(long post) rMBP 2018 (13"/16/512/i5) = bye bye to Hack

[dannyar]

Thanks. By “comfort,” I actually meant visual comfort, but I didn’t make that clear, so I can certainly understand why you’d think I meant sitting-in-my-lap comfort.

Ah sorry, but yes, visually its more comfortable as well. All in all I think the base model 15" is a better buy than the 16/512 13"
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I am replacing two high-end hackintoshes (6 core overclocked systems, multi terrabyte SSD, gtx 1080 ti, etc) with a maxed out 13in with eGPU and docking station because of exactly what you said. My hackintoshes have been dead stable until an update is needed, and I simply don't have the time like I used to to deal with fixing things updates break. It was a nightmare to deal on the rare occasion I tried to update because I relied on one of them for work; it would kill my productivity for the entire day. This last time I just gave up and stroked a check for the MBP.

With this new config, I am losing CPU power for sure even with the i7 quad core, but I will really enjoy having a system that "just works" and having one computer that can do everything.

Why not go with the 15" that doesn't need an eGPU? Unless you just wanted something smaller.

 

[computerpro3]

Ah sorry, but yes, visually its more comfortable as well. All in all I think the base model 15" is a better buy than the 16/512 13"
[doublepost=1532893914][/doublepost]

Why not go with the 15" that doesn't need an eGPU? Unless you just wanted something smaller.

The gpu on the 15 is still very weak and I have a 1440p 34in monitor, so I would need an egpu anyway. But the biggest reason is because I fly a few times per month and a 15 inch is useless on a plane. Even my 13in can be uncomfortably large if I am not in first class and stuck on a regional route. I do wish I could have ordered the hex core in the 13in though; I would have gotten that plus 32gb of ram if I could have.

 

[Wags]

Comfort is one thing, I don't find the 15"to be uncomfortably larger than the 13. I actually find it more comfortable on the lap since its wider and sits easier between both thighs. Having the discrete graphics not only helps with video editing but even light gaming. It also makes your iMac more expendable since the 15" could easily replace it like it did mine. I sold my 2014 iMac 5K and this 15" crushes it. Its more future proof with the i7 6 core. It also can handle light gaming if thats your thing.

Additional point.
Someone can almost very nice external monitor for price difference between 13 vs 15

 

[dannyar]

Additional point.
Someone can almost very nice external monitor for price difference between 13 vs 15

Base 15 vs 16/512 13" is only about a $200 difference. Wont really find a nice 4k display or even a good sized 1440p display for that amount.
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The gpu on the 15 is still very weak and I have a 1440p 34in monitor, so I would need an egpu anyway. But the biggest reason is because I fly a few times per month and a 15 inch is useless on a plane. Even my 13in can be uncomfortably large if I am not in first class and stuck on a regional route. I do wish I could have ordered the hex core in the 13in though; I would have gotten that plus 32gb of ram if I could have.

The GPU is still more than enough to push that. I was pushing a 28" Samsung 4k display at 60hz with a late 2013 MacBook Pro years ago without a hitch.

 

[computerpro3]

Base 15 vs 16/512 13" is only about a $200 difference. Wont really find a nice 4k display or even a good sized 1440p display for that amount.
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The GPU is still more than enough to push that. I was pushing a 28" Samsung 4k display at 60hz with a late 2013 MacBook Pro years ago without a hitch.

I am talking about for gaming. Trust me, you were not pushing any of the games I play past 15fps on high settings with AA with that laptop. And for productivity work, my GTX 1080TI is 5-6x faster than the GPU in the 15in mac with anything that is CUDA accelerated. The gpu in the 15in is a very, very weak GPU relative to any desktop class gpu.

 

[maflynn]

The GPU is still more than enough to push that. I was pushing a 28" Samsung 4k display at 60hz with a late 2013 MacBook Pro years ago without a hitch.

The AMD GPU is rather week compared to what Nvidia has. Here's a FireStrike benchmark of my Razer with a 1060 MAX-Q, which is quite a bit slower then the 1070 and 1080 that people are vying for and the 1060 puts the MBP's GPU to same

 

[dannyar]

I am talking about for gaming. Trust me, you were not pushing any of the games I play past 15fps on high settings with AA with that laptop. And for productivity work, my GTX 1080TI is 5-6x faster than the GPU in the 15in mac with anything that is CUDA accelerated. The gpu in the 15in is a very, very weak GPU relative to any desktop class gpu.

