I've had the MBP described in the title since Saturday, and thought people on the fence might appreciate some perspective.
Plainly put, there's no real reason to wait if you need or want one.
The 2018 is noticeably faster on multi-core aware apps - even dramatically faster. I use it to run an app analogous to BOINC to work on large datasets, so the more cores, the better. While it does run hotter (at least anecdotally; I've not measured it), the CPU upgrade so far is solid.
GPU - the 560x so far appears to be slightly faster than the 560 and 460 of the 2017 and 2016 models, respectively. It's averaging 99+ FPS on Cinebench, compared to the 93-94 for the 560 and ~90 for the 460. I think the GPU is the one area where it's reasonable to criticize it - the 560x is left for dead by a number of other mobile GPUs in competitive models.
Keyboard - we'll see if the keyboard is as prone to failure as those in the 2016/17 models, but as someone who has been extremely critical of the keyboard I have to say the 2018 does feel like an improvement. And so far it has not started to repeat any keys, suggesting the new keyboard has indeed been fixed relative to the earlier models.
The true-tone display is also a nicer addition than I thought it would be, and the speakers in it seem slightly improved in punch and clarity.
The quibbles around the too-large trackpad and feel of the keyboard remain, as do those around USB-C only. And the touchbar remains as useless to me as ever, presenting an active obstacle to workflow. And it does run hotter - the keyboard is noticeably warmer than the 2017 when under load, and the fans are slightly louder (which makes sense, given that they're cooling 6 cores instead of 4).
And the price remains borderline absurd relative to competition from other manufacturers.
However, if you need or want a Mac laptop, and don't mind the quibbles described above, there's no reason not to go for one. It seems a solid upgrade that catches the 15" MBP up to what others are doing.
Plainly put, there's no real reason to wait if you need or want one.
The 2018 is noticeably faster on multi-core aware apps - even dramatically faster. I use it to run an app analogous to BOINC to work on large datasets, so the more cores, the better. While it does run hotter (at least anecdotally; I've not measured it), the CPU upgrade so far is solid.
GPU - the 560x so far appears to be slightly faster than the 560 and 460 of the 2017 and 2016 models, respectively. It's averaging 99+ FPS on Cinebench, compared to the 93-94 for the 560 and ~90 for the 460. I think the GPU is the one area where it's reasonable to criticize it - the 560x is left for dead by a number of other mobile GPUs in competitive models.
Keyboard - we'll see if the keyboard is as prone to failure as those in the 2016/17 models, but as someone who has been extremely critical of the keyboard I have to say the 2018 does feel like an improvement. And so far it has not started to repeat any keys, suggesting the new keyboard has indeed been fixed relative to the earlier models.
The true-tone display is also a nicer addition than I thought it would be, and the speakers in it seem slightly improved in punch and clarity.
The quibbles around the too-large trackpad and feel of the keyboard remain, as do those around USB-C only. And the touchbar remains as useless to me as ever, presenting an active obstacle to workflow. And it does run hotter - the keyboard is noticeably warmer than the 2017 when under load, and the fans are slightly louder (which makes sense, given that they're cooling 6 cores instead of 4).
And the price remains borderline absurd relative to competition from other manufacturers.
However, if you need or want a Mac laptop, and don't mind the quibbles described above, there's no reason not to go for one. It seems a solid upgrade that catches the 15" MBP up to what others are doing.
