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

[Abazigal]

this morning I called Apple, i was told that the devices had not been cleared for sale yet. I had just check, it is now available for purchase.

Yup, they became available for order when I checked last night. Had some fun playing around with the pricing options. An upgraded MBP, a E-GPU and 5k display...

Just as well Apple didn’t upgrade their iPad Pros. Else coupled with the free beats headphones (which I just sell online), I would probably have just caved in and got a refreshed 12.9” iPad.

 

[JBat]

Computers are not important anymore. Marketing could care less. So they just do it and get it over with, which is fine by me. Unfortunately, I won't be buying one 1) because of the keyboard, 2) because of the non-user replaceable battery, and 3) because of the ports.

Yeah? What is important?

 

[Ethosik]

When you factor in tax and Apple Care, it's over $4k. As I said elsewhere, I understand that there is state of the art RAM, CPU and SSDs inside, but Touch bar, questionable keyboard reliability, and Apple raising prices to increase their profit margins are three risks I am not willing to take.

View attachment 770398 In defense to the 2017 iMacs, for $3k I could buy an iMac that would blow away every iMac I've owned. To me, that's a good value and a price I'd be willing to pay IF the QC/Build Quality for hardware and software were ironed out.

I am a little nervous that this Fall's potential updates to the iMac and Mac Mini will probably push up the prices again, to say nothing of QC / build quality. I am not sure if I want to risk putting out so much for another iMac, so I am hoping the Mini will be powerful enough to serve my needs and wants.

If Apple were building rock solid hardware and software and weren't price gouging to push up their profit margins, I wouldn't be complaining. My 2017 12.9" iPad Pro flaked out and Apple said nothing was wrong with it, so I just sold it and took a loss of nearly a grand. I am rather hesitant in giving them full price (or even educational discount price) for any of their tech now.

Back on the topic, regardless, I do hope anyone who orders these MBPs gets the machine they want with no keyboard etc. issues. It looks beautiful on paper and I love the idea of TrueTone on a Mac Display.

Yes, but my 2016 MacBook Pro was $4,500 before tax and I did not get Apple Care for it.

 

[Topkat]

I would probably buy the base model 15” if it came standard with 512gb SSD and it was priced at £2000. But a 256gb SSD in a 2018 laptop that costs £2350? That’s taking the piss!!! And the SSD and RAM can’t be upgraded later either. Planned obselence. Tim Cook is ruining Apple with these stupid prices and the environment too with this non upgradable disposable computer.

 

[ConfluxNZ]

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..

A number of close friends and relatives have a 2016/17 MBP, and all of them have had / are having problems with the keyboard. One is on to their third replacement laptop. I’ve typed on the MBP keyboard in varying capacities and found it fine to use. But that does not excuse the temperamental nature of the main input method on a $3k+ machine. Ergo, based on my experience I stand by my statement that the keyboard is junk and will not buy a MBP of my own until it’s redesigned and / or replaced.

 

[macintoshmac]

A number of close friends and relatives have a 2016/17 MBP, and all of them have had / are having problems with the keyboard. One is on to their third replacement laptop. I’ve typed on the MBP keyboard in varying capacities and found it fine to use. But that does not excuse the temperamental nature of the main input method on a $3k+ machine. Ergo, based on my experience I stand by my statement that the keyboard is junk and will not buy a MBP of my own until it’s redesigned and / or replaced.

I have had mine replaced once as well, in 1.5 years of usage. That said, McDonald's is junk. This keyboard is not. When you make a blanket statement that something is junk, it means it is universally junk for everyone, which, it is clearly not. McDonald's, on the other hand, is universally accepted as junk.

I wholeheartedly agree when you call these notebooks and keyboards out on their temperamental nature. Yes, totally. That is a reliability issue right there, something that should be sorted out. You are well within rights to wait for a total design refresh because money isn't earned easily and these things are not coming cheap.

 

[partsofspeech]

No new dongles are implied. That's not a progress.