I was not comparing it to an eGPU for gaming, obviously that would be silly. More so for everyday tasks that require a discrete graphics chip, it would suffice for video editing etc. If your planning on using an eGPU regardless then why not go for the faster CPU? To each his own. Im actually awaiting a 13" 16/512 to arrive that I couldn't cancel in time and will run them both side by side for 4k video editing and exporting in final cut pro and if the difference isn't significant I may ultimately keep the 13" and use the $200 towards a 27 or 32" 4k USB-C display.

 

[computerpro3]

I did buy the fastest cpu available in the 13in model; I literally maxed out every option possible. i7, 16gb ram, 2TB ssd, etc.

The 15in was a no-go for me because of the physical size; I am a delta diamond flyer and unfortunately I do not get 1st class upgrades as often as I would like since I am based near a hub. So the 15 inch is way too big to use on an airplane in coach for most domestic routes I fly.

 

[organicCPU]

Thank you for that interesting roundup.

I need an EQ app for the internal speakers.

https://github.com/nodeful/eqMac2

 

[Thysanoptera]

The 15in was a no-go for me because of the physical size; I am a delta diamond flyer and unfortunately I do not get 1st class upgrades as often as I would like since I am based near a hub. So the 15 inch is way too big to use on an airplane in coach for most domestic routes I fly.

Those planes you mostly fly don't have Comfort+ seats? As a diamond you should have no issues getting one of those at least, that's enough room for a 17 inch. I had a similar dilemma and for years was bouncing back and forth between different sizes, from a Clevo gaming behemoth that should be classified by TSA as a weapon, to macbook 12 inch and finally came to a conclusion that a thin 15 inch is the best size, for me at least. I do a little over 100 segments a year usually, and the amount of time when I'm not in premium economy/exit seat/first is negligible in the overall picture, and I spend vast majority of my time using computer at a customer site or hotel, where there is plenty of space, but no docking stations etc. So rather than downsizing to a common denominator I'd rather have more comfort most of the time, and compromise when needed - Ipad is great for a quick email or reviewing drawings etc. Once I saw a guy with bluetooth keyboard on a seat-back tray, and a phone between his legs. He was typing for two hours straight

 

[dannyar]

Those planes you mostly fly don't have Comfort+ seats? As a diamond you should have no issues getting one of those at least, that's enough room for a 17 inch. I had a similar dilemma and for years was bouncing back and forth between different sizes, from a Clevo gaming behemoth that should be classified by TSA as a weapon, to macbook 12 inch and finally came to a conclusion that a thin 15 inch is the best size, for me at least. I do a little over 100 segments a year usually, and the amount of time when I'm not in premium economy/exit seat/first is negligible in the overall picture, and I spend vast majority of my time using computer at a customer site or hotel, where there is plenty of space, but no docking stations etc. So rather than downsizing to a common denominator I'd rather have more comfort most of the time, and compromise when needed - Ipad is great for a quick email or reviewing drawings etc. Once I saw a guy with bluetooth keyboard on a seat-back tray, and a phone between his legs. He was typing for two hours straight

I agree with all of this which is why when my 13" gets here I'm going to wreck my brain side by side with the 15" base I have and try to figure out which one I'm going to keep based on how close in performance they are. I travel maybe 3 times a year so portability isn't a huge concern for me, it just feels nicer to lug around the house and lay back in bed with .

 

[computerpro3]

I fly comfort+ all the time, and there is no possible way a 15 inch laptop can be open if the guy in front of me even slightly reclines.

In delta, comfort+ on MD8x and CRJs is the exact same width as a normal coach seat, so the trays aren't any wider. That puts a 13in on the cusp already from a width perspective, especially if you ever want to have a drink on the tray at the same time as your laptop. The only difference is a couple inches of extra legroom, but with the 13 inch mbp the screen is already touching the back of the front seat when he is not reclined. If he even reclines an inch or two with the 13 inch laptop, the screen needs to be closed to the point where it's actually angled down, which is extremely uncomfortable. Or, if the guy reclines quickly without looking, the laptop screen gets smashed and a glass of wine gets dumped on my lap.

Maybe you guys are luckier and getting 767s and better seating config, but I am based out of CVG doing mostly shorter domestic segments which means I am lucky to even get a 737, let alone anything more luxurious. And it also means that on my normal business flights with Delta's cheapening of diamond, even with my status I am usually something stupid like 14th out of 20th to ATL or ORD for first class upgrades.

