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Brinadang

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Apr 11, 2018
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I currently own a 13 inch Macbook Air. Its not the lastest one, but I bought about 4 years ago.

I want to upgrade to a Pro because I am a video editor, and also I might be shooting 4k. After effects can get really slow on my laptop because I do more intensive editing so I’m hoping to get a faster laptop.

My friend that works at apple recommended me the 15inch because it has a Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb.
Which is great for video makers.
Keep in mind the 13inch does not have it.
But I dont want a bigger heavier laptop. And I’m a student that carries a laptop on the go. And I love the 13inch size.

So, do you think the new 2018 13inch Mac book pro might have the “Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb ram” or general upgrade to be a great for intermediate/intensive video editing?
 
So, do you think the new 2018 13inch Mac book pro might have the “Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb ram” or general upgrade to be a great for intermediate/intensive video editing?

It certainly won't get a dedicated GPU, bit its CPU performance should be significantly higher. The GPU will be more or less the same as the current 13" Pro.
 
We don't know anything about it..

HOWEVER, we do know that there's a possibility Apple will use the 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8305G Processor with RX Vega M GL.

Which could make a dramatic difference in terms of performance for a 13"
 
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We don't know anything about it..

HOWEVER, we do know that there's a possibility Apple will use the 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8305G Processor with RX Vega M GL.

Which could make a dramatic difference in terms of performance for a 13"

i5-8305G is designed for the heat profile of a 15" MacBook Pro - 65w and higher. Suitable 28w parts for a 2018 MacBook Pro were announced recently - the i5-8269U being the most likely upgrade part. 4 cores, 8 threads, 2.6GHz CPU with Iris Plus Graphics 655.
 
No way the 13" gets a dedicated graphics card. The i5-8269 and (maybe) the design will be the only actually upgrades. Otherwise, I doubt Apple does anything too fancy (maybe a bit of a better screen)
 
The 2018 model would surely only be a spec bump as it's the third generation of the current series of MacBook Pros started in 2016.

The touch bar and exchange rate has made 15" MacBook pros very expensive in Europe and the well known keyboard problems remain an issue for some people.

On the other hand, Apple have an opportunity to do something special because of the extra cores available from Intel this year - assuming they have had time to iron out the battery issues that forced the use of older design battery shapes on th 2016 and 2017 models.

I'd say that if they don't choose to just spec bump MacBook Pros with the extra cores they could revitalise the range completely while fixing the keyboard issue by simply making 14" and 16" MacBook Pros instead and ensuring that the case gets slightly bigger to accommodate greater keyboard travel and more battery.

There are no Y series CPUs for the MacBook yet so those may not get an update till October while June at WWDC could see the MacBook Pros get a refresh of some sort.

It would appear that this year's AMD discrete GPUs for the 15" MacBook Pro are rebadges of last year's stuff.

We'll be seeing Radeon 500 series with X suffixes - no mobile Vega just yet then and Apple will specify just how much power output their versions of the AMD CPUs will use.

It will be interesting to see how these compare with the i5-8305g CPUs which have just 4 Intel cores when these discrete GPUs could be paired with 6 core Coffee Lake mobile CPUs.
 
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I currently own a 13 inch Macbook Air. Its not the lastest one, but I bought about 4 years ago.

I want to upgrade to a Pro because I am a video editor, and also I might be shooting 4k. After effects can get really slow on my laptop because I do more intensive editing so I’m hoping to get a faster laptop.

My friend that works at apple recommended me the 15inch because it has a Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb.
Which is great for video makers.
Keep in mind the 13inch does not have it.
But I dont want a bigger heavier laptop. And I’m a student that carries a laptop on the go. And I love the 13inch size.

So, do you think the new 2018 13inch Mac book pro might have the “Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb ram” or general upgrade to be a great for intermediate/intensive video editing?

If you need more performance for your use case then you will have to compromise on size and weight to get that performance that's how computers need to work.

The new 13 inchers will be far better than your air but not in the league of the 15 inch ones that could come with a hex core processor and a dGPU this year, if you have along term use case for 4K video editing then the 15 inch is your best bet, they are still pretty thin and light.
 
A lot of the competition are making 13" laptops with dedicated GPUs so I see no reason why not really. The surface book 2 has a 1050 and the 15 has a 1060...

