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You are moving the goal posts. First it was the price. Now it's the keyboard and apparently the components used.

We get it, you don't want one.

we can also acknowledge the touch bar Macbook Pros have many issues and sticker shock to the high price is just the latest.
that said realistically as others have pointed out there is only $500-$600 premium over comparably Spec'd dells for example, which if that was the only issue we could forgive them.

My biggest problem is still the lack of I/O, Multiple keyboard issues outside of the failure rates And their obsession with thinness that makes their GPUs anemic and CPUs prone to further thermal throttling.
Honestly if they made the top end in the retina form factor Id pay even more money than $6699usd (even more still if they put it in the non retina 2012 body, kept the retina screen and more battery rather than the optical drive)

Apple please let me vote with my wallet, Shut up and take my money, no real pro asked for thinner than they already were to the detriment of the machine.
 
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Good for you - it meets your needs, can't argue with that, but in case it has escaped your attention there re many other PROFESSIONALS who undertake compute intensive tasks for which Apple is not the most economic choice.

So to be clear, how broad of a range of intensive tasks does a laptop need to cover before it’s considered Pro? And what model laptop by any company do you consider ‘Pro’?
 
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Sure you can get a "fast" 2.5 inch SSD for around $300. BUT the Apple SSD's used in their current machines are somewhere around 4-6x the speed of anything else out there.

The average person wont need or notice the speed difference, but someone who edits GB's of Video files sure will.

FYI and EXTERNAL SSD with similar (actually worse) performance is $2799 from OCW

https://www.macrumors.com/review/owc-thunderblade-v4/

The Mac SSD is probably the least overpriced upgrade.


Samsung 1TB NVMe stick ($395)...

3400MB/s read
2500MB/s write

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1398241-REG/samsung_mz_v7e1t0bw_1tb_970_evo_nvme.html


Apple's price for the 1TB flash storage upgrade is $400, but it also includes the $200 hidden fee for the 512GB flash storage - even though they remove that storage.


Samsung 2TB NVMe stick ($800)

3500MB/s read
2500MB/s write


https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1398242-REG/samsung_mz_v7e2t0bw_2tb_970_evo_nvme.html

Apple's price for the 2TB flash storage upgrade is $1200 - again - not less the $200 for the base configuration storage.

I couldn't care less if Apple's flash storage had 3700MB/s read and 2900MB/s write speeds, to top out Samsung's offering. That little boost isn't worth a $600 price difference.
 
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Samsung 1TB NVMe stick ($395)...

3400MB/s read
2500MB/s write

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1398241-REG/samsung_mz_v7e1t0bw_1tb_970_evo_nvme.html


Apple's price for the 1TB flash storage upgrade is $400, but it also includes the $200 hidden fee for the 512GB flash storage - even though they remove that storage.


Samsung 2TB NVMe stick ($800)

3500MB/s read
2500MB/s write


https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1398242-REG/samsung_mz_v7e2t0bw_2tb_970_evo_nvme.html

Apple's price for the 2TB flash storage upgrade is $1200 - again - not less the $200 for the base configuration storage.

I couldn't care less if Apple's flash storage had 3700MB/s read and 2900MB/s write speeds, to top out Samsung's offering. That little boost isn't worth a $600 price difference.

It’s typically best to understand what you’re looking at before posting. The numbers you’ve picked up are the interface speeds. Meanwhile, back in reality

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-Apex-15-Clevo-N950TP6-Laptop-Review.301664.0.html

9EBD3986-5901-4CA5-81CC-DC9B8EA12151.jpeg

To compare to the BlackMagic test reference in the OP, look at the Seq line.
 
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A premium pre-built machine like this will always be more expensive. Can you take that PC with you wherever you go? Notebook hardware is more expensive the desktop hardware even more so when it is custom designed with all of these proprietary chips.

Desktop parts crush their mobile counterparts. While efficiency has increased dramatically, performance requires power and that power consumes battery life like a Bronco guzzles gas.


