MacBook Pro Reportedly Won't See Any Major Upgrades in 2018

[Anonymous Freak]

That seems insanely unlikely. At least the 13" model moving to quad-core thanks to lower-power quad-core mobile Coffee Lake CPUs, at minimum.

 

[scruff87]

I bought a refurbished non-touchbar customised MBP (2.5ghz, 16gb RAM, 512gb SSD) over Christmas. When I took it out the box and turned it on, the enter key didn't work properly (it only functioned if you pressed it very hard right in the middle of the key).

After much discussion with them about perhaps I was using the enter key wrong (thanks, apple) I returned it and ordered a BRAND NEW MBP to the same spec. Waited 2 weeks for it to turn up. Took it out the box and it had EXACTLY THE SAME fault. Enter didn't work properly. They told me it must be a coincidence and just a bad batch.

Took it in to see a genius (my 9th visit in 2 weeks) on day 2 and they replaced the key cap and it worked, but not exactly confidence inducing. So have returned for a 2015 model. Please sort the keyboard out, Apple!

 

[PLondon]

Oh I don't know... I think the 32GB of RAM is possible. Not even a slight chance of any of the other stuff though.
[doublepost=1516104077][/doublepost]

You should try using Fluor. It automatically switches between Apple's preset F-Keys and your custom ones... In other words, you can adjust brightness without using the fn key when in the Finder or Safari, etc., but when you're in Photoshop it will use your custom PS shortcut.

I was using Palua for this for years, but the developer has fallen off the face of the earth - which lead me to find Fluor.

Thanks I'll check that out!

 

[Val-kyrie]

I'm very satisfied with the current lineup. People are complaining about ram and cpu. Common, it's a portable device not a workstation. Show me the workload that need 32GB of RAM, or laptop that is hlaf the mature as macbook is ? Dell XPS no, the touchpad and build quality is far behind, abandoned Microsoft Surface laptop with it's bending keyboard ? Nooooo, there is not any competitive device out there I'd say. It's a great decision not to change the design every year.

I would want 32GB of RAM because I use virtual machines.

As for competition, look at the Lenovo X1 Carbon. LG also announced the Gram, but I believe it is new.

 

[Abazigal]

Given that there was a major update in 2016, this is not really shocking news. The question is will Apple continue to improve (or better yet) replace their keyboard and secondly what chip family will it have, i.e., coffee lake or cannon lake?

I agree that we can probably expect Apple to hold on to the same form factor for a few more years. I suspect we might be seeing an update to the touchbar. Yes, it's controversial, but I don't see Apple walking back on this. Knowing modern Apple, they have a long term goal for the touch bar. This is only the first iteration. I would guess it is full touch keyboard/interface with haptic that changes depending what you are doing.

 

[flat five]

Have you ever heard about touch typing. Yes thanks, I use keystrokes without looking at the keyboard like all good typist have been for the last 100 years or so.

Yes, exactly that, I set up the F-Keys to be shortcuts in various apps instead. Then you have to press fn + Function Key to access the standard functions assigned by Apple.

using keystrokes aren't touch typing.. at least, not when your other hand is on the mouse (which is what i assume the other input device is that you're using for photoshop)..

the idea that you're pressing, say, F3 with your left hand.. then F9.. without looking..
is just not reality.

nor is the idea that you're pressing F9 with your right hand since it's on another input device.

you're just making stuff up to try to make a point which renders the point invalid.. you can either stop and reconsider.. or keep digging.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Damn, people are harsh on the keyboard and Touch Bar here. I wonder how many actually own 2017 MacBook Pros. The 2016 was bound to have some problems because it was the first year of a new design, but is the 2017 really as bad as people say, or are these people that don't even own one? Two people on my team at work have 2016 MacBook Pros and neither one has complained about the keyboard or Touch Bar. I can't really weigh in because I own a 2015, but the keyboards on the 2016 and 2017 have seemed fine to me when I've played with them, and the Touch Bar looks cool and seems like it would be useful to me.

I have spent hours using the new MBP keyboard on multiple occasions and I cannot get used to typing on it. The touch bar is just plain inefficient. I believe the new MBP was designed for those who don't touch type and can't be bothered to memorize shortcuts.

