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petvas

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,808
Munich, Germany
I liked his video. The MacBook Pro is a great laptop but it’s not for everyone. If you need top sustained performance then you should probably get a desktop or a different laptop. Apple should really think about how the MacBook Pro should be defined as a laptop. As a general purpose laptop it is really great.
 

Ael_MR

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2018
59
264
The irony is that to get a laptop that offers sustained performance, all you need to do is move to Windows and pay half what Apple wants...

Now show us spec for spec a better computer for half the price. Wait don't. I'm not interested in a lenovo or hp machine that have their own share of issues. Nor am I concerned with the 15% difference in speed since I don't torture test Blender all day looking to get the highest possible artificial test score.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,223
9,180
Over here
Now show us spec for spec a better computer for half the price.

There are plenty out there, you can search as well I already have. You are not interested in a Lenovo or HP any more than I am interested in being a guineua pig for a 3rd time with a MBP that I can't type on without fear of it breaking.

I can cope with any brand that has its share of issues, they all do. Not a laptop with a keyboard that is now on its 4th attempt at not being ****.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,533
43,481
Now show us spec for spec a better computer for half the price. Wait don't. I'm not interested in a lenovo or hp machine that have their own share of issues. Nor am I concerned with the 15% difference in speed since I don't torture test Blender all day looking to get the highest possible artificial test score.
Lenovo is a great brand as I posted in another thread, I paid 2286 for my Thinkpad which would have run me in the 4500+ range on the MBP. Maybe not half but the price difference is large. I get a better keyboard, replaceable components, a higher resolution touch screen

If you like Macs, that's great, but don't dismiss the competitors with a wave of a hand, because they simply do not have the number of issues that that we've had to deal with on the MBP over the years.
 

Steve121178

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,405
6,972
Bedfordshire, UK
I was in the market for a 13” laptop but Apple’s asking price once I added Apple Care was past the £2000 mark.

Got myself a Surface Laptop 2 instead (Quad core i5/8GB RAM/256 SSD). I paid £1049 plus £70 for 3 years extended warranty & accidental damage from John Lewis (large UK retailer).

So almost 50% of the cost for a machine that is staggeringly good and has a keyboard that I find on par with my old ThinkPad T series. It’s almost like Apple doesn’t want business from people like me.

I’d pony up the cash if I believed I was getting £2000’s worth of premium hardware but I wouldn’t have got that would I...
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,223
9,180
Over here
I had gone with the Surface Book 2 but then I decided to go with the Lenovo S940. Going to take a couple of weeks before it arrives, but...

Base Price £1,499 - i5-8265U, Windows 10 Home, 8GB DDR3, 256GB NVMe, 14" IPS FHD 1920x1080.

I made upgrades and went with

16GB Ram - £51.60
1TB NVMe - £91.20
14" UHD 2840x2160 - £110.40

Check out those cheap upgrade prices, with apple I would be £600 for a 1TB SSD upgrade.

Total price - 1,753.19

Sure, not half price, but about £800ish cheaper. Now Windows or macOS aside, hardware is hardware, I will give Apple a bit of credit for the screen difference, not much though, certainly not £800.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac Mini but I am learning very rapidly and successfully how to make Windows work for me. Sometimes it just won't in the way macOS does, sometimes and too my surprise much better than macOS.

It's not all about the price, of course, I want the MBP keyboard to be fixed, but I personally have moved on now.
 

SteveJUAE

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2015
4,426
4,632
Land of Smiles
I like Dave Lee reviews and a bit of fun with the theatrics but lets hope its not a recurring theme

However what he implies re Apples strategy with flagship devices are cheaper to repair than make right pushes me further away from any Apple device

Best customer care/support is just a band aid for flawed manufactured devices that rely on % of non returns :rolleyes:
 

jinnyman

macrumors 6502a
Sep 2, 2011
761
671
Lincolnshire, IL
8core new macbook pro really scores 2800ish on cinebench r20? That's really disappointing and downright not 8 core 16 thread cpu!

My 2018 MBP with 8850h scores 2522, 8750h windows razer blade scores 2454, and my 9900k scores 4950 something.
I wasn't expecting 9900k level, but something solid between 9900k and 8850h, but 2800? The thermal limitation pretty much killed all the potentials of 8 core 16 thread mobile cpu.
 

coolX

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2016
92
126
I had gone with the Surface Book 2 but then I decided to go with the Lenovo S940. Going to take a couple of weeks before it arrives, but...

Base Price £1,499 - i5-82I'm65U, Windows 10 Home, 8GB DDR3, 256GB NVMe, 14" IPS FHD 1920x1080.

I made upgrades and went with

16GB Ram - £51.60
1TB NVMe - £91.20
14" UHD 2840x2160 - £110.40

Check out those cheap upgrade prices, with apple I would be £600 for a 1TB SSD upgrade.

Total price - 1,753.19

Sure, not half price, but about £800ish cheaper. Now Windows or macOS aside, hardware is hardware, I will give Apple a bit of credit for the screen difference, not much though, certainly not £800.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac Mini but I am learning very rapidly and successfully how to make Windows work for me. Sometimes it just won't in the way macOS does, sometimes and too my surprise much better than macOS.

