my SteelSeries and other mechanical keyboards more if it didn't annoy the hell out of my wife. I've had the neighbors bang on the wall one time (living in an apt years ago) using one of those things. I'm easily 160wpm+ on those things. I miss them. :(
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160 is insane. I'm lucky to sustain half that! I'm sure you've seen your share of Topre propaganda, but it's definitely a softer, much less invasive sound, if you have nice PBT keycaps it's even better. And the way the resistance collapses is just [chef kissing fingers gesture].

I just dug out my Magic Keyboard and I think it's got a bit more travel than the laptop butterfly keyboard, and to me that makes all the difference in tactility. Unless I just resign myself to using aging MacBooks (or jump platforms entirely), I'll probably have to deal with the MacBook keyboards at some point.

I will say this though: I can't remember in my 25 years of using Macs a time when people had this many divided opinions about a Mac keyboard. It's always been the kind of thing that people "just use" and that's that. And for this many people to hate it, well I think that says something. A keyboard on a laptop shouldn't really be something the user notices at all after some initial orientation.
 
timber said:
It depends, sometimes they are priced somewhat fairly, other times not so much.

For example here the iPhone X 64 is 1120 USD before taxes. This is without taxes, it is not fair to include them to compare. The end user price is 1380 USD and that is what someone will pay. The 256 would be 1290/1560 USD.
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Thanks, I didn't know there was that much of a price difference.
 
poorcody said:
There was a long learning curve for me with the new keyboard. I didn't like it at first, and even after a few weeks, became only somewhat ambivalent about it. But now having used it for a while, I actually like it. What I realized was it took me a long time to learn not to hit the keys as hard as I used to. Once I did, I found typing actually went faster, because you are not having to press as far and release as far.

The other day I was using a very deep-press external Apple keyboard that was probably 20 years old. My keypresses were not registering, because when I hit the keys, my new "light touch" wasn't pushing the keys down far enough.

I actually wrote a 300-page novel on this keyboard. I now feel like the other keyboards are like those old fashioned mechanical typewriters where each key travelled inches down to throw an arm against the paper. :p
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Excellent explanation. I couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly it. It takes a bit of retraining to go from old keyboards to this new one - you have to type softer, your brain is screaming at you to pound it harder like a normal keyboard. Once you do, you can really fly on it and use a lot less energy. It wasn't easy learning this though, but once I have, I can really fly on it.
 
xkam1x said:
Camera is 720p.
Display is good.
TouchBar is gimmick.
Keyboard is questionable.
Trackpad is good.
CPU is good.
RAM is good.
Storage is only 256GB at £2400.
GPU is 3 years old. GTX 1050 will outperform this. Similar windows laptops have GTX 1060 for less cost.
Battery is good.

Only my list of things to improve, only thing that is now ticked of is RAM. But most important for me is GPU which is still lacking, Navi would have been better or GTX wound have been great but alas.
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If you refer to Radeon Pro 560 is better than 1050. Also Nvidia drivers are terrible on macOS.
 
A "Pro" model that starts with the storage of 256GB in 2018 is just a joke! I was debating whether I should upgrade my old MacBook to a MacBook Pro or a new Mac Mini. My decision has never been clearer after today's news.
 
poorcody said:
I actually wrote a 300-page novel on this keyboard. I now feel like the other keyboards are like those old fashioned mechanical typewriters where each key travelled inches down to throw an arm against the paper. :p
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I guess I was one of the few, but I learned to type on a typewriter. My parents put me on one of those non-electric typewriters, threw a T-Shirt over my hands (so I couldn't see the keys) and told me to start typing. Learning to type this way had a huge impact on my ability to type fast and accurately.

I do enjoy pulling out my old Mechanical keyboards but I tire on them quickly. :p
 
killawat said:
Apple: 32 GB. There. Have it. Ya'll happy now?
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As evidenced by the following 19 pages of b*tching about the keyboard, the "garbage" GPU, the "useless" ports (that $30 worth of new cables will fix), the "gimmick TouchBar", the lack of Holy Grail ports such as MagSafe, HDMI and SDXC that can NEVER EVER be removed, the price, no 8th Gen in the nTB 13" MBP that people hated on HARD when it was released, the price again, the price in Europe because Apple hates everyone in Europe, apparently, the keyboard again and the battery life because 32GB of DDR4 DRAM that everyone pissed and moaned about endlessly not having. Yes, I would say that everything in the MacRumors Forums is just PEACHY! LOL!
 
ikir said:
Because most users love it, it is very productive
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I have ordered one of these as I need to go to 16GB from my 8GB 2013 model, but i have not heard of a since professional in the programming/ engineering fields that is a fan of the TouchBar.

IMO it seems to be aimed at a fantasy AV pro that only exist in Apple's imagination - as even many AV pros either find the TouchBar useless or too small, and still pretty useless (either they use custom controls or Wacom units, or just use keyboard shortcuts)

PS I never use emojis...
 