TBH I dont see the point of the 13" its a dual core integrated graphics machine with an i7 512gb ssd and 16gbs ram is £2400... thats absolutely insane. The 15" really isnt that much bigger these days its only 0.4kgs heavier and its footprint for a 15" machine is excellent. Plus its far better value for money you get a quad i7 512 and 16gb and its only £300 more...

As a pro a dedicated graphics is important, if it is to be an all round machine as on the go and a desktop replacement I dont know how people deal with them.

The 13" pro to me, hasnt made sense for a long time. Apart from the ports its the same recipe as the 12" macbook. The i7 macbook is within 10% of the performance and is the same cost as the highest off the shelf 13" MBp yet with the Macbook you get 16gbs of ram. I dont really see the value at all.

I think the 12" is a far better form factor too theres not much difference in screen real estate and there is 0 compromise to carrying it. TBH it may just be a placebo effect.

The 13" is the sweet spot and tbh its getting lost in a field of other good products with better specs. The fact there is no touch integration etc etc

Literally no innovation at all the MBP has the same use case as it did back in 2008. 10 years no difference, nothing but incremental speed updates.

The air, macbook and macbook pro under 15" are far too similar with wild prices they need to sort it out.

With a quad the 13" will be a better proposition but still the 15" is a far better machine in every aspect and there isnt really much of a compromise to carry it around.

Ive had 17" MBP all the way down to 11" macbook airs and think the 15" is probably the best compromise of all of them.
 
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A lot of the competition are making 13" laptops with dedicated GPUs so I see no reason why not really. The surface book 2 has a 1050 and the 15 has a 1060...

The 13.5" surface book has over 50% more volume than the 13" MBP and also around 10% more volume then the 15" MBP... the 15" MBP will fit into a messenger bag where the Surface Book 2 won't (I tried). Thats how they do it. Also, laptops like the SB consist of two separate parts, so they can put hot components in separate compartments.
 
The 13.5" surface book has over 50% more volume than the 13" MBP and also around 10% more volume then the 15" MBP... the 15" MBP will fit into a messenger bag where the Surface Book 2 won't (I tried). Thats how they do it. Also, laptops like the SB consist of two separate parts, so they can put hot components in separate compartments.

And by all reports the surfacebooks throttle heavily after a few minutes use, cane the battery life and the design makes them top heavy and a poor tablet solution.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Surfa...ities-and-slower-response-times.264060.0.html
 
I think everyone is over the thinnest and lightest period. I certainly am, its gone too far.

That article was written before microsoft resolved the issues, just like apple with its own issues. Even so anyone who is doing anything intensive that pushes the product towards its thermal envelope wont be doing that without being plugged in.

The SB2 may throttle but it still performs better than integrated graphics when you need them. Im not saying the surface book is perfect but it is a more interesting product than any of the macbook pros in the last 10 years.

I would love to see apple put the polish into a similar product. I keep reiterating the point that a hybrid product would be such a tactile experience on the mac platform for creators. Using the pen to make adjustments in lightroom would speed things up no end even being able to use a macbook pro like a cintique.

Not like apple doesnt have the tech theyve been able to implement something for 8+ years.

The whole Apple line is disjointed between the iOS and Mac OS, oh and the iPad is another near 10 year old product that is essentially the same. Innovation is needed both platforms and products are stagnating. It time the two met.
 
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A lot of the competition are making 13" laptops with dedicated GPUs so I see no reason why not really. The surface book 2 has a 1050 and the 15 has a 1060...

TBH I dont see the point of the 13" its a dual core integrated graphics machine with an i7 512gb ssd and 16gbs ram is £2400... thats absolutely insane. The 15" really isnt that much bigger these days its only 0.4kgs heavier and its footprint for a 15" machine is excellent. Plus its far better value for money you get a quad i7 512 and 16gb and its only £300 more...

As a pro a dedicated graphics is important, if it is to be an all round machine as on the go and a desktop replacement I dont know how people deal with them.

The 13" pro to me hasnt made sense for a long time, apart from the ports its the same recipe as the 12" macbook and with the i7 the macbook is within 10% of the performance and is the same cosr as the highest off the shelf 13" MBp yet with the macbook you get 16gbs of ram. I dont really see the value at all.

I think the 12" is a far better form factor too theres not much difference in screen real estate and there is 0 compromise to carrying it. TBH it may just be a placebo effect.