 

[Tofupunch]

I hear you. The new display is probably really nice too and worth the upgrade but being that I paid $2100 for this machine and just finished paying it off with my Apple Store credit card a few months back, it would be stupid to upgrade now and start over. I plan to hold onto my MBP for 5 years if possible before moving on which I normally don't do but its gotten to the point where I realize I have no need to upgrade a laptop every 2 years or less for what I do with it. Same with my iPhone 8 Plus and iPad Pro 10.5. I'd like to keep them for 3-4 years if they hold up. They are all beautiful pieces of hardware that are capable of standing the test of time.

I totally agree with this. I'm still using the iPad mini 2 (albeit permanently sticking with iOS 10), iPhone 6 and the 2015 MBP. Are they a bit sluggish compared to the new hardware? Absolutely. Can I live with it for now? You betcha.

 

[MoJoRo]

Nowadays Apple ships mediocre Macs for luxery prices while competitors ship better computers for way less.

I think you're crazy. I've done price comparisons because I'm a Mac user and my wife is Windows only. Do a price comparison on a similarly specced XPS or Surface and come back to me.
[doublepost=1531598748][/doublepost]

Let's not lie to ourselves, the Touch Bar adds at least $300 to the cost that could be better spent on performance.
There is no SD card slot.
And the 13" model has a sh***y, sh***y, non-pro, graphics card.

Who sells a 13" laptop with a pro graphics card? Asking for a friend.

 

[clauzzz203]

For anyone still crying about the ports:

'Apple Inc.'s iMac was the first mainstream product with USB and the iMac's success popularized USB itself.[12]Following Apple's design decision to remove all legacy ports from the iMac, many PC manufacturers began building legacy-free PCs, which led to the broader PC market using USB as a standard.[13][14][15]'

'The marketing and sales success of the iMac G3 contributed to Apple's turnaround from financial ruin in the late 1990s and revitalized the Apple brand as design-oriented and simple. It was, nevertheless, criticized for abandoning then-current technological standards like the floppy drive and the Apple Desktop Bus connector in favor of the emerging USB standard.'

 

[galactic orange]

Yes possibly. The overall specs look good on these models. I’d love a 15” again. But those are over $3,000 now. That’s a lot of money for me. Yes it could last me 5 years or even more but it’s still lots of money to spend in one shot.

I like the specs on these too. As a (non-pro) Logic Pro X user, I need a lot of RAM for Kontakt sample libraries. 32GB is a sweet spot where 16 was a little restricting. I haven’t owned a 15-inch laptop since the Powerbook days so I was eagerly anticipating something with more RAM and a 6-core processor. But I was taken aback by the price jump for upgrades, although I should have expected it. I was half-ready to snag a 2015 15-inch MBP, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it with these more powerful 2018 MBPs on the horizon (and now released).

But what does an aspiring pro do? Someone who is a “creative” in the gray area between casual user and a pro who gets a tax write-off will have a hard time stomaching these prices. I’m considering the 13-inch quad-core now but it’s kind of “meh” to pay more for a 13-inch than I would have paid for a similar spec 15-inch model.

 

[Keebler]

That has to be one of the worst defenses I've ever heard. Many people don't use external hard drives or the cloud. I surely don't rely on those when I'm working. I usually back up every once in a while, but it's never my sole storage source. Extra storage is never a bad thing. For some users a laptop is their only Machine. People store music, photos, movies, documents, etc... So yes, it's not a joke. Thanks.

Actually, I agree....it is 1 of the worst defenses because I forgot 1 important clarifying point - professional users or hobbyists.

Anyone doing photo or video work (to whom these new machines are mainly* aimed at), then yes, work should be done offline for sure. In fact, they'd be crazy to not work offline. Anyone compressing videos knows that lol

But I sincerely do see your point that some users will store everything on it. I just didn't think those folks would need quad or six core laptops because they won't need the power.

* mainly - I realize there are other heavy computing tasks other than just photo or video work

Cheers,
Brian
[doublepost=1531659107][/doublepost]

Yup. 256GB is perfect for the OS and Applications - I prefer to keep my system drives lean and clean. ...I do all of my work on non-boot drives.