I wish you worked at Apple. This is exactly right.

Me too, sometimes.

 

[nt5672]

Yeah, I've been grumpy the past couple of weeks...

Lots of long days/late nights, depending on my 2012 to keep going... wishing Apple would sell me the upgrade I want. . . .

For me, I've been grumpy for the years. I am using a 2010 laptop to keep going. Since, I don't currently have any work requiring a portable I recently broke down and bought an iMac since Xcode sucks with less than 16GB of memory. The iMac sucks. The keyboard sucks, the mouse sucks, bluetooth sucks. But I am barely able to get my work done and I know it will be unrepairable trash in 3 years time. That is depressing. So I hear you and I can wait for Apple to finally completely convert Xcode to linux. Once that happens, no more Apple products for me, the pain is just too much.

 

[drewyboy]

No, it’s Intel who designed the chipset. Apple’s only choice to expand to 32GB would drain the battery much more quickly. People like you would be complaining about why the battery runs out after just a few hours.
[doublepost=1516070788][/doublepost]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-do-you-need/

1. Apple CHOSE the chipset that DOESN'T allow 32GB, there is one that does. Apple's choice. Period. There is no arguing that.

2. I want DATA, not opinions/recommendations from some website. If you don't understand the difference, please state so, so I can further address this.

 

[fawntugboat]

Make gimmicky Touch Bar optional. Thank you.

It already is I thought.

 

[technole]

I'm calling bull. The keyboard is a major issue. My employer, 35k+ employees, has had a ban on macbook pro purchases for the last year and half simply because of the keyboard alone. Very high failure rate and causing downtime having to send them in to get "fixed".

You're always the ridiculous optimist in this forum beyond common sense.
[doublepost=1516069928][/doublepost]

Oh poor baby. Full scale Touchbar MacBook Pros are being delivered daily to associates here. There is no choice, Xcode waits for no one.

 

[ackmondual]

Have you used it?

I'm sure the Touch Bar on its own merits is fine. However, some folks do prefer having hard keys. IIRC, Apple charged an extra $300 to $400 extra just for it, and many of the advanced configurations were only available on TB models, so I believe it's more so people are being forced to spend even extra money on stuff they'd rather not shell out money on.

Just like any other similar situation, Apple wants to get away with charging 'x', but they couldn't do that "as is", so they added the TB to better get away with that.
[doublepost=1516124991][/doublepost]

I gave up waiting.

I found a coupon for a Dell that got me (refurbished) an XPS 15 with an i7 HQ processor, user upgradable ram, 256 GB ssd (user upgradable again), 15" HD display, and a 4GB nvidia gtx 1050 all for $760.

Christ I hate Windows. But the performance of this machine is better than the macbook pro (and handily beating it in the GPU arena). I can upgrade the ram to 32GB (which I will do almost immediately) and get a new SSD shortly. All for far less than the cheapest, 3 year old macbook Air.

Apple: I love your design. I love MacOS. But I'm also in need of a serious pro machine that has a reasonable price. I'm willing to pay a premium for your stuff, but only in the neighborhood of 20%. Not double or even triple in this case, and not for gimmicks like the touch bar, and not if you keep making the damn thing almost un upgradable.

If you get your s*** together in a few years I might be back. But for now you lost another Mac sale. I know you don't care being the richest company on earth, but this is how the seeds of decline get planted.

I've always wondered what the thresholds for a Mac fanatic would be. The bolded portion puts it into quantitative figures. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this!

As someone who's a creature of comfort, am willing to pay more to feed into that habit, but won't pay exuberant prices to do so.. I get it. It really just comes down to what that threshold is. Pay an extra $500? Pay an extra $1K? An extra $1500?, An extra $2,000? At some point, you go from "sure!", to "that's pricy, but no way I'm jumping to Windows", and goodness forbid "I hate Windows, but the price is too high for me to continue with Mac that I'm jumping to Windows".