The 13" is the sweet spot and tbh its getting lost in a field of other good products with better specs. The fact there is no touch integration etc etc

Literally no innovation at all the MBP has the same use case as it did back in 2008. 10 years no difference but nothing but incremental speed updates.

The air, macbook and macbook pro under 15" are far too similar with wild prices they need to sort it out.

With a quad the 13" will be a better proposition but still the 15" is a far better machine in every aspect and there isnt really much of a compromise to carry it around.

Ive had 17" MBP all the way down to 11" macbook airs and think the 15" is probably the best compromise of all of them.

This so much.

Plus, if Apple really wants the Touch Bar to fly they should make it available on all models regardless the one you picking.. Otherwise it's an even more "niche" product and devs won't take it serious.
 
A lot of the competition are making 13" laptops with dedicated GPUs so I see no reason why not really. The surface book 2 has a 1050 and the 15 has a 1060...
I didn't realize this was the case. Are there others besides surface that have dedicated graphics in a 13" form factor?
 
I didn't realize this was the case. Are there others besides surface that have dedicated graphics in a 13" form factor?

The thing about those laptops is that they are closer to the 15" form factor. Or to put it the other way, 15" MacBook Pro is closer to the average 13" laptop. And again, the 15" MBP will fit into a bag where the 13" Surface Book 2 won't fit. The Mac is 3cm wider, but the Surface Book is significantly thicker (even if most of this bulk is because of the hinge design).
 
The thing about those laptops is that they are closer to the 15" form factor. Or to put it the other way, 15" MacBook Pro is closer to the average 13" laptop. And again, the 15" MBP will fit into a bag where the 13" Surface Book 2 won't fit. The Mac is 3cm wider, but the Surface Book is significantly thicker (even if most of this bulk is because of the hinge design).
Having used the 13" and 15" 2015, I know that for sitting/laying on a couch with the computer on my lap, I prefer the size and weight of the 13" (~3.5lb vs 4.5lb). I haven't had a chance to try the 15" 2017 model in "couch mode" so it's possible that the slimmer bezels make it more manageable.

As far as I know there are PCs with 14" screens with dedicated graphics but they are high end gaming machines (~4lb for the gigabyte aero 14, with a GTX 1060, for example) but not much at 13"
 
Your best bet is to get the GTX 1050 13'' Surface Book2. I've done multiple Premiere & AE projects on it, zero problems.
 
I hope they use a Ryzen 2500u for 13 and 2700u for 15. That would be the better option over 8250/8550 Ryzen combo, or mx150.... which Apple would never do unless you paid over 2000.

I wish Apple would price their hardware more competitive to Windows. I got an Acer E 15 for 498 with 8250 and mx150, For me it being made out of metal isn’t worth the like three times the price it would cost over Windows.
 
The only reason I am not upgrading yet is because of the keyboard issues. For my needs the current mbpros are fine but the keyboard just scares me, for it might betray me some day.
I am hoping they will refresh the design of the keyboard for this year.
 
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I currently own a 13 inch Macbook Air. Its not the lastest one, but I bought about 4 years ago.

I want to upgrade to a Pro because I am a video editor, and also I might be shooting 4k. After effects can get really slow on my laptop because I do more intensive editing so I’m hoping to get a faster laptop.

My friend that works at apple recommended me the 15inch because it has a Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb.
Which is great for video makers.
Keep in mind the 13inch does not have it.
But I dont want a bigger heavier laptop. And I’m a student that carries a laptop on the go. And I love the 13inch size.

So, do you think the new 2018 13inch Mac book pro might have the “Raedon Pro 560 with 4gb ram” or general upgrade to be a great for intermediate/intensive video editing?

The 2018 13" will likely be a quad core instead of a dual core, so it should have significantly improved performance.

It will, however likely NOT have a discrete GPU (unless it's kaby-lake G or such).

Either way, it won't have a radeon pro 560 or similar, as the thermal constraints won't allow that.


AS to 13" machines being "pro" enough... it has more ports which is desirable for me. I'm a network professional.

"Pro" doesn't just mean "rendering 3d graphics" or "video editing".

The 13" pro does the job just fine for a lot of professionals, and for me there would be essentially zero benefit from a 15" machine with discrete GPU for my job.

