Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Pro Lineup Set For 'Most Significant Overhaul in Over 4 Years'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
When you say that you no longer expect an eGPU, do you mean that you no longer expect Apple to make one? Or is that in reference to the possibility that the new MacBook Pro might only have a single USB-C port?
The best product news I have seen in ages. Does it really need to be thinner?
Based on rumors--all of them. The plan for the rMBP is to offer 4-USB-C type ports with support for USB 3.1 speeds and probably also TB 3 (although how many will be TB 3 compatible are unknown). There is a possibility Apple might include a Lightning port, but that would be the only other port type, again according to rumors.
I hope the rumors are wrong and Apple simply adds 2 USB-C 3.1/TB3 ports in addition to the current 3.5mm audio port, HDMI, SD card slot, and 2 USB-A ports, but I think the rumors are more likely than my wishful thinking. I'm not looking forward to my choice between old technology with useful I/O on the refurb store or the "new" rMBP with useless I/O unless I carry a multitude of adapters.
[doublepost=1470926343][/doublepost]I don't expect Apple to offer/manufacture an eGPU option as long as they are offering an internal dGPU.
This is for three reasons: (1) an eGPU might outperform the dGPU, (2) if an eGPU were offered for rMBPs without a dGPU, there would be no impetus to push people toward purchasing the most expensive rMBP with a dGPU, and (3) the ability to upgrade an eGPU would extend the life of Apple's notebook line thus lengthening the time between purchases. This would be bad for sales and correlatively stocks.
Fortunately, you don't have to depend on Apple for an eGPU. You can build one yourself. You just need a graphics card, a Thunderbolt-PCIe adapter(i.e. Akitio Thunder2) and automate-eGPU.sh. If you go with a GPU like the GT 740, you can just use a 120 watt laptop-style power supply. Though, if you need more power, you could use a 4-pin molex laptop power supply. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find laptop-style molex power supplies with either 6 or 8 pins. If you need more than 4 pins, you might have to use a desktop-style power supply. If you need six pins, this adapter will work: https://www.amazon.com/Pin-ATX-PCI-...s=24-pin+atx+power+connector+to+6+pin+adapter. if you need 8 pins, this adapter will work: https://www.amazon.com/Eyeboot-8-Pi...s=24-pin+atx+power+connector+to+8+pin+adapter
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Thank you for your comment, this is what I like reading in these forums.
I think that the focus your are presenting here regarding professional work produced digitally is what many people many times erroneously assume: that it needs a heavy duty graphics card. My question is why? Why is people fixated that pro work on a laptop is focused on extremely complex 3D animation, rendering of huge hi-res frames, or 4K video editing work? Why nitpick solely on this, or CPU model?
From what I've seen in my country (Mexico) and my travels to the USA, professional work is so richly diverse and handles all types of activities (from complex and technical word processing of documents, or industrial facilities project management, supervision, reporting, engineering calculations that use spreadsheets, 2D digital art or technical draftings using raster images or vector based graphics, medical supervision and what not) that really puts it into perspective that Apple tries to cater to all those types of activities with their line of products because that's the bulk of real life professional work (I didn't list them all in my examples, of course). They perform studies on how the market uses computers, phones, tablets, etc. and tries to cater to many levels of all of those activities with their different lines of products.
If you rely heavily on 3D animation because you do freelance work for video games, you probably are gonna get by with a current MacBook Pro (hell, I've done real time 3D presentations of fire protection industrial pipings using Unity on my MacBook Air, AND collected very attractive revenues for it) but if you are doing 3D animation for films, you are probably not going to use a MacBook Pro because you need to get in line with a studio's infrastructure, and most of the times they use custom computer/software solutions that use modified or tweaked versions of Windows, Linux or other operating systems. If you do this latter activity, you are not in a demographics that interests Apple that much, not because they don't want to cater to your sector and Cook is ungrateful to you, but because of their R&D, production/supply chains and logistics has grown so much that they need to cater to a bigger audience to maintain that world-wide infrastructure going on. Why maintain that?
Because it generates employments around the world and brings big money in, which are some of the objectives of a business.
Apple is not trying to impress people with up-to-date hardware. Impressing people with flashy things is left for the entertainment industry. They have a vision and aesthetics on how they do computer and device related things, an inheritance of their days of being the underdog and rebels of computer manufacturing, and at the same time they are trying to cope and match that philosophy with the huge growth they have experienced since the iPhone, losing Steve Jobs and trying -with limited success- to be responsible in many aspects and ethical instances. If you are a business person, you will know it's extremely hard to deal with all of that. Cook is trying to align this huge company to those changes. In my opinion, this puts into perspective that complaining on these forums about them not using Nvidia's latest and greatest GPU, or updating the Mac line with processors that only makes them more expensive to produce and deliver without gaining huge increases in performance or public acceptance of even more expensive products is really "not gonna open up their eyes."