 

[KPOM]

So, I was right. You have an amazingly light workload for a professional machine. I run a business with mine, which includes php dev and large database operations, and over a dozen active applications with multiple monitors. I’m swapping my 16GB regularly, as I do on my 32GB desktop, so don’t presume you know anything about my work, pleb.

You know nothing about computing, or anything that approaches an actual demanding workflow.

How many people are running all that at the same time on a notebook? Pro is a branding concept.

Our standard work PC is the HP EliteBook 840. It has a max of 16GB RAM and a 15W Core i7. We have people who run Monte Carlo scenarios of economic models on them.
[doublepost=1516126392][/doublepost]

1. Apple CHOSE the chipset that DOESN'T allow 32GB, there is one that does. Apple's choice. Period. There is no arguing that.

2. I want DATA, not opinions/recommendations from some website. If you don't understand the difference, please state so, so I can further address this.

You are just moving the goalposts. Reaearch IS data.
[doublepost=1516126538][/doublepost]

I have nothing against moving forward and dropping obsolete ports etc. I had no issues whatsoever with dropping the floppy disc, the CD / DVD and other ports that are no longer necessary. The problem is that USB-C is not mature yet, let alone when it was first launched in 2016. Dongles are a really poor solution to a problem a working pro should not have to deal with in 2018 which is why so few of my photographer friends have upgraded. Normally after a new MacBook is released the press rooms at big events very quickly fill up with shiny new Macs, this time however instead most people hang on to what they have and black PC boxes have started appearing.

I totally understand that for some people USB-A is not necessary, in my industry however it still is and probably will be for another 5 years or so. Client constantly ask for USB sticks, HD's etc that are all USB-A. Hopefully Apple will release a true MacBook Pro for people that are actually working with their macs and care more about pro features than weight.
[doublepost=1516100392][/doublepost]
Have you ever heard about touch typing. Yes thanks, I use keystrokes without looking at the keyboard like all good typist have been for the last 100 years or so.

Yes, exactly that, I set up the F-Keys to be shortcuts in various apps instead. Then you have to press fn + Function Key to access the standard functions assigned by Apple.

It works well in my work flow as I can assign any Photoshop shortcut / action to the function keys. With a touchbar this would be impossible as they have no tactile feel.

I really don't understand why so many people on this forum are so against choice. TouchBar for those who want it and standard function keys for those who don't. That way I can spend the £400 odd that the touchbar adds to the price on more SSD space or a RAM upgrade instead.

Remember Apple adopted exclusive USB-A in the iMac in 1998 and the PowerBook in 2000 (along with FireWire) when USB was still in its infancy. It completely abandoned the old ports.

 

[MacBH928]

USB-A adapters and SD card readers are dirt cheap. Why is it so hard to buy a couple of third-party accessories? Apple shouldn’t downgrade the next Pro by removing Thunderbolt 3 ports.

because of convenience. Would you rather carry one key for everything or a different key for everyroom in the house and every car you own?
SD cards and USB-A is the current standard and USB-C is the (still)obscure connection.

Not even Apple's iphones and iPads use USB-C

 

[KPOM]

because of convenience. Would you rather carry one key for everything or a different key for everyroom in the house and every car you own?
SD cards and USB-A is the current standard and USB-C is the (still)obscure connection.

Not even Apple's iphones and iPads use USB-C

USB-C appeals to Apple precisely because it can do everything. No more need for a separate video port, power port, data port.

The iPad and iPhone use Lightning. They aren’t really meant to be connected to PCs much anymore. They do use USB-C for faster charging.

Most Android phones use USB-C. It’s no longer an obscure port. Back when iMac adopted USB-A it was an obscure port.

 

[tipoo]

Damn. Even with the Canon Lake delay so no 6 cores, I wanted this anyways

https://techreport.com/review/33042...ssors-with-radeon-rx-vega-m-graphics-revealed

 

[ackmondual]

For those of you who know Apple's MO well... any chance that this announcement falls part of a "under promise, over deliver" type plan?

 

[Naimfan]

For those of you who know Apple's MO well... any chance that this announcement falls part of a "under promise, over deliver" type plan?

Apple has done the reverse for quite some time - promise nothing, under-deliver.

