Hands-On With Apple's New 13-Inch MacBook Pro

[Johnny907]

SSD hasn’t been removable for 5 years. Let it go.

Excuse me? 2017 13 Non-TB MBP here. SSD is completely removable, which is why I got this model instead of the TB version. Well that, plus I absolutely despise the TB and the inflated price that comes with it. 2017 wasn't 5 years ago.

 

[beanbaguk]

I read through these comments and some of you sound completely brainwashed Lemmings.

First, Apple soldered in the memory. It means there is no option to upgrade down the line which was previously a good thing. They claims "space" was the issue, but personally I cannot see that. Apple have clever engineers so they could have worked out a solution. Either way, we all bought into it and most of us begrudgingly accepted the outcome.

Next they soldered in the storage, meaning not a single component on a $1700+ laptop is now upgradable....meaning you need to either finance the laptop initially to get what you need or you end up with a sub-standard laptop, meaning you end up upgrading sooner rather than later down the line.

For those who blindly accept Apple's strategy, hear this.

WE as consumers are the only ones being taken for a ride while Apple reaps the rewards.

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my late 2013 MBP (yes I'm aware it's old and a little sluggish at times), but over the last couple of years I've been wanting to upgrade to a newer MBP but the latest non-upgradable stuff just puts me off.

So what have I done? I've cannibalised a 2014 MBP with 16GB RAM and an i7 to replace my logic board in my 2013. The cost to me was €450 but I can still switch my 1TB SSD from my 2013 MBP to my 2014 MBP and literally just turn it on and I'm off.

Why we cannot accept this sort of hardware does not deserve the "Pro" status it's labelled with and as consumers, not blindly accept this kind of behaviour from Apple.

 

[Even Longer]

Imagine an Apple marketing team corona-lockdown-Skype call (iMessage‘s down again):

- Guys, we also need to do something with those base models as well! 🤔

- 💡Wait! Haven’t we got a sh*t ton of those refurbished models in stock?

- Yeah! We slam our new old keyboard in those and off we go!
Can’t innovate... my ass!

- Brilliant! You are such a genius, Phil... 😏 👏👏

 

[MacRazySwe]

Really lacklustre update! The i5 MacBook Air will probably be my choice when it's time to upgrade. The form factor and lack of Touch Bar makes it my favorite option in the lineup.

 

[Vazakopoulos Peter]

Sorry MacRumors, but the recommendation of checking out the 16” instead of the 13” misses the point completely. The $1799 version of the 13” matches with the $2399 version of the 16” and the $1999 version matches with the $2799 16”.

The difference in cost is $600 and $800, respectively. That’s a huge delta for most users who are simply going to buy what Apple offers without adding BTO options.

For $600, I get 2 more cores, a larger display, a discrete GPU, better microphones and speakers. That’s it. For $600. Which may be of value to some, but not others. The price delta is not insignificant.

For $800, I get 4 more cores, a larger display, a more powerful discrete GPU, better microphones and speakers. That’s it. For $800. That is no small drop in the bucket.

You are being incredibly disingenuous when you state the 13” MacBook Pro goes to $3500 with upgrades, but don’t give me the price for the corresponding 16” model as though I wouldnt want to upgrade it as well. By the way, the price difference between a loaded 13” and an equivalent 6-core is still $400 and between the loaded 13” and the 8-core is $600.

It would be nice if the editors writing these so-called “reviews” actually thought about what they are writing and that they work for MACrumors and not PCPeopleWhoSecretlyWorkAtMacRumors. Even if you think the 16” is a better value, stating it in an objective manner would go a long way from the lazy writing I see here. The rest of the review is just a mess and could use a pass by a decent editor.

Exactly You said it all... On the spot !!! I love apple also but some things must be spoken and not cheered by false reviews. Amazing things 3500 with upgrades ??? My god... in which reality are they living? For the base last years model?

ps I am writing fro 2016 model which has Now 2 false keys ... Apple is my favourite....

 

[KerryXEX]

I do wonder what percentage of bezel-haters actually hate the bezel through free will, and how many are socially programmed to just hate bezels. I love my 10.5" iPad Pro coz I can hold it comfortably without my thumbs covering the screen, and I love my MacBook bezels as I can adjust the screen angle without getting my fingers all over the screen.