That said, the 256GB 15" MacBook Pro option with the 2.9GHz CPU, a 4GB Radeon RX 560 GPU, and 32GB of ram is still $3,300. Oh hells-bells, that's overpriced.

I'm certain that is the exact machine I'm getting, but of course, I'm in Canada so that price will be $4179.

I still respectfully fight the 'overpriced'. I think that comes down to the individual.

I bought a 12 core 2013 MP a few years back. It was over $7K (not bragging...just fact). My gut was wrenched making that decision. I had it paid off in under a year and I'm still using it. Initially, it was a big hit, but my ROI (return on investment) is fantastic. I could have bought a cheaper PC at that time and maybe kept more in the bank, but I guarantee I wouldn't have had the smooth sailing and constant work flow I've experienced. To me, that is worth the extra cost. We have PCs in our office (latest with Win 10) and the horse cr*p they go through is just unacceptable.

The same applies for 99% of the people buying a 6 core Macbook - no doubt those folks will make their money back umpteen times over. Time is money and if you can save time working faster without issues, you'll make more There will be the 1% who have the money, but don't need the power. The vast majority will use these beasts for how they're intended.

Now to place my order...

Cheers,
Brian

 

[bluecoast]

A few people above have made the point that macOS is more streamlined than win 10. And imho it is.

Win 10 bends over backwards to support about 10-15 years of software where Apple is ruthless about removing support for outmoded APIs ie 32 bit and OpenGL is next for the chop.

That’s annoying to some but it means that macOS keeps on getting more efficient without having to support loads of crud.

Also it’s kinda useful if you were planning a processor architecture shift too!

 

[scoobs69]

A few people above have made the point that macOS is more streamlined than win 10. And imho it is.

Win 10 bends over backwards to support about 10-15 years of software where Apple is ruthless about removing support for outmoded APIs ie 32 bit and OpenGL is next for the chop.

That’s annoying to some but it means that macOS keeps on getting more efficient without having to support loads of crud.

Also it’s kinda useful if you were planning a processor architecture shift too!

So removing support for software that's 10-15 years old makes Apple's OS better? It makes it frustrating. In fact, Apple is so adamant about moving forward, they quit supporting their own computers after 6-8 years. It's called "planned obsolescence", as they try to force you to upgrade a perfectly capable machine -- even if you're only doing simple home user tasks.

I think it's funny people are trying suggesting Windows 10 computers can't be efficiently productive, considering I'm incredibly more productive with my new Windows 10 workstation compared to my old Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

As I mentioned before, I only miss columns view and the ability to preview every document by clicking on the thumbnail. However, it's not a deal breaker, nor does it prevent me from being very productive on my machine. It's just a bit "different", but no less capable.

I'm wildly glad I tried my little Windows 10 experiment, as I had never used it prior to December of 2017. Knowing what I know now, and not simply listening to the fear mongering over Windows 10 (like I had in the past), when the choice comes down to "hardware vs. OS", I can confidently say, I'll take value of the hardware with Windows 10, vs. OSX with expensive hardware. But, I'm not strapped by a particular piece of software - like FCPX, nor am I an OS X developer.

 

[bluecoast]

So removing support for software that's 10-15 years old makes Apple's OS better? It makes it frustrating. In fact, Apple is so adamant about moving forward, they quit supporting their own computers after 6-8 years. It's called "planned obsolescence", as they try to force you to upgrade a perfectly capable machine -- even if you're only doing simple home user tasks.

I think it's funny people are trying suggesting Windows 10 computers can't be efficiently productive, considering I'm incredibly more productive with my new Windows 10 workstation compared to my old Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

As I mentioned before, I only miss columns view and the ability to preview every document by clicking on the thumbnail. However, it's not a deal breaker, nor does it prevent me from being very productive on my machine. It's just a bit "different", but no less capable.

I'm wildly glad I tried my little Windows 10 experiment, as I had never used it prior to December of 2017. Knowing what I know now, and not simply listening to the fear mongering over Windows 10 (like I had in the past), when the choice comes down to "hardware vs. OS", I can confidently say, I'll take value of the hardware with Windows 10, vs. OSX with expensive hardware. But, I'm not strapped by a particular piece of software - like FCPX, nor am I an OS X developer.