 

[tipoo]

For those of you who know Apple's MO well... any chance that this announcement falls part of a "under promise, over deliver" type plan?

It's a supply chain rumour, so no.

 

[Tech198]

3 years is ok without a major update,, as long as they don't stop the smaller updates/tweak, like slight CPU speed jump, then i'll be happy.

It could be worse.. they could just not update it at all and be like the Mac Pro..

 

[lordofwar81]

Do they plan on fixing the battery life? My 2017 macbook pro 15 inch has a max battery life of 4 hours just browsing and email.

Apple currently has no plans to make any major upgrades to its MacBook Pro lineup in 2018, according to DigiTimes. Of course, if accurate, the report doesn't rule out a MacBook Pro refresh or update of any kind this year.

An excerpt from the report, citing sources within Apple's supply chain:Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn could land a large number of additional MacBook orders this year, the report adds. The increase could come at the expense of Quanta Computer, which has been Apple's major MacBook supplier in recent years.

Taiwan-based Foxconn has reportedly been working to boost its chances of notebook orders from Apple by offering attractive quotes. Apple will therefore switch MacBook orders to Foxconn for models that are already in mass production as a way to save costs and reduce risks, according to the sources cited.Despite the news, Quanta is expected to remain Apple's biggest supplier going into 2018. According to DigiTimes' research, out of 15 million MacBooks shipped to Apple a year, the shipment ratio between Quanta and Foxconn has been at around 8:2 for the past five years. Last year alone, Quanta had a 79.5 percent share and Foxconn took 20.5 percent.

Quanta is said to be looking to other brand vendors to offset the impact of the loss of orders, as it aims for similar growth to the market average in 2018. The Taiwan-based firm shipped 38.7 million notebooks last year, up five percent on year, and is currently the largest notebook supplier for HP, Apple, Acer, and Asus.

Quanta also maintains orders for the Apple Watch, and is said to be teaming up with Israeli-based augmented reality company Lumus to manufacture lenses for smart glasses. It's not clear if Quanta and Lumus are working with Apple on a future AR headset or smart glasses, but it is a possibility as rumors suggest Apple has a wearable augmented reality product in the works.

Article Link: MacBook Pro Reportedly Won't See Any Major Upgrades in 2018

 

[lJoSquaredl]

They don't have to redo the design, I'll deal with the major design stuff. If they can just squeeze in that new Intel/AMD combo that'd be great Would that be considered the baseline model tho I wonder?

 

[KPOM]

Do they plan on fixing the battery life? My 2017 macbook pro 15 inch has a max battery life of 4 hours just browsing and email.

This is why it won’t get 32GB of RAM. It would get even worse battery life if they offered the option.

 

[PLondon]

using keystrokes aren't touch typing.. at least, not when your other hand is on the mouse (which is what i assume the other input device is that you're using for photoshop)..

the idea that you're pressing, say, F3 with your left hand.. then F9.. without looking..
is just not reality.

nor is the idea that you're pressing F9 with your right hand since it's on another input device.

you're just making stuff up to try to make a point which renders the point invalid.. you can either stop and reconsider.. or keep digging.

Bless, it's like I'm talking to children.
Why would I set up F3 and then F9 in that order? I predominantly use F1-F5 and have lesser shortcuts on 6-9. Sometimes I have one hand on the mouse other times I'm using the touchpad so both hands are always on my keyboard therefore I can go to any F-key from anywhere on the keyboard instantly. The F-keys are a part of the keyboard and therefore part of touch-typing.

And yes I do use touch typing, between using F shortcuts I'm also captioning each image before saving the image, again using an F key shortcut. All this without having to once look at my keyboard but actually focusing on my work.

And all this argument about how I do my job is also completely besides the point which is that many people including myself wish Apple released a top end MacBook Pro with an option of touchbar or no touchbar.

On a side note if you want to learn how to touch type and streamline your workflow let me know and I can organise a workshop for people like you.

 

[clangers23]

So we'll end up at the end of this year with a massively overpriced laptop for significantly outdated hardware if this is true? Apple have probably cut a deal with Intel for a cheap supply of last gen CPU's.