I don't even notice whether the bezel of my 13" MBP (late 2016) is there or not. And I really wonder how I should stick my 3M Privacy Shield to the screen, if there was no bezel anymore???

Same goes for the people who do not want the Touchbar. Why would you NOT want it?? It's the best feature on my MBP and I would never want to go for a Macbook anymore with out it. Once you have it....

 

[michaelsviews]

The Macbook Air has been known to have cooling issues due to some weirdness about the placement of a heat pipe or something (I'm not that hardware savvy, you'd have to google it up or search on the forums) that makes it under perform when doing some heavy tasks. The Pro would be better for heavy users instead.

The new MBA is working fine for development. Just depends on the configuration, The 400 nits of brightness is questionable but one solution was do not use the dark mode. Everyone has there own opinion and use, you have a 14 day return window, which I believe Apple extended out because of current pandemic.

 

[adrianlondon]

Really lacklustre update! The i5 MacBook Air will probably be my choice when it's time to upgrade. The form factor and lack of Touch Bar makes it my favorite option in the lineup.

It's what I bought. i5/8/256. Sure, at the time I ordered it there was no new 13" Pro to consider, but I'm very happy with my new laptop. The only reason I can see going for the Pro would be for those who run CPU intensive stuff. And for them, I suggest getting the Intel 10th gen Pro not the 8th gen one. As far as I can tell, apart from the actual improvements in the CPU itself you also get a better GPU, faster RAM and faster SSD access. So, the 8th gen Pro will be slower for all those than the Air. Again, apart from CPU intensive tasks which require the Pro's CPU wattage and temperature management.

 

[MrGimper]

I do wonder what percentage of bezel-haters actually hate the bezel through free will, and how many are socially programmed to just hate bezels. I love my 10.5" iPad Pro coz I can hold it comfortably without my thumbs covering the screen, and I love my MacBook bezels as I can adjust the screen angle without getting my fingers all over the screen.

Seems odd that a few people have "disagreed" with my post .... not sure how you can disagree with something that's a statement about how I feel about using my apple equipment....

 

[giebe]

So many updates in the last years, but the webcam is still pretty bad. Why don’t they update the cam for better video calls? Or even add faceID, which makes more sense on a laptop than touchID. Don’t get it.

 

[alpenn]

I read through these comments and some of you sound completely brainwashed Lemmings.

First, Apple soldered in the memory. It means there is no option to upgrade down the line which was previously a good thing. They claims "space" was the issue, but personally I cannot see that. Apple have clever engineers so they could have worked out a solution. Either way, we all bought into it and most of us begrudgingly accepted the outcome.

Next they soldered in the storage, meaning not a single component on a $1700+ laptop is now upgradable....meaning you need to either finance the laptop initially to get what you need or you end up with a sub-standard laptop, meaning you end up upgrading sooner rather than later down the line.

For those who blindly accept Apple's strategy, hear this.

WE as consumers are the only ones being taken for a ride while Apple reaps the rewards.

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my late 2013 MBP (yes I'm aware it's old and a little sluggish at times), but over the last couple of years I've been wanting to upgrade to a newer MBP but the latest non-upgradable stuff just puts me off.

So what have I done? I've cannibalised a 2014 MBP with 16GB RAM and an i7 to replace my logic board in my 2013. The cost to me was €450 but I can still switch my 1TB SSD from my 2013 MBP to my 2014 MBP and literally just turn it on and I'm off.

Why we cannot accept this sort of hardware does not deserve the "Pro" status it's labelled with and as consumers, not blindly accept this kind of behaviour from Apple.

I agree.
The most likely explanation for Apple soldering the SSD is to save costs in manufacturing.
Inserting a finished M.2 SSD (or RAM) module was likely done by a human.
Placing the SSD chips on the logic board is likely done by the same robot that places the other components.
I don't buy the weight argument. SSD modules weigh next to nothing (and the weight of the chips has to go in anyway).