 

[Wags]

Base 15 vs 16/512 13" is only about a $200 difference. Wont really find a nice 4k display or even a good sized 1440p display for that amount.
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The GPU is still more than enough to push that. I was pushing a 28" Samsung 4k display at 60hz with a late 2013 MacBook Pro years ago without a hitch.

Wasn’t including 512 ssd since base 15 does not. The 16/256 and AppleCare difference would be approximately $500 less.

 

[pubmsu]

I bought the rMBP four days ago. Transferring data from my rMB over USB-C cable took two hours. Been using it ever since for most of the day(s).

Setup

Hackintosh: GA-Z91N-WIFI, i7-4770s, 16 GB RAM, four internal drives (1 TB SSD + 3 HDDs totalling 10 GB), GTX 960 2 GB
rMBP: 2018 2.3 GHz i5 Touch Bar model, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, ****** Intel GPU

The Hack is dead, long live the rMBP

High Sierra worked beautifully on my Hackintosh until 10.13.3, at which point a small security update broke EVERYTHING. I spent hours trying to figure out what was was broken at all, because all I got were kernel panics. I gave up and resolved to be stuck on 10.13.3 forever. Yesterday, however, I decided to sell the Hack, and install macOS 10.13.6 on the internal SSD to advertise it as "macOS compatible". To put it mildly, this didn't go well. Four hours in I gave up. It is now an Ubuntu machine waiting to be sold. The final drop, though, was Backblaze telling me I haven't backed it up for 17 days. This made me realise how much I was NOT using the Hackintosh.

By the way, once you make a Hack work, it works, it's stable, has no problems at all. Until a security update ruins it, and then I hope you love fighting with drivers, and have more time. Still, when I bought the computer I had no problems with Yosemite, El Cap, Sierra, and High Sierra until the post .3 update.

Extras I have to pay for

I had four internal drives in the Hack, which now will be four internal drives in a case.

I have a separate tiny pink USB-C enclosure for just one SSD that has all the stuff I couldn't fit on the 512 GB – one gets easily spoiled with 11 GB of storage. In particular, my iTunes library is 270 GB, photo library 100 GB, and I keep mastered AIFF files of every song I ever recorded – that will be a few TB of data. So the pink SSD will be a separate drive for the iTunes library, photos, patch, sample, loop libraries for Reason, etc. But I managed to install everything else I use on the 512 GB Pro, and I will only use music software when in desktop mode. And FOUR Thunderbold 3 slots are, er, better than one on the 12" Macbook.

We haven't decided yet which laptop to sell – rMB or rMBP 2015. There's a website in the Netherlands where they just buy things second-hand at fixed price. (We don't have eBay, we have a stupid website called Marktplaats where people don't log in, don't leave their credentials, and as a result they often don't show up. We had offers of €25 on €400 items, then when we responded with "no, thank you" we received insults, and in one case threats.) So either the rMB goes for €820, or 2015 rMBP for €770. (Note: I am shocked that a 2015 computer with minimum specs sells for almost as much as a rMB with m5/512.) Once I also sell two displays I won't use anymore AND my Hackintosh, now rebranded to "mid-range gaming PC running Linux, no Windows license" I should only need to add 200-400 euro to pay off the Pro. Well, I really wanted 1 TB in the rMBP, but I already ran out of kidneys to sell on eBay. So financially it sounds good. Right? Practically free once I sell all this stuff...!

Er. Not quite. Not done here yet.

Dongle life

Enclosure for four drives = €121. That's cheap for what it is. Separate pink USB-C enclosure for the one SSD with extra data which I intend to use a lot of time when I am on the move = €29. The 4xUSB-A hub I bought for things that are and will forever remain USB-A, like a hardware key for my music software, my soundcard, printer, etc. = 29 euro. Luckily my Acer display already does passthrough charging, plus comes with extra two USB slots, one of which is occupied by a...dongle for Microsoft Sculpt keyboard. Also, if husband switches to rMB, we will need... tadah... a dongle with passthrough charging and USB-As. Because, no matter what people have to say about futureproofing, all our machines at home didn't predict they will need to be futureproven. I don't mind lack of SD slot, which was super necessary on 2015 Pro with 128 GB storage, but not so much now that I have 512 GB like I did on rMB.

I already have a double plug Sandisk 128 GB stick. It's awesome, because you can switch it between USB-A and USB-C. Very useful for copying stuff from Not Yet Futureproof Computers.