Fair enough that Windows works for you.

I’ve too have used Windows machines at work (to project manage) and I never felt less productive than I would’ve with a Mac - I have a Mac at home.

I guess the Windows vs Mac argument has been going on since the early 90s (if not longer) and it’s not going to stop now!

It’ll be interesting as to where each company’s approaches gets them to in 3-5 years.

The (partial) shift to ARM, the cloud, AI, ML etc are all going to be important features that will significantly changes for both companies in this time frame.

So let’s come back to this debate then!

 

[toke lahti]

For anyone still crying about the ports:

'Apple Inc.'s iMac was the first mainstream product with USB and the iMac's success popularized USB itself.[12]Following Apple's design decision to remove all legacy ports from the iMac, many PC manufacturers began building legacy-free PCs, which led to the broader PC market using USB as a standard.[13][14][15]'

'The marketing and sales success of the iMac G3 contributed to Apple's turnaround from financial ruin in the late 1990s and revitalized the Apple brand as design-oriented and simple. It was, nevertheless, criticized for abandoning then-current technological standards like the floppy drive and the Apple Desktop Bus connector in favor of the emerging USB standard.'

This is just rubbish. Less than 1% of pc’s were legacy-free. Usb became popular because it had great price-quality ratio.
It took years although. Me and lots of others were buying parellal/serial port versions of devices, because they were cheaper than usb versions.

 

[clauzzz203]

This is just rubbish. Less than 1% of pc’s were legacy-free. Usb became popular because it had great price-quality ratio.
It took years although. Me and lots of others were buying parellal/serial port versions of devices, because they were cheaper than usb versions.

I took the quotes from wikipedia, you’re welcome to propose an edit

 

[cocoua]

Could it be this??
rMBP 2018 faster than Imac 4,2ghz even in single core??
https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks

Even the 6 core 2,2ghz shows better results than the 4,2ghz imac, but the surprise is in SINGLE CORE!

Its awesome

 

[KekeDoYouLoveMe?]

Great update, bought the 13" 256 SSD touch bar on 0% finance for 12 months and upgrading from my late 2011 13" macbook pro which is slowing down but has such good build quality and reliability. One of the best designed laptops ever.

 

[nate13]

Apple should get applause for buying the latest CPU from intel and putting it into their machine?

And a cap of 32 gig of still last generation ram in a $6700 laptop is a good thing do you? At that price point you'd get 128 gig from any other vendor.

Same defective keyboard. Same soldered ram and SSD. Same have to buy the emojibar if you want the 15" or more than a tablet CPU in the 13". Same absurd pricing on ram/SSD as years ago even though in 2018 those prices have dropped that much more outside the swimming pool of Apple kool-aid Same gimp video chips.

Same gimp ports that require adapters for everything. Way back in 2015 on the MB, USB-C was promised as the future. Now with machines released a full 3 years latter, when browsing newegg/best buy/etc that future is still clearly no closer. And a machine with only USB-C is still a gimp piece of crap. Makes as much sense in 2018 as a machine with only firewire would have made in 2011. Exactly zero sense.

You're totally right, you should use a PC then, it sounds like the Mac platform isn't a requirement to your workflow, but 128GB of RAM is. It sounds like you don't actually own a '16 or later MBP to actually experience these new technologies, but are very quick to judge how terrible they are. I'd like to know your setup, and what you use your computer for. It seems like you're defending a very specific use case of a computer...?

Or better yet, buy a iMac Pro and get all of your technical specs taken care of. But I'm sure it's still "too expensive". If the work you're doing can't pay for the tool, then you're probably not the target user. Apple's not looking for applause, they are a for profit company; they are releasing a product that based on their research will be purchased by a segment of their addressable market. Their internal goal is to provide a return to shareholders after you take into account design, hardware, marketing, software, overhead, and distribution costs. I think they've proven that they are quite good at this formula, and if this product turns out not performing well, they will adjust their offering. Because they're still offering this form factor and features (and shipping more units year over year), it would seem they have a successful model.

