I'm very happy with my 2020 MBP, but I believe Apple is still due to reveal an Apple Silicon Macbook at some point this year. Personally, I would wait and see if there is another Apple event between now and say December. There are intricacies involved with an Apple Silicon Macbook and I'm not certain I'd want to be an early adopter, but it still seems worth pausing and seeing what it ends up being.
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Macbook pro 13 2020, good choice?
- Thread starter Dentifrice
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I will look at those and get one of them set up for him to try it out for awhile. He tried linux a long time ago and he didn't hate it but he went back to windows but he is finally tired of windows BS.
I brought a MBP 2020 55 days ago as a 'transition computer' from Windows to macOS.
Rock solid stable, good performance, amazing quality (specially the keyboard and the trackpad).
But the battery life left me a little disappointed. Only 4-5 hours of battery life in my work conditions. I was expecting at least 7-8.
Rock solid stable, good performance, amazing quality (specially the keyboard and the trackpad).
But the battery life left me a little disappointed. Only 4-5 hours of battery life in my work conditions. I was expecting at least 7-8.
If you use for example AirPods to listen to music on them then it probably takes more energy.
On average I get 6-8 hours from mine. I would call that pretty good for a computer this powerful and compact. I think with the new ARM CPU's battery life will be crazy good and go from a con to a pro.
I'm starting to see the problems of having USB-C ports only.
I have an Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock. I have an Apple Cinema Display (mini display port) connected to this dock.
With my old macbook, I would connect this hub with a single cable to a thunderbolt 2 port. This way, with a single cable, I had my display, external hard drive, keyboard/mouse and ethernet adapter connected to my mac.
Now with my new MBP, no more thunderbolt 2 ports so I decided to buy the Apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter so I can connect my dock. Unfortunately, the adapter doesn't work with mini displayport! So when I connect it, everything connected to the dock works except my Cinema Display... The problem is only for mini displayport, the HDMI port of my dock works great.
From what I read I have to choices :
1- buy an adapter like this :
This way I would have 2 cables to connect : one for the dock and one for the display
2- I buy this expanse dongle :
This way, I would convert the mini displayport of my Cinema Display to HDMI. Since HDMI works through the Apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter, it should work.
So many dongles/adapters...
I have an Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock. I have an Apple Cinema Display (mini display port) connected to this dock.
With my old macbook, I would connect this hub with a single cable to a thunderbolt 2 port. This way, with a single cable, I had my display, external hard drive, keyboard/mouse and ethernet adapter connected to my mac.
Now with my new MBP, no more thunderbolt 2 ports so I decided to buy the Apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter so I can connect my dock. Unfortunately, the adapter doesn't work with mini displayport! So when I connect it, everything connected to the dock works except my Cinema Display... The problem is only for mini displayport, the HDMI port of my dock works great.
From what I read I have to choices :
1- buy an adapter like this :
TWOPAN USB-C to Mini DisplayPort, Type C to Mini Display Port Adapter with Aluminum case for MacBook Pro/Mini/Air, XPS, Yoga, EliteBook, Chromebook, Travellers' Choice. Supports 4K@60Hz, 2K@144Hz/T9-DP
TWOPAN is about 2 Engineers who got more than 20 years experience of design and manufacturing computer accessories. In 2016, they observed USB-C became the New Universal Standard of all electronic devices. No matter your computer, tablet or cell phone which needs to connect display, transfer d...
www.amazon.ca
This way I would have 2 cables to connect : one for the dock and one for the display
2- I buy this expanse dongle :
HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Converter Adapter Cable, QGeeM 20CM 4K x 2K HDMI to Mini DP Adaptor for HDMI Equipped Systems,Compliant with VESA Dual-Mode DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4
HDMI TO Mini DisplayPort adapter/ HDMI to Mini DP/ Ultra HD/ HDMI to Mini Display port converter/ HDMI to Mini DP adapter specifications : - HDTV resolution supported: up to 1080p@120hz, 4Kx2K@30Hz - Audio: 7. 1 Channel surround audio up to 192 kHz sample rated - compliant with VESA Dual-Mode Dis...
www.amazon.ca
This way, I would convert the mini displayport of my Cinema Display to HDMI. Since HDMI works through the Apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter, it should work.