Clamshell, cooling, temps

In clamshell mode the laptop keeps lovely low temperature... or rather did until Google Drive began to synchronise 4000 files. (I was not aware I even had 4000 files...) Fan went up to helicopter speed until Google Drive finished. Dropbox didn't cause any such issues. Exporting a 24/96 file from Reason went fast, causing no issues or even fan to kick in. Same with opening 20 large images in Photoshop, then applying Intensify Pro filters. Fan stayed at 0 rpm. (This is magical. Same as rMB, I don't hear this laptop at all, and worried the fans were actually broken until the lovely Google Drive got busy. How does Google Drive use more CPU than exporting big audio files while live-mixing 24 tracks?!) I might buy one of those cooling mats for when I use it in clamshell. Obviously, I lose the Touch Bar then. Which is...sad, because I like a lot so far!

Touch Bar

Here is my current layout:

View attachment 773358

From left: duh, esc; Spotify/iTunes controls; separate volume keys for Spotify (I haven't found a way to control Sonos volume directly); now playing on Spotify (this is shockingly useful when listening to music I don't know yet); launch key for Sonos app; brightness; mute; system volume; weather. With Command pressed I can't screenshot it, but I have Esc, my next appointment in iCal, HD free space, now playing on YouTube (if anything is playing), keyboard brightness, screen brightness, and weather. This is obviously achieved with BetterTouchTool, which I couldn't recommend more if you want the TB to actually be useful. I don't use any app-specific settings, because that's what I have keyboard shortcuts I learned for years for. I prefer Command-B to looking down from the screen to figure out where [ B ] it is on the Touch Bar.

The 3rd gen keyboard

It is definitely softer and with more travel than the rMB 2016. And...I am not sure I like that – yet. Because I've written two novels (as in literally) on the rMB and got used to the feeling of tapping on the table. This seems too much like old Apple keyboards! Softer, MUCH quieter, and by Gods, I hope this one is really dustproof.

SSD

Blackmagic pleased me:

View attachment 773359

Trackpad

The larger trackpad is surprisingly not a problem at all. I worried. But it appears I rest my wrists away from the trackpad. No need to check how palm rejection works, because I don't ever have my palms on the trackpad. I don't need to look at the keyboard while typing either, and I'm a very fast typist. So this, other than keys feeling oddly soft, poses only one problem: Escape key. I didn't realise I actually use Esc a lot until I, er, lost it. It is displayed on the Touch Bar of course, but when I reach for it I have a feeling I must have missed the key – there's no travel, of course, no feedback of any sort, it just feels very odd. And I hate the fact I can't extend it fully to the left. That extra blank square on the left just looks ugly and I don't care what Ive thinks. IT DOES. Go away, Ive. Or whoever else designed this.

Speeds

Hackintosh: 3567/13113
Macbook Pro: 4486/16455

I haven't tried any games yet. I remember Sims 4 turning the 2015 Pro into a helicopter ON LOWEST SETTINGS. We will see if 2018 does better once I get to installing Sims 4 again, which might be never, because I don't play games unless I've got a cold.

Speakers

In comparison to rMB, those have awesome stereo separation, As in they have it at all. Sound-wise I am not 100% pleased though. There is way too much treble. I'll be looking for an EQ app of some sort. Someone elsewhere mentioned the speakers sound "cheap" and because of that excessive treble they do a bit. Loud, stereo, cheap sounding.

Battery

Battery life seems the same or better than rMB, as far as I can tell at least (I mostly use it connected to a charger). And the rMB started from 96% straight out of the box, with 6 cycles. This is on 100% with two cycles, which somehow makes me feel better, although I know I should just stop checking

Screen

I can't tell I notice any difference between rMB and this one to be honest. I suppose it is better, because I've been told by reviewers it is, but I don't notice that so far. It's good enough – that's all compliments I can muster, really. Oh, and it's larger than 12", duh.

Flux and TrueTone in the late evening don't like each other at all. With Flux set to really warm yellow and TrueTone working, black colour became very blinding cyan. In fact I thought something was broken. Once I switch one of the two off, problem disappears. Once I turn Flux down somewhat, problem disappears as well. Problem fixed to my satisfaction.

Brightness – I might go blind if I used it on max brightness. Loving it, of course.

Other stuff

I love the fact I can finally charge from either side. I used to put a nice flat piece of cardboard to give the rMB more "breathing space". This laptop doesn't require one. I can actually keep it in my lap at angle that fits me, and because I don't use the cardboard it feels like it is the same thickness as rMB.