Out of curiosity I went to Dell's site, found their most powerful laptop and maxed it out. 3800 list price (-600 discount), maxes out at 32 GB of ram, no option for more than 512Gb of storage, almost the same processor as new MBP. Yes, it's got a GTX 1080. It also ships with a 240W (WOW) power adapter, and the size is about double the 15 in MBP (7.8 lbs, 1 inch thick).

Please provide links to available laptops with 128GB of ram, 4TB SSD storage to support your claim.

[doublepost=1531758925][/doublepost]

nope. "Quieter" - no improvement on the dust/sticky thing

Nope, improved, silicone membrane isolates butterfly mechanism from dust, based on iFixit teardown... unless you've been doing some extensive testing in the last day you've owned the machine...?

 

[scoobs69]

You're totally right, you should use a PC then, it sounds like the Mac platform isn't a requirement to your workflow, but 128GB of RAM is. It sounds like you don't actually own a '16 or later MBP to actually experience these new technologies, but are very quick to judge how terrible they are. I'd like to know your setup, and what you use your computer for. It seems like you're defending a very specific use case of a computer...?

Or better yet, buy a iMac Pro and get all of your technical specs taken care of. But I'm sure it's still "too expensive". If the work you're doing can't pay for the tool, then you're probably not the target user. Apple's not looking for applause, they are a for profit company; they are releasing a product that based on their research will be purchased by a segment of their addressable market. Their internal goal is to provide a return to shareholders after you take into account design, hardware, marketing, software, overhead, and distribution costs. I think they've proven that they are quite good at this formula, and if this product turns out not performing well, they will adjust their offering. Because they're still offering this form factor and features (and shipping more units year over year), it would seem they have a successful model.

If Apple actually did research, and consulted their users, they would have NEVER produced and released the 2013 Mac Pro. They prefer to TELL YOU what you need, then force you to adjust your workflow process - including buying additional storage options, as they've completely eliminated internal storage expansion.

They would have also offered a thicker MacBook Pro with additional storage options and more memory beyond 16GB several years ago. They would have updated the Mac Mini, and wouldn't strip it from the quad core processor.

If they REALLY wanted to sell and produce for the shareholders, they'd offer mini tower with an i7-quad core, with BTO options with 6 and 8 core options, offer up to 64GB of user upgradable memory, start with 4GB GPU, with BTO options of 6 and 8GB - maybe up to the Vega 56, and have dual or triple NVMe slots and/or SSD bays.

Just sayin'

 

[Detnator]

Display card is really bad comparing with 2500 USD Gaming PC Notebook which normally equipped with GTX1070 8GB.
According to geekbench - open cl benchmark, GTX1070 is 138% faster than RX560 which also mean GTX1070 has more than double performance to RX560......Macbook "PRO"..its not real "PRO"

Lol. You crack me up. You’re complaining it’s not PRO because it’s not configured the same as a pc GAMING laptop. Hahaha.
[doublepost=1531811651][/doublepost]

The ports on the right side are limited PCI Express bandwidth. Shortcut by Apple to save battery life and cost.

Now you know.

Only on the lower end 13”. All the other 4-port configs are full speed on all four ports.
[doublepost=1531811868][/doublepost]

Price is absolutely retarded. Still got the weird port selection and the useless touchbar. Yargh.

Still rocking that 2011 MBP. Getting real annoyed with these crappy offerings now. I want MacOS, but I don't want these mediocre (relative to the price) machines.

Thunderbolt 3 is the future. If you want all the OLD ports why are you whining about NEW laptops? Sticking with your old one is the right choice for you. Me? I want future proof ports, not all the myriad of old crap.
[doublepost=1531812257][/doublepost]

I know about it, just that it's wrong.
It all comes down to the fact that Intel Iris is crap, and putting it into a computer labeled "Pro" with a "Pro" price tag is just wrong and stupid.
Bundle it with the regular MacBook, but not with the MacBook Pro.

