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

[PickUrPoison]

Perspective:

Intel's first 10nm 'Cannon Lake' processor with 32GB LPDDR4 RAM support ships
Thursday, May 17, 2018, 06:53 am PT (09:53 am ET)


Apple Still lagging behind. PC industry moves to new chips fast, you’ll see new intel architectures in a matter of months.

That’s not a chip Apple can use. It has no iGPU, performs worse than Intel’s 14nm++ node and is not available in volume in any case. Intel has already said volume shipments of 10nm won’t happen until sometime next year:


www.macrumors.com/2018/05/07/intel-foundry-and-vulnerability-issues

Despite positive first quarter results for 2018, Intel faces continuing issues with its foundries, both with the oft-delayed 10nm, as well as its own modem production in 14nm. Intel revealed in the earnings conference call that volume 10nm manufacturing had been delayed to 2019, without specifying which part of the year.

 

[Feenician]

My guess is there is no redesign internally and the top car will be replaced if the keyboard fails. I'm not sure I'm willing to spend so much money on a product that has a design defect

My guess is that they did fix/improve it, the reduced noise being a side effect, but going in to court battles over the last two generations they can’t explicitly say, “Oh that keyboard that sucked? Yeah, we fixed that” as it’d be an admission of guilt.

However, it’s just a guess.
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Perspective:

Intel's first 10nm 'Cannon Lake' processor with 32GB LPDDR4 RAM support ships
Thursday, May 17, 2018, 06:53 am PT (09:53 am ET)


Apple Still lagging behind. PC industry moves to new chips fast, you’ll see new intel architectures in a matter of months.

You really won’t. Intel’s 10mm is broken. Cannon Lake is shipping in pathetic numbers


https://semiaccurate.com/2018/06/29...rian-krzanich-is-a-cover-for-deeper-problems/

 

[PickUrPoison]

My guess is that they did fix/improve it, the reduced noise being a side effect, but going in to court battles over the last two generations they can’t explicitly say, “Oh that keyboard that sucked? Yeah, we fixed that” as it’d be an admission of guilt.

However, it’s just a guess.

Having put in place the extended repair program already acknowledges there’s an issue, though.

Let’s face it, even if this latest keyboard fails half as often as the 2015 model did, these forums will blow it up to be the worst keyboard Apple’s ever built. The Apple hate often crowds out legitimate issues and concerns to the point that it’s impossible to know the truth.

 

[Feenician]

Having put in place the extended repair program already acknowledges there’s an issue, though.

Very true. My feeling is there is still a bit of lawyering going on though. Time will tell, though I agree that this would be the wrong place to gather data! I’m hanging on for the first 32Gb refurbs anyway so I should be pretty well informed of any risk by then.

 

[Guy Clark]

What a shame because I had a late 2011 17-inch that was fully spec'd out and wish I could get another since it no longer works.

You can still purchase professionally refurbished 17" MacBook Pros and they are still selling
https://macbank.co.uk/product-category/macbook-macbookpro/macbook-pro/17-macbook-pro/
http://www.mapleuk.co.uk/17-inch-macbook-pros-131-c.asp

 

[notdave]

Marco Arment hating on the new Macs....shocker. Complain about the prices staying the same, fine. But more ports and SD slot? In what realistic world was Apple going to add back things they took away? Marco Arment may want a 2015 MBP with 2018 internals but he’s being completely disingenuous if he wants people to believe Apple was ever going to do that. And it’s also nonsense to think Apple would abandon new hardware only a couple years after being introduced. A few years ago Casey Liss said the ATP crew were going to make a point of being less negative because they were getting complaints about their podcast being too negative all the time. Well that didn’t last long. Marco is constantly whining and complaining.

Marco Arment (@marcoarment)
7/12/18, 7:52 AM
Very minor MBP update. More cores, higher max RAM and SSD, and “quieter” keyboard. Non-Touch-Bar options are unchanged. No update to the Escape at all. No SD slot or more ports. Same entry prices. If you hated the 2016-2017, you’ll probably hate the 2018.

 

[Petetastic]

The prices are pretty steep, but I've been using my 2010 MBP still so I will probably get one of these.

I’m in the same position. I was going to go Linux, but I might stay now that they have 32 GB of RAM available.

 

[notdave]

I stopped listening to that ATP garbage months ago and am so much better for it. They’re a bunch of entitled, out of touch cry-babies and I couldn’t stand listening any more. Give your ears a break and see how much better it makes you feel! You won’t be missing anything.

 

[JBat]

This tells me that John Gruber’s source might be right in that the issue was with a parts supplier product not being to spec vs. a specific flaw in the keyboard design. Also Apple would have the stats on how many users were affected. It does them no good to lie about it.