What other differences do I notice? Well, obviously, speed. And Touch Bar. But mostly the weight. I remember when I bought the rMB I was switching from 2015 Pro. First thought was "this can't even be a computer, it weighs nothing". Second – "this can't even be a computer, it's too thin". Third was – ten minutes since I started restoring the rMB from backup – "how could I ever have used this super heavy brick with mushy keys!" That was 10 minutes since the rMB arrived. Suddenly the 2015 Pro felt like I was at the gym doing heavy lifts The 2018 rMBP is, of course, way lighter than 2015, BUT not quite like the rMB.

Good:

• TouchID. Dayum. Love it. I had no idea how much I wanted it until I got it.
• Sleep on my Hack was the only thing that had problems. Obviously it's not a problem anymore.
• Silence. I am SHOOK by the 0 rpm fans.
• Temperature. See above.
• SSD speeds are insane, and I hope it will make the thing even faster in heavier use.
• Actual stereo speakers.
• Four Thunderbolt 3 slots instead of one.
• Larger trackpad.
• Touch Bar being fully customisable. I don't think I would ever use it otherwise.
• The rMB sometimes added extra spaces for no reason whatsoever. I failed to reproduce that, which is why I didn't take it to Apple Store – I don't know when or why this happened at all.
• NO CANNED AIR. I hope. It hasn't been long enough yet.
• Charging is possible from both sides. Which is surprisingly handy.
• Better FaceTime camera, although I think iPod Touch has a better one and iPods haven't been updated since 1984.

Not so good:

• I don't know whether I like this keyboard just yet. Getting used to rMB took me literally ten minutes. This, so far, has been four days and I am not quite convinced yet that I love it. But it should be easy enough to get used to, I already stopped making typos. Almost.
• Dongle life, of course, but then switching from desktop to laptop meant I would need an enclosure for my hard drives anyway.
• PRICES OMG APPLE YOU MUST BE KIDDING WITH THAT 1 TB SSD GO HOME APPLE YOU'RE DRUNK.
• I hate not getting the "bong" sound on startup, because of course this laptop doesn't in any way show whether it is on or off unless I am already using it (like now). Dark Boot works on every Mac I had, but not on this one, hope for an update. Now I have a very weird gray Apple logo on white background on black screen, and boot progress bar doesn't appear until it's near ready.
• I need an EQ app for the internal speakers.
• This GPU is hardly impressive, and I am not investing in that new Apple one only to play The Sims
• Heftier than rMB (but I am really scratching bottom of the barrel here to come up with anything).
• Does not come in pink, and I love confusing people, since I worked as a blacksmith for years, look like a Viking (my well-earned nickname), have more tattoos than Kat Von D, and a pink laptop would definitely fit my image.

Overall

It's been four days, as mentioned, but I am very happy with it. Will probably invest in AppleCare, but I have more than 11 months, so I don't have to spend all the money immediately. And I will save tons of time not having to dig for drivers with a cryptic kernel panic messages that apparently nobody else in Hackintosh community ever had.

The 2018 update seems really substantial, finally, and the Touch Bar looks useful once customised. I can connect my Magic Mouse, obviously, and Sculpt keyboard for desktop use. I have a pinkish Acer monitor with near-zero bezels. Once I connect the rMBP to the Acer monitor the laptop charging, external keyboard Just Works, the extra USB in the monitor can serve as a place to conveniently hide away whatever it is I want to hide (i.e. one of the many dongles).

Does the i5 feel very snappy for everyday tasks (browsing, videos, productivity, coding, etc. - not graphics/media/video editing) or do you think you should have bought the i7?

 

[aevan]

• Silence. I am SHOOK by the 0 rpm fans.

Glad you're enjoying your Mac. Just a small note - fans are never actually 0 rpm, you just don't hear them below a certain speed

Have fun with your new MBP!

 

[PeterJP]

How does Google Drive use more CPU than exporting big audio files while live-mixing 24 tracks?!)

Google doesn't have the tendency to optimise their apps. I was using Google Play Music on my Android phone for a while. After one hour of play time, it used half my battery. Switched to Spotify, I can listen for a week now. I'm hoping for their electricity bill (and for the sake of the planet) that they optimise their algorithms for search better that they do their end-user apps.
Aside from that: built a hack, got bored of the Linux-style experience (upgrade-spend 3 days fixing stuff-live on in fear), removed macOS from the machine. Happily using my rMBP only since then.

 

[navaira]

Does the i5 feel very snappy for everyday tasks (browsing, videos, productivity, coding, etc. - not graphics/media/video editing) or do you think you should have bought the i7?