You completely missed the point of my post. It boils down to this, regardless if it's a desktop or laptop machine. Gaming computers can be used for professional work. And in many cases, they're actually faster doing professional work than some (cough-cough) professional workstations. Case in point, the 2014, 15, and 2017 5K iMacs were much faster at many tasks using Photoshop for real world work, than any of the "2013" Mac Pro 'workstations'. 4-cores, all the way to 12-cores.

You can say the same thing about the "gaming laptop" with the 8700k and the GTX 1080 vs. the MacBook Pro with the 6-core and Radeon RX 560.

As for battery life in a laptop...

When I'm doing a photo shoot on location (the purpose of a portable computer), and my camera is tethered into my laptop, my laptop is ALWAYS plugged into an outlet. Always. I never need to worry about battery life.

My wife exclusively uses a laptop for work. She's required to bring it home every night. However, when she's working on it, whether at home or the office, it's always plugged into an outlet. She rarely uses the battery power. Even if she's off site at a client meeting, she's plugged into an outlet.

Portability doesn't just mean using your laptop for 10 hours straight on battery power. It's purpose is to "pick it up, and take it with you, so you can do work outside of your office". So a 2 hour battery life would either of us just fine. I get why people want a 10+ hour battery life, but a 10 hour battery life isn't a requirement for everyone who wants a portable workstation.
[doublepost=1531645832][/doublepost]
It’s typically best to understand what you’re looking at before posting. The numbers you’ve picked up are the interface speeds. Meanwhile, back in reality

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-Apex-15-Clevo-N950TP6-Laptop-Review.301664.0.html

View attachment 770680

To compare to the BlackMagic test reference in the OP, look at the Seq line.

That's OK. This is from Apple's website. So it's comparative.

15-inch model with Touch Bar
Up to 4TBSSD storage
Up to 3.2GB/s sequential read speed (3200MB/s)
Up to 2.2GB/s sequential write speed (2200MB/s)
 
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we can also acknowledge the touch bar Macbook Pros have many issues and sticker shock to the high price is just the latest.
that said realistically as others have pointed out there is only $500-$600 premium over comparably Spec'd dells for example, which if that was the only issue we could forgive them.

My biggest problem is still the lack of I/O, Multiple keyboard issues outside of the failure rates And their obsession with thinness that makes their GPUs anemic and CPUs prone to further thermal throttling.
Honestly if they made the top end in the retina form factor Id pay even more money than $6699usd (even more still if they put it in the non retina 2012 body, kept the retina screen and more battery rather than the optical drive)

Apple please let me vote with my wallet, Shut up and take my money, no real pro asked for thinner than they already were to the detriment of the machine.

There is always room for improvement, but anecdotally.. a bunch of my Apple hating, Android loving friends use MacBook Pro's at a professional level. Many of them have traded in their Surface devices for the MBP, on which they slap stickers over the Apple logo in an effort to save face. Of course they run Windows, but I think it's a testament to the hardware overall.
 
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With regard to the comments on the storage being expensive:

Samsung EVO 860 NVMe drives are in the ballpark of $600/Tb. That's the same basic technology as the MBP drive, and benchmarks are showing that MBPs are actually able to sustain speeds close to 3gb/s. That's pretty darn close to the theoretical 3.2gb/s.

Yes, the Apple drives are more expensive than Samsung ones, but the mark-up isn't that reasonable in context.

Also, I went through and built out a Surface 2, and the best I could build out was $3200. That was 1tb/quad/16gb. A 15" MBP with 1tb/16gb and a hex i9 came up to $3300. Since that's been mentioned as a comparison, I think it's worth pointing out that spending $100 more on an MBP actually gets a better processor.
 
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Samsung EVO 860 NVMe drives are in the ballpark of $600/Tb. That's the same basic technology as the MBP drive, and benchmarks are showing that they're actually able to sustain speeds close to 3gb/s. That's pretty darn close to the theoretical 3.2gb/s.