So many dongles/adapters...
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I'm very happy with my 2020 MBP 13'. I upgraded from a mid-line 2017 MBP 13' TB. I had 16GB of ram and 1TB SSD.
Doing Parallels work (Visual Studio with a massive project, etc) - it got hot and slow.
So last week I upgraded to an i5 2020 MBP 13' - 16 GB ram and 1TB SSD. I was regretting my purchase because of ram constraints but I need my laptop to work so I only purchased what was in stock.
Yesterday I noticed a 2020 MBP 13' - i7, 32GB ram, 2TB SSD in stock at my local Apple store. Snatched it up and returned the one from previous week. Apple is amazing. Time Machine restore worked perfectly.
While the fans on this thing are a lot more noticeable - the speed is blazing fast and I'm able to do what I did before at a much faster rate.
However, these 2020 MBPs crash a LOT more with my Sonnet EGPU than my 2017 did... I may try the RX 5700 Xt vs the RX 580 that's in there now and see if that makes a difference... but we're talking per hour crashes (2020) vs once or twice a week (2017).
Very happy with this laptop. I'm set for the next 3-5+ years.
Doing Parallels work (Visual Studio with a massive project, etc) - it got hot and slow.
So last week I upgraded to an i5 2020 MBP 13' - 16 GB ram and 1TB SSD. I was regretting my purchase because of ram constraints but I need my laptop to work so I only purchased what was in stock.
Yesterday I noticed a 2020 MBP 13' - i7, 32GB ram, 2TB SSD in stock at my local Apple store. Snatched it up and returned the one from previous week. Apple is amazing. Time Machine restore worked perfectly.
While the fans on this thing are a lot more noticeable - the speed is blazing fast and I'm able to do what I did before at a much faster rate.
However, these 2020 MBPs crash a LOT more with my Sonnet EGPU than my 2017 did... I may try the RX 5700 Xt vs the RX 580 that's in there now and see if that makes a difference... but we're talking per hour crashes (2020) vs once or twice a week (2017).
Very happy with this laptop. I'm set for the next 3-5+ years.
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I've had my 10th gen intel MBP for about 6 weeks and absolutely love it. No issues at all.
Despite the issues with USB (fixed) and now TB3 docks (waiting for a fix on Catalina, fix available on BS beta 10) I actually love my MBP 13 2020. Got the i5/16GB/1TB variant. Perhaps I should have went for the i7 but I don't think the difference would have been substantial enough to warrant the price increase.
If they fix the TB3 problem on Catalina and any random shut downs (so far I've had several over 5 months, but very rare) then I could call it an almost ideal machine for general usage.
For issues with battery life and thermals you can make use of MacsFanControl and Turbo Boost Switcher. Both will increase your efficiency with the machine dramatically. Disabling TB when you don't need it should net at least an hour or two of extra battery life. The fan control will eliminate any kind of "fan bursts" if you are experiencing any and maintain reasonable temperatures when connected to an external monitor (temps are very good when the laptop is used on its own but go considerably higher with monitors).
Overall, yeah it's a good machine, and yeah it's not a bad move to buy one now since I don't think ARM is a safe bet until we see the actual launch and feedback from users.
I also think the 13" is superior to the 16". Far less problems.
If they fix the TB3 problem on Catalina and any random shut downs (so far I've had several over 5 months, but very rare) then I could call it an almost ideal machine for general usage.
For issues with battery life and thermals you can make use of MacsFanControl and Turbo Boost Switcher. Both will increase your efficiency with the machine dramatically. Disabling TB when you don't need it should net at least an hour or two of extra battery life. The fan control will eliminate any kind of "fan bursts" if you are experiencing any and maintain reasonable temperatures when connected to an external monitor (temps are very good when the laptop is used on its own but go considerably higher with monitors).
Overall, yeah it's a good machine, and yeah it's not a bad move to buy one now since I don't think ARM is a safe bet until we see the actual launch and feedback from users.
I also think the 13" is superior to the 16". Far less problems.