 

[citysnaps]

This. Having one set of cords that are all USB-C is a dream. I’ll never go back to owning a computer with USB-A ports.

For sure on that! When I received my 2017 MBP three years ago, first thing I purchased were a couple of USB-C cables to connect to my peripherals - around $20 total.

So many here were paralyzed, frothing and whining about "dongle-mania" like little children who didn't know what to do. I suspect many of those were still steamed Apple got rid of DVI, SCSI, and Centronics.

As an aside, now it's bezels. Some apparently can't feel good about themselves unless there's something to be unhappy about.

 

[0920872]

For sure on that! When I received my 2017 MBP three years ago, first thing I purchased were a couple of USB-C cables to connect to my peripherals - around $20 total.

So many here were paralyzed, frothing and whining about "dongle-mania" like little children who didn't know what to do. I suspect many of those were still steamed Apple got rid of DVI, SCSI, and Centronics.

This is exactly the lemming attitude people talk about. It didn't work out of the box for you either. Apple used to "just work" and along those lines, they should provide those dongles, at least initially when they removed USB-A.

 

[citysnaps]

This is exactly the lemming attitude people talk about. It didn't work out of the box for you either. Apple used to "just work" and along those lines, they should provide those dongles, at least initially when they removed USB-A.

It worked fine out of the box. But rather than whine like a child, I simply spent the $20 and purchased exactly what I needed. Having no interest in dongles, I didn't have a problem with taking responsibility.

 

[0920872]

It worked fine out of the box. But rather than whine like I child, I simply spent the $20 and purchased exactly what I needed. I don't have a problem with taking responsibility.

Thanks, this made me smile. I envy your perspective.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Excuse me? 2017 13 Non-TB MBP here. SSD is completely removable, which is why I got this model instead of the TB version. Well that, plus I absolutely despise the TB and the inflated price that comes with it. 2017 wasn't 5 years ago.

You are correct, that is my oversight. However, what are you going to upgrade it with? They used a completely different form factor and socket for this SSD module that I doubt a third party is going to spend time or money on to provide users with an upgrade path. No other Mac uses that socket and now that socket is gone along with the nTB MacBookPro. You’re Technically right, but really kinda SOL. Sorry!

EDIT: Despising the TouchBar is an emotional reaction. Got something rational or logical for such spite? Other than COST!

 

[IIGS User]

Amen to that.

In my world, Pac Man will NEVER have a bow.....

 

[Zdigital2015]

What about video performance?

AppleInsider has a video review of the $1799 Core i5 model and the Metal score was 9877.

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I read through these comments and some of you sound completely brainwashed Lemmings.

First, Apple soldered in the memory. It means there is no option to upgrade down the line which was previously a good thing. They claims "space" was the issue, but personally I cannot see that. Apple have clever engineers so they could have worked out a solution. Either way, we all bought into it and most of us begrudgingly accepted the outcome.

Next they soldered in the storage, meaning not a single component on a $1700+ laptop is now upgradable....meaning you need to either finance the laptop initially to get what you need or you end up with a sub-standard laptop, meaning you end up upgrading sooner rather than later down the line.

For those who blindly accept Apple's strategy, hear this.

WE as consumers are the only ones being taken for a ride while Apple reaps the rewards.

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my late 2013 MBP (yes I'm aware it's old and a little sluggish at times), but over the last couple of years I've been wanting to upgrade to a newer MBP but the latest non-upgradable stuff just puts me off.

So what have I done? I've cannibalised a 2014 MBP with 16GB RAM and an i7 to replace my logic board in my 2013. The cost to me was €450 but I can still switch my 1TB SSD from my 2013 MBP to my 2014 MBP and literally just turn it on and I'm off.

Why we cannot accept this sort of hardware does not deserve the "Pro" status it's labelled with and as consumers, not blindly accept this kind of behaviour from Apple.

There are countless PC OEMs selling laptops with removable this, that and the other. Especially in Europe, you’ve got Sager and a couple of others that will sell you desktop parts in a portable package. You should consider moving to Windows 10 if the upgradability of a system is more important to you than macOS. Apple isn’t suddenly shifting gears on this. Soldered DRAM has been the norm since 2012 and soldered storage starting in 2015 and finalized at the end of 2016.