And coming back to the GPU/CPU matter: different needs, different tools. Is not Apple's fault if you wanna use a screwdriver for hitting nails. Just get the right hammer for your needs. Really, get a Boxx or similar custom-built workstation and don't waste time (wasting time is really the tragedy in all of this.)
Last edited:
Well yeah, if is a touchscreen, it will be flat. If it replaces the top row of function keys, it will be approximately that big. It is safe to say that Apple isn't holding back fundamentally ground breaking tech like holographic keyboards. Therefore, I can safely assume the iStrip size, shape, and location.
This is why many of Apple's current "pro" offerings aren't even "pro". there are so many ideas fo what "professional work" entails.
When I see "pro" title on a piece of hardware, Pro means to me that the hardware is capable of being scalable, expandable, and dependable for a variety of wokrloads that can vary from 4k video rendering, to databases, vm work, etc.
Over the last 5ish years, Apple computers have had both Scalability and it's expendability removed. But still calling themselves "pro"
The new Mac Pro for example is a device that is likely very dependable. But it's not scalable, and it's not expandable. When purchasing, you only can get 1 CPU. and you can only get 2 GPUs. This might be great for Final Cut X users, but utlimately, the setup they're providing doesn't offer a whole range of scalability across other types of work. It's a Niche product for a niche audience (media producers). That it's a niche product, also is a strike against it being a "pro" workstation.
I'm not a 4k developer. or 3d artist. My work is fairly intensive on CPU and had drives, but There's absolutely zero use for those GPUs. My costs to get a Mac Pro are exorbitant because Apple has dictated that if I want "pro" I have to have this hardware setup, even if 50% of the hardware is useless outside a niche market.
So making the MacBook pro even thinner and lighter, taking away ports, expandibility, scalability, etc etc, doesn't impress me that Apple actually cares about the "pro" crowd anymore. I was going to buy a Mac Pro back then, was even waiting for the anouncement, and they outright lost my sale with what they came out with. I then said I'd buy a mac mini, but then they crippled that too. Now I'm thinking that its time for a new Laptop (my MBA 2011 w 2gb ram screen cracked). But if Apple goes this root of further hardware lock down, removing industry standard ports, and providing less customizability to actually hit different professional workloads, I will look elsewhere as well. Which is a shame because I do like using OSx on a laptop, and I do like Apple's build quality.
You don't have a use for it yourself so nobody needs it, is that right?
I would kill for a 17" touchscreen MacBook Pro.
Buying a 17" laptop has to mean your overcompensating for something else...
Hi LordVic. I just read your reply and yes, I agree with many of your points on what many consider a "pro" computer. Again, depends on what you do and what you want your rig to do.
Thing is, you can take a case by case of software and its hardware requirements and you'll find out that a Mac Pro, or MacBook Pro, even iMacs and MacBook Airs could run "pro" software for professional activities, thus the "Pro" moniker Apple assigns. Take a look at this:
http://www.graphisoft.com/support/s...ex.html?_ga=1.213579092.1113172993.1470935886
That's Graphisoft's system requirements for ArchiCAD 20 (the current version of said BIM software.) Architects, engineers and contractors use this software (myself included.) Without a doubt, it's a professional software. Long story short, any of the 15" MacBooks, any Mac Pro, or any built-to-order iMac with 16GB of RAM can run complex building models using Archicad 20. It's just one case, but you sure could apply that to Photoshop, Pro Tools, Avid Media Composer, Maya, etc.
What I can assure you is that none of those applications requieres you to have the latests NVidia GPU, or the most up-to-date Xeon processor. Autodesk publishes a list of certified hardware for every version of their applications, and you are gonna find out that many 2 to 5 year-old GPUs are actually great for running Maya, Mudbox, AutoCAD... I wouldn't feel cheated if I buy a Mac Pro to run Archicad, for example. Again, I currently use my 11" MacBook Air for 3D and 2D piping work, cost estimating, project supervision and also pitch projects for sales purposes.
In my opinion, and without any intention of telling you that you are wrong, what you consider "pro" is not what Apple considers "pro" and of course that's blatantly clear. You want expansion bays for hard drives. Apple gives thunderbolt to Mac and MacBooks Pros so you can use external SSDs. Are they wrong because you might prefer other options? Honestly... not really. They are creating business opportunities for themselves by adopting new tech that they consider that has a future for certain workflows that might appeal to many of their users, with a side consequence that others like you might not consider using such tech.
It's not really black or white, or that Apple's trying to cheat people. They don't go to your home, office or studio with a gun and say "give me 2,500 bucks, use my stuff and forget everything else!"
I really think it is a matter of difference and focus on how to get things done. And I also believe that posting hate, like others do, is not beneficial either.
Last edited:
It's nice to have the extra screen real estate. But it's also good if you have presbyopia.