What about people who do PROfessional work that doesn’t require intensive graphics? Why shouldn’t they have the option for PRO level cpu, ssd, ram, etc without having to pay for graphics horsepower they don’t need?
[doublepost=1531813626][/doublepost]

That's the reason why you would buy a MacBook or MacBook Air instead.
Older MacBook Pro's had both an Integrated and "Pro"GPUs that could be used depending on the needs. It was supposed to be a "Revolutionary Feature". What happened to that?

Umm... no.

I’m a database developer. I need fastest processors, multiple cores and max ram for Virtual machines, fastest ssd’s. I don’t need fast graphics. I could never efficiently do what I do, on a MacBook or MacBook Air.

Arguably last year’s MBPs Are short on what should be pro machines. I maxed out a 2017 15” MBP last year and I’ve still been held back by the lack of 32GB RAM, and low core count. And I could really use more internal SSD space. I’ve been frustrated with last years offerings enough to write to Tim with a bit of a rant asking why the hell I couldn’t have 4TB PCI SSD, 6 or 8 cores and 32GB RAM in 2017. Looks like he delivered. I for one don’t need my laptop any more expensive or hot because of an overpowered GPU unless I’m plugging it into multiple 4/5K displays in which case I can use eGPUs now.

I appreciate your desire for fast graphics and now the 15”-ers don’t have the option for integrated graphics anyway. And despite everything I’ve said above I do actually appreciate the odd game or two on my MBP with the graphics card it has. But I know it’s not a gaming machine and I just find it a little insulting you and a few others saying it’s not a PRO machine because it doesn’t have the fastest graphics - you’re basically saying what I and many others do who need the CPU, RAM, SSD, etc aren’t professionals.

To me, that’s about as dumb as that other guy on here complaining that it’s not a PRO machine because it doesn’t have the same specs as a tricked out pc GAMING laptop. Lol.

 

[008325]

Lol. You crack me up. You’re complaining it’s not PRO because it’s not configured the same as a pc GAMING laptop. Hahaha.
[doublepost=1531811651][/doublepost]
Only on the lower end 13”. All the other 4-port configs are full speed on all four ports.
[doublepost=1531811868][/doublepost]

Thunderbolt 3 is the future. If you want all the OLD ports why are you whining about NEW laptops? Sticking with your old one is the right choice for you. Me? I want future proof ports, not all the myriad of old crap.
[doublepost=1531812257][/doublepost]

What about people who do PROfessional work that doesn’t require intensive graphics? Why shouldn’t they have the option for PRO level cpu, ssd, ram, etc without having to pay for graphics horsepower they don’t need?
[doublepost=1531813626][/doublepost]
Umm... no.

I’m a developer. I need fastest processors, multiple cores and max ram for Virtual machines, fastest ssd’s. I don’t need fast graphics. I could never efficiently do what I do, on a MacBook or MacBook Air.

Arguably last year’s MBPs Are short on what should be pro machines. I maxed out a 2017 15” MBP last year and I’ve still been held back by the lack of 32GB RAM, and low core count. And I could really use more internal SSD space. I’ve been frustrated with last years offerings enough to write to Tim with a bit of a rant asking why the hell I couldn’t have 4TB PCI SSD, 6 or 8 cores and 32GB RAM in 2017. Looks like he delivered. I for one don’t need my laptop any more expensive or hot because of an overpowered GPU unless I’m plugging it into multiple 4/5K displays in which case I can use eGPUs now.

I appreciate your desire for fast graphics and now the 15”-ers don’t have the option for integrated graphics anyway. And despite everything I’ve said above I do actually appreciate the odd game or two on my MBP with the graphics card it has. But I know it’s not a gaming machine and I just find it a little insulting you and a few others saying it’s not a PRO machine because it doesn’t have the fastest graphics - you’re basically saying what I and many others do who need the CPU, RAM, SSD, etc aren’t professionals.

To me, that’s about as dumb as that other guy on here complaining that it’s not a PRO machine because it doesn’t have the same specs as a tricked out pc GAMING laptop. Lol.