 

[brdeveloper]

Reading this on a Early 2015 MacBook Pro, which seems to be chugging along just fine. Its obvious innovation has kinda plateaued but its probably not a bad thing. To think that the same 14 NM Intel processor, is still a part of this generation of notebooks, in itself speaks to how much the need to always be upgrading is not really necessary anymore. Sure, its a more optimised 14 NM, but, 5 years later and Intel can't provide 10 NM node is concerning. This in a sense causes some chain reaction in the products development, so much so, Apple couldn't even bring the 10th generation to entry level and mid-range models; which are still on 8th generation; mostly likely to make it distinct enough.

Outside of that, what I believe Apple needs to do is really bring back the 12 inch MacBook. I kinda realise, there is a need for it as a middle ground between the iPad and MacBook Air/Pro 13 inch models. For the past couple weeks, I have been using my Early 2015 MBP at night and its not great as a nightstand computer. My iPad certainly is, but lacks the power of macOS. But macOS also lacks the variety of applications.

I do hope when A Series is introduced, its this middle ground form factor, with the best of macOS and iPad, easy to pickup and put down beside your nightstand, not too big or small. Apple should just give Adobe and Microsoft substantial resources to help bring their key apps to macOS on A Series since it will help drive third party developer motivation to get their apps over. They can then use the A series as the catalyst to drive out Intel out of the product line slowly, but surely.

Apple should bring the Macbook SE. Basically an older Macbook Pro 13" with 8th-gen Intel processors, a bulky 2015 case, standard USB-A ports and Thunderbolt 2. This also has the advantage of connecting to audio interfaces without a TB2 to USB-C adapter.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Anyone lamenting the lack of moving to a 14.1” needs to Remember that Apple typically gets 4 years out their laptop industrial design and they are trying to get their ROI out of the 13” considering they had to jettison the 15” industrial design for at least 3 major reasons - Keyboard, heat dissipation and battery.

Expect the 14.1” model to rollout either at the end of this year or , more likely, in 2021.

 

[Seanm87]

Surprised about the bezel complaints. I don't think they look that thick at all.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple should bring the Macbook SE. Basically an older Macbook Pro 13" with 8th-gen Intel processors, a bulky 2015 case, standard USB-A ports and Thunderbolt 2. This also has the advantage of connecting to audio interfaces without a TB2 to USB-C adapter.

No...just buy the TB3<—>TB2 adapter and move on with your life. Good grief, that is the most ludicrous idea and I’ve heard some doozies in these forums.

I have a Focusrite 18i6 that world’s finest with a USB-C to USB TYPE-B cable and an Apollo Twin with Thunderbolt 2 that works fine with the Apple adapter.

USB-A and Thunderbolt2 had their time and they are done. Accept it and move on.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Apple users crack me up sometimes.

First, there was nothing wrong with soldering RAM.

Then there was nothing wrong with soldering the SSD.

Then there was nothing wrong with losing the function keys in lieu of the Touch Bar.

Then there was nothing wrong with thinness in lieu of performance (thermals).

Then there was nothing wrong with the keyboards.

Now there is nothing wrong with thick bezels.

Freaking hilarious. It's one thing to have no choice and put up with what Apple gives us because we love a different feature or three and we overlook flaws.

But let's not get carried away here.

 

[0920872]

AppleInsider has a video review of the $1799 Core i5 model and the Metal score was 9877.

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Thanks this is quite a good review. My question applied to the base model tough.
I have an eGPU AND a desktop with a GTX1070. My only expectation from a GPU is to be able to drive a 4k and a 1080p screen concurrently at 60Hz without the need of hooking up the eGPU. My mid 2014 base 13" MBP cannot do this.

Thus far it sounds like the MBA with 1TB is a better deal for a rock solid productivity machine and if you need a lot of power you're just better off adding a desktop.

 

[nylonsteel]

yeah i agree with the macrumors review
higher end models too expensive - base model - meh
also i still want ports 2-usb 3, hdmi, sd card slot - i know - old school - old guys rule