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iBrooker

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 20, 2016
416
214
UK
I'm close to hitting the buy button, but just in case Ive not thought of anything...
 
No track record with the updated keyboard - one would hope its an improvement but its new...
Gen1 product and make no bones, this is a gen1 product
Not needing the machine, i.e., can wait.
T2 chip is still being used and still can produce stability issues.
Not using 10nm chips, so performance isn't going to be that much of a bump.
 
I was so sure as soon as this thing releases, I will pull the trigger, but I think I am going to wait another year.

Reason being, my 2016 is still OKish, depend on what you have now. And another good reason is the WiFi 6 someone else mentioned, I had a 2012 MacBook Pro that didn't support AC, and it was quite a fiddle to upgrade myself, there is a thread for it.

2nd thing that might happen is Apple might move to ARM CPUs as soon as next year, then this will be the last generation of Intel Macs, I guess the transition is not going to be that quicker than the laptop's life cycle, but I'd rather get the first of new generation than the latest of the old generation.
 
Nits will

- no improved quality screen, higher refresh like others screens available on comoarable Windows laptops with 90 and 120 mhz refresh.
- no improved webcam, no face Id
- screen isnt that much bigger. 16 inches vs 16.4 rumored or the old 17 incher.

the AX wifi is annoying but likely due to Intel being lazy and slow. It's a clue tho that even if you buy today your next update is around the corner.
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I was so sure as soon as this thing releases, I will pull the trigger, but I think I am going to wait another year.

Reason being, my 2016 is still OKish, depend on what you have now. And another good reason is the WiFi 6 someone else mentioned, I had a 2012 MacBook Pro that didn't support AC, and it was quite a fiddle to upgrade myself, there is a thread for it.

2nd thing that might happen is Apple might move to ARM CPUs as soon as next year, then this will be the last generation of Intel Macs, I guess the transition is not going to be that quicker than the laptop's life cycle, but I'd rather get the first of new generation than the latest of the old generation.
the chances they do ARM on the high end CPUs soon is very low
likely it will hit the airs first. then a few years later the high end.
 
Spend the money on hookers and blow.

Almost certainly won't support Mojave, so will be the death-knell for any 32 bit software.
 
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Mojave, so will be the death-knell for any 32 bit software.
Oh, is that why people keep asking about mojave? I've been off of the mac long enough, I didn't realize the latest OS, will not run 32bit apps.

- no improved quality screen, higher refresh like others screens available on comoarable Windows laptops with 90 and 120 mhz refresh.
Good point, we're seeing OLED, fast refreshes, touch screens, 4k, none of that is available on the MBP.
 
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What's so good about No 802.11ax Wi-Fi?

Would mean I need to upgrade my wifi router which I haven't long bought (and it cost over £200! haha)
 
Yes, Catalina will not run 32-bit apps. Its been mentioned on the front page here several times.


You're correct, but to be more precise, Catalina will not run 32 bit code. There are some 64 bit apps that have 32 bit components (such as Lightroom). :)
 
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What's so good about No 802.11ax Wi-Fi?

Would mean I need to upgrade my wifi router which I haven't long bought (and it cost over £200! haha)
I'm still using an old AirPort Extreme (802.11ac) and it works well enough, so I get what you mean. 802.11ax is nice to have for the future though, and if you plan to keep the MacBook Pro for more than a few years you're likely going to want it.
 
What's so good about No 802.11ax Wi-Fi?

Would mean I need to upgrade my wifi router which I haven't long bought (and it cost over £200! haha)

In an uncongested home network, not too much. It may bring higher throughput but it will depend how it's deployed. Aside from the 1.4Ghz 13" the current Pro range all scale up to 1.3Gb/s (using an 80Mhz channel), which is far more than most people have at home anyway. The 1.4GHz 13" and the Air range are limited to 867Mb/s.

Most poeple won't need either 1.3Gb/s or 867Mb/s, but the effect of 3x3 vs 2x2 antenna deployment means that as you move to the outer reaches of your network range you're still supporting higher speed. So 1.3Gb/s vs 867Mb/s may not matter too much, but at a larger range the difference may become more noticeable. And if you're using NAS for Time Machine then you have 50% greater bandwidth.

For ax, the key benefits are more efficient use of the available bandwidth for bursty traffic flows. So when you have 20 devices attached the performance degradation will be FAR less on 802.11ax than on 802.11ac, with 802.11ax bringing some "full duplex"-like characteristics. Higher through will be available too, assuming it's deployed that way.

