I think what might have changed is the fact that, spec-wise, the 17 inch laptop wasn't any different than the 15 inch. They've said that they're running into limitations on logic board/battery size when upgrading to DDR4, so releasing a meaningfully more powerful 17" with either better battery life, improved components, or both would fill a niche that people are looking for.
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Intel's New Core i9 and Coffee Lake Chips Pave Way for Quad-Core 13" MacBook Pro, Mac Mini Refresh, and More
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I think what might have changed is the fact that, spec-wise, the 17 inch laptop wasn't any different than the 15 inch. They've said that they're running into limitations on logic board/battery size when upgrading to DDR4, so releasing a meaningfully more powerful 17" with either better battery life, improved components, or both would fill a niche that people are looking for.
I don't think those markets overlap. I'm not looking for mobile laptop and just want a stationary media center computer that's small and can do 4K at 60fps and run MacOS apps. There's no way they're pushing me to a laptop and are merely losing out on a customer. I don't need an i9 MacMini but I would like one with a GPU capable of driving a 4K TV and support HDR. If $100 Android streaming boxes can do it then why not a $600-$700 MacMini? I don't want to be pushed to a non-Intel AppleTV which I'm not interested in. Apple must have some rather obtuse product guidelines which I can't quite comprehend.
Me. Last gen before design change are always the best, hands down.
Apple since Powerbook g4. but man the times when apple was ahead of the curve are long gone. When I see the competition putting out something like the new Dell XPS 15 9570, hexa i9, 32GB, 2 x m2 + 1 x 2.5 slot.. I don't know. It's just tempting 
1920x1080 on a 17” laptop is... not good. 12” MacBooks have higher resolution. Also, those integrated graphics aren’t what we’d see on a 17” MacBook Pro (based on the past 17” and current 15”).
Regardless, the 17” MBP is not coming back. It was too niche of a product, and that’s not the direction Apple is moving.
Of course. I'm just saying that because macs historically last a really long time, to suggest that Apple doesn't feel pressure to release compelling upgrades because their customer base is "in the bag" feels a little misguided. But of course that does assume at least most of that customer base isn't shopping in a vacuum even if they're not seriously considering options from other companies because the prefer the Apple ecosystem. Which is a fair assumption in my experience.
The OP that started this thread stated that these chips don’t support the low power DDR4 variant of RAM. This is in the context of last year where Apple stated that lack of support is why the last gen systems only go up to 16GB, they only want to use the low voltage variant of DDR4. Its concerning to me that Intel, a whole generation later, still hasn’t built in that support.
Without 32GB RAM, it will be a difficult upsell for current MPB owners. I am not going to upgrade until I get 32GB of RAM.
Apple only really ever passed over Broadwell and that was entirely Intel's fault, and they only passed on Broadwell H-Series as they brought the desktop chips (5675R/5775R) to the 21.5" iMac. By the time Intel worked out their Broadwell issues Skylake was out the door anyways.
I'm sure Apple has had engineering samples of the 45w H-Series and the 28w U-Series chips for the past six months to work through the integration into their existing chassis. With 6-cores, Apple will need to look at the thermals for sure, but I'm sure they have been since they got their hands on these CPUs. Intel's 8th generation rollout has been slow and steady since they started with the desktop (8700K) and the 15w U-Series (i7-8550U). Now that the 28w U-Series and the 45w H-Series have been announced, the last piece of the puzzle is the 5w Y-Series that Apple uses in the 12" MacBook. Once those are announced, then I can see updates being rolled out...WWDC seems like a natural fit.
Not everyone needs 32GB
If Apple won't put 32GB due to it would compromise battery life I wonder if they would even do a 6-core in a MBP.
I think many people will jump at that.
Just one question to cover the last 2-3 years of these message boards:
What's so great about the Mac Mini that everyone is always whining about Apple not refreshing it?
Seriously. By the time you add the monitor and peripherals, why not just buy an iMac?
Am I missing something here?
What's so great about the Mac Mini that everyone is always whining about Apple not refreshing it?
Seriously. By the time you add the monitor and peripherals, why not just buy an iMac?
Am I missing something here?