Without thunderbolt expandability, the Macbook 12" loses the ability to do external GPU, 10 gig ethernet, etc.
 
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Your also forgetting the Surface book 2 also has integrated graphics... so its not like because it has the 1050 the battery life is poor... when you use it fair enough but who cares when your plugged in? The fact is its there and you can use it when you need it which is the whole point imo, they are giving you what you need when you need it.

It also has a quad core CPU... and has since November. Its not the fastest version but if you need the multicores its twice what the macbook offers. By the time apple gets the chip in the 13" the surface will have been out 6 months.

Also the size argument is moot to me, like i said ive had 17" all the way down to 11" macbooks and they have just pushed the size to the point where the machine cant use the tech adequately anyway. It was different when screens were 1080p but with the retina displays and also pushing 4/5k displays they just dont do justice. These things arent cheap like I said about £2400 for a top BTO 13" macbook pro with a dual core and integrated graphics... its not a pro machine. Especially If you cant take advantage of the tech inside it because of its thermal envelope.

Many pros will have a dedicated workstation or desktop to get heavy work done, even so many will also use the MBP as a one stop machine for both as they are so expensive. By the time you have a workstation and a high end 13" your hitting 9-10k easily.

On the road the difference between a 12 macbook and 13 macbook pro in the real world is not going to be night and day... they are essentially the same, ok the macbook uses lower watt CPUs but apart from ports they are very similar and perform within 10% too.

The workstation is a far better investment, people are still using 2009/10 mac pros... they last, laptops dont and they haven't changed in 10 years. Exactly the same use case, you cant do anything more than you could on a 2008 macbook pro, infact the 2008 would have more variety of ports anyway. Same from people that have held onto 2012 products.

The only inovation, if you can call it that is the touch bar and its so innovative that they feel the need to only offer it on the high end machines which wont end up being the mainstream. The macbook, macbook air low end 13 MBP will be the best sellers. Their logic boggles the mind. Especially when it was released it put the cost of the machines up £300 for what?

If they want adoption they need to put it on everything! Stupid.

Dedicated graphics dont have to be like a 1050 or 1060 there are a lot of other that use graphics like the MX150.

I dont think people realize how poor the performance is from integrated graphics. The 10 year old 5770 in the mac pro performs about the same as the intel 650 and the 5770 is better in quite a few respects. These 650s are sold to drive 4/5k displays, its frankly a joke by the time you actually use it for some work, driving the displays becomes the laptops main job and doing work like photography the machine is laggy because of the pixels its pushing.

Even lower powered discrete graphics like the MX150 are roughly double the performance of the intel 650. Its shouldn't be that difficult to add something that isnt as power hungry as a 1050.

Just make it a few mm thicker add more ports, its not hard.

So many people are under the apple rock. Look around, all is certainly not hunky dory in the macbook line up I dont know why people are happy paying inflated prices for this level of tech.

They are nice, well put together polished products but ultimately as a work machine other products perform better with better specs for cheaper or similar price.

10 years ago I wouldn't have complained, Apple made all its software to work well with its hardware and lets be honest apple has left this space. Final cut and logic are the only 2 products now and they work extremely well but those are only two sectors. All other software is multi platform and cloud based meaning being loyal to a company isnt necessity as the experience is the same on both platforms.

The elephant in the room is Adobe CC, works far better on Nvidia graphics and windows because you can tailor a system to make sure CC runs smoothly whereas with a mac your stuck with what apple chooses for you.

Lightroom, Premier, after effects all hogs and in the mac world the only machine they run smoothly on is the iMac pro which is ridiculous.

I always make this comparison. If your a wedding photographer and your editing 500 images it might take 5-6 hours. The 2016 macbook pro took 4-6 seconds to zoom to 100% at full resolution. Say you only zoom in once per image, thats an extra hour you will sit waiting for a preview of the image. I use local adjustments all the time and zoom in to 100% many times per image. These little periods of time you wait really add up.

Its not apples fault the CC suit is so badly optimized but Adobe dont care about the mac. They have the monopoly and apple have left them to it, offering no alternatives so the hardware software argument is now moot.

Its time they served the pro market a decent machine under 15" with hardware that the majority can make good use of.
 
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You've had your current system for 4 years, what is waiting another 2 months? The new systems will surely have some spec bumps at least and likely stay the same price as current ones.
 
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