Of course it would benefit them to lie about it, it would minimize an issue that may be larger than they are letting on. What planet are you from?

 

[Feenician]

I stopped listening to that ATP garbage months ago and am so much better for it. They’re a bunch of entitled, out of touch cry-babies and I couldn’t stand listening any more. Give your ears a break and see how much better it makes you feel! You won’t be missing anything.

Me too. I could listen to Sirucasa all day, whether I agree with him or not, but Marco is a bit of a knob who suffers from Engineeritis* and Casey is a milquetoast. I just got tired of it.

*The inability to recognize your expertise in one domain does not apply to all domains.

 

[americanguy]

I think this is nice refresh update before big design upgrade in few next years. Im happy for 32GB DDR4 ram....But the prices are still too high for professional notebooks

 

[KPandian1]

Only thing I notice is the keyboard tends to get imprinted into the display when closed and dirty which goes away when cleaned thankfully.

The keyboard imprinting on the screen is not acceptable in any form in a $300 laptop - Apple getting away with this is in its expensive (Pro) laptops is nonsense. The third generation of the same keyboard is not inspiring faith in the Apple aficionados because you still have to take it to Apple to fix it, a week's turnover, etc., all things not expected from Apple, whether it is a $1000 MacBook or $4000-5000 MacBook Pro.

That this problem started in 2015 and is still an issue is frustrating and a money drain on Apple, and, all sorts of pain in the neck for the user. I don't care if Apple promises to fix it 300 times for twenty years - give me a keyboard that won't need TLC for 5 years Apple - as you have been doing forever.

 

[Frank Dalton]

Me too. I could listen to Sirucasa all day, whether I agree with him or not, but Marco is a bit of a knob who suffers from Engineeritis* and Casey is a milquetoast. I just got tired of it.

*The inability to recognize your expertise in one domain does not apply to all domains.

Great description of Marco, although I'll admit I enjoy hearing his opinions in spite of this. Casey Liss, though, I could do without. He's just a massively annoying paperweight.

 

[KPandian1]

So one example in roughly 20 years. No one should have expected that.

It is called precedent, and like the firewire, this is Apple's baby.

 

[Feenician]

Casey Liss... He's just a massively annoying paperweigh

I stopped listening in the Casey, “should I or should I not become a contractor? I just had a baby and my employer is soooo bad to me “ phase. Man, grow a pair. To be fair to Marco, he encouraged Casey and I do think he’s a good, thoughtful software developer. I just couldn’t stand the whining any more.

 

[FrancisBryan]

Groan! I took delivery of my nTB MBP on Monday, and a new model is announced on Friday of the same week!

 

[macintoshmac]

As with any product release, there’ll be some things to love and other things to lament, but on the whole, I’m happy Apple has shown itself as committed to the Mac even if it’s not everything everyone hoped for.

Personally, I’m holding out for the Mac Pro and new Apple Cinema Display.

The new Macs are super bowl winners, even if we wanted them to win by a few more points.
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Groan! I took delivery of my nTB MBP on Monday, and a new model is announced on Friday of the same week!

Take it back and get yourself a shiny new 2018 model.
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Nice upgrade to the latest Intel Chips. I wonder why the non-TB models didn't get the same upgrade when it's the same body shell? Also, glad to see the 2015 killed off!

Non TB models use a lower powered CPU that might not be available to Apple yet. When it will, they will make an update.

 

[dollystereo]

Yeah, in Japan we have 20% off coupon right now. Total price is sooo much cheaper than MBP..hmm

In Eu we have -15% right now also, looking to get one and try to Hackintosh/Linux it. For 2000 I get a pretty nice machine. I have worked with the big brother (Precision 5520) and it is an excellent machine with a really good customer support.

 

[dwaite]

Well the same design (same keyboard?). I'm disappointed.

It can be confusing whether people are disparaging the functional design of the keyboard (that it has less travel or a different click), or if they are complaining about what many suspect to be a manufacturing/engineering issue where debris in the keyboard could damage the butterfly mechanism and require the keyboard to be replaced.

To address the first point, after two years I haven't seen any sort of uprising about the key travel (I actually like the feel of the new keyboards), so I'd doubt they would change.

To address the second point, Apple hasn't even acknowledged or described that there *was* a manufacturing issue or that there *is* an engineering issue (all they have done is tell people that they will replace keyboards without cost for an extended period - not issued a recall or the like.).