Although there are 802.11ax laptops around already, I haven't seen any deployed in 3x3 fashion, only 2x2. If the MacBook Pro with 802.11ax is 2x2, then the theoretical throughput vs the current 3x3 802.11ax deployment is 2.4Gb/s vs 1.3Gb/s. That's assuming 160Mhz on 802.11ax vs 80Mhz on 802.11ac. If we're somehow stuck with 80Mhz 2x2 on the new 802.11ax, then it's 1.2Gb/s vs 1.3Gb/s, so worse off during large max bandwidth transfers, but you'd still get the benefits for your smaller bursty traffic flows. But then if you're in a crowded neighbourhood (from a wifi perspective) you may not be able to hit 160Mhz anyway, since that's basically taking all the "air space" and saying "Mine".

Ultimately 802.11ax may provide a huge uplift in the right situations. If it's a half hearted 2x2 deployment then it's probably no better than 3x3 802.11ac for the average user.

Yes, rip and replace your router if your router doesn't support 802.11ax. But you would be able to use an 802.11ax Macbook with an 802.11ac router, running 802.11ac, not 802.11ax.
 
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Depending on your workflow, any MBP 2015 or later has more than enough power for your needs. If you have a 2018 or 2019 15", you will gain very little except for some specific use cases.
 
So is today's announcement making you want to switch back?
:p
There is a measure of temptation, but I'd probably pass.

I could go into detail over one facet or another, but suffice to say, software wise, windows provides a better solution for my needs. On the hardware side, I have a great fast machine that is stable, more expandable, does way more then the MBP could do, so why mess with success.

The biggest reason - my wife would kill me if I bought another computer, a year after buying the thinkpad
 
:p
There is a measure of temptation, but I'd probably pass.

I could go into detail over one facet or another, but suffice to say, software wise, windows provides a better solution for my needs. On the hardware side, I have a great fast machine that is stable, more expandable, does way more then the MBP could do, so why mess with success.

The biggest reason - my wife would kill me if I bought another computer, a year after buying the thinkpad
The X1E is an awesome machine. I hope they've addressed the nits in the gen 2s.
 
What's so good about No 802.11ax Wi-Fi?

Would mean I need to upgrade my wifi router which I haven't long bought (and it cost over £200! haha)

depends on your internet.Assuming you are in the UK if you are on BT’s 80mb or 330mb AC is more than enough, but if you are lucky enough have the new gigabit FTTP broadband, AC WiFI becomes the bottleneck. I have Community Fibre with 1 gb connection, max I can go is 500 mb.
 
depends on your internet.Assuming you are in the UK if you are on BT’s 80mb or 330mb AC is more than enough, but if you are lucky enough have the new gigabit FTTP broadband, AC WiFI becomes the bottleneck. I have Community Fibre with 1 gb connection, max I can go is 500 mb.
Yeah - I'd like Wifi 6 - I even have a Wifi 6 router because I needed an upgrade a few months ago and didn't see the point in not getting the new tech - but at my current internet service (a 600/400 fiber line), a 3x3 AC device does just fine - normally close enough to my full 600mbps speed. In fact, a 3x3 AC client does better on my network than the new iPhone 11 Pro with Wifi 6.
 
seems like a buy, I would order one (well I did) before they get on back order... then decide.. that's just me... the price is lower than I thought for base model....
 
Is anyone worried about the T2 chip? Seems to have caused alot of problems in the past, do we think they addressed this with hardware/software?
 
:p
There is a measure of temptation, but I'd probably pass.

I could go into detail over one facet or another, but suffice to say, software wise, windows provides a better solution for my needs. On the hardware side, I have a great fast machine that is stable, more expandable, does way more then the MBP could do, so why mess with success.

The biggest reason - my wife would kill me if I bought another computer, a year after buying the thinkpad

does this 16” price you back in?
 
2020 Redesign with 10th Gen CPU and improved dGPU, to me the 16" is a stopgap due to the significant negativity the 2016 MBP design has brought to Apple. Might be wrong, equally think the 2020 MBP will be the One...

Yes there's always bigger & better around the corner, equally Apple has been rightfully pissed on from a great height due to poor design since the 2016 MBP launched. 2020 Apple can correct the course or reinforce...

Q-6
 
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