It's not all about the price, of course, I want the MBP keyboard to be fixed, but I personally have moved on now.

I"m looking at the same machine. Looks like the best on the market assuming thermals are ok.
 

SnoFlo

macrumors regular
Feb 5, 2010
195
136
Now show us spec for spec a better computer for half the price. Wait don't. I'm not interested in a lenovo or hp machine that have their own share of issues. Nor am I concerned with the 15% difference in speed since I don't torture test Blender all day looking to get the highest possible artificial test score.

What issues are those? We have a fleet of HP ZBook 17 G5 machines and there are zero issues with them. They maintain 4.2GHz at full load, CPU temp 80 deg C, with NIVIDIA Quadro P5200 cards at 100%. Amazing as it may be to some Apple users no-compromise laptops do exist outside of the Apple ecosystem.
 

StuKatz1

macrumors member
May 24, 2019
88
211
Apple is as greedy as any huge American corporation. This spec bump seems like a bit of last ditch effort to right things with this chassis. I am sure we will see a new design this Fall (hopefully).

Unfortunately, publicly traded companies, especially ones as large as Apple, must trade customer loyalty for shareholder loyalty.

In Apple’s case the compromise has been magnified because they spent decades marketing themselves as a “company for the people.”

Interesting times ahead for Apple.
 

terminator-jq

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
684
1,365
As someone who owns a 2019 model, I honestly have to agree with this review. I can’t comment on the thermal issues since I have the 15” base model with 6 cores but the fact is that this is not a must buy machine by any means.

The keyboard does feel better (I owned both the 2016 and 2017 models and I’ve used the 2018 multiple times) and for once, using the keyboard actually gives some sense of durability. The change from the 2018 to 2019 keyboard is slight but there’s something about the way it feels that just seems more stable... Other than the keyboard fix, there’s not much here and that’s the part that really sucks. The “Apple tax” has always existed but it seems like over the past 5 years, that extra cost is becoming less worth it. New CPUs are good and fine but why aren’t the Vega GPUs standard? Why does a $2400 laptop still only have a 256gb SSD? Why didn’t the thermals get upgraded to handle the new chips (especially after Apple had this same issue last year)?

Complaints aside though, I actually am very happy with this laptop so far. For 2 main reasons:

1. The 2019 MBP represents the most polished MBP of this generation. Anyone with 2017 or older will definitely feel a difference. My 2016 felt like a beta test unit and my 2017 didn’t feel much better. My 2019 on the other hand feels finished and feels like something that can last a long time.

2. Resale value! One thing I think most of us forget sometimes is that Apple computers hold their value a lot better than the competitors. Yes you pay a high cost up front but some of that cost can be recouped when your ready to upgrade. I’ve sold my 2016 for a 2017 and I sold my 2017 for this 2019. In each case, I was able to sell for at least 60% of the cost I originally paid which drastically cut down the cost of upgrading. I’ve never had that same situation with Windows machines. My last windows laptop is sitting up in my closet collecting dust. Whereas my very first Mac laptop (2013 13”) was able to be sold 3 years later to help offset the cost of the 2016.
 

Dave245

macrumors G3
Sep 15, 2013
9,763
8,007
The irony is that to get a laptop that offers sustained performance, all you need to do is move to Windows and pay half what Apple wants...

The problem with that is the Windows part! believe me i tried, i have owned a Surface Pro 6 and while it isn't terrible (i did at one point think it was) it's not anywhere near as good as a MacOS and Mac hardware. Apple have let people down with this keyboard, IF they have now managed to fix it then great. Personally i still think Macs are better than Windows machines, the OS just miles better as well.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,223
9,180
Over here
And what do I do if I need Xcode?

Well, you buy a mac, clearly :rolleyes:

Personally i still think Macs are better than Windows machines, the OS just miles better as well.

The last few posts have been about price and performance of mac vs windows machines, rather than preference or use case, Apple can't compete on that front, that is no surprise to anyone surely. The gap just seems to have grown wider. With elements such as 600 for a 1TB SSD upgrade compared to under 100 elsewhere, hard to ignore, for me at least.

I agree with you that macOS is generally more appealing than Windows. I would prefer a MBP over a windows laptop for consistency across existing hardware I own but all my issues with the MBP have forced me to move and find alternatives.

I am happy with the mac mini and a Windows laptop, for now, others will stick with the MBP. All about choices :)
 
Last edited:
Jul 4, 2015
4,487
2,551
Paris
If you're using a laptop for video or CG you have to adjust settings accordingly. Video timelines should use proxy footage and reduced resolution viewports. CG rendering should be limited to short preview frames or offloaded to an external graphics card as recommended on the MacBook Pro product page.

It has always been like this and it will always be like this. Arguing against it is like head butting a wall for no reason.

If you want to move to a PC laptop you're not changing anything. You still have to contend with physics and you'll have an OS that slows you down more than any throttling could in the long term. Try to work without Quick Look, Labels, Tags, native HDR support, easy color profile management and native support for just about every display imaginable. macOS does these things, Windows doesn't or requires constant vigilance.
 
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