Another Mac disappointment under the Cook era. Can't believe they are still selling that gen3 garbage designed keyboard and the worthless crapbar, also the same penny pinching tactics to force you buy it, if you want physical keys you get screwed.

They still offer subpar GPUs, same thermals, haven't even improved battery life, not only far far from what they claim, other brands like Microsoft or LG are even doubling Apple's battery life using an inferior OS such as Windows. Bezels the same, so magsafe is gone for good? Really Apple?! this is your best innovation for power connection? Also wow, impressive how you make 3k+ laptop users carry around dongles like noobs, portability invention of the century!

To those contributing economically to these "upgrades", all the best, I'm sure you are very proud of what Apple has become, the golden era.

So long, it was good while it lasted.
 
I turned in my $3000 Mac Book Pro today. Keyboard is broken, like so many else have experienced

If I don't get it on the guarantee, I will never buy an Apple computer again.

Even if you buy a cheap $500 laptop from China, the keyboard lasts for at least one year.
 
BigMcGuire said:
I'd use my SteelSeries and other mechanical keyboards more if it didn't annoy the hell out of my wife. I've had the neighbors bang on the wall one time (living in an apt years ago) using one of those things. I'm easily 160wpm+ on those things. I miss them. :(
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Those boards are gonna come in real handy if ever you want a divorce. ;)
 
BigMac? said:
There seems to bu sand under Apples inner workings (in real and referring to their keyboards)

- the 13" has no DDR4
- the 15" which really sound interresting has a 2 year old graphics card -> this all combined to an not any longer defendable price.

When I bought my maxed out 13" with 1TB SSD, 16 GB Ram and so on in late 2013, it was 2500 Euros including apple care (EDU price) now its 3014 without Apple care (EDU) ... I dont think the same RAM type plus unnecessary oledstrip and inflation for 5 years make for more than 500 Euros difference. Hey apple ... stay focused ... 15" would be great with vega, but noch with polaris 21 generation.

Sad.
[doublepost=1531408663][/doublepost]
in which world is radeon pro 560X good?
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There are tons of ATI fanbois on this site for ya
 
elmaco said:
I turned in my $3000 Mac Book Pro today. Keyboard is broken, like so many else have experienced

If I don't get it on the guarantee, I will never buy an Apple computer again.

Even if you buy a cheap $500 laptop from China, the keyboard lasts for at least one year.
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Even if they replace it, what you've bought is a POS, I'd return it entirely if I was you.
 
Cesar Battistini said:
You don't have to look down you just get used to it.

Stop preaching about things you don't know about!
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How exactly do you use the TouchBar without looking at it? (Yes, I have tried using it too)

I didn't realize it offered haptic feedback or braille.


Abazigal said:
The touchbar strikes me more as a more versatile set of function row keys than a touchscreen replacement.

The more I read this forum, the more I think how people misunderstand the way Apple (and some other tech companies work).

Apple has clearly invested YEARS of research and development into the touchbar - they are committed to it being a core part of the Mac OS experience. This isn't like tacking on an iris scanner or second speaker. The Touchbar is baked into the Apple ecosystem. IF Apple backpedals on the TB, it will take several generations and will be a commitment unto itself.

It's easy to think that someone comes up with the idea, then a few months later they build it into the Macbook Pro and then start manufacturing. This sort of thing requires extensive testing, security architecture, analysis and the Macbook Pro would need to be designed with this integrated in mind - battery life, ergonomics, placement etc. The Touchbar was likely conceived years ago considering the processes required to bring it to life and ensure its proper functioning, extensibility and quality.

The roadmap for this sort of addition also needs to be carefully planned out - future Mac apps need to add TB integration, TB integration tools made available to their party developers, hardware made to match (such as future magic keyboards etc.)

The TB won't be going away. Even if there's a massive backlash about it, it will be around for another few generations at the very least.
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I agree with your explanation, but this line of thinking is nothing more than the promotion of the sunk cost fallacy. Sometimes you do / design / purchase something that costs money and time and resources only to find out that it was a poor choice. The best option is to let it go and sink no more money, time, and resources into a failed endeavor.

manu chao said:
Battery size on the 15" increased from 76 Wh to 86.6 Wh and on the 13" from 49.2 Wh to 58 Wh. That's an increase of 14 and 18%, respectively.
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I wish they had kept the LPDDR3 option on the 15" MBP for those who were happy with 16GB and wanted longer battery life, but I guess that would have meant two separate motherboards.
 
maflynn said:
Yeah, they did say its quieter but does that mean the mechanisms were changed to be more resilient to debris?
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No offense intended ... but yes, that's what it means. They aren't going to post "oh, by the way, we fixed those terrible first and second generation ones and made it to sand won't break your $3000 piece of equipment." So instead they say, "your keyboard just got quieter".

:)
 
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