That simply is not true. They’re not able to sustain even close to those speeds. 860 EVO is about 500/500, as is 860 Pro for that matter. They can burst large queue depths for short amounts of time higher than that (due to world class controller design) but they cannot sustain it.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-860-Evo-and-Samsung-860-Pro-SSD-SATA-Review.280266.0.html


3A5ECA57-3775-4A94-A675-957DE8AE4D7C.jpeg

If they could actually sustain those speeds Samsung could have just stopped there and not spent billions of dollars researching and making the 960 Evo/Pro. Even those can’t sustain single threads of the speeds you’re talking about but they can hit twice the speeds of the 860s, and can deal with larger, deeper queues for longer, again thanks to Samsung’s stellar controllers.

Edit: I’m an idiot who can’t read. The above information is still correct but not an appropriate response @bunnspecial . Sorry.
 
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That simply is not true. They’re not able to sustain even close to those speeds. 860 EVO is about 500/500, as is 860 Pro for that matter. They can burst large queue depths for short amounts of time higher than that (due to world class controller design) but they cannot sustain it.

I said nothing about the Samsung drive speed, but rather than MBP drive...
 
With regard to the comments on the storage being expensive:

Samsung EVO 860 NVMe drives are in the ballpark of $600/Tb. That's the same basic technology as the MBP drive, and benchmarks are showing that they're actually able to sustain speeds close to 3gb/s. That's pretty darn close to the theoretical 3.2gb/s.

Yes, the Apple drives are more expensive than Samsung ones, but the mark-up isn't that reasonable in context.

Also, I went through and built out a Surface 2, and the best I could build out was $3200. That was 1tb/quad/16gb. A 15" MBP with 1tb/16gb and a hex i9 came up to $3300. Since that's been mentioned as a comparison, I think it's worth pointing out that spending $100 more on an MBP actually gets a better processor.

No it’s not the same basic technology, the Evo is tlc not mlc. Cheaper components cheaper quality.
 
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I wonder if being a "professional" justifies the price. Ridiculous.
[doublepost=1531541774][/doublepost]

Oh Please. So there no PC's that can handle the work flow for less than $7k a pop? Thats not what I am seeing on my end.

Sure if your Workflow does not include professional level 4k/8k Video Transfers / Editing or running processor/ram hungry applications that can benefit from the power boost of this upgraded MBP.

In fact, Apple have just the thing!!!! ..... a Non-Upgraded MacBook Pro !!!!

But seeing you your have apparently found a similar spec'd windows notebook Please, Please, Please show us on "your end" this better / similar spec machine for as good a price. Because no-one else has been able to.

And Please spec the similar machine with at least a 6 Core I9 4TB of Ram, true tone display and SSD with sustainable 2.5gbps write speeds.

I won't even make you include a touchbar, or 10 hour battery life on your fantasy machine.

Also factor in your potential company workflow might involve Mac-only apps or that you and your staff simply prefer OSX.
 
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There is always room for improvement, but anecdotally.. a bunch of my Apple hating, Android loving friends use MacBook Pro's at a professional level. Many of them have traded in their Surface devices for the MBP, on which they slap stickers over the Apple logo in an effort to save face. Of course they run Windows, but I think it's a testament to the hardware overall.

I think for years apple had the best hardware quality, yeah every model had flaws as do PC counterparts.
it just feels like apple rested on its laurels for so long that the PC market has largely caught up and in many areas surpassed.
that doesn't mean overnight mac hardware turned into flaming garbage and also a $300 plastic walmart PC isnt in the same league but in that same regard, you can no longer unilaterally declare apple to be doing the best hardware anymore.
It doesnt meet that standard in quality or performance unfortunately

regardless of that debate the issues with the touchbar macs are form over function.
 
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Sure if your Workflow does not include professional level 4k/8k Video Transfers / Editing or running processor/ram hungry applications that can benefit from the power boost of this upgraded MBP.

In fact, Apple have just the thing!!!! ..... a Non-Upgraded MacBook Pro !!!!