I am very happy with the i5. Rendering a song from Reason to AIFF 24/96kHz didn't get the fans to run loud. I haven't noticed any sluggishness so far. Played Sims 4, which on 2015 Pro was completely unusable at lowest resolution and details, here it runs on "high" detail, full screen – with fan on, but smoothly. (Obviously with an actual GPU it would have been a blast.) I am extremely unlikely to move into video editing. And with the speed increases not being what they used to be I expect this laptop to last me as long as keyboard allows it My main concern is storage, but it costs...Apple prices.

(PS. Safari is very snappy )

 

[dannyar]

Wasn’t including 512 ssd since base 15 does not. The 16/256 and AppleCare difference would be approximately $500 less.

See I was pricing it based on the 16/512 which I assume is the model people would be getting if not getting the base 15".

 

[RobbieTT]

My fans are never at 0 rpm, I'm not sure that's right. Maybe its a 13" thing, but I see my fans spinning at least 2k

Glad you're enjoying your Mac. Just a small note - fans are never actually 0 rpm, you just don't hear them below a certain speed

Have fun with your new MBP!

My 2018 i5 13" reports 0 rpm when web surfing so I can believe the OP. As an example, I've had this machine open and running for about an hour and when typing this the CPU temp is ~34 deg C, frequency down at ~1.35 GHz and a package draw of ~0.58W. Unsurprisingly the laptop is cold with astonishing battery life when under such a light load. The unlocked i5 can pack a punch and run well-above its continuous base clock speed but web and word processing it just sips the power.

 

[m-e]

I already have a double plug Sandisk 128 GB stick. It's awesome, because you can switch it between USB-A and USB-C. Very useful for copying stuff from Not Yet Futureproof Computers.

Is the USB-C part easy to plug in ? I happen to have the same Sandisk and plugging in the USB-C is quite hard. Need a lot of strength.
Plus going from USB-C to USB-A is not very "smooth". Feels like very cheap plastic...

 

[navaira]

Is the USB-C part easy to plug in ? I happen to have the same Sandisk and plugging in the USB-C is quite hard. Need a lot of strength.

That's an interesting one. In the rMB I used before it was very easy (but then it had one port which was constantly in use for charging). In the new rMBP it is indeed quite difficult – BUT every now and then the USB-C plug withdraws a bit, and then it's easy. It's a weird thing, this stick, but it works. Not putting anything important on it.

 

[lllfyc]

I was not comparing it to an eGPU for gaming, obviously that would be silly. More so for everyday tasks that require a discrete graphics chip, it would suffice for video editing etc. If your planning on using an eGPU regardless then why not go for the faster CPU? To each his own. Im actually awaiting a 13" 16/512 to arrive that I couldn't cancel in time and will run them both side by side for 4k video editing and exporting in final cut pro and if the difference isn't significant I may ultimately keep the 13" and use the $200 towards a 27 or 32" 4k USB-C display.

how much difference are the 13" and 15" doing side by side for 4k video editing and exporting in FCP?
which one are you keeping?

also for 4K usb-c display, I have been searching for quite a while still can't find one that is good enough for my need. I also look for 27 or 32, any idea?

the closest I got would be Dell U2718Q or LG 27UK850

 

[dannyar]

how much difference are the 13" and 15" doing side by side for 4k video editing and exporting in FCP?
which one are you keeping?

also for 4K usb-c display, I have been searching for quite a while still can't find one that is good enough for my need. I also look for 27 or 32, any idea?

the closest I got would be Dell U2718Q or LG 27UK850

To start I, I kept the 15 . it was drastically faster in video editing and exporting. The same video finished 4 minutes faster on the 15" .as far a monitor, I didn't get a USB c one as I wanted 32" and they were too pricey with USB c so I got an LG one on Amazon that has display port and HDMI and just use a tb3 to display port cable and I get 4k at 60hz .

 

[maximit]

The 13" models starting with 2015 will shut down fans completely 0rpm when not under load, that's correct and literarily and figuratively very cool. 15" however never shuts down its fans, they are always spinning.

 

[m-e]

That's an interesting one. In the rMB I used before it was very easy (but then it had one port which was constantly in use for charging). In the new rMBP it is indeed quite difficult – BUT every now and then the USB-C plug withdraws a bit, and then it's easy. It's a weird thing, this stick, but it works. Not putting anything important on it.

Thanks for the feedback, will go for a refund on my part. Not messing with my Macbook for a badly designed USB-C key.