Aside from the issue of computing power, upgradability is a big issue. Macs from 2011 and earlier were great in that regard. For the most part, Apple's current hardware is locked-down, sealed shut, not open to any upgrades. They also charge $600 for a Configure-to-Order 512 gigabyte Solid State Drive upgrade that should only cost $300. Considering that the RAM is soldered to the logic board, they should give you a break in the price of the 16 gigabyte upgrade, charging $75-$100 for the upgrade instead of $200. I understand Apple wants to be able to make money from upgrades, but they don't have to abuse the customer financially.
exactly. i think they are trying to phase out some of their less powerful computers, IE: the MacBook Air.
they of course know there will still be a need for more powerful computers, which is why they still sell iMac 27"/mac Pro/macbook Pro.
but instead of keeping 3 types of MacBooks i wouldnt mind seeing just a macbook and macbook pro. MacBook for the Style and casual user, MacBook Pro for serious professionals but the ipad Pro for everybody else in between.
Ah yes, on that I agree with you. I still have a perfectly functional 2008 iMac running El Capitan that has a small compartment for RAM upgrades. I did use it to expand RAM to 4GB, and I changed the HD myself due to a "longevity" failure. That original HD lasted for 6 and a half years, by the way. I understand that new, lower tier Macs can't be upgraded, and if you want them maxed out on RAM, it has to be BTO. High prices are never well received.
I want to think (as in I don't really know if they do this) that they charge so much for BTO RAM and HD upgrades because they take an assembled machine, or place an exception tag in the production line, do their thing to upgrade RAM and then they place it in a box with one of those stickers that list the custom specs you ordered on the machine. I don't want to sound as I'm defending them, but that whole logistics for programmed production exceptions sure cost a bit more for a basically sealed-from-factory product. I've visited one of VW's factories and what they do for custom car orders is freaking amazing, since they don't take them out of the main assembly line (which, by the way, handles two or three different car platforms over the same conveyor track,) but have special stations that apply the custom equipment that need to be programmed by the second. And of course, putting a bit more of cost on the service are tactics to make you choose the better spec'd but mass-produced non-custom Mac, or at least make you feel special about using the service
. Not evil, but regular business practices and no business is gonna give you anything for free. If you want to use the BTO service or not, in the end is your choice and they will take decisions on the matter if it affects them negatively (again, regular business practices.) I wouldn't use Apple's BTO, though.
Last edited:
I just feel sorry for all the developers that will have to re-do their apps that rely on function keys, unless the code doesn't change.
No, they're just going to have an event closer to the actual release date of the new MBP's ... in 2018.
Yes please!
I'm a "pro" Architect and amateur Electronic Musician. What i want in the new rMBP that would make me upgrade from my 2013 model is if its lighter, thinner and faster.
I bought a Retina Macbook because my 15" MBP was too heavy and bulky to be constantly lugging around. The MBP stays in one place for when i need the power. The MB goes everywhere with me. Bring out a new 15" MBP that's less weight than the current 13"rMBP, with a reduced bevel and footprint, and faster than the current crop and id gladly go back to having one computer instead of 2.
I don't miss the file system. I use Office 365 for work and Dropbox/iCloud Drive for everything else. In some ways, having my stuff NOT be in a file system speeds up my workflows.
I meant more your statement that it's "after any amount of consideration is like all gimmicks... something few will use and might actually be less useful than the feature it replaced" — you have no idea how it'll actually be used in reality at this point beyond rampant speculation that it offers no benefit and nobody will use it. Does that sound like a feature Apple would spend a lot of time developing?
Basically.
TBH...I keep hoping deep in apple is some people going you know the retro 6 using older phone bodies sold well so maybe we can dig up the old 2011 shells and resell them.
New internals like modern stuff and with all the space made by removing dvd-drive we can do crazy stuff. Since the most common mod on the 2011 was to remove the dvd drive anyway to put in a second drive...lets do that from the factory.
lets slap in some new hybrid video card. You know like how the new MP got that funky custom video card...lets call up AMD (or some like me can hope Nvidia) and say can you do some custom work for a monster laptop video card. Or even added memory banks. Monster ram MBP...I would not kick that out of bed. I and FCP would be very happy.
Monster video card never seen on a laptop...from factory raid array options all internal...more RAM. to this I would say take my money. And the 2011 body can fit this stuff...probably real easy.
based on leaks so far...we have video I already mentioned doubts on. Oh and finger login via the power button. Joy...I get to type my password 1 less time. So I'd do this 10 times now, not 11. I run a few Linux vm's...login with PW. run stuff with sudo elevated rights....PW again. take away...typing a pw not big deal to me. The people happy about typing say 7-10 characters less in the day...not getting that. You would be typing say 8-10 characters less in your day....wow, so much effort saved there.
... why would you think they'd remove the function key...functions?
"First they came for the function keys, and I said nothing as I was not a function key."
Apple has gone the way of high fashion so people can sit in a starbucks and pretend to be some sort of pro on their stylish hardware. Meanwhile those of us who have built careers from pushing pixels on macs have little options than to continue on with hardware that's twice as expensive and doesn't give as good the performance of cheaper x87 hardware. I guess I'll be figuring out how to build a clone alternative to new Apple hardware. If only they would port Mac OS to other platforms, this wouldn't be an issue.