I'm really happy my 2018 MBP (upgraded from 2016)

[badlydrawnboy]

Just wanted to share my experience. I had the 2016 MBP TB. Hated the keyboard from day one, and it didn't take long for me to start experiencing the stuck keys issue. It never got to the point where certain keys were completely unusable, but I often had to retype words because of sticky keys.

The other issue I had was battery life. I had a 2013 MBA before the '16 MBP, and I'd routinely get 11-12 hours of battery life. I knew I'd get less with the MBP, but I was pretty disappointed to find that I was only getting about 6-7 hours initially, and that dropped to 4-5 over the course of 1-1.5 years. And this is with screen dimmed to 50% or less and just doing basic web, email, etc.

The 2018 MBP solves both of these problems. I'm pleasantly surprised by the keyboard. The silicon membrane they put in makes the travel feel slightly "softer" and more responsive—a little bit closer to the scissor mechanism of the Magic Keyboard, which is my favorite Apple keyboard ever. And though it's still early days, I haven't had a single issue with sticky keys. (That happened almost right away with my '16, as I mentioned above.)

Battery life is excellent. I haven't done any rigorous testing, but I think I could easily get a full 8-hour workday out of it on battery, which is a big step up from my '16.

Those two things were completely worth the upgrade to me. Other nice bonuses:

• I like TrueTone, definitely feels easier on my eyes.
• Definitely feels faster in operation, file copying, etc.
• So far, fan seems less likely to come on and it's quieter overall

Thought I'd share this in case anyone else is considering an upgrade and cares about the keyboard and battery life.

 

[raymanh]

Is there any reason why battery life would be improved from 2016 to 2018? Like more efficient chips or higher battery capacity?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

I'm not sure. I saw something about that when it was released, but I can't remember now. Maybe my '16 was just a lemon, but it's definitely a big difference.

 

[macintoshmac]

Is there any reason why battery life would be improved from 2016 to 2018? Like more efficient chips or higher battery capacity?

The reason for better battery life is better battery capacity in the new notebooks. The new notebooks now feature a larger battery from the 2016-17 models.

 

[theISHkid]

The reason for better battery life is better battery capacity in the new notebooks. The new notebooks now feature a larger battery from the 2016-17 models.

I'm too lazy to look it up... but isn't the new battery only like 10 percent larger. And aren't they expecting most of that to make up for the 2 extra cores? I'm a little surprised to that you're battery is so much better on the 18 coming from the 16. Maybe the T2 chips runs the touch bar a little more efficiently.

 

[Saturn1217]

Which MBP (13" or 15"?) do you have? The 13" got a larger relative bump (~20% I think) in battery capacity compared to the 15" and stuck with the low power ram so I imagine that is why battery life is noticeably improved.

 

[ilikewhey]

the bigger battery is needed for the ddr4 ram and 2+ cores. i think you haven't fully ran the system through and through yet. but the battery life should be about the same, maybe a tad better.

on another note i'm glad you enjoy it. i too have a 2016 mbp and i'm too looking for that 2018 upgrade since i hate the keyboard as well.

 

[macintoshmac]

the bigger battery is needed for the ddr4 ram and 2+ cores. i think you haven't fully ran the system through and through yet. but the battery life should be about the same, maybe a tad better.

on another note i'm glad you enjoy it. i too have a 2016 mbp and i'm too looking for that 2018 upgrade since i hate the keyboard as well.

Same with me, a 2016, but the upgrade cost even after the trade in, makes no real sense for me, at least in my country where I cannot get 16GB in the 13" form factor.

The real jump for me then comes in form of upgrading to 15", but upgrade cost to 15" is also prohibitive only because of lack of any tangible justification. My heart has lots of reasons to upgrade, my brain says I have a great machine for long many years for the purpose that I use it for. My wallet is being controlled a little more by the brain than the heart, so for right now my money is safe.

I will wait for the new iMacs to see what to do. I like to form factor of the 13 and the power it has for a lot of things, on the go.

There is no need to upgrade from 2016 to 2018, just a want.

 

[ilikewhey]

i run vm on my laptop so the 2x core on the 13 is a big help. as of current there are couple cpu bottleneck i feel with a 4 core it would relieve the pressure.

 

[macintoshmac]

i run vm on my laptop so the 2x core on the 13 is a big help. as of current there are couple cpu bottleneck i feel with a 4 core it would relieve the pressure.

For VMs, the more cores and RAM the merrier for everyone.

 

[Dydegu]

What did you do with the 2016 one? If you sold, how much did you get for it?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Same with me, a 2016, but the upgrade cost even after the trade in, makes no real sense for me, at least in my country where I cannot get 16GB in the 13" form factor.

The real jump for me then comes in form of upgrading to 15", but upgrade cost to 15" is also prohibitive only because of lack of any tangible justification. My heart has lots of reasons to upgrade, my brain says I have a great machine for long many years for the purpose that I use it for. My wallet is being controlled a little more by the brain than the heart, so for right now my money is safe.

I will wait for the new iMacs to see what to do. I like to form factor of the 13 and the power it has for a lot of things, on the go.

There is no need to upgrade from 2016 to 2018, just a want.

For me there was an absolute need: the keyboard. But I get what you're saying.

I have an iMac that I use in my home office, so this 13" is for travel or when I work out of a couple of other offices (the clinic where I see patients, and a WeWork office). Definitely prefer the 13" for these applications, since I have the iMac 27" at home, and I have an LG 5k 27" external monitor in the WeWork office.
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What did you do with the 2016 one? If you sold, how much did you get for it?

I haven't sold it yet since I'm still within the 14-day return window on the '18, though I don't see any possibility of it going back at this point.

In the past I would sell on Craigslist. This time I might just use Sell Your Mac. They quoted $850 or something like that. This is a work expense for me so that takes some of the sting out of the upgrade price.

 

[macintoshmac]

For me there was an absolute need: the keyboard. But I get what you're saying.

I have an iMac that I use in my home office, so this 13" is for travel or when I work out of a couple of other offices (the clinic where I see patients, and a WeWork office). Definitely prefer the 13" for these applications, since I have the iMac 27" at home, and I have an LG 5k 27" external monitor in the WeWork office.
[doublepost=1533266343][/doublepost]

I haven't sold it yet since I'm still within the 14-day return window on the '18, though I don't see any possibility of it going back at this point.

In the past I would sell on Craigslist. This time I might just use Sell Your Mac. They quoted $850 or something like that. This is a work expense for me so that takes some of the sting out of the upgrade price.

Is the keyboard on the 2018 really that much better, compared to 2016-17 ones? The stores in my country are yet to receive stock so I can't check the new machines out just yet.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Is the keyboard on the 2018 really that much better, compared to 2016-17 ones? The stores in my country are yet to receive stock so I can't check the new machines out just yet.

I can't speak to the 2017, because I didn't try or use it. But compared to the 2016, it's night and day—at least for me. I went from HATING the 2016 to actually quite liking the 2018.