Dude, Gaming performance is not the only advantage in a faster GPU, there has tons of applications were accelerated by the GPU, for example , the metal API, Adobe Products, Affinity products , etc even the Browser, IDE are also adopting the GPU acceleration. It means a lot on on graphics productivity. Software developer is not the only PRO job in this world

 

[Detnator]

They obviously made this before the complaints regarding the keyboard. Same but quieter? That’s going to pi$$ a lot of people off. Same lack of ports? That’s going to pi$$ a lot of people off. 32GB RAM is nice but at the additional cost of £399.

So basically people will be still pi$$ed because Apple didn’t listen to their main complaints, just specced it up without addressing them.

Ports ports ports. Ffs. Thunderbolt 3 is the future. All those people who want the OLD ports, why don’t they just buy OLD laptops? Why are they whining about OLD ports not on NEW laptops.

Me? I want future proof ports. Ports that can handle 5K monitors and 8K soon. Ports that can handle eGPUs. Ports that can deliver external drive performance at the same 3200MB/s (that’s B for Bytes not bits) as the internal SSDs - so I can transfer Terabytes in minutes instead of hours.

Everyone complained when Apple replaced ADB with USB, floppy drives with optical drives, optical drives with downloads and WiFi, SCSI with FireWire, FireWire with Thinderbolt 1. All those were replacements of old tech with future tech at the time. Now most of that future tech is old tech and we’re moving forward again. If we’re going to go back to USB-A, Why don’t we go back to FireWire and SCSI and floppy drives too? Where do you want to draw the line?

I for one prefer to future proof my hardware and do NOT want my laptop cluttered up with all the myriad of OLD crap.

I bought the 2017 MBP for a few thousand dollars and immediately replaced all my USB-A cables with USB-C ones for about $10 each. Plus a few other adjustments like that (thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3, gigabit Ethernet to ac gigabit WiFi, Etc), and problem solved.

People need to stop whining about ports and move forward. If you want OLD ports buy OLD laptops - and enjoy the added bonus that those laptops are much cheaper. Then we can all be happy (about ports at least).
[doublepost=1531816174][/doublepost]

Dude, Gaming performance is not the only advantage in a faster GPU, there has tons of applications were accelerated by the GPU, for example , the metal API, Adobe Products, Affinity products , etc even the Browser, IDE are also adopting the GPU acceleration. It means a lot on on graphics productivity. Software developer is not the only PRO job in this world

Absolutely and that’s why there are discreet graphics cards in some of the MBPs.

The poster I was replying to is insisting that a laptop without powerful graphics isn’t Pro enough and that my work and others - work that doesn’t need the fastest GPU - isn’t Pro, and that I could get by with a MacBook or MacBook Air. That assertion is ridiculous and so I’m calling him out on that.

That said, personally I do like high powered graphics because I like multiple high resolution (5K) displays set to very high settings (3200x1800 pixel doubled is pretty normal for me). I’ll get a 32” or bigger 8K display as soon as someone releases a Mac compatible one (the Dell one isn’t).

But I believe I speak for enough others when I say it’s out of line to suggest that ALL work that doesn’t need the fastest GPU isn’t pro.

 

[Ishayu]

Thunderbolt 3 is the future. If you want all the OLD ports why are you whining about NEW laptops? Sticking with your old one is the right choice for you. Me? I want future proof ports, not all the myriad of old crap.

Oh, I do want Thunderbolt 3. I just don't want only Thunderbolt 3.

Yes, I know, I can get dongles, and yes I know they aren't that expensive. But it's annoying to carry.

Also, the price of 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports is a considerable factor in driving up the cost here, and this laptop is VERY expensive.

Having said that, I am starting to get around after hearing about how much better the new keyboard is and the improved battery life and CPU being such a large upgrade. Could definitely last me a good 5 years or so if I put an eGPU on it.

Still, I do think the 2015 model with TB3 ports in place of TB2 ports, and any other technical upgrades like better CPU, GPU, and RAM, newer USB ports, etc. would have been preferable over the 2016 design.