But seeing you your have apparently found a similar spec'd windows notebook Please, Please, Please show us on "your end" this better / similar spec machine for as good a price. Because no-one else has been able to.

And Please spec the similar machine with at least a 6 Core I9 4TB of Ram, true tone display and SSD with sustainable 2.5gbps write speeds.

I won't even make you include a touchbar, or 10 hour battery life on your fantasy machine.

Also factor in your potential company workflow might involve Mac-only apps or that you and your staff simply prefer OSX.

I am sure the new MBP is a fine machine and people will find a need for it. Obviously I can't provide you with an example of a PC with a touch-bar or True Tone.

I don't think that is a fair comparison you are making and would be like asking you to show me an Apple computer running MacOS that can run Direct X or Vegas Pro. Apples and oranges so to speak.

I agree most PC laptop specs do not meet those of Apple's new MBP's, but I'd like to point out my response you so vigorously attacked was directed at a posters comment about a business ordering maxed out iMacs:

"Woman came in to talk to their business team to purchase 6 maxed our iMac pros. In the end it saved her company from hiring one head and she projected saving hundreds of hours a month in work flows."

My point was that I work with very productive people who have reasonably priced PC laptops and desktops and are editing 4K content without issue in a professional setting for much less than maxed out iMacs.

I questioned the drama behind this comment. Sorry you took offense. Enjoy your laptop.

BTW, what are you editing in 8K and for what purpose?
 
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The nice thing about USB-C is that a single port can support anything you could ever possibly want. Just use something like this when you need it, the rest of the time you can enjoy your sleek laptop. http://a.co/jgaPYMK

71hB0-kYz5L._SX679_.jpg
Never heard of MiCar, but for $40, I'm willing to try out this hub - looks very capable.
 
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Here it is the pros and cons of a PROFESSIONAL MacBook:

Pro:
  • Light weight easy to carry.
  • Long battery life and good performance.
  • Pretty to look at.
  • Top mobile CPU available today.
  • Quality display.
  • Apple OS and all its professional software included at no extra cost.
  • Unbeatable touch pad.
  • Unless you are unlucky the machine will work for years as good as the day you purchased it.

Con:
  • Under cooled - CPU will never reach its full potential under load and you would be paying for unattainable performance.
  • Soldered memory, none upgradeable.
  • Slow speeds for DDR4 cannot increase them. (3000MHz -3200MHz is a Pro standard).
  • Soldered SSD none upgradeable - Enjoy the genius bar when you run into trouble.
  • AMD Graphics - Old tech not acceptable in a 2018 build.
  • Stuck with Thunderbolt 3.
  • In order to match graphics performance to a competitors level you need to shell out $$$$ for a thunderbolt enclosure and the cost of a new card. (Hopefully Apple will allow Nvidia drivers to finally work with OS natively). (For those of you with the previous comments about carrying a large laptop have fun lugging that around)!
  • Low refresh rate on the monitor (It may look nice but doesn't have any performance features).
The MacBook Pro is a quality built machine but Apple needs to get rid of the inflated price and the Pro badge for its overrated product. It may have professional software but the hardware is far far behind.
 
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And of course, you can't upgrade after the fact. But yes - Apple on average makes all their profit from these "unreasonably priced" upgrades on all their devices, typically charging about double the going retail price of the flash. I'd rather spend $2,000 to get a 2015 keyboard installed. ;)
It would be one thing to charge a reasonable base price and then gouge you on the upgrades. Or, charge a high base price and then charge a reasonable price on upgrades. Apple just does both lol
 
As for battery life in a laptop...

When I'm doing a photo shoot on location (the purpose of a portable computer), and my camera is tethered into my laptop, my laptop is ALWAYS plugged into an outlet. Always. I never need to worry about battery life.

With all due respect, I believe you and your workflow, are atypical of most mobile creative. The ones I know absolutely want and need to make battery life a priority. Even those that don't use a Mac as their mobile solution do this and wouldn't consider using a gaming laptop as their mobile solution due to size, weight, and battery life.
 
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