However, it is unlikely they would prompt people to come en masse for free repairs without the newer manufactured keyboards having resolved the issue. And it appears the design has been refined with these new MBPs (in that the new keyboards are supposedly quieter)

 

[ConfluxNZ]

Have the money saved for my preferred configuration and would love to buy one.. but am not going near a new MacBook Pro until they sort that junk keyboard out.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Marco Arment hating on the new Macs....shocker. Complain about the prices staying the same, fine. But more ports and SD slot? In what realistic world was Apple going to add back things they took away? Marco Arment may want a 2015 MBP with 2018 internals but he’s being completely disingenuous if he wants people to believe Apple was ever going to do that. And it’s also nonsense to think Apple would abandon new hardware only a couple years after being introduced. A few years ago Casey Liss said the ATP crew were going to make a point of being less negative because they were getting complaints about their podcast being too negative all the time. Well that didn’t last long. Marco is constantly whining and complaining.

Marco Arment (@marcoarment)
7/12/18, 7:52 AM
Very minor MBP update. More cores, higher max RAM and SSD, and “quieter” keyboard. Non-Touch-Bar options are unchanged. No update to the Escape at all. No SD slot or more ports. Same entry prices. If you hated the 2016-2017, you’ll probably hate the 2018.

Setting aside lesser features like the T2 chip, True Tone display and Bluetooth 5.0 vs 4.2... in what world is a 6-core, 32GB RAM, 4TB SSD machine “a very minor update” over a 4-core, 16GB, 2TB one?

Arment's just butthurt because his “most perfect laptop ever” 2015 MBP is now a POS compared to what’s available today.

 

[meru890]

How much difference would you say is between the 13'' and the 15'' model regarding power? I'm currently running a maxed out late 2013 13'' pro and desperate for the new models. I'm using my laptop mainly for working with Adobe products, Sketch etc. 13'' suits me more (travelling a lot with it) but how noticable is the difference between the quadcores 15'' compared to the 13'' models? I'll will benefit anyway tremendously with the update just not sure if I should take even the bigger one for once.

 

[macintoshmac]

Have the money saved for my preferred configuration and would love to buy one.. but am not going near a new MacBook Pro until they sort that junk keyboard out.

It is not exactly junk keyboard. It is subjective and I feel this has now become more subjective than ever. Some love it, some hate it, some just despise it due to the propensity of this mechanism to break (early teething issues in manufacturing, I would like to believe).

Overall, personally, I love working on this new keyboard, and would only prefer mechanical keys over this. I have not tried any ThinkPad laptop keyboard, so..

 

[dwaite]

Waiting for the bezeless + Face ID redesign. 2019???

I would expect FaceID in the T3 chip. It solves the biometric problem for the iMac Pro (where the fingerprint sensor would be in a disposable/replaceable keyboard, where Apple's security model is that replacing the sensor requires a factory reset/drive wipe.)

Not sure what bezel-less means in this context - I would expect the FaceID camera assembly to replace the existing front-facing camera system. I would not expect some screen cut-out that menu-bar items have to be routed around. (I also have doubts that a FaceID iPad would bother with a cut-out, vs maintaining smaller bezels)

A top bezel makes sense as a non-screen area you can use to open/close the lid. A bottom bezel makes sense as the hinge area is harder to read/use on a screen - both lower line of sight, and potentially obscured by your hands.

 

[macintoshmac]

I would expect FaceID in the T3 chip. It solves the biometric problem for the iMac Pro (where the fingerprint sensor would be in a disposable/replaceable keyboard, where Apple's security model is that replacing the sensor requires a factory reset/drive wipe.)

Not sure what bezel-less means in this context - I would expect the FaceID camera assembly to replace the existing front-facing camera system. I would not expect some screen cut-out that menu-bar items have to be routed around. (I also have doubts that a FaceID iPad would bother with a cut-out, vs maintaining smaller bezels)

A top bezel makes sense as a non-screen area you can use to open/close the lid. A bottom bezel makes sense as the hinge area is harder to read/use on a screen - both lower line of sight, and potentially obscured by your hands.

I personally feel that Face ID on the Mac will be an option along with the Touch Bar and Touch ID, and will be placed in place of the existing FaceTime camera. Plain and simple. At least I hope they do it this way, keeping both Touch ID and Face ID.
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Setting aside lesser features like the T2 chip, True Tone display and Bluetooth 5.0 vs 4.2... in what world is a 6-core, 32GB RAM, 4TB SSD machine “a very minor update” over a 4-core, 16GB, 2TB one?

Arment's just butthurt because his “most perfect laptop ever” 2015 MBP is now a comparative POS compared to what’s available today. Time to move on Marco, your act is way past getting old, it got boring and tiresome quite awhile ago, and at this point, it’s beyond played out. Your whining is repetitive to the extreme; you really do need some new material, to say the least.

Quite right, the new machines are specced really well and competitively, something I believe Apple was not able to do with MBPs for a long many years now. This time, they have gone and made the machines really Pro capable.